history

Our Sweet History

Gust Zachos

Gust immigrated to the United States from Greece in 1912. He opened up a restaurant/soda fountain business in Freedom, Pennsylvania.

Early Days

Gust had worked with relatives in Greece making candy and decided during his slow periods in the restaurant he would make chocolate confections. He believed that quality was the most important factor in making a good product. Gust bought all the best ingredients available and put them together and started what would become Rosalind Candy Castle.

Gust continued to make more types of chocolate confections and soon the candy business was growing faster than the restaurant business.

In 1914, the candy part of his business was growing so he decided to have a contest to give his confections a name. The name was chosen from two entries. Rosalind Candy Store and The Candy Castle, so Gust named his store Rosalind Candy Castle.

Rochester, PA

In the 1920's, the store was moved to 128-130 Brighton Avenue in Rochester, Pennsylvania.

New Brighton

To better accommodate the candy end of the business, Gust moved the store to 11th Street & 3rd Avenue in New Brighton, Pennsylvania. At this time, Medard Zaluska was the main candy maker who was aided by John Crudden while Elizabeth Crudden managed the store and the restaurant end of the business.

Move to 13th st & 5th Ave

As the business continued to grow, the building on 3rd Avenue became too small to keep up with the candy demand. So a new store was built in 1951 at the current location at the corner of 13th Street & 5th Avenue, New Brighton, Pennsylvania. The building was completed in 1952 and that became the new home of Rosalind Candy Castle and ended the restaurant portion of the business.

Gust Passing

Gust became ill in the 1950s and the Crudden and Zaluska families continued to operate the business and upon Gust passing in 1957, purchased the business.

Jim Crudden

Jim Crudden always worked in the business but joined the business full time from Westinghouse in the early 80s. He immediately started growing the company with his business background. The business grew and ended up becoming The County's Candymakers as featured in the article in 1986. Despite its growing popularity and busier production, the recipes and ingredients stayed the same.

Rosalind's insists on the highest of product quality. We continue to make all of our candy from scratch using the finest ingredients from around the world. Pure dairy cream and butter are still used in candy recipes, nuts are still roasted to perfection before being covered in our silky smooth chocolate.

Current owners

Jennifer Crudden and her brother Michael Crudden are the current owners. They continue to uphold the traditions of its founder and continues to demonstrate an unmatched passion for chocolates.

Best Candy Store

Rosalind's reputation for superb chocolates continues to grow earning the respect of chocolate lovers throughout the tri-state area. We have been voted #1 Best Candy by the Beaver County Times Readers Choice Awards for many years in a row. Many new confections have been made since Rosalind's start in 1914, but one thing remains constant, and that is our commitment to Quality.