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SINCE 1908, KUNTZ & SON DELIVERS
 In
1908, Samuel Kuntz saw and took advantage of a good business opportunity –
delivering local milk to the Hershey Chocolate Factory. Today, Kuntz &
Son, Inc., Hanoverdale, is one of the original family businesses still
delivering milk to Hershey. During those 77 years, four generations of
the Kuntz family have been involved in running the family business. While
milk delivery has remained the foundation of their services, they have
proved to be as adept as Samuel at spotting new business opportunities as
well. This enterprising family first started its own business when
Samuel Kuntz decided to do something about the local farmers’ milk dilemma
in the early 1900s. According to Grace Kuntz, wife of the President (Ray
Kuntz), “The farmers didn’t have anywhere to go with their milk, except to
market. That’s all they had – the only cash they got. Ray’s grandfather
began picking up milk from several neighbors and taking it in to Hershey
to the factory, and the farmers started to make more money.”
 In those
days, the milk was transported by horse and wagon, and on a sleigh in
winter.
Norman, Samuel’s son, began
driving with his father when he was 13. Milk delivery is a
seven-days-a-week job that begins at 2:30 each morning, and Norman
distinguished himself by driving for 25 years with no day off.
Norman also
made his mark by adding coal delivery to the family’s line of business.
This addition developed into a very large coal business with residential
customers, many located in rural areas. Norman himself continued to drive
a coal truck until the age of 78.
Ray started driving in 1946 after a
service stint and also achieved a similar track record. Like his father,
he also diversified the business to change as timed changed. For example,
“I went into fuel oil in 1957 (now
Peggy's Fuel Oil) to take care of my coal customers who were
converting.” Ray Kuntz explains. Later, he augmented his fleet of vehicles
with dump trucks, and in 1975, added a reefer (refrigerator truck).
Servicing home heating and cooling equipment has also become a market for
Kuntz and Son, Inc. According to Ray, “There’s been a change in this
country. Thirty years ago, people took care of their own furnaces, and you
didn’t see service truck on the road. Now, because everything’s more
automated, they can’t handle maintenance and breakdowns, and have to call
a serviceman.” In 1997, Reigle's Heating and Cooling moved into the
Kuntz offices and took over the service end of the Fuel Oil business.
Ed Kuntz started running the business
with Ray in 1986. Ed also made important contributions to the
business' growth. He increased the milk hauling business by
increasing from 7 to 12 milk tankers. He also added a fleet of
tractors leased to Midwest Coast Transport. These trucks travel all
across the United States.
This is truly a family working
together. In addition to Ray and Ed running the business, two of
Ray's daughters' Tish, Peggy, Peggy's husband Jim, and her son, Brian, all
work in the business. Ed's sons, Jacob and Norman (fifth generation)
also work in the business even though they are still in school. DIVERSIFICATION PAYS OFF
With all these business lines,
Kuntz and Son is more diversified than its competition, according to Ray.
He added that keeping his employees working was another consideration in
branching out. “No one has ever been laid off – there’s work winter and
summer,” he says. Their offer of steady employment has given the Kuntz &
Son loyal employees. One family has had three generations employed by the
company. One employee has been with us for 43 years and another for more
than 55 years.
When the
new West Hershey Plant opened,
 Ray
and Ed Kuntz, third and fourth generation milk-haulers, delivered the
first shipment of milk. Ray and Ed are
the grandson and great-grandson of Samuel Kuntz who delivered milk in a
2-horse wagon to the Hershey Plant in 1908. The family business has
flourished for four generations by bringing fresh milk to the chocolate
factory.
 Ray
Kuntz, who is happily retired with his son now running the business
recalls that, “My grandfather would talk about having to pull the milk on
a sleigh when it snowed. Most of the bridges were covered and that could be a
problem. Two horses could not pull the sleigh on a dry bridge, so they had
two choices. They either unloaded and reloaded at either end of the bridge
or covered the bridge with snow so that the sleigh could slide across.
When my father had the business, he used trucks with solid rubber tires.”
Now Kuntz & Son, Inc. has twelve tankers or milk-hauling trucks. Each
tanker holds up to 5800 gallons of milk. The Kuntz family collects milk
across three counties from over 100 farms upholding a proud family
tradition of delivering a quality product to Hershey Chocolate U.S.A. |
