NEW CASTLE Sweet offers: Candy makers aid Caiazza after fire

The candy maker hopes to be back to full production by the first of December.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- For someone who lost just about everything from his business to a fire, Matt Caiazza is pretty upbeat.
The July 24 blaze destroyed the Caiazza Candy building on West Washington Street, wiping out all of the equipment and stock.
But thanks to the region's tight-knit candy-making industry, it didn't destroy the business.
"These people basically called me and said 'Whatever you need.' If it weren't for them, we would have really been in big trouble," Caiazza said.
Other candy makers, including Fairfield Confectionery in New Castle, Daffin's Candies in Sharon and Giannios Candy Co. in Struthers, offered space, equipment or workers to help Caiazza produce what was lost in the fire.
Filled orders
"So far, we've been able to maintain basically every order that we had in house before the fire. We had a lot of orders. We were having our biggest year ever," Caiazza said.
The other candy-makers say helping out wasn't even a question.
"We just want to get him through this and get him back up and running. I think it's the right thing to do," said John Giannios, owner of Giannios Candy Co. in Struthers.
Late summer is often a slow time in the industry, and other candy makers had space and time to help, they say.
Giannios said he called back furloughed workers a few weeks earlier than normal this year to help out with the Caiazza Candy orders. They expect to make about 150,000 pounds of candy for Caiazza in the next few weeks, he said.
Daffin's Candies in Sharon is also producing Caiazza's products to their specifications.
"Even though you may be competitors, it's the type of industry where we try to help people out when we can. I know if anything like that would happen to us, we would probably be looking for that type of help," said Gary Sigler, operations manager of Daffin's Candies.
Caiazza said he was also able to put five of his 10 employees back to work at Fairfield Confectionery in New Castle.
Fairfield owner Tom Joseph Jr. is letting Caiazza make candy in his facility when his own production is over.
Joseph said he decided to offer space to Caiazza the night of the blaze.
"I looked at his employees' faces and they were just crushed. I knew right then and there what I was going to do," he said.
Don't know cause of fire
The building was destroyed, and fire officials say they will likely never determine what sparked the fire.
Joseph said he had feared his own building was burning that night. A blaze started just a few minutes before the Caiazza fire near his Glass Street plant at a lumber company, but did not spread.
Matt Caiazza said he hopes to be back in full production by Dec. 1. The company plans to sign a lease this week for a 20,000 square foot building in the New Castle area, he said.
"It's been 30 days since the fire and it's been pretty amazing. We are pulling everything back together," he said.
cioffi@vindy.com