The front of Critchley’s Candies at 812 Kinderkamack Road in River Edge, NJ
Critchley’s Candies is an old fashion candy and chocolate shop with a modern twist. Many of the original ‘penny’ candies are still sold here along with new items like the ‘Dubai Bars’, which have become really popular lately.
The store carries all the classic candies like jelly beans, Swedish fish, licorice and chocolate bars but also has a line of homemade chocolates that are made ‘in house’ such as chocolate covered bark, marshmallows and Oreos.
The inside of Critchley’s Candies
The owner can also create all sorts of gift baskets and arrangements for special occasions and holidays.
The section of candies at Critchley’s Candies
The delicious homemade candies at Critchley’s
The selection of homemade candies are made fresh daily in the store and are all decorated by hand. They make a special gift for someone who enjoys homemade candy.
The store offers very personal service by the owner and her staff. They will work with you with special requests and offer a level of service not seen in too many stores today.
The history of Critchley’s Candies:
(from the store’s website)
Critchley’s Candies is located in the former Grace Lutheran Church of River Edge, NJ. If you look at the back of the store, you will see a decorative arch that has now become part of the store decor. This is where the original alter was in place. The building was converted to a chocolate and candy shop in 1957. Nicholas S. Phillips, and later his brother Ed, were two of the original owners.
They trademarked the “Mint Oritani” which was at the time our most famous treat! The store has changed ownership a few times over the decades, but each time it has kept the traditional chocolate recipes and added new delicacies. Critchley’s has become a one-stop shop with its expansive selection of gifts. Of course, there are still the old favorites like our large selection of chocolates, licorice, gummi bears, delicious chocolate covered strawberries and our newest favorite… hot cocoa bombs!
The Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. Team Project the store partnered with me through Bergen Community College in Paramus, NJ:
Touring the store with my students
Touring the store with my students
Our Project Team picture at the end of the tour
Having a candy sampling with my students
Video of our tour:
The Presentation my students made to the owner of Critchley’s Candies:
Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. presents: “Critchley’s Candies-We’re Making it”
This is the first time in my career at Bergen Community College that I have taught a summer class and it was a very interesting experience. I have taught Business 101, which is the Introduction to Business class for many years but not in a modified seven week period. Normally this important entry level course is taught in fourteen weeks.
With an issue with my car the first day of class and then the Memorial Day holidays the next week put us two days behind and then I had to work on a modified Team project for the students. This would be a challenge. I had done all the on campus events I wanted and there was not much time for one of the bigger more detailed events. So I decided to reach out to a local business to help me out.
I was going to use the florist across the street from the campus and thought that would be the perfect client. The couple unfortunately was selling the business and even though they liked the idea thought it would not work since it would not help them as they were looking for a buyer of the business.
I then had another idea with a business I passed all the time driving up and down Kinderkamack Road on my was back and forth to work, Critchley’s Candies in River Edge, NJ. The business had been around for seventy years and I had met the owner once before. I thought would he help me out?
I was very lucky in that the store had a new owner, Rossana, who was willing to partner with me and liked my proposed ideas. I was lucky that she was looking for ideas to expand her business so it was a win win for the two of us. This would give her free marketing and a fresh perspective from a younger customer and would give the students an opportunity to help a small business owner.
I made two trips to the store to get some ideas and look over the merchandise. They have a nice selection of candies and chocolates and a whole new line of handmade candies that are made in store.
The inside of Critchley’s Candies
The selection of candies at Critchley’s
The selection of handmade candies
Once myself and Rosanna, the owner, worked together to fine tune the project, I brought my class to the store for their field trip. We had a two week deadline on this project and there was a lot to do (they actually did the whole project in ten days).
Over the weekend, I picked my Executive Team and fine tuned the project with more details to each section of the project. It had to be pared down because unlike many other Team projects, we had only two weeks to pull this off and present it to the client.
