Home Care In Toughkenamon, PA

Expansion across the Delaware River into New Jersey is one way that Toughkenamon, Pa.-based Manfredi Cold Storage is looking to accommodate future growth in imported fresh produce.

Frank Manfredi, president of the company, is partner with his brother John Manfredi in owning the Manfredi Cos., a group of companies that also include Inland Transportation Corp., Manfredi Logistics Service, National Refrigerated Freight and International Repack.

Manfredi Cold Storage opened in 1985 and completed its first cold storage room in early 1986. It has grown from two employees to about 270 employees, he said. The firm doesn’t own or market any fresh product, but rather offers short-term cold storage services to customers importing fruit.

“From (that beginning) we’ve done small additions and larger additions ever since,” Frank Manfredi said.

“We have been fortunate enough to team up with some really good customers, particularly importers gave us a lot of support.”

Toughkenamon is located just outside Kennett Square, Pa., and mushrooms are part of the history of the family and the company.

After coming to America from Italy in the early 1900s, Manfredi’s grandfather and his grandfather’s brothers had settled in the Kennett Square region in the 1930s and worked on mushroom farms. That generation gave way to the next generation, which included Manfredi’s father and uncle, both of whom grew mushrooms.

When brother John Manfredi got into the sales and marketing of mushrooms, Frank began growing mushrooms, he said.

After about 12 years, their business model changed when a customer who bought mushrooms from them wanted the Manfredis also to pick up pallets of fruit to deliver with the mushrooms.

“My brother told the guy we’re not in that business, and the guy told my brother, ‘If you don’t bring the fruit, don’t bring the mushrooms’ So my brother went to the port and picked up two skids (of fruit),” he said. “The rest is history.”

Access to River

The firm has easy access to ports on the Delaware River, the largest terminal for fruit imports in the U.S., Manfredi said.

“More fruit comes up the river than anywhere else,” he said. “We are a short haul to the river and we pick up at the waterfront every day,” he said, noting business at the Port of Wilmington, the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal, Penn Terminal and Holt Terminal, and others, he said.

“We are at all of them every day, and that’s really driving the bus (of growth),” he said.

Manfredi said the volume of fruit imports, and the variety of origins for those imports, has really changed the business since the late 1980s.

“Having summer fruit all winter long and having access to avocados all year long; you look at berries, you look at citrus, you look at avocados, those three categories have taken off like gangbusters,” he said.

With that growth of imported fruit volume, Manfredi has expanded along with its customers.

“The first cooler box we had here started out with like 60 skids, and I think the first year in business on the warehouse side, I think we handled 60,000 packages,” he said.

Today, with the 48-acre site in Pennsylvania, Manfredi Cold Storage can handle 30,000 pallets at one time and this year will handle more than 40 million packages, he said.

Earlier this year, the company opened up a 30,000-square-foot expansion at its Toughkenamon base and the company expects to open a new facility on 52 acres across the Delaware River in New Jersey by the end of next year.

Manfredi said the company has heavily invested in technology and software to make its operations as efficient as possible.

Every box is tracked and that leaves no confusion on where product is in the facility.

“There is no searching for product, and that allows us to turn around a truck relatively quickly,” he said.

“With changes we made with the software system here in the last 17 months, we’ve increased our throughput by 15%,” he said. “There as investment but the payback was quick.” Team meetings every week look at ways to solve problems and increase efficiency, he said.

With about 90 docks for trucks, the operation can unload and receive 110 truckloads of product in a day and ship out as many as 150 truckloads, if needed.

Beating the pandemic odds, Toughkenamon, Pa.-based Manfredi Cold Storage & Distribution is in expansion mode, says President Frank Manfredi.

Despite industry challenges with labor, trucks and COVID-19 protocols, the company has come through the pandemic stronger. Part of that success, Manfredi said, was the way the company embraced necessary COVID-19 protocols.

Workers who tested positive were sidelined for a time, but most came back to work without having any severe symptoms.

“Everybody had a sigh of relief that [COVID-19] just wasn’t going to kill you,” he said. “We found issues, we isolated those issues and the people came back to work. We were very fortunate to have that (COVID-19 response) team in place to do that for us. Everyone benefited companywide, including our customers.”

Business boost

West Coast port congestion has resulted in more ships routed to the East Coast to unload in recent months, and that has boosted business at the company, Manfredi said.

“The growth over the last three or four months because of the West Coast port issues [has] been amazing,” Manfredi said. An active import season for grapes and other deciduous fruit from South America over the winter will give way to big expected volume of citrus imports in the spring and summer.

