Business

Genesee County added 200 jobs in August, according to a jobs report released yesterday in which the NYS Department of Labor touted a record number of jobs in the state.

According to the report, there are now 7.6 million jobs in New York, up 22,700 from July to August.

At the same time, the number of employment-eligible workers grew by 24,000, increasing the state's unemployment rate from 7.5 to 7.6 percent.

The number of jobs in Genesee County went up to 23,600, which is 200 over the July figure and the August 2013 number.

The County's unemployment rate has not yet been released.

Torrey Farms is being honored Oct. 1 with the 2013 Grower Achievement Award by United Fresh, a growers' association.

One of county's largest farms, the Torreys are being recognized for grower operations that strive to grow and market high-quality produce while contributing to the good of the industry.

Maureen Torrey has become a strong advocate in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere for public policies that protect farmers and promote agriculture.

She has testified before the House Committee on Agriculture regarding the farm bill and immigration policy.

Last year, for example, Torrey Farms lost 92 of 100 employees working in the packing shed following an I-9 audit. 

"The employees we lost averaged about 18 years of experience," Torrey told United Fresh. "Now we have to build it up from scratch."

The award will be given at the United Fresh annual Washington Public Policy Conference.

At the conference, produce industry leaders from across the supply chain meet with congressional lawmakers and their staff, as well as officials from the Food and Drug Administration to discuss policy issues that affect the agriculture industry.

(via OrleansHub)

It looks like a go for a new Tim Horton's on the west side of Batavia. The Town Planning Board was given a chance to see the final plans for the coffee shop and adjacent retail building last night and it doesn't appear there will be any opposition.

The final site plan is expected to be approved at the board's next meeting Oct. 1.

The location is between West Main Street Road and Lewiston Road behind Rite Aid. There will be driveways on Lewiston Road and Colonial Boulevard.

One Colonial Boulevard resident was at Tuesday's meeting, Amy DiSalvo. Tim Horton's architect Matt Oats showed how the plans included a privacy fence along DiSalvo's property and she said she was satisfied with the plan.

The Tim Horton's will seat 48 people, including 16 in an outdoors patio area. it will also have a drive-thru.

On the West Main Street side of the road will be a retail building that can accommodate from one to three tenants. There are no signed leases yet for the space. 

The entire parcel with both buildings erected will have 45 parking spaces.

Construction on the retail building can begin as soon as the site plan is removed. 

Workers can't build the Tim Horton's building until the current brick building on Lewiston is removed, with demolition requiring environmental approvals.

Bob Bender, project manager for Benderson Development, said he hopes construction can begin in November and weather permitting, construction will take 90 days.

The franchise owner for the location has not yet been announced.

Press release:

The Chamber’s Annual Awards Committee has announced the 2013 Annual Award Ceremony will be held on Saturday, Feb. 22 at the Clarion Hotel, Park Road, Batavia. This is the County’s premier event that honors businesses and individuals for their achievements in business, community service and volunteerism.

The Chamber has committed to running a new special event, The Genesee County Chamber of Commerce Annual Home Show (March 28, 29, 30). With the addition of this event, the Awards Ceremony will now be taking place two months earlier than previous years. For this reason, nominations MUST BE RECEIVED BY Nov. 1 to be eligible for consideration.

Please note that a brief write-up will qualify your nominee for consideration. Nominations are now being accepted for Business of the Year, Entrepreneurial Business of the Year, Agricultural Business of the Year, Innovative Enterprise of the Year, Special Service Recognition & Geneseeans of the Year. Business nominees must be a Chamber Member (If unsure of your nominee, call the Chamber to verify).  

Nomination forms are available at the Chamber of Commerce office, 210 E. Main St., Batavia and can also be down loaded from the Chamber Website at www.geneseeny.com.

If you would like more information, feel free to call Kelly J. Bermingham, director of Membership & Special Events at the Chamber office, 343-7440, ext. 26.

There are few easy decisions when it comes to getting a new kitchen for your home and Mike Adams said understanding how taxing the process can be is why Kreative Design Kitchen & Bath is now its its 20th year of business.

"I think there are several reasons we've made it 20 years," Adams said. "First we are very patient. Kitchen planning takes time and you have to allow your customers to make decisions at their pace. Second, we have great employees that treat our business as their own. Third, we have very good product lines which we have been working with for almost the entire 20 years."

Mike and Debbie Adams opened Kreative Design in Batavia in 1993 and have been running the business together every day since.

