Beloved Betty's Salads Are Back and Better Than Ever

Beloved regional brand Betty’s Salads is back

When Linda Nefos of Kenhorst stopped by the Shillington Farmers Market on a recent Thursday, nostalgia called out to her from the deli case, where memories lay slathered in mayonnaise and horseradish.

Nefos is one of hundreds of customers who have stumbled upon the new home of Betty’s, an iconic Berks County line of refrigerated salads that had been off the market for nearly three years.

“My mother used to get Betty’s for Easter and other family things,” Nefos said while waiting for an order of deviled eggs. “She did everything Betty’s: potato salad, macaroni salad, especially once she couldn’t make it herself anymore.”

Some might call this stand just inside the market entrance Betty’s Salads Version 2.0.

Owner Mike Marcinko officially calls it Betty’s Classics Deli Salads by Pilsudski Mustard.

Between 1998 and 2015, Marcinko worked his way up from the warehouse to become general manager of Van Bennett Foods Inc. The Reading-based company made and distributed Betty’s Salads and Betty’s Potato Filling, serving customers near (at FirstEnergy Stadium) and far (as store-branded products in regional grocery chains).

But facing more competition and smaller profit margins, Mike’s father and Van Bennett owner John Marcinko decided to close in January 2015. At the time, Mike Marcinko and the rest of the family agreed it would be too hard to turn things around, given a recent bankruptcy filing by one of the company’s largest customers.

Marcinko seized his chance to try something different – for awhile.

Instead of buying all the Van Bennett equipment and product line, he took only the secrets behind the Pilsudski mustard, a creamy, Polish-style product laced with horseradish.

For more than two years, Marcinko worked full time for East Penn Manufacturing Co. and sold his condiments on the side.

“The mustard was easy,” he said. “We loved it, all of my friends loved it, and we did a good little side business.”

He’d spend hours fine-tuning new flavors with his wife, Kristen. He tapped into a niche market, working as the “mustard guy” at hunting and fishing shows all over the country.

He doubled sales every year since 2015, but working during the week and spending 23 weekends on the road a year took a toll on his family. In January, when he was finally able to pay himself a salary, Marcinko left East Penn.

He focused on Pilsudksi full time, and the effort paid off. Marcinko said he tripled his internet sales over last year, thanks to free shipping and faraway expo customers who needed replenishments.

By summer, he was thinking about bringing back more Van Bennett favorites.

He knew his approach had to be different.

Everyone in the family could recall some version of Betty’s recipes. The problem was that consistency waned as the company cranked out 500- to 1,000-pound batches to meet supermarket demand.

To return to the roots of the dishes his great-grandmother created in the 1920s, Marcinko has purposely kept his rebranding effort small.

Van Bennett had 20 employees when it folded. Marcinko has none for now, but hopes to bring his friend Ryan Sheaffer into the fold as sales increase.

Limiting who’s behind the counter is one way to control quality.

“We might have had five managers, and even if they were all using the same recipe, it wasn’t always the same,” Marcinko said. “Betty, she just dumped in a little of this, a little of that. She knew it was right by the taste. For us, making 30-pound batches might just be the best thing we can do.”

He settled on the concept just as the Shillington market, in Cumru Township, was going through a rebirth, thanks to a purchase by local restaurateur Hamid Chaudhry.

“It kind of came around full circle,” said John Marcinko, noting that Van Bennett had toyed with opening farmers market locations before ultimately folding. “It’s great that he’s in there and satisfying this need that exists.”

He said Mike’s attention to detail – and new recipes he’s developed after years of watching his friends buy and make food – should pay off in the taste department.

“I told him, ‘We not only looked at every finished product, we tasted it,’ ” John said. “I remember the tastes from being involved for 40 years, and he’s on the right track.”

At Shillington, Marcinko sank about $6,000 in upgrades to his 300-square-foot stand, focusing on new lighting, a digital payment system and a flat-screen TV to showcase his products

He started selling mustard and pickles on Oct. 21. By the first week of November, he’d placed a few salads in the glass case.

A few weeks later, vintage-style signs with his great-grandmother’s likeness loomed over Marcinko as he dished up nine classic dishes.

Regular options include macaroni salad, potato salad, shredded coleslaw, rotini salad, white meat chicken salad, chicken potpie, sauerkraut and potato filling.

With the help of Sheaffer, he also makes deviled eggs in a variety of flavors (including those made with the dill and Sriracha versions of Pilsudski mustard).

Shopping just before Thanksgiving, Nefos wanted to know when she might be able to pick up some Betty’s seafood salad.

Others have asked for pepper cabbage – hard to make without an expensive commercial cutting-and-mixing machine.

But Marcinko aims to add two or three dishes a week, all of them advertised on Facebook. Last week he added home-style chocolate pudding aka “dirt pudding” last week. Never a fan of mayonnaise, he preferred the sweeter items on his great-grandmother’s menu.

He tastes each dish himself, but he’s also picking the brains of the old Van Bennett experts, including his father, to make sure all of his dishes have the authentic flavor his local customers expect.

For now, Marcinko has no plans to push his salads back into grocery stores.

His focus will be on small batches and ultra-local partnerships like one with Brocmar Smokehouse, just a few market stalls away. He also started offering Czerw’s smoked Polish kilbasa the first and thrid week of each month – perfect with the mustard.

“My goal is to run out so we can make things fresh each day,” Marcinko said. “The cool thing about the market is we can try things for a weekend or do seasonal things.”

Just before Thanksgiving, cranberry relish and shepherd’s pie made the menu.

Customers like Tina Piccone of Lebanon are happy to find the standards again. She served Marcinko’s potato and macaroni salads for her mother’s 80th birthday. Her mother worked for Van Bennett years ago.

“When I told her it was Betty’s, she gave me the biggest smile and said, ‘Yes it sure is,’ ” Piccone wrote on Facebook. “It meant a lot to us in our own way.”

By Kimberly Marselas

Contact Kimberly Marselas: 610-371-5049 or money@readingeagle.com.

Originally Published: December 12, 2017 at 12:00 AM EST