The proposed project:Critchley’s Candies: We’re Making it!
On one of the rainiest mornings we had in a long time (it never stopped raining for a month), I met my students to tour the candy store. We had a really nice time touring the store that morning and Rossana’s full time employee, Nancy, led the tour with myself and the class.
My students on the tour of the store
My class getting a feel of the merchandise
Nancy, one of the employees of the store led the tour discussing the different lines of merchandise.
We discussed the different types of gummies, jellies and hard candies the store carried.
The video of the tour of Critchley’s Candies that day:
My class and I touring Critchley’s Candies with Nancy, one of the long service employees at the store. She explained all the candy lines to us and what chocolates were made in house.
She then discussed the individual chocolates that are on sale for creating boxes for gift giving.
Me tasting the homemade Milk Chocolate Covered Oreo
When we finished the tour, we had a candy tasting. Everyone got a chance to taste either a homemade Milk or Dark Chocolate Covered Marshmallow or Oreo Cookie. It was a sweet way to end our tour of Critchley’s Candies. Then it was on to our Team Lunch.
After the tour was over, our class took a group shot at the store with Nancy.
After the tour was over, I took my students on their first ‘Business lunch’ and we met as a class at Pompilio’s Pizzeria at 223 Westwood Avenue in Downtown Westwood, NJ. I have taken students here before for lunch on about five other Team projects.
This gives the students the opportunity to get to know each other and have some Team bonding. The pizza is also excellent here too and they have very fair prices and a wonderful ‘school special’.
The Team Lunch:
Pompilio’s Pizzeria & Restaurant at 223 Westwood Avenue in Downtown Westwood, NJ
Some of my students at our Business Team building lunch
The pizza here is excellent
From this point on the students were on their own to create the project. We have already had a series of Board meetings in class and I have had to face two students dropping the class ( I just don’t think this is for everyone).
For the next two weeks, technically ten days, the students worked with their teams on completing the assignment. This meant meeting on their own time and trips back to Critchley’s Candies to film commercials and Tik Tok videos.
We had our last Board meeting the day before the Presentation to wrap things up and go over any missing items. I strictly informed about dress code and performing the role as Student Consultants. From this point on, it would be up to them. They were also assigned two papers to finish the project up.
Paper Three: What would I change in the store if I bought Critchley’s Candies from the owner:
On Tuesday morning, June 24th, 2025, the Presentation took place in our classroom. The first mode of business for each student was to pass the ‘Dress Code’ grade. I have students come in formal business attire. My way of turning group of Gen Zers in to Gen X. Image is very important when trying to sell a concept or program and you must look the role.
With the exception of a few hiccups, the whole class looked very professional considering it was 95 degrees outside. It not been this hot all week but it felt like 100 degrees. Thank God the air conditioning was working in our part of the building that day and the classroom was very comfortable.
The Presentation started late as one student got a flat tire and we had to wait for him. At the same time the owner of the store had an issue at her full time job that got resolved just as the student arrived in class. We started the Presentation at 11:00am and now it was full attention on the project.
The President this semester, Peter McNamara and the Senior Vice-President of Operations JC Abella welcoming everyone and starting the Presentation.
Marketing Team Member Kim Perez discussing the history of Critchley’s Candies to the audience.
The Marketing Team discussing the new ‘Store Jingle’ for the commercial
The Commercial on YouTube:
This includes the store jingle at the end of the commercial.
The students also created a Tik Tok video on the store and its wonderful selection of chocolates.
The Tik Tok video:
The Tik Tok video on Critchley’s Candies
Marketing Team member Matthew discussing the creation of the ‘Store Jingle’
The Product Development and Special Event’s Team discussing the QR Codes Program for the store’s boxed and individual candies.
Product Development/Special Events Team Member Aisha Martinez discussing the new ‘Summer Camp Care package’ proposal. This included a prototype of the packaging.
