Boardman man’s adventures in maple-syrup products win regional acclaim

November 27, 2011 at 12:15p.m.

By Ashley Luthern

aluthern@vindy.com

BOARDMAN

Visitors to Rich Berg’s house on Woodrow Avenue can smell his granola before they see it.

Berg, 42, is known in the Mahoning Valley for his maple syrup, but he came to one realization about the business very quickly: “Maple syrup doesn’t sell as fast as maple products.”

Syrup isn’t consumed every day, so it stays on pantry shelves for a long time. Berg’s maple-pumpkin-apple cookies and other maple-based products, however, serve as daily snacks.

And it’s his maple syrup granola — a mixture of hot oats, pecans and syrup with a dash of cranberries — that has received the most attention. Berg’s granola was recently named a finalist in the The Center for Innovative Food Technology’s Northeast Ohio Signature Food Contest in Akron.

Berg, an insurance agent turned farmer turned entrepreneur, created Pancake Maples syrup about two years ago.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.