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Relax, unwind, and unwrap Asher’s Chocolates with family and friends this summer by enjoying a Picnic! Of course, don’t just make it any old celebration! With Asher’s deliciously wide variety of treats, you’re guaranteed to host the perfect Picnic! Here’s a list of our must-have Picnic snacks for the ultimate summer celebration!

Keystone Crunch

This treat is seriously addictive that you better pack an extra bag in your Picnic Basket!  Pretzel wheels are the perfect foil for salted popcorn and assorted nuts bathed in buttery sweet toffee. What’s the best thing about this popcorn creation? It won’t melt under the summer sun so you can lounge on your Picnic blanket for as long as you wish! Or at least until you run out of Keystone Crunch!

Freshpacked Snacks Collection

Don’t forget to pack your favorite Asher’s Freshpack in your Picnic Basket! Our Freshpacks offer the perfect shareable and convenient option for this outdoor activity since the packs are resealable. Simply seal the lid to keep your treats fresh and critter free all celebration long! That’s assuming you won’t finish an entire pack in one sitting!

Boardwalk Crunch

You don’t have to be under the Boardwalk to enjoy this summer classic! In fact, Boardwalk Crunch is best enjoyed at Picnic in the park! Break off a chunk of Milk Chocolate to uncover pockets of soft marshmallow, crunchy nuts, salty popcorn, and crisp pretzel pieces! Make the Picnic packing as easy as possible by enjoying all the best snacks in one chocolate smothered creation!

Add Asher’s Chocolate Co. to your Picnic Snacks Checklist! You won’t be disappointed that you did! The smiles and memories taste even sweeter with Asher’s!

In the spirit of summer fun, Asher’s is welcoming yet another new addition to the team! This month, we’d like to introduce July’s employee highlight Jim Rategan as our Midwest Sales Manager. While it might be hot outside, Jim is sure keeping things cool and collected as he begins his journey with Asher’s!

Starting at Asher’s

Asher’s was searching for someone with exceptional leadership skills and the ability to create lasting relationships with customers located further from Asher’s home base in the Midwest region. Our search led us to Employee Highlight Jim as the perfect person to embark on this mission. While we couldn’t wait to bring Jim onboard, COVID put off his scheduled start date in late March to make his official first day on the job July 6^th, 2020.       

Jim wasted no time eagerly jumping into his new role! As the Midwest Sales Manager, Jim is currently working with Bob Hollander on a seamless transition as Bob prepares to retire at the end of 2020. As Bob Hollander quotes, “Jim is really enjoying learning all about our company, our chocolates and most importantly our customers, he has a very good attitude and will be a great addition to Asher’s sales team!” Bob is making sure that Jim is set for success as the two work closely together for training. 

Day-to-Day Tasks

There’s plenty to learn as employee highlight Jim begins familiarizing himself with all the ins and outs of Asher’s. To become the new Midwest accounts expert, Jim’s learning all about Asher’s customers, products, procedures and systems. To expand his network, Bob Hollander is introducing Jim to Asher’s customers in Chicago. Jim is getting to meet a lot of new people as he explores the different customers who carry Asher’s products. After Chicago, the plan is to move into Michigan, Indiana and ultimately Wisconsin

While building relationships with existing customers is important, Jim recognizes the opportunities in expanding Asher’s products to even more customers. So, a significant part of Jim’s days are spent researching and reaching out to potential Asher’s customers. This includes wholesale, distribution, retail and beyond. Jim says potential customers could expand beyond our normal scope because the world has changed so rapidly and significantly since March. Therefore, we must be exceedingly creative about where we will develop new customers. This is exactly the kind of initiative Asher’s is thrilled to have Jim bring to our team!

Favorite Tasks

There is always something to keep Jim busy! As a people person, Jim loves talking with customers and learning about their businesses. His trusting and professional nature has even granted him the opportunity to assist a couple of customers with more complex business issues.

Jim isn’t afraid of a sales pitch! He gets a satisfying thrill from identifying new potential customers and getting in front of them to present Asher’s delicious chocolates. He’s particularly fascinated hearing the different strategies customers have used to survive mandatory business closures. Given his expert knowledge, he has creative suggestions to overcome any challenges. But, most of all, Jim loves selling Asher’s!