Team Leader of the Product Development/Special Events Liam discussing the ‘In-house Birthday Party’ program. This caters to that jaded Bergen County child who has seen it all. This birthday concept was very creative. It made it fun to have a birthday at the store.
His proposal for the ‘Birthday Party’ invitation with Vice-President of Product Development/Special Events Joel Fife to the right and President McNamara and SVP Arabella to the left looking on.
The Presentation concluded on time with a Q&A and a discussion on some of the ideas needing adjustments. Overall the owner of Critchley’s Candies, Rossana Rossi, who I partnered on this project seemed very impressed by the results. Then we took our Team picture with the owner and her employee, Nancy, who had led us on the tour of the store two weeks earlier.
The Paramus Critchley’s Candies Team with the owners of Critchley’s Candies.
After the Presentation was over, everyone took their jackets off and I hosted a reception for the students and our guests. I baked cookies and brownies and had an assortment of snacks and sodas for the students. I thought this went by very well for a class that had been here for only seven weeks.
The reception at the end of the Presentation
This is when I can say that I am very proud of my students!
The Official Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. website for the project with QR codes, Commercials, Logos and pictures from all the visits and the presentation:
In my live classes, I open my consulting company, “Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc.”, for business and the whole class bands together and we have one big project. In the era of post-COVID and online learning, I was lucky that I was able to teach one of the live classes on the Bergen Community College, Paramus Campus. It was such a pleasure welcoming students back to campus with live lectures and conversing with them.
The Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. corporate logo of the six trees
In the past, I have created these projects under the Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. banner, the main consulting company, the Orion Malls banner, a Mall design company and the Buscomonzefi.com banner, my Tech Division. Each business does its best to be creative, forward thinking and have a thought producing presentations. I also challenge the students to top on another in their presentations and build on what they have seen others do in the past.
Professor Justin Watrel, CEO & Co-Founder of Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc.
I had recently been at a series of special events at the Bergen County Historical Society both for Christmas in 2022 and for more recent events as the Harvest Festival and a walking tour of the property in 2023. Although the events were interesting and the Christmas event with the period live music and the Pub set up in the Christie House, the attendance seemed rather low.
When I Googled the Historical Society, their social media and digital marketing were not as prominent as they should be either in describing their events or with a series of current pictures or videos. Their digital footprint needed some work. Also, their events never changed year after year. They had the exact same events with the same theme for each season.
This I could see was a problem as people want to have different experiences when they visit a place. These sites do not have to alter the events but do need to update and ‘freshen up’ their offerings with a different twist to keep people coming. Others wise, it it the same thing year after year. Also, they were not marketing the site for people outside of Bergen County let alone for foreign tourism. This is where the idea for “Tourism for the Bergen County Historical Society” project for Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. came into creation.
The Project “Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. presents “Tourism at the Bergen County Historical Society”:
As a member of the Bergen County Historical Society for about five years I had to say the Society does have a tendency to run the same events over and over again and the attendance, especially when it came time for the weather, could really damper the attendance since most events were held outdoors. Plus they attracted the same crowd of older patrons and needed a new clientele to attend to give a fresh perspective to these events.
This is where I wanted to challenge both the students to look at the site from the idea of what would bring them to the Bergen County Historical Society and how the Society could look at making updates to bring that younger, family friendly crowd who was interested in the history of Bergen County but still wanted to have a good time and be engaged by the event. That can be a delicate balancing act in the age of social media and cellphone distraction.
It took some convincing from both sides to get this project off the ground. The Society kept thinking we were a real consulting firm and were hesitant to do the project. The none of my students had ever been to the Bergen County Historical Society let alone want to go there. The schools in Bergen County no longer even studied American history the way we did when I was in junior high or high school nor did they take the field trips to Trenton or Washington DC that we did back in the 1970’s. This is when I knew this would be a learning experience for both parties.