It's a rewarding line of work, Mike Adams said. A new kitchen is a big decision for a customer, but it's also often a dream come true.

"I really think seeing customers 100-percent satisfied is very rewarding," Adams said. "A kitchen remodel is quite involved and can be very stressful on the customer, so seeing that satisfaction at the completion is very rewarding."

Last year, Mike and Debbie moved their business to a larger location in a building they now own at 5582 E. Main Road, Batavia. The larger showroom allows them to better display their products from Omega and Diamond.

The move has worked out very well for Kreative Design, Adams said.

In these parts it doesn't get much better than beer and wings, which makes T.F. Brown's right now the place to be.

T.F. Brown's, Main St. Pizza Company, Big Pauly's and Batavia's Original have teamed up to create the first ever Yuengs and Wings fest to raise money for Genesee Cancer Assistance.

The event goes until 8 p.m.

Pictured are Brenda Marchese, Rick Mancuso, Kathy Ferrare, Vic Marchese, Tom Scott, Paul Bernardini, Jamie Ingersol, Mike Bernardini and Racheal Cook.

Press release:

The City of Batavia released a request for redevelopment proposals to reinvest at one of the City’s strategic Batavia Opportunity Area (BOA) sites. The one-acre parcel is located in the heart of downtown. Market research reports a demand for new office space and downtown market-rate residential.

The RFP deadline has been extended to Wednesday, Sept. 25.

Please review the attached proposal or visit the Web site for more details. Questions? You may contact our office or the City Manager’s office at 585-345-6330.

http://www.batavianewyork.com/

PDF Files:

• 2013-08-05 - RFP Della Penna (final)
• 2013-09-13 - ADDENDUM NO 1

If you're a vegetable processing company, "growth" better be your favorite word.

It's a word tossed around dozens of times today during an open house for local officials and regional media at Bonduelle's facility in Bergen.

The family-run, France-based firm purchased the plant, along with plants in Oakfield and Brockport, from Allen Foods in March 2012.

It was a strategic purchase. Bonduelle, which specializes in packaging frozen vegetables under the labels of retailers, sees the United States as a place to grow and the Northeast as suitable target market.

Company executives made four trips to Allen's facilities and decided the plants were under-utilized but were in great locations with great employees, said Daniel Viefaure, CEO of Bonduelle Americas.

"When we visited the plants, what we saw were people eager for improvement," Viefaure said. "They were working under a company that was not as eager for growth as we were and the employees realized that. When they saw we were visiting, they were really interested and I got the feeling that they were the right people to do what we really wanted to do."

To date, Bonduelle has invested for $5.5 million in the four former Allen plants (there's also one in Wisconsin), including $3.5 million in the Bergen facility.

Bonduelle was so eager to grow in its first year that it applied for -- but didn't use because the timing wasn't right -- a $250,000 state grant through the Genesee County Economic Development Center.

While Allen was reportedly losing money on the facilities it sold to Bonduelle, Viefaure said his company was profitable its first year of operations.

The company plans to continue growing its WNY operations and Vielfaure said Bonduelle will likely seek out future assistance from GCEDC to assist with that growth.

Steve Hyde, CEO of GCEDC, said Bonduelle is a great success story for Genesee County, helping to shore up the vegetable end of the county's food processing industry.

“This is a game changer,” Hyde said. “The companies that owned this plant previously were really allowing it to decline and they weren’t investing and they weren’t growing, and now what you see is a 180 (degree change).”

The move into WNY by Bonduelle has certainly had a big impact on its employees in Bergen and Oakfield, who were on the cusp of unemployment under Allen. Bonduelle made a point of retaining the 69 year-around employees at the two plants.

The facilities also employ 188 seasonal workers.

Currently, the Bergen facility processes 107 million pounds of corn, carrots, beans and peas, said James Newcomb, facilities manager for Bonduelle.

Newcomb has 42 years experience working for the companies that roll up into the history of the Bonduelle plants.

On one of the tours today, Newcomb repeatedly emphasized the great care for quality Bonduelle has instilled in the plants, making equipment upgrades, improving training and ensuring only the best produce is purchased from family farms within 75 miles of the plants.

"Our customers were asking for more product, but we didn't have the capacity," Viefaure said. "Our customers are very happy to buy more product from us. They are experiencing growth and they needed more vegetables."

