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WPoughkeepsie Roots, Global Business
hen Steve E ron’s 107—he attended Lehigh University great-grandfather started a in Pennsylvania and then worked for grain, seed, and animal feed a few years with a food brokerage
EFCO Products manufactures bakery mixes and llings, fruit, and specialty toppings, supplying them to bakers, restaurants and wholesale food distributors worldwide.
of America, and Dutchess Community College,” he said. “We also bene t from our proximity to a large population base in the eastern corridor and great access to the New York ports.
“The strength of our business is innovation, and we like our customers and prospective customers to see how our products are developed and made,” E ron continued. “Fortunately, both our domestic and international customers love coming to the Hudson Valley. Whether they’re from New York City, Asia, the Middle East, or Latin America, our customers appreciate the rich history of the area and of our company.”
“I’m very proud to be from the Hudson Valley and have followed in my ancestors’ footsteps by giving back to the community,” he noted. He currently serves as a Marist College Trustee and as a trustee of the MidHudson Regional Hospital Board of Visitors.
“Dutchess County is a great place to live and work,” E ron said. “My wife and I enjoy the outdoors, the schools are outstanding, and there’s terri c theater, arts, and restaurants. It’s also a nice balance because our family can get to New York City easily if we want. I hope we’re in the Hudson Valley for a long time to come.”
business on Main Street in Poughkeep- sie in 1903, the Eastern European im- migrant delivered burlap bags to his customers in the rural Hudson Valley by horse-drawn cart. By the 1940s, the company was manufacturing jams, jel- lies, and fruit llings at a location a few blocks away, and it began to broaden its distribution network. Today, EFCO Products is a global business that supplies bakery mixes and llings, fruit, and specialty toppings to whole- sale, retail, and supermarket bakeries, chain restaurants, and food proces- sors worldwide.
Although Steve grew up in the family business—his father, Jack, and uncle Ira still sit on the board, and matriarch Sadie E ron continued dispensing advice until she died at
company and Hershey’s to gain outside perspective. He returned to the company in 1995 to work in sales, product development, and quality assurance, and took the helm as chief executive o cer and president in 2011.
Commenting on more than a century of doing business in the Hudson Valley, E ron said, “Our business is constantly changing and we’ve had to continue to evolve with it.” The Poughkeepsie native also pointed to a long list of advantages of doing business in the Hudson Valley: “We have a long-tenured workforce that is very skilled and adept at what they do. Our workforce is also fueled by a strong educational system, particularly Marist College, the Culinary Institute
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