Free Time

It’s not all work with this Employee Highlight! As a dedicated husband, Jim helps his wife with her successful spiritual growth and energy healing business. From his close involvement with his wife’s practices, Jim has been finding meditation especially satisfying during the recent months. He’s trying new skills and recipes in the kitchen, although his sons, ages 15 and 13, are tough critics! 

On sunny days, you can find Jim outside gardening or birdwatching. He’s a fan of golfing, fishing, and hiking in the forests of Lake Michigan with his 2 Cavalier King Charles Spaniels.

Jim is so very grateful and excited to be at Asher’s! We are lucky to have him and can’t wait to see him grow as a successful leader of the team!

It’s summertime which means endless sun and heat! While we might love tanning under the rays, our chocolates weren’t built to withstand these warm conditions! As a result, that’s why Asher’s Chocolate Co. crafted a perfect summer treat that can beat the heat: FUDGE! Let’s celebrate all things summer Fudge with a brief history of this goodie!

About Fudge

Did you know that Fudge is an American creation? Let’s travel back to 1886 in Baltimore, Maryland when an American confectioner and chocolate maker “fudged” a batch of caramels. However, his mistake turned out to be the work of genius, with the introduction of a delicious new treat, Fudge! From then on, Baltimore grocery stores sold fudge for only 40 cents a pound. That’s a great deal for such a tasty treat!

Growing in Popularity

It didn’t take long for the sweetness of Fudge to spread to areas outside of Baltimore, Maryland.  A famous Fudge story credits Vassar College Student Emelyn Battersby Hartridge for spreading Fudge in Poughkeepsie, New York. Miss. Hartridge asked her friend for a recipe to make for the Senior Auction of 1888. Her friend shared a cousin’s recipe from Maryland, and you guessed it, the recipe was for Fudge! Emelyn made 30 pounds of Fudge, quickly earning the name, “Vassar Fudge.” With the dessert making a hit, other students jumped on board making Fudge by cooking it over the gas lamps in their dorm rooms.

Asher’s Summer Fudge

Currently, Asher’s continues the tradition of crafting creamy Fudge in honor of the great experts before us. Today, we make a wide variety of Fudge flavors, embracing delicious ingredients and creative concoctions! Some of our favorites include the newly introduced Tiramisu Fudge. This flavor is made of chunks of golden graham crackers, sprinkles of coffee, and hints of cinnamon. Another favorite is the limited edition Vanilla with Sea Salt Caramel Swirl which is our creamy Vanilla Fudge swirled with sweet Caramel complimented by crystals of Sea Salt. However, the most popular is classic Chocolate Fudge which explodes with deeply rich Chocolate flavors.

Because summer is “funner” with Fudge stop by Asher’s Retail Stores in Souderton and Lewistown to discover your new favorite treat!

The Asher’s family is growing! We’d like to welcome Liam McGowan, this month’s Employee Highlight, aboard as our new Inside Sales Representative. In this role, Liam will be working closely with the Sales Team and Customer Service folks to strengthen Asher’s internal Sales Team and provide help to outside Sales Reps.

Starting at Asher’s

Members of the Sales and Marketing Team met employee highlight Liam at the Fall Saint Joseph’s University Career Fair. From there, Liam was brought in to interview and it was decided he’d make a sweet addition to our company. Upon graduating from SJU in May 2020, Liam officially started working at Asher’s on July 2^nd, 2020.

Learning the Role

We are all excited to teach Liam everything there is to know about chocolate and can’t wait to hear some of Liam’s creative ideas! Liam’s day-to-day tasks have been focused on training, learning, and jumping in to lend a helping hand where needed! In order to start building relationships with the clients he’ll be working closely with, Liam has begun calling accounts to introduce himself and to see if he can start assisting them with placing orders.

Next, Liam hit the road for two days to check out some of the stores that sell Asher’s. He learned the different items stores order to meet their needs and even saw the great ways to merchandise Asher’s candies. So far, traveling to different stores and seeing how our products get displayed for customers has been one of Liam’s favorite tasks. He hopes to have the opportunity to interact with more accounts in the future to help him best serve their needs as their trusty Sales Rep.   

