W E LC O M E TO T H E B U S I N E S S, J E R R Y • 45 When we lost Reese, there were a few rays of sunshine through the dark clouds. When our customers heard that HB Resse had been acquired by Hershey, they all gave us an extra order because of the respect they had for us. And then DL Clark, the makers of Clark bars, Zagnuts and peanut butter logs, came calling. They were dissatisfied with their broker. They came to visit us with their displays, their promotions, their advertising. They were doing everything right except for making a great piece of candy, which thankfully, they perfected. It didn’t seem to matter because Clark bars were hot. We started with Clark doing $40,000 a month. While we were happy to have the new line, it wasn’t enough to make up for the loss from Reese. I remember being in Maine a few months later thinking that the business would not be able to survive on what we had. It was dark and dismal, and I decided that after calling Abbe, like I did every night, I would call my father and tell him the firm had big problems. I picked up the phone and called Abbe. She was all excited. She told me to come home right away because the company was having a meeting with Nate Sloane who was the manufacturer of Charleston Chew (a real favorite in New England). I drove straight home and went to the meeting. It was a great meeting and we became the representatives of the Fox Cross Candy Company who sold Charleston Chew. Selling Charleston Chew gave us the income we needed to continue the business. After that we added many lines—Fleer, Austin, the Bortz line of Chocolate Novelties for Easter, Valentine’s Day and Christmas. We took on many other excellent lines that produced solid income. In fact at that point, the brokerage house was on its way to doubling income every five years.