The goal was to bring more tourists both domestic and international to the Bergen County Historical Society with a series of new events for both Halloween and Spring/Easter that were both inclusive and family friendly that had a contemporary but historical twist to them. I asked the students to look at the history of both holidays and what the meaning of the Fall festivals and Spring Festivals meant to people through the ages. The third event the students had to create was a fundraiser for the Society that would raise $25,000 to raise money for the new museum on the Society’s property. I saw some shocked looks on the students faces but I knew they could do it.
There were some major challenges logistics wise for the project as well. I had to arrange a visit to the site because the students would never go out on their own to see it, plus the site was not open on a Thursday night so that would take some coordination. Also, being the Fall semester we always worried about the problem with the weather and the night of the tour it threatened to rain (it didn’t Thank God). Lastly, I only had four weeks to put this project together and get it presented to the Historical Society before I had to give the final exam and post grades by the end of the semester. This on top of all the projects and papers I myself had to do for Graduate school gave me many stressful nights. Somehow, we pulled it all off to a huge success.
The week after I presented the project to the students with a few groans, we were off the next Thursday night to a mandatory (and I mean mandatory!) field trip to the Bergen County Historical Society in River Edge, NJ to see all the buildings and learn about the history of the site and the importance of it during the Revolutionary War. The time change after Halloween meant we would be having the tour in the dark with not a lot of light to shine the way.
Parking at the site needed to worked on as well as their parking lot was hard to maneuver if you did not know the area and had some sharp turns to get to when parking your car. Still I got all the students there and basically on time (except one) and we got the tour underway with the former and current Presidents of the Society. I could not believe how well it worked out for everyone.
First I had to make sure that everyone was there the night of the tour which was difficult because people were coming from work and the traffic being what is was at 6:30pm at night but again everyone was ready to go. We started at the Campbell-Christie House, which was used as the pub for the Christmas event I had been at the year earlier. It had also been used as the gathering place for the tree lighting ceremony when COVID hit in Christmas 2020.
Starting our class tour of the Bergen County Historical Society at the Campbell-Christi House
Starting the tour at twilight. It was really dark on the Bergen County Historical Society site.
Entering the Campbell-Christie House for the tour.
The Campbell-Christie House during the day.
We toured the house and talked about its history and how it was moved to this location to save it from demolishment. Also the uses of the house in different programs.
We then moved onto the Demarest House which is the next house over. The home is much smaller but its significance in Bergen County history is the same as the Campbell-Christie. This type of Dutch style architecture is unique to this part the country where the Dutch had to adapt to weather conditions and building materials that could be found.
The Demarest House during the day.
Its ownership to one of the most prominent families gave it even more importance. We were able to see the loft space and how the family lived on a daily basis in the two rooms.
Our class touring the Steuben House toward the end of the tour.
Then it was on to the Steuben House which was the home of the Zabriskie family but given to General Steuben by the patriots for his assistance during the Revolutionary War. This is the main house that most activities take place in including lectures and musical performances. In each of the homes,.
Ex-President of the Society Deborah Powell lead the students on a very engaging tour of the Steuben House. It has an interesting and intriguing past.
The two Presidents of the Society who joined us told me later how impressed they were that the students were so engaged in the conversation and wanted to learn so much about the site. For all of my students this was the first time any of them had been to the Bergen County Historical Society, so it was a treat for them as well. I could see that they all learned so much from ‘being in the field’.
My student consultants from Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. with former President Deborah Powell in our group shot at the main room at the Steuben House. It was at the end of the tour.
The Steuben House during the day.
After the tour was over and the questions were answered, our group left for dinner. I can always tell the success of these projects when we all have dinner together. I chose a pizzeria around the corner from the Historical Society that I had never been to before but plan on returning to, Napolimania at 450 Hackensack Avenue in the Home Depot mall. It had the perfect amount of space for our group of 30 students, who were both hungry and cold. Both the pizza and the pizzeria were wonderful and we had such a good time.
The Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. student consultants enjoying dinner.