Among Bonduelle's clients is Wegmans, which Viefaure said is a great customer for Bonduelle because of Wegmans insistence on quality vegetables for its brand-name frozen foods.

"Wegmans is a state-of-the-art company," Viefaure said.

While Viefaure did not discuss today the specific expansion plans for his company, he did make clear the company is looking to grow its market share in the Northeast and that will mean expansion in Bergen and Oakfield.

James Newcomb demonstrating how corn kernals are stripped from the cob.

A worker sorting through kernals of cut corn, picking out imperfections. Newcomb said this was his first job in the industry and said it's one of the hardest jobs in the plant.

There are some years that are better than others for onion growers.

This year is one of the others.

Paul Mortellaro, co-owner of G Mortellaro And Sons in Elba, said this year's harvest will be about 60 to 75 percent of an average year and about 50 percent of a good year.

That sounds about right, said John Torrey, of Big-O Farms, Elba.

Wind, cold and rain either blew away or drowned a good portion of the onion crop this summer.

"The onions were thinned so much by the wind that you're not seeing a lot of small bulbs, but you're not seeing a lot of tonnage because there's not a high enough plant population," Mortellaro said.

Big-O runs a huge onion operation and Torrey agreed that wind and water were a problem this year.

"We've had our challenges during the growing season," Torrey said. "While we're in the midst of a full harvest, we're probably going to have a little below average yield."

The price for onions right now -- a market largely determined by Western growers -- is from $9 to $11 per 50-pound bag, Mortellero said. That's decent, but of course local onion growers would like to see it go higher.

Onions are a slow crop to bring to maturity and harvesting them is a slow process, too. The harvest started in July and will continue through October.

Out on the muck today, I met Elizabeth Buck and Courtney Hill, researchers from Cornell. They are assisting in a project to test four different kinds of possible treatments to combat rhizoctonia. Rhizoctonia is a fungus that goes after the roots of onions. (Pictured above, Hill; Buck is pictured in the slide show below).

Press release:

The Board of Directors of the Genesee County Economic Development Center (GCEDC) passed a budget for Fiscal Year 2014 at its board meeting today, adopting a balanced budget that totals $1.2 million.

Approximately $1.041 million in revenues will be realized through grant revenue, sale and lease back fees, interest income, and county funding. Another $175,000 in cash payments will be collected through project participation fee annuity streams. Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) interest will generate approximately $22,000 in revenue through 13 active loans in RLF 1 and five active loans in RLF 2. Meanwhile, workforce development activities continue to be self-sustaining due to grant funding. 

“The GCEDC was created to retain and create jobs and generate new revenues for local government by increasing the property tax base,” said Steve Hyde, president and CEO of the GCEDC. “For every dollar of public money that supports the GCEDC, there is an $18 return on investment to the community as a result of various economic development projects supported by our agency.”

As a public benefit organization, the GCEDC generates fee revenues from economic development projects. The GCEDC also projects continued funding from Genesee County as well as other sources to run its operations, programs and services. The funding provided by Genesee County helps the GCEDC with core base-level operational funding while the remaining project revenue is raised through the ongoing work of the GCEDC.

“Genesee County is a vital partner in our efforts to bring new business and growth to our region,” Hyde continued. “We are extremely grateful to the members of the Genesee County Legislature who support the GCEDC’s ongoing growth strategy.”

Expenditures have been controlled and reduced wherever possible, however compliance with New York State mandates continues to cause significant cost increases for the operating budget. For example, a 13-percent increase in health insurance premiums is anticipated based on current estimates from health insurance brokers.

“The GCEDC’s budget assumptions are conservative due to uncertainties related to future project activity levels, but we anticipate that 2014 will be another great year,” said Lezlie Farrell, CFO of the GCEDC.

Today workers just about completed installing the Dick's Sporting Goods sign on the former Lowe's building.

Syracuse-based COR Development received $1.8 million in local tax breaks in order to retrofit the building so Dick's could come to town and compete against existing locally owned sporting goods stores.

One store, Fisher Sports, has already closed because of the preferential treatment given to COR by the Genesee County Economic Development Center.

Dick's is expected to open within a couple of months.

From Rachael J. Tabelski, marketing and communications director, GCEDC:

Please be advised that the two projects that came before the Genesee County Economic Development Center Board for incentives at the Sept. 5 board meeting passed. The details of the projects are below. Please note that the project summary for Yancey's Fancy has been updated with further details of the project. The board approved an initial resolution which directs the GCEDC to schedule a public hearing on the Yancey's Fancy project and related incentives. As soon as the public hearing for Yancey's is scheduled we will send you the details. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Graham Corporation Expansion
Discussion: Proposed sales tax and property tax abatement.