Liam even got to help on a busy day in the candy store. While spending the day surrounded by chocolate, Liam got a taste of how our retail store operates. He was a pro at bagging hurt pretzels!

Free Time

When Liam isn’t in the office, he enjoys relaxing with his family and friends. You can find him playing rugby or golfing when the weather is nice.

Welcome to Asher’s, Liam! We can’t wait to watch your success as you grow into your role. Good luck!

At Asher’s Chocolate Co., it’s no surprise that chocolates are our specialty. However, in these warm summer months, we want to make sure you have treats that can withstand the heat! That’s why we’d like to introduce you to our Turkish Paste! It’s a treat made for the summer, but not many fans know a lot about it! That’s why we are dedicating this blog to all things Turkish Paste!

To start, Turkish Paste is often characterized as a nostalgic treat, resembling the dog days of summer’s past. Since we value traditions at Asher’s, will still make this old-fashioned treat for our beloved friends. Turkish Paste, also known as Turkish Delight, has its roots in the middle Eastern country of Turkey. In Turkish, the sweet is known by the name Lokum. It is an ancient sweet dish known around the world as it dates to hundreds of years ago. Rumor has it that a Sultan prince asked his chef to create a special dessert to impress his ladies. With that, Turkish Delight was born! Ancient Turkish Delights were made using a variety of nuts, rose waters, and mint flavors to appeal to royal crowds! Today, Asher’s crafts refreshing fruity flavors of lemon, orange and raspberry Turkish Pastes.

Our Turkish Paste is a chewy jelly center cooked for several hours, at which point fruity flavors are added for a sweet taste. The mixture is then poured into large trays to be set and about five hours later is finished by rolling in starch. Overall, if you are curious to try this famous confection, stop by one of Asher’s Retail Stores to ask for a sample! Stay cool and pick your favorite flavor of Asher’s Turkish Paste!

With this beautiful May weather now bringing sunshine to Asher’s, it’s time to introduce this month’s Employee Highlight. Meet Lisa Wylie, our very talented Packing Manager, who is known for being Asher’s very own ray of sunshine all year long!

Starting at Asher’s

            Employee Highlight Lisa began her journey with Asher’s in 1992, right after high school. Lisa’s dad knew a few people from Asher’s at the time and introduced Lisa to Mel. At the time, Mel was Asher’s lead lady in production. Lisa and Mel became fast friends, as Mel welcomed Lisa aboard the team. Mel was impressed by Lisa’s skill and bubby personality and hired Lisa as a candy packer. Lisa was the quickest packer on the lines for 6 years!

            By 1998, when Asher’s Chocolate factory moved its location from historical Germantown to our current location in Souderton, PA, Lisa had a tough decision to make. She knew she had to get her own set of wheels to make the trip to our new factory so that she could continue doing the job she loved. By 2003, Lisa was set to make the drive! She eagerly called up her buddy Mel, asked if Asher’s was hiring and the rest is history!

Day to Day at Asher’s

            Lisa has worn many hats over her years with Asher’s! From packer to production scheduler to lead lady of production, Lisa has truly done it all! Mastering these past roles prepared Lisa for her current leadership position of Production Manager. 

            In this role, Employee Highlight Lisa is responsible for making sure the packers are scheduled to lines and that the leads have what they need to get through the day like teammates, labels, and materials. Her work continues by ensuring all of production is running according to schedule and coordinating progress with various departments.

            Despite her busy days, Lisa still manages to be the sunshine of Asher’s! Lisa’s favorite part of her days is spreading encouragement and cheer not only to her packing teammates but to all departments within Asher’s. Everyone can agree, a conversation with Lisa always guarantees a laugh!

In Her Spare Time

You can catch Lisa in her car, shades on, windows down, and jamming to her favorite music! She loves spending time with her family and friends. Lisa and her daughter are besties, so anytime the two are together shopping, watching movies, or sightseeing, Lisa is the happiest mom ever.

Thanks for being a member of our Team that we can all look up to and admire, Lisa! Your family at Asher’s thanks you for hard work, loyalty, and sunshine personality! Keep up the fantastic work!