“The citrus deal looks like it's going to be significant this year because of the issues in Texas, California and Florida,” he said.

The firm has easy access to ports on the Delaware River, the largest terminal for fruit imports in the U.S., receiving fruit from the Port of Wilmington, the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal, Penn Terminal and Holt Terminal, among others.

“More volume came to the East Coast than we ever anticipated,” he said.

Located near Kennett Square, Pa., the company’s 450,000-square-foot, temperature-controlled warehouse ranges from 0 to 55°F. The facility and racking installation allows customers to pick by pallet for all shipments. The 48-acre site in Pennsylvania can handle 30,000 pallets at one time, Manfredi said.

“We’re very fortunate because of the size of our facility,” Manfredi said. “We're still bringing fruit into the facility, and we've been able to accommodate our existing customers.”

Finding space for new customers seeking cold storage is more challenging.

“All in all, the good news for us to the labor market for us is probably softened up in the last two months we're able to get extra people into work,” he said.

Finding equipment necessary for warehouse operations is challenging, he said. For example, new forklifts or pallet jacks can take as much as a year to deliver from manufacturers.

Beyond that, firms that rent pallet jacks and forklifts don’t want to sell their inventory because they are making so much money renting the equipment, Manfredi said.

Expansion mode

Last July, the company opened a new 150,000-square-foot facility on 52 acres across the Delaware River in New Jersey.

“Two weeks after we opened the (New Jersey) facility, we realized it wasn't big enough and shovels were in the ground two months later for another 50,000-square-foot addition,” Manfredi said. The site has room to eventually expand to as much as 600,000 square feet, he said.

The 50,000-square-foot expansion will give Manfredi room for another 2,000 pallets, 15,000 square feet of packing space (for a total of 45,000 square feet) and six more bagging lines to meet market demand.

In a couple of months, Manfredi said the Kennett Square facility will see work begin on an addition that will provide comfortable accommodations and services for truckers. The accommodations include a cafeteria, internet access, clean bathrooms and more.

In general, the company tries to get trucks in and out in less than two hours.

“We don’t want to keep the trucks here for overnight, but if a driver shows up, (then) clean bathrooms, food and internet goes a long way,” he said. “Truckers are probably one of the most important links in [the produce supply chain] and probably the least respected. We want to try and take it up a couple notches for them.”

Despite the challenges of rising fuel and construction costs, Manfredi said that the company has weathered the pandemic with an eye toward meeting customer needs.

“We're very fortunate with the customer base and (new) customers that are coming to us that want to be served,” he said.

NEW GARDEN – A southern Chester County landmark that has endeared itself to its community for decades has served its last meal.

The Brown Derby, a neighborhood restaurant that specialized in Italian dishes and huge lobster tails since 1934, closed the business for good Saturday night.

The widely recognized building along Baltimore Pike in Toughkenamon was purchased from owners Joe and Lynne Hudock by three men who hope to modernize it, create an atmosphere that attracts families and provide nighttime entertainment. Olen Grimes, Steve Burkes and Ray Maxwell, all of the Kennett Square area, bought the building on a lease-to-puchase deal with the intention of turning it into Fire Hill Pub, a place that feeds the community and supports it in other ways, they say.

All three remember the restaurant from their past fondly, and they have all contributed to a plan that they hope will be a big part of their future. On Sunday they began the overhaul of the interior, yanking out wooden posts, pulling up carpet and carrying out trash.

They also contributed unique talents. Burkes, 59, provides financial acumen. He did the preliminary survey and plan and crunched the numbers. He said this project will be successful.

‘Success could come fast or slow. It could be successful fast,’ he said.

He is unsure, however, about how fast or how many changes they will make. For example, the Brown Derby ended its run with a take-out area. He is uncertain when or if that will return. And if they do include this feature, they may change its location.

Grimes, 52, is also owner of Art Works gallery in Kennett Square. He said he will not abandon that part of his life. Rather, he plans to spend his days at Art Works and his nights at the restaurant. He and his wife are concentrating their efforts on the design and the ambience of the future eatery.

Grimes said it will have hardwood floors, pictures on the wall that hearken back to the area’s history, and music after 10 p.m.

Maxwell, 44, is the chef. He has worked at several area restaurants and is looking forward to providing fresh and locally grown food for his customers. He said he intends to change the menu seasonally and provide meals that are affordable to the community. He said the average main dish will be $8 to $15. The restaurant will be open seven days a week and offer brunch on Sundays.

