Mid Mandichak
Founder and Manager Mid’s Candy and Gifts
midscandy.com

Mid Mandichak didn’t have any experience with chocolate before deciding to start a business making it.  “I didn’t even know what good chocolate was,” she says. But after observing a family member make chocolate for Easter, she decided to try it, believing such a business could fit her life as a stay-at-home mom with three children.

Mandichak started selling chocolate around the holidays by bringing order forms to familiar places—the bank where she worked after high school, a relative’s bar where women from a shirt factory would eat lunch. Eight years later, the one-woman operation she ran from her home could no longer keep up with demand.

When her husband suggested opening a store, Mandichak hesitated. Having never gone to college, she wasn’t sure she knew how to run a retail business. “My husband said ‘Oh, don’t worry, I’ll help you’ — his famous words. I remind him of that all the time,” Mandichak says.

Thirty-five years later, Mid’s Candy and Gifts is still thriving, and has expanded its storefront at a mini mall in Ebensburg from one space to four. The business sells 50 different types of candy and employs 23 people, including Mandichak’s husband and their daughter.

Mid’s Candy and Gifts has become an anchor to the community in Ebensburg, a small borough that serves as the county seat of Cambria County. The store’s location often attracts customers coming from other towns. “People like to come and help me out, so in return I always try to help other places out, too,” Mandichak says. During the Iraq War, Mandichak sent chocolate Easter eggs to the local service members who were stationed overseas. She often donates chocolate in support of community fundraisers.

At the center of her business is an emphasis on family. “If your employees are happy in their life and at home, then they’re going to come to work and do a good job. If you’re good to them, they give you back 100 percent,” Mandichak says.

When asked how she would describe herself as a businesswoman, she has difficulty coming up with a word other than “grateful.” “Without those good people that have worked for me, I’d never be here, because I can’t do everything. You can’t make it and sell it and sleep and have a family. It’s just impossible,” Mandichak says.

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