This May, Asher’s Chocolate Co. would like to wish a very special Mother’s Day to all the woman who make an impact in the lives of their family and friends. Being a Mother, Grandmother, or Material Figure is no small task! This Holiday Asher’s has crafted your Go-to Gifting Guide to provide sugar rushes for all the ladies who deserve the sweetest Mother’s Day candy ever!

Milk Chocolate Covered Cherry Cordial Traditions Boxes

Thank Mom for all her love by gifting her a box (or two) of Asher’s classic treat: Cherry Cordials! Our Traditions Boxes make the perfect present, just add a bow and it’s set to go! She’ll love this surprise that bursts with deliciously sweet and sticky Cherry Cordials. Upon first taste of the Milk Chocolate shell, your Mom will be smiling!

Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels Grab a Gift Boxes

This next idea, Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels Grab- a-Gift Box, is designed to make all the important woman in your life feel special. Asher’s Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels are a tasty masterpiece, boasting the perfect combination of salty and sweet flavors. Our Grab-A-Gift Box packaging creates a beautiful way to show Mom and Grand-mom just how much you care.

8-oz Milk and Dark Chocolate Assortments

If your Mom can’t pick between Milk or Dark Chocolate, don’t worry because Asher’s has you Chocolate Covered! We’ve created this 8-oz Box of Milk and Dark Chocolates to satisfy every lucky ladies’ sweet tooth. She’ll experience love at first bite when you gift her this box, filled with a tasty array of luscious buttercreams, chocolate truffles, and chocolate covered fruit purees.

Asher’s wants to make this Mother’s Day the best Holiday yet! That’s why we’ve selected these goodies we are sure will bring happiness to all recipients. Think Mom will enjoy even more sweetness? Shop online, visit our Retail Stores, or find us at other Fine Retails to browse more ideas! Mother’s Day candy is the best “Thank You” a Mom can get this Holiday!

            Happy April, Peeps! It’s time to introduce another Asher’s Employee Highlight, Emma Davis! Emma fills Asher’s Chocolate Co. with springtime smiles, so we are thrilled to dedicate this blog to all her amazing work.

Starting with Asher’s

            Emma began her journey with Asher’s in September of 2019. She works in the Souderton Retail Store and helps in the warehouse filling website orders. From her very first day, Emma’s work ethic and eagerness to learn quickly showed Asher’s she is a perfect addition to the family!

Day to Day

            There is never a dull moment for Emma, especially when Asher’s Retail Store is busy with the holiday rush of Easter! Emma is responsible for helping customers by packing candy for them or taking care of mail orders the Store gets from customers over the phone. We consider Emma a chocolate expert considering all the candy she’s packed for hungry customers!

            Emma uses her creative flair to make sure the Store is always looking festive and fun! She works hard to keep products stocked and cases full of the season’s themed candy. Emma has even learned to make beautiful baskets for orders or as display pieces in the Store to sell.

            There is always “hurt” candy to bag and get out because it sure does go fast! For Emma, there is always something to do, making her day fly by! Some of Emma’s favorite tasks include packing orders, decorating the Retail Store, and bagging hurt candy.

Great Work, Emma!

            Emma is a superstar; but, don’t just take our word for it. Kris Derstein, Manager of Retail and Online Operations, shares that “Emma Davis has been such an asset to the Retail Store/Internet department since she started last Fall.  She always comes to work with a smile on her face, is always extremely positive to customers and co-workers and is willing to do any job we throw at her efficiently.  We all love having her as part of our team!”

In Her Spare Time

            When Emma isn’t in Asher’s candy land, she enjoys her free time with sweet activities. She loves spending time with her husband, especially if they are enjoying a vacation in Nashville! Emma loves taking trail rides with her horses, hiking with her dogs and gardening around the houses.

            Keep up the fantastic job, Emma! Your hard work is surely noticed every day!

Spring tastes simply delicious at Asher’s Chocolate Co.! Words alone aren’t enough to capture the flavors of Asher’s classic Easter Treats. From sweetly filled Eggs to giant Chocolate Bunnies, Asher’s is an egg-pert on Spring favorites and Easter chocolate! In keeping with Asher’s mission to always deliver you the best quality chocolates, we have exciting news for this Easter Season! We’ve revamped a classic to introduce a brand-new line of colorfully designed Easter Packaging! It’s Asher’s traditional chocolate recipes now in a packaging that pops and hops with fun!

