My grandfather Sam Born was born in the Ukraine in a small community called Berdychiv.

When he was about 14 or 15, he decided that he needed to leave.

He didn't want to be recruited into the czar's army.

This is back in 1904/1905.

So he left his family and he made his way to Prague and then to Paris.

And he needed a job.

So he got a job in a candy store.

He clerked.

He did whatever he did in the back room.

And he learned how to make chocolates.

And when he got to America, he came into New York.

And what did he know?

He knew how to make French chocolates.

And he set up a shop in Brooklyn on Myrtle Avenue in 1923 and started Just Born Incorporated.

Now, the way Just Born got its name is when he had the retail shop he had a window dresser that decided to do a play on his name, Born and put a baby scale in the window.

And it ended up that the moniker for the product, for the for the candy was it was “just born”.

It was just fresh.

It was made fresh.

The Shaffers, my father Jack, and my uncle Irv, and my mother Cecile, were all from New York City.

In the case of my uncle Irv and father Jack, they were from Brooklyn and my mother was from the Bronx.

Sam’s wife, Ann, was the sister to my father, Jack, Uncle Irv.

And Sam's business was growing, so he asked Irv if he would like to join him.

And my Uncle Irv was an engineer and pretty good salesman.

And so my Uncle Irv joined.

That was in 1924.

And then in 1926, they asked my father, who was at the time a glassblower but also a finance professional as well as a good salesman.

They asked him to join the business as well.

So the three of them were running the business out of Brooklyn until 1932.

1932 came along and they wanted to expand and they ended up buying at auction the property that is presently Just Born headquarters in Bethlehem on Stefko Boulevard, which is a 100 year old building.

The original building still standing.

It was owned by Carey Printing out of Philadelphia.

And this printing company printed the Saturday Evening Post and many other magazines.

Much of our growth was attributed to, in the early years, to the purchase of other businesses, small businesses.

There were lots of candy factories, candy companies, around the United States.

Many communities had their own candy operations.

There was an opportunity to purchase a number of companies over the years, I would say at least a half a dozen.

Maillard was actually a company founded in 1848 by Henri Maillard He came to the United States in the 1850s.

During the Depression, Maillard had a very large factory building in New York.

Well, they went bankrupt.

Certain assets went to their creditors, and their biggest creditor at that time was National and Union Equipment.

So they basically got the factory building and they got the company.

They didn't want to make candy, that wasn't their business.

There obviously were discussions.

I don't know all of what went on, but it turned out that Just Born bought Maillards in 1935 from Union Equipment.

It just bought the name, it bought the recipes, the customer list, and some people came to Bethlehem from New York.

So that's how we got into Maillards.

And it was fine candy, it was a very different line of products, a wide assortment, not just chocolate, but it was a variety of products, mints and jellies and hard candies.

It was quite a company.

When I came into the business, we made some 700 kinds of candy, especially in the Maillard line.

Everything was very picayune and it was beautiful stuff, but everything was hand-decorated, these crystallized creams that we made and I determined that we needed to be in a niche business and not try to make, be everything to everybody.

And because of that, gradually concentrated on a few items.

We were a chocolate manufacturer when we started.

We then got into jelly beans or jelly bean-type products.

Ultimately Mike and Ike which is mostly an elongated jelly bean.

It used to be sold in boxes with four partitions - with two partitions in it.

So it had four compartments and they had four different flavors, a penny a piece.

And some retailers would peddle it for less, but it worked out.

And we had one salesman that said, “Hey, put these things in the small boxes and sell them for a nickel.” We tried it.

We got a machine to package them and it sold and that was it.

And it started building up.

We got more machines to do it and faster machines.

And that's how Mike and Ike came to be.

When you make jelly beans or Mike and Ike for that matter, and you tumble them in a pan, you get a lot of doubles, they stick together.

You can’t sell doubles but you can’t take them - and after, you screen them out, you can't throw them away because there goes the profit.

I saw this stuff piling up.

