It’s no secret that Michael Rosenberg likes to collect candy memorabilia. After all, the president and ceo of The Promotion In Motion Companies admits to having more than 100,000 pieces in his collection, many in the Museum Room at the company’s corporate offices. In fact, Rosenberg stores them in a secure temperature-and humidity-controlled room with a special FM-200 gas system to protect the priceless contents by extinguishing flames with gas, rather than water, in the event of a fire.
In a year or so, Rosenberg looks to expand that collection. But instead of memorabilia, he hopes to collect visitors, some 500,000 plus annually. Thanks to a planned expansion project that involves both the addition of a visitors center to one of the company's three Somerset, N.J. buildings, and the renovation of a 30,000-sq.-ft. existing building, the plan has been set into, well, motion.
“We’re going to revamp what we call the terminal building in the latest facility that we just acquired and turn that into the American Museum of Candy History,” he explains. He also hopes to house a befitting section dedicated to the Candy Hall of Fame. Rosenberg also looks to add an additional 60,000 sq. ft. to the company’s existing production facility to create a visitor center, leading to the Welch’s Fruit Snack Factory Tour.
In addition to housing a factory store and various interactive attractions highlighting the storied history of the Welch’s brand and explaining the production process, visitors will actually be able to tour the factory and see the Welch’s Fruit Snacks, Welch’s Fruit Roll-Ups, Fruit n Yogurt Snacks and other products being produced and packaged via a glass-enclosed overhead walkway system trans-navigating the sprawling facility.
For Rosenberg, it’s a dream that’s been building momentum for several years. Timetable? With a bit of luck from local authorities involving permits, buses could be rolling into Somerset by the end of 2016/early 2017. Make your reservations now.