Maxwell also came up with the new restaurant’s name. He explained that the hill overlooking Toughkenamon at the airport is the highest point in southern Chester County, and when Lenape Indians lived here, they sent smoke signals to other Native Americans from atop this hill. As time went on, the area came to be called Toughkenamon, which Maxwell said means ‘Hill of Fire.’

All three men said they want Fire Hill Pub to be a place where the neighbors feel comfortable stopping by.

Grimes said he wants to connect with community with events such as an Oktoberfest in the backyard or community picnics. He said he wants to hear what neighbors have to say and follow their lead.

The owners are aiming for a fast turnaround on the building. Burkes said they have the third week of June in mind for an opening.

Grimes said many people have told him they are happy about the acquisition and are eager to visit.

One piece of information he said he wants to get out is that there has been and always will be plenty of parking.

‘Someone asked me how it would succeed because we only have seven parking places; that’s out front,’ he said. ‘Some people don’t realize we have the large lot in back.’

For Grimes, Fire Hill Pub represents a new beginning and a part of his past that he doesn’t want to lose. He said he and his wife often went to the Brown Derby for family birthday parties, and he promised that its welcoming atmosphere will continue.

‘We wanted a place in the neighborhood to get good food,’ Maxwell said. ‘It will be a place for family, food and friends.’

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A building at 1140 Newark Road in Toughkenamon will be turned into a tasting room and reception space for Harvest Ridge Winery by the end of the year.

Staff Writer

Before the end of the year, an empty building in Toughkenamon will become a major regional attraction when the Harvest Ridge Winery opens a tasting room on Newark Road.

The Delaware-based winery announced the new facility on Aug. 25. It will be housed in a long commercial building next to the Shear Satisfaction hair salon in town. On Monday afternoon, Kristi Wyatt, sales manager for Harvest Ridge, traced the winery's beginnings and its new direction.

Chuck and Chris Nunan, founders and owners of Harvest Ridge Winery.

“Chuck and Chris Nunan are the founders,” she said. “They have lived in New Garden Township for over 30 years. They were in Charleston, S.C., in 2010 and went out to a winery one afternoon. They loved it. Chuck said, 'We could do this at the farm in Delaware.' We planted the vineyard in 2011 and we were open for business in 2013. We're still very young, but have grown tremendously.”

The Nunans still have a home in southern Chester County, in addition to their vineyard in Marydel, Del. Harvest Ridge has a small retail boutique in Philadelphia, Wyatt said, and one of their wines is carried in Pennsylvania state stores, but the new location in Toughkenamon will be their big rollout.

The currently unmarked building is in good shape, Wyatt said, but the front will be redesigned to resemble the Delaware tasting room facade. Inside will be a tasting room and event space where parties, bridal showers or private events can be held. It will seat about 75 people.

In the spring, a courtyard area may be added between the two buildings at the site, Wyatt said. “The cool thing is that we're not a bar,” she said. “We're not open until 1 in the morning. That's not who we are.”

“We started the process with this building about four or five months ago,” Wyatt said. “Chuck Nunan owns the building. The township has a comprehensive plan to revitalize Toughkenamon. They'd like to get grants for sidewalks and street lamps, and get more retail space and restaurants. When I presented this to them, they thought it would work very well as the first step of what they had already planned to do. The township has been very supportive. We've gotten no objections, and a couple of letters from neighbors came to the township saying that they supported it.”

The new facility in Toughkenamon will resemble the front of the tasting room in Delaware.

As part of a network of wineries in southeastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, southern New Jersey and the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Harvest Ridge “has a good relationship with most of the other wineries,” Wyatt said, “and there's definitely room for more.” By linking promotional efforts with similar wineries in the area, the area becomes a regional destination for wine lovers. Harvest Ridge isn't unknown in southern Chester County. “We like to do lots of events in the township. We've done the Balloon Festival, the 'Wine & Wheels' event, the air show,” Wyatt said.

Wyatt grew up in West Grove and lives in Oxford now. She has worked with the Nunan family for 12 years.

Harvest Ridge also produces Rebel Seed Cider, “which attracts the beer crowd,” Wyatt said. The new Toughkenamon facility will offer cider on tap, as well as a full selection of Harvest Ridge wines.

“We have a huge wine club in Delaware, and we hope to be able to match that in Pennsylvania,” she said. “We do quarterly pick-up parties where people come and pick up their wine packs, and we'll have food and events with that. Our wine club always gets first releases, or they get special VIP seating at events.”

Harvest Ridge is community minded, Wyatt said, “and we do a charity event every spring with our food truck competition in Delaware. We support military, law enforcement or something involving kids. For the past couple years, our spring event has supported the Disabled American Veterans organization. We've donated about $17,000 per year.”

