CHILLICOTHE – He grew up with an entrepreneurial spirit and a dream to own a restaurant. And, for a time, he did work in the restaurant industry.
“By age 25, I was the general manager of a chain restaurant in Pittsburgh, PA,” he clarified. “I studied the brand and stuck with the core values that made it so successful. But being number one also came with constant scrutiny. It was at that point I needed to try something else.”
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Then, in one of those unusual twists, he saw the movie “Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory.”
“For some reason,” he said, “Wonka’s bizarre behavior and the creative imagination of the story just stuck with me.”
So his dream shifted. From restaurants to candy. What really caught his attention was an old-fashioned candy counter near the entrance of the restaurant where he worked – an antique glass counter filled with nostalgic candy. “Customers’ eyes lit up,” he recalled. “It brought smiles to everyone. That was the eye-opener for me.”
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Today Christopher J. Beers owns 11 candy stores in Ohio and Pennsylvania, and one of them is Chillicothe’s Grandpa Joe’s Candy Shop.
“Every customer,” he noted, “is a happy customer.”
Now 41, Beers grew up in Lehighton, Pennsylvania near the Pocono Mountains. After high school, and after he became an Eagle Scout, he studied hotel/restaurant management and took culinary classes at a community college. He never completed that path, however, because, he said, “I was already managing a successful restaurant and work took a higher priority for me at that time.”
“My parents,” he added, “instilled an entrepreneur work ethic in me starting at an early age. My dream was to own my own restaurant. I began by washing dishes at age 16. By 18, I was a salaried manager, so restaurant management became my thing. But after tons of travel and almost 16 years in the business, money was no longer my most important object. I had gotten married and began having children. The restaurant business schedule wasn’t ideal for raising a family.”
Consequently, he opened the first Grandpa Joe’s Candy Shop in May 2012 in a “touristy area” of Pittsburgh. It was named Grandpa Joe’s, by the way, he said, “because of the character that took Charlie into the Chocolate Factory – the guy who stayed in bed for 20 years, but jumped up when given the chance to go into the factory!”
Beers was in the midst of opening another store in Middletown, Ohio when he saw Lloyd’s Sweet Shoppe was listed for sale on Craigslist.
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He met long-time store owners Emily and Nathan Lovett, gave them his vision for a Grandpa Joe’s Candy Shop and, he recalled, “They were onboard!” Emily even stayed on as store manager.
“He has a lot of creativity,” deemed Emily Lovett. “He’s brought a lot of promise and business to downtown.”
“Come work a single shift in the store,” Beers responded, “and you’ll know exactly why we do it.”
“Every customer,” he summed, “discovers a memory from their childhood, or finds a candy they’ve never heard of – and I absolutely love hearing all the positive feedback.”
Grandpa Joe’s Candy Shop is located at 22 West Water Street in Chillicothe. For more information, call 740-773-7100 or log on www.grandpajoes.com.
About the Series
Aces of Trades is a weekly series focusing on people and their jobs – whether they’re unusual jobs, fun jobs or people who take ordinary jobs and make them extraordinary. If you have a suggestion for a future profile, let us know at [email protected] or 740-349-1110.
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