Asher’s fans will notice new bright pastel colors of lavender, sky blue, warm yellow, and soft green when shopping for the best Asher’s Chocolates to fill your Easter Baskets with. We love these bright colors as an addition to Asher’s Easter Line because they represent creativity and innovation. We want to guarantee Asher’s stands out to “everybunny” this Easter Season and these new packages do just that! Our Window Box Eggs, Easter Egg caddies, and Individually Wrapped Easter Eggs boast a design that the Easter Bunny himself can’t even get enough of! It’s a refreshed Spring Collection worth celebrating!

Which Egg is your favorite? For Chocolate crazed friends, we’d recommend 4oz. Chocolate Buttercream Eggs, Coconut Cream Eggs, and Vanilla Buttercream Eggs! The sweetness of decadent fillings is complimented perfectly by Asher’s smooth Chocolate coatings. Smaller Individually Wrapped Eggs are perfect for our pals who crave a sampling of many different flavors. Bite into a signature Vanilla Marshmallow Egg to enjoy pillows of soft whipped marshmallow. We even have Caramel and Marshmallow Eggs for the addition of sticky, golden Caramel atop clouds of white fluff! 

Spring means hopping to the candy store to create Easter Baskets that the Easter Bunny himself will envy. And with the addition of Asher’s beautiful new designs, your Easter Baskets will surely look picture perfect! No doubt, you will steal the spotlight from the Easter Bunny when you gift Asher’s Easter Chocolate!

            At Asher’s Chocolate Co., we are LUCKY to have the best employees ever! This month, we’d like to dedicate the blog to employee highlight Odys Demetrius! She sham’rocks every day, so we’re excited to highlight her and all the great work she does!

Starting at Asher’s

            Odys is proud to say that she started at Asher’s on November 23^rd, 1998.  She began her journey with Asher’s as a Packer, was promoted to Packing Lead and now is the Demand Planning Coordinator. That’s 22 years of amazing loyalty and dedication!

Odys Role at Asher’s

            As the Demand Planning Coordinator, Odys is responsible for many important tasks. She handles everything job related – creation, printing, modifying, issuing liquid chocolate and centers to finished good jobs, along with reviewing and closing jobs.  Another necessary task employee highlight Odys accomplishes every day is generating MPS (Master Production Scheduling) and MRP (Materials Requirements Planning), downloading the data for both, and sorting it into user friendly spreadsheets for planning and purchasing. It takes a skilled brain to keep all this information organized, and naturally Odys keeps everything running smoothly!

 A Day in the Life

            Odys hits the ground running, setting up the day for success. This includes communicating to her teammates all the production data from the reports she runs. Typically, there are more than 9,000 lines of data to sort for MPS alone so Odys uses her expert knowledge to make sense of this crazy amount of material! No doubt, all of Odys’ teammates in various departments rely on her detail orientated work ethic to share this critical information.

            Next on Odys busy morning routine is preparing ATP (Attainment to Plan) reports. Attainment to Plan means “did we produce what we planned to produce.”  Odys diligently prepares this report each morning for the previous day’s Souderton production. Thanks to employee highlight Odys, Asher’s production can produce confections as efficiently as possible.

            At a 11am Odys joins the daily production meeting to share the production jobs and schedules she’s prepared. Odys enjoys going out on the production floor to collect jobs from the day before and always shares a laugh with her friends in production! Because she is such an amazing team player, if Odys ever has a free moment, she heads into the production area to help in anyway possible.

Just for Fun

In her free time, if Odys isn’t binge watching her favorite shows on Netflix, she likes to go for walks with her doggies Pepe & Zeus. Look at how adorable these pups are!

In the Summer, Odys and her husband like water skiing at the lake, going to the beach and hitting some Rock /freestyle concerts. Odys’ 3 children are all grownup now, a son 29, and 2 daughters 23 & 21.

Thanks for sharing all you do for Asher’s, Odys! We are lucky to have you as a member of our team and congratulate you on all your hard work! Keep it up!