Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
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8012 Hankins Industrial Park Toano, VA 23168 800-831-1828 • wholesale@ThePeanutShop.com Visit us at the Summer Fancy Food Show #4100. Ask about our Free Freight Program! Scan here to view our 2016 Wholesale Catalog Holiday Snowfall Handcooked Virginia Peanuts L ightly Salted – 4 oz., 10.5 oz., 20 oz., 32 oz. Milk Choc olate & Dark Choc olate – 11.5 oz., 20 oz. Summer Fancy Food Show Booth 4100 Given that the 200,000-square-foot chocolate factory could not be climate-con- trolled at its standard 65 to 70 degrees, Farber knew things would be bad. At least they had already shipped their Halloween mini ghosts, crunchy eyeballs, and caramel- filled ghouls. Brightly wrapped chocolate turkeys and footballs for Thanksgiving had also gone out. But not the lucrative candies for Christmas, Valentine's Day, and Easter. When the lights were turned back on in the three-block-long complex, the scope of the devastation was revealed. The machinery that turned out the chocolatier's signature molded novelties was wrecked, as was the entire inventory. Total losses exceeded $50 million. "Our warehouse was full to the seams with product to be shipped out to literally thousands of customers, orders of chocolate Santas and Valentine hearts and Easter bunnies," Farber says. "November is a big, big shipping season." For a company that relies heavily on seasonal sales, the timing of the storm was disastrous, including for its then-workforce of 425 people. A number of them were Haitian immigrants who had already suffered the loss of relatives and friends in their native country's catastrophic earthquake in 2010. Before Hurricane Sandy, The Madelaine Chocolate Company produced 20 million pounds of chocolate annually, including contract manufacturing and pri- vate-label work. Last year a crew of 100 to 200, depending on the season, fabricated about four million pounds. Drawing on Family History Resilience, however, defines the company's heritage. Three holocaust survivors, the brothers-in-law Henry Kaye and Jack Gold and their partner, Jacob Pludwinski, endured concentration camps, including Buchenwald and Plaszów, and made it to New York City after World War II. They learned the producer profile Before Hurricane Sandy, The Madelaine Chocolate Company produced 20 million pounds of chocolate annually, including contract manufacturing and private-label work. Last year a crew of 100 to 200, depending on the season, fabricated about four million pounds. 64 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE specialtyfood.com