North Tonawanda, N.Y. (WBEN) - Easter is fast approaching on Sunday, and many have already made their way out to get their much-needed goodies for an Easter basket or a family gathering this coming weekend.
There are a number of essential sweets that can complete your ideal Easter basket, including a larger than normal chocolate bunny, chocolate eggs, jelly beans and so much more. Maybe some prefer other options as part of their Easter delicacies, including chocolate-covered pretzels, chocolate truffles, assorted nuts, or even the Western New York staple sponge candy.
If you happen to need any last-minute additions for your Easter basket or dessert table this weekend, why not check out Platter's Chocolate Factory in the Wurlitzer building on Niagara Falls Boulevard in North Tonawanda.
Since moving to the Wurlitzer in 2016, owner Joe Urban says every Easter's been busier than the one before. So far in 2023, it's been the busiest Easter he has ever seen.
"It is far-and-away the biggest season for us," said Urban. "Then comes Christmas, which is still quite a bit bigger than Valentine's. Valentine's is big, and then after that, Mother's Day, Sweetest Day, they're almost blips on the radar compared to Easter and Christmas."
Urban says business at Platter's has been hopping, with about 2,000 transactions per-day. He says the week of Easter is the busiest time of the year for the factory, followed by this past week as the second-busiest week of the year.
Trying to keep track of how much chocolate and other candies to make every year for the Easter holiday can be quite a challenge, Urban is willing to admit.
"We use a point of sale system that tracks what we sell the previous year. Daily, it tracks what we sell, so we're able to look back a year and figure out what we sell. But the difficult part has been figuring out how much above that we need to make," Urban said. "As I said, every year since we've moved to the Wurlitzer it's grown. In some years, it's been 25%, so it's hard to figure in for that. We've had some crazy last weeks, where we're trying to make sure the store is not empty, but we're in great shape this year."
One of the more popular items available for Easter baskets are the chocolate bunnies, which seem to come in different shapes and sizes every year. However, there's much more than just bunnies that can be crafted into chocolate for Easter - or whatever occasion - with the help of customizable molds that are available at Platter's.
"We do a lot of, what's called, corporate giving, which is they'll give us a business card and we'll make their business card in chocolate. We actually have a lot of people that when they're getting married and they want favors for their table, they'll have a four-ounce bar made," Urban explained. "It costs about $300 to have the mold made, the custom mold, and then that's their mold to keep forever. But you can have anything pretty much designed on that. We have a mold manufacturer that we work with that does all that."
Sponge candy is another popular delicacy available at Platter's, which they specially make at the factory. Urban doesn't know exactly why it's so popular every year and all season, but he's certainly thankful for it from a business standpoint.
"It's probably about 50% of our business. If there wasn't sponge candy, I don't know that we'd be here," he said.
"We do the traditional milk and dark sponge candy, and then we have an orange chocolate that we're known for, that we coat the sponge candy with. We also have this peanut butter sponge candy, which is sponge candy, we coat it with real peanut butter and then we coat it with chocolate. It's not a peanut butter flavor, so it's real peanut butter, which is amazing. We don't flavor the sponge itself. Some people do that, we don't do that, but those are the main flavors we have. And like I said, the peanut butter sponge is pretty unique."
So what are some of the more popular items available for sale every year at Platter's?
"The thing we sell the most of here at Platter's is orange chocolate Easter flats, and the Easter flats are the bunny-shaped or chick-shaped little bite sized pieces," Urban said. "Sponge is right behind there, and Christmas time sponge is the biggest thing we sell."
Also a nice Easter flavor every year courtesy of Platter's is, what they call, the "crate egg".
"It's either a marshmallow or a peanut butter, and it's actually in an egg crate. It's the softest, lightest marshmallow or peanut butter you've ever had," Urban explained. "I used to make this for a company out of Cleveland. They approached me, because their factory had burned down. Once I helped them out, he says, 'Keep the recipe, keep the machine,' and we've been making them for about the last eight or nine years, and every year, it's crazy how many more we sell. They're just spread by word of mouth."
Brayton J. Wilson - WBEN
While Platter's is widely known for its chocolates and other candies available in store, they offer much more to satisfy people's taste buds on a yearly basis.
"We have a coffee café, where we do all different types of coffees, lattes, bubble teas. We also do orange-flavored coffees and lattes and hot chocolates, which is kind of unique as well," Urban said. "We have the ice cream stand here, where we've got all 32 different types of flavors, as well as soft serve. Then while you're here, you can walk around and see the production going on. All the production is behind glass."
You can visit Platter's Chocolate Factory at 908 Niagara Falls Boulevard, or find out more information on what's available on their website, PlattersChocolates.com.
"We're always changing what's going on, or events that we have here. We do sippin' shops with some of the wineries in the area. There's always something on the website you can check out," Urban said.
Brayton J. Wilson - WBEN
Brayton J. Wilson - WBEN
Brayton J. Wilson - WBEN
Brayton J. Wilson - WBEN
Brayton J. Wilson - WBEN
Brayton J. Wilson - WBEN
Brayton J. Wilson - WBEN
Brayton J. Wilson - WBEN
Brayton J. Wilson - WBEN