What am I going to do with all this stuff?

I'm walking in the cooking department one day and I see them cooking up a batch, and it was a reddish color.

I says, I want you to pull some of that out, I want to cast it.

And I want - I'm going to put cinnamon flavor and we're going to use that, and we'll see what happens.

That'll hide any flavors.

I mean, it was so hot that I couldn't eat it myself.

I made some samples and I brought it to our sales manager and I said, Look, you've got a job.

I said, This is a product that you can call whatever you want.

He takes a little and says that's hot!

We’ll call it Hot Tamales.

I said, Okay, whatever you want to call it, just sell it Became a flagship of the line.

Rodda Candy Company was based in Lancaster Pennsylvania.

It so happened it was in the lower level of the original Milton Hershey Factory, and they were producing several different types of products.

They were making jelly beans and they had a practice, they waited until we came out with our price list every year, and then they would cut their price by one penny less.

That was their technique, but it was, it was hard competition.

And we went there and that was, that was the goal to get that business and take it and do our own thing with it.

And I saw this marshmallow being made and I saw 80 women with these big cake decorating bags, and they'd slap marshmallow in from these open beaters that were run by overhead pulleys.

It was so primitive.

They would slap the marshmallow into these bags and they would squeeze it.

And their hands were so raw.

And I found a material that they could rub on their hands to help them because I had to run the place for a year when we got it.

And, during that time I figured that this is really something that should be and can be mechanized, and that's that's how it came about.

And we finally came up with something that looked halfway decent after many a night of being up 24 hours.

And we had an old fellow there that came with Rodda Candy Company and he said, Don't you think that the people that made these things for 50 years, if it could have been done mechanically, they would have done it.

I said, I have no idea what they could have done.

He said, Oh, all you young guys think you' And finally, the day came when we had some Peeps running down the belt, and this old guy walked over - old guy - he is a kid to me now.

Looks.

He looks at it, I knew we could do it.

On the bill of sale for the business, the Rodda Candy Company, there were some findings, we call them findings, there was packaging material and there were several corrugated cartons not filled with anything they were flat cartons that had Peep on it That was on the itemized list of what had been sold to Just Born.

So we know that Peep came from Rodda.

Nobody had a vision that this is what... Peeps would become ubiquitous with Easter.

And so it's...it is a little overwhelming to know that we are the stewards, the shepherds of one of America's most beloved brands, at least for... for the weeks between Valentine's Day and Easter and it, it's a heady kind of obligation to try to keep it going and to think about what this brand still can do, not only in terms of sales growth, but in terms of bringing the community together.

I think Peeps is more than just Easter.

I think Peeps is trying to tell us something and we just need to think about it differently in order for us to pull out that which this brand can really be not only to our company but to individuals in our community and potentially individuals worldwide.

That slogan that came about as a result of our Peeps and Company stores that inside were all the same resonates with a lot of people.

Mike and Ike was born, no pun intended, in 1940, and so Mike and Ike is 82 years old this year, but in 1985/86, in the mid-eighties, we started getting research back that said that Mike and I was old and stodgy, that nothing had happened to it in a long time.

And so we went out and hired a marketing consulting firm and they worked with us and ultimately we changed everything about Mike and Ike in terms of the packaging, not the product so much, although, we did make a minor product change, but it was really about the packaging and when we were finished we shipped the product out to our warehouses in California and started introducing the new packaging from the West Coast to the East Coast.

And in the first month of their introduction in California, sales were up 30% and all we had done was change the packaging.

Brands are really king and people that are really important to the brands, they're the ones - our people - are the ones that are engaged in nurturing the brands.

Those are the important people.

One of our marketing chiefs he was very talented and back in the mid-nineties, his name was Greg Barrett.

He came to David and to me and said, You know, we should be thinking a little bit more about brand.

How are we going to build our Marshmallow brand; at that time that was Just Born Marshmallow and we had all these different shapes.

So the three of us were talking and Greg said, I'll come back with some ideas.