Dinner at Napolimania Pizzeria for dinner after the tour.
Napolimania at 450 Hackensack Avenue in Hackensack, NJ TripAdvisor review:
I think one of the most important aspects about this project is that the Team “breaks bread” with each other (have a business meal). It is one of the biggest parts of Team Building and a way for strangers to get to know one another. I have seen more friendships formed over these meals and a transition of how the students treat this project. Most of them start taking it more seriously and then the work begins. By the way, the pizza was excellent that night and I highly recommend the restaurant for the food and service.
The next week, I started to give more time in the classroom for the students to work on their project as it was crunch time and they only had three weeks to complete it and present it to me. This is when the stress levels of the Teams start because then you see the people who will really work and the ones that put in the minimum and trust me, they make their feelings known. I had my share of headaches before this presentation but for the other 95% of the class, I saw some major transformations in the students, their attitudes towards the project and a lot of creativity.
We had the presentation in the fifth floor conference room at the Lyndhurst campus of Bergen Community College and this is only the second time I have used this room but it is the best one to present the project in.
The Presentation welcome:
CEO Watrel’s welcome
President Beqo welcome:
President Sorak Beqo opening the program for “Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. presents “Tourism at the Bergen County Historical Society” on the night of December 7th, 2023.
The Executive welcome and headquarters plan.
Our honored guests that night were the President of the Bergen County Historical Society, the former President of the Society and one of the Board members. I would have hoped we would have had a better turn out from the Society but I understood that it was the holiday season and everyone had so many commitments plus it was later in the evening and down in Lyndhurst. Still, it was nice to have the ladies attend for feedback on the Presentation.
Each group gave their Presentation along with creating two commercials, one promoting their events on the Society grounds and then one promoting the Society for tourism.
Team One Presentation:
Team One presenting their ideas for events and fundraising at the Bergen County Historical Society.
Team One presenting their ideas to raise money for the new museum.
Team One’s Presentation on YouTube.
Team Two Presentation:
Team Two pitching their ideas for the Bergen County Historical Society.
The ideas for fundraising for the new Museum at the Bergen County Historical Society.
The extra credit project that Team Two created was one of the reasons they won the contest.
Team Two Presentation on YouTube.
Team Three Presentation:
Team Three making their pitch for new events at the Bergen County Historical Society. They gave one of the most professional presentations that I had seen in a long time.
Team Three making their pitch on their ideas for fundraising for the new Museum.
Team Three Presentation on YouTube
Closing Remarks on YouTube:
Being only given four weeks to pull this project off, the student consultants did an excellent job on this project. The projects were creative, inventive and showed that they had studied and visited the historical site more than once. They used all the buildings on the property for different events coming up with new ideas on old events and creating new ones.
I liked the ideas of the Easter Egg hunts and Bunny visits as well as how to approach Easter as a secular event taking its Pagan roots and putting a new twist on it. For Halloween, the students incorporated old ideas such as apple bobbing and hayrides around the property with utilizing the historic homes as haunted houses. The winning group even used a haunted maze and a petting zoo to the mix.
For the museum fundraiser, the student consultants had some creative ideas to raise money for the museum. One group used a food truck event, another used a full day event and for their extra credit event was a “Revolutionary Dance” that I thought was really interesting. It always amazes me the way that students give such a fresh perspective to a project. I could tell that the Board members of the Society were blown away by the ideas that the students came up with to bring more people to the site.
After the Q & A for the project, we took our Corporate shot for Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. headquarters. I was impressed with what a sharp group we made.
The Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. Corporate shot-Lyndhurst “Tourism at Bergen County Historical Society” Team December 2023.
All three Teams were given the task by one of the founding members of Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. to create ideas for the Corporate Christmas Party. The students were tasked with creating a menu with one appetizer, a main dish and a dessert with a signature drink and then had to create a corporate message in both English and Spanish. It is always fun to see the results on this:
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