Harvest Ridge wines are made from the grapes grown in Delaware, supplemented when necessary by juice purchased from companies in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland, so the end product is as local as possible. The company produces about 20 varieties.

Wyatt said 15 to 20 part-time employees will work at the new building, and applicants are being trained so everyone is up to speed when the new Harvest Ridge facility opens. In the meantime, there are building permits to secure and licensing to put in place, “but we hope things will move quickly,” Wyatt said. “We will have Friday updates on our social media as construction goes along. We will also be looking for vendors interested in working with us at our facility -- food trucks, musicians, caterers, or those with event ideas. We will have a grand opening with a ribbon cutting, and invite the township officials who have been so supportive. It's going to be a lot of fun.”

For information on hiring or vendors, email Kristi@harvestridgewinery.com. For updates on Harvest Ridge and the new facility, visit www.harvestridgewinery.com.

Pennsylvania’s mushroom growers have seen some setbacks because of COVID-19, but an industry spokeswoman sees better days ahead.

“Because mushrooms are so versatile and there is demand for them, the industry will get through this challenge,” said Lori Harrison, director of communications at the American Mushroom Institute.

Pennsylvania’s nation-leading mushroom industry is based around the town of Kennett Square in southern Chester County.

State Rep. John Lawrence, who represents part of this mushroom heartland, said in a May 27 committee hearing that the coronavirus had caused major problems for the industry.

“There are mushroom growers that are on the verge of collapse and bankruptcy,” Lawrence said.

That’s quite a change from the beginning of the year, when the Mushroom Institute was touting record sales volumes and solid demand.

Harrison isn’t privy to information on mushroom growers’ finances, but she said the industry did see some disruption early in the pandemic.

The closure of foodservice businesses in March caused demand for the highly perishable crop to drop abruptly.

Farms sold what they could, donated what they couldn’t sell, and disposed of what they couldn’t give away.

The disruption was particularly hard on growers who primarily serve foodservice customers, Harrison said.

With demand down, growers cut production. Mushrooms are produced on a six- to 12-week cycle, so supply has been tight for much of the spring.

Still, “it wasn’t like the shelves were bare,” Harrison said.

She expects production to ramp back up as foodservice outlets continue to reopen.

At retail, mushrooms have seen steady demand since grocery stores sorted out their initial supply chain issues.

Harrison attributes the decent sales to the increase in home cooking since shutdown orders were issued. She suspects some consumers used this time to try new foods, including mushroom varieties they had never tasted.

Indeed, Google search trends show a surge of interest in food keywords since mid-March.

Searches for “recipes” and “cooking” spiked, and many food terms — including “mushroom” and “mushroom pizza” — set new records for search interest on the platform.

The jump was particularly noticeable for the term “online groceries.”

At the same time, help is on the way for mushroom growers who lost revenue because of the pandemic.

Mushrooms are one of the specialty crops eligible for federal aid under the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program.

Mushroom farms can get payments on mature crops that went unharvested, shipments that did not leave the farm, and product that was shipped but ultimately went to waste because of a lost market.

Growers will get up to 59 cents a pound on product that left the farm and 11 cents per pound on crops that stayed on the farm. USDA will send 80% of the eligible payment up front, and the agency will pay more if there’s money left over.

Lawrence, the state lawmaker, said he’s seeing a lot of federal money heading to farmers right now, but mushrooms often get neglected in federal crop assistance programs.

“What I’ve seen for mushrooms is pennies on the dollar, if there’s even pennies,” he said.

In the coronavirus program, mushrooms actually have some of the highest compensation rates among specialty crops, though there’s one category of payment, based on price declines, for which the crop doesn’t qualify.

Like other specialty-crop growers, mushroom farms employ lots of workers to grow, harvest and pack their products.

The health of those workers has been a major concern during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially after large outbreaks at meat plants focused national attention on the food industry.

Mushroom farms, which are routinely inspected by a number of government agencies, already had safety protocols in place and protective clothing in use. So the industry was quickly able to add rules for social distancing, mask wearing, and increased sanitizing, Harrison said.

“There’s not really a choice between feeding America and keeping workers safe. The industry believes that they need to do both,” she said.

At the Giorgio Fresh Co. packing facility in Toughkenamon on Tuesday, everyone was wearing a mask, and each station on the processing line had a divider between and in front of each worker.

The site employs 200 people and processes half a million mushrooms each week under several brand names, supervisor Angel Rivera said.

Art Petrosemolo contributed reporting.