He did.

A couple weeks later, I recall he came back and said, I think we should be calling the brand Peeps.

And I remember saying to him, Well, are you speaking about Peeps for all of our items like Peeps Pumpkins?

Peeps Bunnies?

I knew Peeps as a chick, not as all these other items.

And he said, Yeah.

He said, That's what I'm thinking about.

He had talked to some other folks and they thought Peeps might be a good umbrella brand.

Well, I wasn't convinced.

And I know that David and I looked at each other with a little bit of amazement, like, I don't.

A little bit of bewilderment.

But we both said, Greg, you're our marketing chief.

If you think that this can work, give it a try.

Look what we did.

Peeps has become quite a brand and it all started back in the mid-nineties when David and I said, You know what, we need to build a brand.

We talked to our marketing guy.

He said, Yeah, we should be building a brand.

And that's how Peeps came about.

The Goldenberg family were generational fa and one thing led to another down there.

The detail isn’t important.

What is important is one day I received a phone call and from, The Goldenbergs, and they indicated that they were interested in exiting the business and wanted to meet with us to see whether or not we would have an interest in acquiring them.

And that was in 2003.

And we had that meeting.

Ross and I went to Philadelphia.

We met with The Goldenbergs.

They really wanted us to buy the business because they knew who we were and they felt very confident that we would do right by their legacy.

From the early-eighties to 2003, we were a Mike and I, Hot Tamale, Peeps company and we thought, you know, it's really important to have another leg on this stool and when this opportunity to purchase Goldenberg’s came to us, to think that we can get back into the chocolate business again was really compelling.

And so we purchased the Goldenberg Candy Company to shore up our range of products and also to know that we were back in the chocolate business.

It was important we knew to the Goldenbergs and it was important to us because we don't just say that people are our greatest assets we walk the talk.

The folks who are down in Philadelphia working for so many years and so committed to that business, we couldn't even think about bringing the business somewhere else and having them have to go look for other work.

It was an effective plant, an efficient plant and run by Gayle Downs, a wonderful woman who's legendary, quite frankly.

And, she was going to take care of that pl We knew she would.

And so we decided we're leaving.

Goldenberg’s right where it is.

And it is still there today.

And Gayle is still there today.

How important is the community?

My gosh, the community is everything to us.

If you don't have a good community, a strong community, a vibrant community, you cannot really have a successful business.

Just Born is a fantastic partner across the whole district and I think it starts at the top.

We know that the Shaffers and the Borns are personally invested in our community and in our district visiting our schools.

So, you know, it's coming from the top and then it just flows down through all the employees.

So we have, you know, volunteer time at school clean-ups or donating to clothing closets or tutoring.

So it goes all the way down to, through the employees.

And then as needs have developed over the past decade, Just Born has been right there to help with those.

From keeping seniors safe at home to, you know, educating our young students to food access, to emergency services, they're really involved in all of that.

One of the things that really makes it transformative when I think about it is kind of the model we use now to really get at systems change, which is really about kind of working upstream to get at root causes of problems.

The model we use is called Collective Impact.

Some people are familiar with Collective Impact and it was really Just Born who said you need to go all in on this Collective Impact model because there's so much more we can do in community.

I mean, we've been helping people again for over a hundred years, but we really kind of took it to the next level when they challenged us to do that.

So, I really can't overstate the way they've transformed the way that we work.

For a small organization, it's really impo a partner that remains a constant.

So a lot of times when you are a nonprofit, obviously you rely on donor support, you know, grant support, things like that.

But sometimes that comes and goes and you know, you have to work for it.

You have to write the grants.

You have to, I don't want to say fight for it, but you're competing - I mean, there's a lot of nonprofits out there.

So, I can really just say that Just Born feels like a constant in our lives.

We feel that we can always rely on them.

And, you know, they're very reliable for, you know, our summer camp program.

And, you know, if we request a candy donation just to kind of make someone smile or, you know, bring some joy to the community, Just Born seems to always be there.