Graham Corporation would like to renovate the "old" plant area, located at the corner of Harvester Avenue and Howard Street in the City of Batavia. A new bay will be constructed (12,439 square feet) that will enclose the area between two manufacturing bays located facing Harvester Avenue along with renovations of office and manufacturing areas. In addition, a new building (3,800 square feet) will be constructed on the 20 Florence Street campus. This new building will be used for X-ray inspections of welds done during the fabrication process. Graham currently has 311 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees and anticipates adding 30 more over three years after the certificate of occupancy is obtained for these renovations. At the Aug. 1 board meeting an initial resolution was approved to schedule a public hearing. A public hearing was held on Aug. 21 to solicit public comments on the project as the total incentive amount is more than $100,000. No members of the public attended the hearing.

Board Action Request: Approval of final resolution to approve the incentives for the project. The application for the expansion project includes an estimated sales tax exemption of $240,000 and estimated property tax abatement on the incremental increase in assessed value of $243,396.

Historical Look: The last expansion project that Graham undertook and the GCEDC assisted was in 2011. At the time Graham had 278 FTEs and pledged 30 new jobs in three years for a total of 308 FTEs. According to its 2013 application the company exceeded its employment goals and plans to keep growing.

Yancey’s Fancy Project -- *Updated Summary
Discussion: Proposed sales tax and mortgage tax exemptions and property tax abatement.

Yancey's Fancy has updated its project specifications since submission of its original application for incentives. The original application was received by the GCEDC in April. According to the original application, Yancey’s was planning an 112,000-square-foot expansion at its existing facility, 857 Main Road in Corfu. After moving forward with planning and permitting for the expansion, the company has decided to build a new facility within the Buffalo East Technology Park (BETP) located in Pembroke. Yancey’s Fancy would like to purchase approximately 12 acres within the BETP, and build a 112,000-square-foot facility. The capital investment is estimated to be $18.2 million.

The company plans to keep its artisan cheese operations and retail store in the current location (857 Main Road), and to undertake an expansion at this location as well. The second part of the project will include the addition of 3,500 square feet at the 857 Main Road location where they will install a new reverse-osmosis system. The instillation of a reverse-osmosis system will allow whey produced during the cheese-making process to be dried and sold. Currently, whey is transported by local farmers at a cost to Yancey’s. By utilizing reverse-osmosis technology, it is possible to concentrate the solid content enough to sell whey to processors and animal feed operations. Recent technological advances also allow the water removed from the whey to be pumped back into plant operations. These advances, as well as the expansion of the town and village sewer system, have made the reverse-osmosis project a viable opportunity in the overall growth strategy that Yancey’s Fancy in undertaking. The capital investment of this project is estimated to be $2.5 million.

The total capital investment for Yancey’s project is estimated at $20.7 million. The company currently has 108 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees and expects to add 50 more over three years after the certificate of occupancy is obtained for this new facility. Due to the changes in the project, a new public hearing will be held to solicit public comment on the incentives sought by the company, as they are more than $100,000 in savings.

Board Action Request: Approval of an initial resolution to set a public hearing for the Yancey’s Fancy project. The estimated sales tax exemption is valued at $638,608, and the estimated mortgage tax exemption is valued at $233,388. The new building and land located within the Buffalo East Technology Park will have an estimated property tax savings of $686,314, and the incremental increase in assessed value that will apply to the additional square footage at the 857 Main Road location will have an estimated property tax savings of $49,022. The total estimated property tax exemption is valued at $735,336.

Here's a little fact about Genesee County you may not know: Batavia's largest food processing plant is kosher.

Kosher, as in certified by a rabbi.

That means no animal -- except fish -- products are used in the plant's food production, as in no cow or pig parts to make gelatin.

A few days ago as I passed through the Tops check-out line with six containers of Frut Up (I really wish they would sell this in a six-pack container), the cashier said, "did you know there's tilapia in this?"

Heck, up to that point, I didn't even know what tilapia was. Some sort of fish, I recalled dimly.

When I got home, I read the label a little closer. Yup, tilapia is listed. So is "kosher gelatin."

If you know your history of Jell-O (and who doesn't in Genesee County), you know gelatin was originally made with from pork and pork skins, horses, and cattle bones or cattle hides. 

