"What we are making today has nothing to do with what my grandmother started,Tru-Form Plastics is a one-stop shop for plastic Injection Molding," said David Hawk,Information on useful yeasts and moulds,Get information on Air purifier from the unbiased, grandson of the founder of Gertrude Hawk Chocolates in Dunmore and chairman of the company.
Mrs. Hawk started making chocolate candy in her home kitchen by hand in 1936 for church-group fundraisers. Seventy-six years later, thousands of boxes of Gertrude Hawk candy bars are sold annually for church, school, youth and community group fundraisers.
Gertrude Hawk makes hundreds of products, but generates only about 25 percent of its revenue through its 69 stores in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey, Mr. Hawk said. About half of its sales are through inclusions in other products, such as ice cream, and another quarter of its revenue comes from contract work for other candy concerns. Gertrude Hawk employs about 450 people at the company's 175,000-square-foot plant in Dunmore and about 500 in its retail stores.
The company makes chocolate delicacies through four distinct processes.
It all starts as cocoa butter, sugar and dry milk are fed into a series of refinery tanks with a weight capacity of 6,500 pounds that grind the materials to the right particle sizes. The ground materials are transferred to holding tanks, where they are pumped pneumatically to different production stages.
In the shell-molding area, which produces the company's popular Smidgens, chocolate is tempered by heating it to 86 degrees. The process crystallizes the chocolate mass, which provides its texture, and it "seeds" the chocolate to give it sheen. The chocolate is poured into molds, heated and cooled before hardening, de-molding and boxing.
In the plant's panning section, a machine sprays chocolate on solid items, such as nuts.
In the extrusion area, chocolate is poured into a mold, put into a spinner and turned for several minutes to make a hollow center. Assemblers then put smaller candies inside the hollow centers before boxing.
In the kibbling section, tempered chocolate is melted, cooled to harden and shipped to the company's stores to be melted for dipping items, such as strawberries and apples.
In the enrobing department, formed products, such as peppermint patties and pretzels, ride conveyor belts through chocolate waterfalls.
Many of the company's products, like its sea-salt caramels, originated from experiments in the laboratory and go into production after customer taste samples.
"We do it first in here before it ends out there," said Darlene Thomas, supervisor of Gertrude Hawk's research and development, as she stood in the lab.The Transaction Group offers the best high risk merchant account services, "We make it unique by hand in the lab, and if they like it, we move it forward."
Chocolate candy sales in 2011 increased nationally by 6.7 percent to $8 billion, according to SymphonyIRI Group, a Chicago market research firm. Mr. Hawk said Gertrude Hawk's sales increased about 4 percent last year.
Chocolate candy sells well during choppy economic periods because it's affordable, tastes great and makes people feel better, said Phil Lempert, a Californian who publishes a newsletter tracking retail,Full-service custom manufacturer of precision plastic injection mold, consumer, food and shopping trends.
"When times are tough, we see sales of affordable indulgences increase, like chocolates and wines, things that we can buy for ourselves that make us feel good," Mr. Lempert said.
Mrs. Hawk started making chocolate candy in her home kitchen by hand in 1936 for church-group fundraisers. Seventy-six years later, thousands of boxes of Gertrude Hawk candy bars are sold annually for church, school, youth and community group fundraisers.
Gertrude Hawk makes hundreds of products, but generates only about 25 percent of its revenue through its 69 stores in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey, Mr. Hawk said. About half of its sales are through inclusions in other products, such as ice cream, and another quarter of its revenue comes from contract work for other candy concerns. Gertrude Hawk employs about 450 people at the company's 175,000-square-foot plant in Dunmore and about 500 in its retail stores.
The company makes chocolate delicacies through four distinct processes.
It all starts as cocoa butter, sugar and dry milk are fed into a series of refinery tanks with a weight capacity of 6,500 pounds that grind the materials to the right particle sizes. The ground materials are transferred to holding tanks, where they are pumped pneumatically to different production stages.
In the shell-molding area, which produces the company's popular Smidgens, chocolate is tempered by heating it to 86 degrees. The process crystallizes the chocolate mass, which provides its texture, and it "seeds" the chocolate to give it sheen. The chocolate is poured into molds, heated and cooled before hardening, de-molding and boxing.
In the plant's panning section, a machine sprays chocolate on solid items, such as nuts.
In the extrusion area, chocolate is poured into a mold, put into a spinner and turned for several minutes to make a hollow center. Assemblers then put smaller candies inside the hollow centers before boxing.
In the kibbling section, tempered chocolate is melted, cooled to harden and shipped to the company's stores to be melted for dipping items, such as strawberries and apples.
In the enrobing department, formed products, such as peppermint patties and pretzels, ride conveyor belts through chocolate waterfalls.
Many of the company's products, like its sea-salt caramels, originated from experiments in the laboratory and go into production after customer taste samples.
"We do it first in here before it ends out there," said Darlene Thomas, supervisor of Gertrude Hawk's research and development, as she stood in the lab.The Transaction Group offers the best high risk merchant account services, "We make it unique by hand in the lab, and if they like it, we move it forward."
Chocolate candy sales in 2011 increased nationally by 6.7 percent to $8 billion, according to SymphonyIRI Group, a Chicago market research firm. Mr. Hawk said Gertrude Hawk's sales increased about 4 percent last year.
Chocolate candy sells well during choppy economic periods because it's affordable, tastes great and makes people feel better, said Phil Lempert, a Californian who publishes a newsletter tracking retail,Full-service custom manufacturer of precision plastic injection mold, consumer, food and shopping trends.
"When times are tough, we see sales of affordable indulgences increase, like chocolates and wines, things that we can buy for ourselves that make us feel good," Mr. Lempert said.
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