Family Business: Pilsudski Mustard and Betty's Salads Are Back

Business-owner family forms new company

A small vestige of shuttered Van Bennett Foods Inc. is continuing on with the fourth and fifth generation of the Marcinko family, a Reading-based food distributor and manufacturer. A week or so after the company closed its doors on Jan. 9, Michael Marcinko returned to the Shillington Farmers Market with some of his mustard to sell, a regionally popular brand that for more than 90 years was a staple in Berks County.

"I started from the basement," Marcinko said. He has been selling Pilsudski mustard, which was previously owned by his family's company, for over a decade. "I've been in the food business my entire life, and it's something that I've always loved."

He's interested in expanding the brand's reach and adding new flavors. Marcinko believes that the Polish-style mustard is a perfect match for the Polish-style food that is popular in Berks County.

He took his 9-year-old son, Jack, to the Shillington Farmers Market, where they were selling mustard and other products. "I told him that we're a business that's been in the family for five generations," Marcinko said.

A brief history of Van Bennett Foods Inc.

• 1924: Scranton natives Van and Betty Bennett establish a food manufacturing business, distributing their products from a two-car garage. The business is located in Buffalo and Binghamton, N.Y.

• 1928: Van Bennett is 45 years old when he opens his own food manufacturing business, Van Bennett Foods Inc. The company's main products are potato salad, macaroni salad, coleslaw, and a variety of other salads.

• 1949: The company buys the building at 410 Carroll St. in Reading.

• 1969: Joline, Van Bennett's granddaughter, begins working at the company. Her husband, John Marcinko, joins in 1972.

• 1988: John Marcinko takes over the company from his father-in-law.

• 2012: John and Joline Marcinko's son, Mike, joins the company as general manager and head of purchasing.

• Oct. 29, 2012: John and Joline take on a business partner, Joe Emmitt, and expand their product line.

• 2015: Van Bennett Foods Inc. closes its doors.