Those are all animals that in a kosher kitchen can't mix, even a single molecule.

As it turns out, you can also make gelatin from tilapia, and since observant Jews can mix fish and dairy, if you want fruity gelatin with your yogurt, and you want it to be kosher, you need tilapia to do it.

Rabbi Doctor David Sheinkopf inspected the Muller Quaker plant in Batavia and as a result, the yogurt products Frut Up and Corner can be sold as "Certified Kosher," according to Scott Gilmore, spokesman for PepsiCo.

"Taste is important and we use the best ingredients," Gilmore said. "We aim to make the best tasting yogurt on the market, but consumers told us it (kosher yogurt) was important to them and we wanted to honor that request."

When you sit down for a meal at Pasquales, Mama Fasano wants it to be just like you're coming over to her house for dinner.

Every dish with be based on family recipes and the ambiance and decor will be designed to give diners an old-time, family Italian restaurant feel.

The Fasano family purchased the red brick, two-story building at the corner of Swan and Ellicott streets at the city's tax lien auction a couple of months ago with the specific intention to open a restaurant.

They've had to completely gut the place and entirely remodel it -- including putting in a new kitchen. The restaurant won't open until late fall, but they're ready to talk about their plans.

Joan Fasano has been in the restaurant and catering business for 40 years and at Pasquales the whole family is joining in.

"Many Batavians and Genesee County residents have been familiar with the Fasano name in conjunction with great food over the years," Maggie Fasano said. "Joan and her husband Jim catered many, many weddings, anniversaries, graduations and other events."

The menu will include homemade ravioli, chicken cacciatore, tripe, pasta fazool, along with other old-country recipes, and once every two weeks, a polish dish.

People go crazy over the polish dishes," Rachel Fasano said. "You can’t get them anywhere."

The kitchen is being designed and set up by Karl Klein, who recently closed his restaurant in Le Roy.

The Fasanos and Ganson have been close friends for 30 years.

Every once in awhile he'll work as a guest chef, making special dishes for the day.

Though the building was most recently a bar, the Fasanos are not setting up a tavern. It's an eatery. There will be beer and wine to go with dinner, but the bar won't be a place to come and sit and just drink.

Meals will be affordable.

"We want people to be able come and enjoy dinner and not empty their pockets, so to speak," Dave Fasno said. "Our menu will be based on good Italian food, what Mom likes to call peasant food."

Family photos and old photos of Italian immigrants will hang on the walls.

"We want people, when they walk in, to feel like the restaurant's been here forever," Joan said.

Photo: Rachel, Joan, Maggie in the front and David and Jimmy John behind the bar.

Rep. Chris Collins stopped in Oliver's Candies today, but it wasn't for the famed Molly Pops. He was making one of his regular visits to small local businesses in his district.

Oliver's is also famed for -- among other things -- sponge candy, which Collins discussed at some length with Deborah Palmer, left, and Jeremy Liles. Sponge candy is another of WNY's unique foods that is little known in other parts of the country. Liles said it's probably a candy that was brought to WNY by Polish immigrants.

Anita Strollo submitted this photo of Collins at the lunch at the Senior Center today. Her mother, Serena Strollo, celebrated her 91st birthday today and Collins presented her with a Congressional certificate.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand stopped for a tour of Liberty Pumps in Bergen today to promote Genesee County's "Foreign Trade Zone" designation.

Liberty is the first company in Genesee County to apply for the benefits of an FTZ.

Charlie Cook, president and CEO of Liberty Pumps, said the designation will help his company grow and create more jobs.

"It's certainly going to help reduce our costs," Cook said. "We are initially limited to three companies because it's crucial to monitor everything and control the inventory on the floor, so our most expensive components are duty free and there's an advantage there. It's our intent to flow the savings to the bottom line and generate more profits, which fuels future growth."

Profits, Cook, explained, means more research and development and more funds to bring new products to market, which means expansion.

Liberty Pumps is surrounded by three parcels of land that are suitable for expansion and Cook mentioned that the company is considering it options and will almost certainly expand in the next couple of years.

The FTZ allows Liberty Pumps to buy some of the parts it needs to build products without paying tariffs, but then it can also avoid tariffs on its exports.

Cook wanted to note, however, that not every component it could buy overseas is imported.

