BELOIT Fans sweet on cremesticks

The creamy white filling is what brings cremestick lovers back for more.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
BELOIT -- Bite into the soft, sweet dough and the white, creamy filling oozes out the end.
That's why they call it a cremestick.
Each day, the staff of the Quaker City IGA rolls out doughnuts and cookies and cupcakes by the dozens, but the cremesticks are the most popular sweet treat.
The IGA has been a community fixture on West Fifth Street since 1961. Larry and Jane Miller have owned the store since 1987. That's about the time manager Gary Tennefoss started working there after school, a 16-year-old West Branch High School student.
Tennefoss said he began by bagging groceries, and "I still do that." He also ensures that employees go out of their way to serve customers, including cleaning snow off of cars when they carry out their bags of groceries.
The store has about 68 employees, with 12 in the bakery. Of the 68 workers, 15 are full time.
Draws them in
The store is known for its bakery and deli items made on site, but it's the cremesticks that bring customers to the store from Youngstown, Canton and Cleveland.
Tammy Murray, bakery manager, said it's the plentiful, white creamy filling that brings satisfied customers back for more cremesticks.
"People come from all over to buy our cremesticks because there aren't many places left that use the white filling," Murray said. "Ohio is about the only state that sells them that way, and it's mostly in this area."
Residents transplanted to places all over the United States are among the cremestick fans. While some can wait until occasional visits for a cremestick fix, other have relatives deliver them when they visit, or ship them.
"My brother lives in Colorado, and when I asked my sister-in-law what she wanted for Christmas, she told me 'a half-dozen cremesticks,'" Murray said.
One customer ships cremesticks to relatives in California. Another takes them to co-workers in Akron.
"We have people who come from Youngstown and Canton and even Cleveland," Murray said.
She said one customer comes in for doughnuts once a week. He buys 10.
Another buys custard-filled pastry puffs drizzled with chocolate -- four each day -- and another comes in each Sunday for "doughnuts for the aunts," his wife's elderly aunts whom they visit each week.
Other popular treats
Besides the cremesticks, the IGA's jelly-filled, glazed and cake doughnuts, along with several varieties of cookies, are popular treats in West Branch and Sebring teachers' break rooms. Iced sugar cookies and cupcakes make their way to many classrooms, for Halloween and Christmas parties or birthday celebrations, Murray said.
Graduation parties in the spring mean lots of business for the bakery, with buns and rolls and decorated cakes in demand.
"I love this job because there's something different to do all the time," she said. "We learn something new every day."
Start times are staggered, but can be as early as 4 a.m., Murray said. Depending on the demand, some of the staff can work a 50- or 60-hour week, she said.
During Thanksgiving and Christmas, baking often begins at midnight to ensure all orders are filled.
"We want to keep our customers happy," Murray said. "They can tell the difference between the packaged products we sell and what we make from scratch. That makes us feel great!"
tullis@vindy.com