And I mean, physically they're right there, but really, truly, I mean, as a partner, they feel like they're always there for us.

Everybody knows Just Born.

Kids who are in the community closest to Just Born, you know, live right there.

They refer to the hill across the street, across Stefko as Candy Hill when they go sledding.

So, it's just, it’s woven into the communi And for the kids to see that support, I think is really, you know, lets them know they're not alone even if they're facing difficult times.

Rather than investing resources outside of the community, it all starts with investing here.

I think, you know, it's a little cliche to but I mean, children are our future, so and Just Born is right in the backyard here, so why wouldn't we invest our resources and our money and our efforts into the children who are living right here?

And I just think that's really important.

And I think that's something that Just Born values and displays by supporting Northeast Community Center.

We now have 32 community schools.

The number keeps growing.

We keep adding on.

And it's interesting because when a new community school comes on board, it doesn't matter whether they're from Allentown or Bethlehem or Easton, when they come on board, they say, who's the model community school that we should be looking at?

And sure enough, you know, it's Marvine Elementary and, you know, why is Marvine Elementary a model community school?

Because Just Born is their partner.

Just Born is a huge company.

I've known them, you know, since I was little.

And everybody knows, even my in-laws out in western Pennsylvania, you know, Oh, the peeps, they make the Peeps.

How cool is that?

So it's like a well-known name.

Everybody knows who Just Born is.

And so it means a lot that they support us.

In 1987, David and I wrote a philosophy that over the years has been modified and expanded and made more clear and more relevant over the years.

And we headed up our philosophy with the following statement.

“We believe a successful, sustainable busi and stewardship.” And then we put together the Respect Philosophy, R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Each one of those letters has significance R for relationships.

E for engaged associates.

S for safe... safety P for personal character.

E for excellence, C for communication, and T for trust and integrity.

I think one of my favorite mantras that I've always espoused is that in order to be a strong, thriving company, you have to reside in a strong, thriving community.

We believe that in our core.

And so ensuring that the community is as vibrant and healthy as possible, drives us to make our associates part of that vision by asking them to help in the community, to volunteer, whether it's donating candy, donating money or donating time.

We've built up quite a reputation as a company in the Lehigh Valley known for doing all those things.

And when we do surveys and our associates tell us what they think about the company, they are effusive about their good feeling relative to how the company lives this purpose.

So when we're looking to engage new associates in whatever we're doing, a lot of our folks retired over the years.

My gosh, we've had so many people retire and it's really wonderful that people can retire, that we need to engage new people.

Well, how do we attract them?

With our Respect Philosophy.

That's one way of doing it.

It's not just the pay.

Pay is important, but it's not the most important.

We believe that respect of our business is primary, and part of that formula is caring about the community.

We don't have to wave banners, but people know that we care about the community and therefore there is more of an interest in wanting to work at Just Born.

And that's a good thing.

Our fathers and uncles and cousins worked very hard to build a very solid foundation upon which I always say Ross and I just piled bricks upon bricks upon bricks.

And that foundation held.

To be a company or one of the few companies that will make it to 100 years old is a very satisfying thing.

But more important, we want to be a family because all of those people who work at Just Born and all of those people who are our stakeholders, whether that's our suppliers or our brokers or our customers, they count on this business and we want to be there for all of them, help raise them in any way we possibly can I always like to say we're the sweetest folks in the Lehigh Valley.

And yes, we use more sweetners than anyone else in the Lehigh Valley.

But kidding aside, sweetness comes in all forms.

It's the purpose of Just Born.

Why does Just Born exist?

And after many iterations we came up with a very simple phrase It is really simple, but it's rather complex as well, Bringing sweetness to people's lives.

We are not taking this into the next generation or into the next century for our family.

We're taking this business into the next century for all of our stakeholders.

It's what drives us.

It's what we want to be known for.

It's about being a catalyst to show other companies how businesses can be successful and still do really good things for everybody.