"We really try to limit our foreign purchases of components," Cook said. "If we can buy it domestically, we always prefer domestic components, but the fact is, these particular motors you can't get from a U.S. manufacturer anymore. They've all closed down these lines. Other components, like castings, we could do that, but we're trying to contain that business, a lot of it, to domestic sources rather than foreign."

Gillibrand said FTZs are important to help New York's economy grow.

"I encourage all manufacturers who can benefit to apply," Gillibrand said. "We make some of the most amazing things in the world right here in New York. We produce some of the greatest agricultural products of anywhere in the world. We want to be able to increase the world markets for our goods and services. We want to keep local busineses in a position of strength."

Press release:

For the fourth year in a row, Genesee County, New York has been recognized as one of the fastest growing Food Processing Industry Metros by Business Facilities, a national site selection publication.

The Agricultural and Food and Beverage Sector employs more than 1,500 workers in Genesee County, and throughout the Western New York and the Finger Lakes Region there are more than 20,000 employees within the Food and Beverage Cluster. This number has increased significantly in recent years with the opening of Alpina Foods, LLC, and Muller Quaker Dairy along with the expansion of other food processors in the County.

“The recent construction of two new food processing facilities demonstrates a substantial return on our investment in our Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park,” said Steve Hyde, president and CEO of Genesee County Economic Development Center (GCEDC). “We are honored to be once again recognized by Business Facilities as it keeps us on the radar screen for site selectors throughout the United States and the world.”

The Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park encompasses 211 shovel-ready, pre-permitted acres strategically located between Western New York and the Finger Lakes region in Batavia, NY.  On site, there is access to low cost process water via a local aquifer, a short and main line rail access to move products, and large capacity municipal sewer and water. Through the support of National Grid and National Fuel the site has an enhanced utility infrastructure.

“Genesee County and our strategic partners, GCEDC, GCC, our utility companies, Farm East and other local governments like Batavia, Pembroke, Bergen, etc., made sure that nine-plus years of planning and preparation are paying off in terms of infrastructure, shovel-ready site, employment and training opportunities and good paying, long-term employment options for our community and the region,” said Mary Pat Hancock, chairwoman of the Genesee County Legislature. “The vision and collaboration necessary to make this happen and to sustain development and progress is what our community has always been about.”

Alpina Foods, LLC, a leading dairy producing company in Colombia and South America, recently opened its first specialty yogurt manufacturing plant at the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park. This is Alpina’s first United States facility and the company recently exceeded their original job commitments of 50 employees. PepsiCo, in a joint venture with German dairy company Theo Müller, also recently opened its own $206 million yogurt manufacturing facility, Muller Quaker Dairy, and as of June 2013 have hired 110 employees for their Batavia facility. 

“Food manufacturers value our region’s abundant milk supply and access to fresh water,” said Mark S. Peterson, president and CEO of Greater Rochester Enterprise. “These assets are just some of the reasons Genesee County has become a magnet for leading yogurt manufacturers such as Alpina Foods and Muller Quaker Dairy.”

“A wealth of agricultural assets, shovel-ready sites, transportation infrastructure and access to major U.S. and Canadian markets have helped to establish Genesee County as a leading location for the food processing industry,” said Thomas A. Kucharski, president and CEO of Buffalo Niagara Enterprise.

“Leading dairy companies like Alpina Foods, Muller Quaker Dairy, Yancey’s Fancy and O-AT-KA Milk are among the almost 400 food processing companies that have grown and prospered in Genesee County and the surrounding area,” Kucharski added.

Tonight at T.F. Brown's I met Howard Johns, who retires after five more days of work from a 43 1/2-year career at Graham's. Johns was at Brown's with a group of coworkers celebrating his career as a set-up helper, supervisor and manufacturing engineer. Pictured with Johns, at the front of the picture are, from left, Justin Stramitis, Carrie Bell, Pete Corbelli, Pete Brade and Steve Censak.

A picture of the marquee under the Oliver's Candies sign has been making the rounds on Facebook. Is "Molly Pops" a mistake, people want to know.

It is not.

A molly pop, according to general manager Jeremy Liles, is a "peppermint molasses sucker covered with chocolate." And he adds, "Very good stuff!"

That's a nominee for understatement of the year.

I stopped by late today to get a picture and as I left, an Oliver's employee offered to let me take a sample sucker.

I took my first bite as I walked through the parking lot toward my truck. I immediately turned on my heel and headed back into the store. I bought a package of eight. Tonight, I shared one with Billie. She insisted that I share the rest.

"It's terribly delicious," she said.