Before JoAnn Marianelli Finnerty launched her personalized chocolates company from her home in Old Forge in 2007, she had never made a single piece of candy or ever even melted a piece of chocolate.

Finnerty was a pathology department office supervisor at a Scranton hospital and also taught laboratory procedures and phlebotomy at a local college.

In 2006, she was planning a Sweet 16 birthday party for her daughter and wanted to purchase personalized party favors. Coincidentally, around the same time, she received an email advertising entrepreneurial opportunities for personalized chocolate manufacturing. A short time later, she decided she could be an entrepreneur and launched Bella Faccias Personalized Chocolates and Gifts.

For several years, Finnerty ran the business from her home with family and friends helping her fill orders she obtained through word of mouth and the Internet. She would travel throughout the tri-state area on weekends to events such as bridal shows and expos to market her products. She even took

the equipment she purchased to manufacture the personalized chocolates and worked from hotel rooms to complete orders.

Then, during the Christmas season in 2010, Finnerty reached the point when having the business in her home was no longer feasible. As Christmas approached, she had tables covered with orders that needed to be shipped to customers.

“My house became the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory and there were platters everywhere and I wanted to get ready for Christmas Eve dinner and had no room. That’s when we said we had to find a storefront for the business,” she said.

That’s when Finnerty moved Bella Faccias to a storefront on Lackawanna Avenue in downtown Scranton near the Steamtown Mall and hotels.

Bella Faccias specializes in printing with FDA-approved food colors and is the only company in Pennsylvania and New Jersey that prints directly onto gourmet chocolate and not rice paper. The company prints in 54 shapes and can print multiple quantities at one time. “We can print just about anything, from logos for corporations or businesses to family photos, pet photos and so on. We can do it from digital files or from photographs,” she said.

Finnerty has expanded her offerings several times and now personalizes more than chocolate, including jewelry, scarves and glassware. She has also opened a bistro at the Lackawanna Avenue storefront and creates trays and baskets for all occasions.

An artist designs and decorates some of the handmade chocolates the company sells

Scranton candy manufacturer on the path to sweet success

Finnerty displays some of the personalized chocolates she produced, including one presented to Cathy Rigby

when she performed in Scranton.

Each month, we recognize one of the region’s top manufacturers with the aid of nepirc, the Northeastern Pennsylvania Industrial Resource Center. Since 1988, nepirc has been working with manufacturers to improve their productivity, profitability, competitiveness and long-term viability through consultative services.

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in the store. She notes that the personalized chocolate products are Kosher.

While sales have been steady year round and busier around the holidays, Finnerty is hoping to expand her online sales and has contracted with the Northeastern Pennsylvania Industrial Resource Center for assistance with revamping her website. NEPIRC has secured a grant to assist the

company with the project. “I found out about NEPIRC through a customer and they have been very helpful by making this web upgrade project possible,” she said.

The revised website at bellafaccias.com is expected to be launched in the near future. “Our existing website does feature many of our products,” she said.

Northeast PeNNsylvaNia BusiNess JourNal · octoBer 2013

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JoAnn Finnerty launched Bella Faccias Personalized Chocolates and Gifts in 2007 and has been in downtown Scranton since 2011.

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