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by  Ernie Accorsi, Jr. 

 

My dad had a very good job at the Hershey Chocolate factory.

He was like a shift foreman. My dad loved Mr. Hershey and

although he would eventually leave the company, he never

blamed Mr. Hershey for what was to come.  

 

When the Chocolate Workers strike of 1937 occurred in Hershey,

it changed his feelings about continuing to work for the Hershey

Corporation. It was such a bloody battle with ethnic overtones

I think that was one of the key motivations in starting his business.

That was only four years after the repeal of prohibition. 

 

Acquiring a beer distributors license from the (PLCB) Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board was no easy task.  Plus the local WCTU was trying vehemently to block him from obtaining the license.   The leadership of the same church tried to block the DeAngelis family from obtaining a liquor license when they tried to apply for one along with their beer license. 

 

My father named the distributorship Triple because there were three partners: my father, Jim DeAngelis (the oldest brother and the one who really ran the restaurant) and another man in Hershey. My father eventually bought out the two partners to own the business outright. 

 

As soon as my father opened the business, Mr. Hershey pulled up with his driver. He knew my dad from his position in the Chocolate Factory. 

 

He told my father: “Ernie, there are people in town who tried to block you from opening.  I like my beer. I will support you and make sure I come on my self for my case of beer to visually lend support. But, if a bunch of rummeys start hanging around here I’ll run you out of town.” To the day he died Mr. Hershey supported my father. 

 

The PLCB (Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board) was (and probably still is) one of the toughest in the nation. Periodically they would randomly walk in and check our books with very little advance notice.  If they found something they didn’t like they would shut down the business. My mother Mary, with an 8th-grade education, never made one bookkeeping error. 

 

Triple Distributors sold over 35 brands of beer over the years. There were several local breweries in those days like Graupners, Furman and Schmidt, Horlachers.  Old Reading.  Only one remains and it is flourishing, Yeungling, in Pottsville.  My dad had two trucks, a pickup for deliveries and a larger rack truck to deliver to more distant routes and to pick up beer from the breweries. 

 

We would have the larger beers like Schultz, Budweiser, Ballentine, Pabst, delivered by a major distributor. Horlacher sold for $3.25 a case. The premium beers like Budweiser would sell for $4.35 for a case of cans. He also sold soft drinks, the usual Coke, Pepsi, 7-Up and all the Ma’s products from Lebanon. 

 

My dad had one employee, who would drive the pickup truck to make deliveries. The first one I remember in the late 40s and early 50s was Chester Conrad. He was succeeded by Tony Allegrini and the last one was my cousin and my dad’s nephew Ron Gramigni, who was hired after he was discharged from the Navy in 1957. He stayed until my father sold the business in 1964 and became a Lieutenant in the first Derry Township Police Force. 

 

Saturday’s deliveries were the busiest and my father had part-time drivers who would help: Mario Allegrini, Marty Kulp and others. I grew up with all those drivers and believe me soaked up all the advice and stories they would regale me with. 

 

My favorite of the part-timers was Mario, who we called Maggie. My dad owned the business from 1937 until 1964 so I spent my entire childhood working there not always something I was thrilled with, particularly on Saturdays and Christmas Eves until 10 pm. 

 

It makes me very proud to this day that my father had an entrepreneurial spirit and sense of independence.  Thank you for visiting, for reading about our family’s history in Hershey.  

 

 

 

Ernie Accorsi, Jr.