Category: News Article

I ate the Table Talk Snozzberry Pie to see if it really tastes like snozzberries (Mass Live)

I don’t know what Gene Wilder was thinking about when he said that the “snozzberries taste like snozzberries,” but the new limited edition Snozzberry Pie from Table Talk Pies in Worcester is probably pretty close.

It’s a mystery medley melding multitudes of merry muddled monosaccharides. Matter of fact, it might be the most mirthful mishmash of miscellaneous material my mouth may meet — minus my mother’s magnificent makings.

The mini-pie was the product of a partnership with the Hanover Theatre ahead of their venue’s upcoming musical production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and is available at The Pie Store on Green St. in Worcester and will run you two for $1 — less than an actual Wonka bar these days.

Some pies even have a golden ticket for free admissions to opening night at the Hanover Theatre (I didn’t win). But let’s get to the real question: What the heck does it taste like?

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Table Talk Pies and Chacharone Properties Plan to Build a State-of-the-Art Bakery in Main South (Perishable News)

Worcester, MA – Table Talk Pies, Inc. plans to build a new state-of-the-art, energy efficient 120,000 + square foot bakery to produce dessert pies within the former Crompton & Knowles Complex in Worcester’s Main South neighborhood.  Partnering with Chacharone Properties, the 95-year old Worcester company will move its Kelley Square bakery on Washington Street to an underdeveloped plot of land in a revitalized area of the City.

“My father and his partner—two Greek immigrants—moved to Worcester and started Table Talk here because it was a city where they could build a life for their families and a business,” said Mary T. Cocaine, Table Talk Pies, majority shareholder. “I am proud that over 95 years later, Worcester is still a city that the company calls home and the Table Talk family can continue to grow.”

The plan is to build a more streamlined and efficient facility to produce dessert pies that will replace the Kelley Square operations.  Table Talk will lease the building from Chacharone Properties.  The new facility will include food grade production space, warehouse, and office space for Table Talk. As with two previous buildings developed for Table Talk Pies, Chacharone Properties plans to use high efficiency and environmentally-friendly construction materials that complement the designs of other updated buildings in the neighborhood.  The goal is to have the entire project completed and ready to begin operations in June 2021.

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Leaving Kelley Square: Table Talk to focus on producing 8-inch pies at new Main South Worcester factory (Mass Live)

For Harry Kokkinis and Table Talk Pies, the dream of a brand new bakery came with the 95-year-old bakery’s expansion in South Worcester.

Since the 2017 opening of a second factory for the iconic Worcester business, which brought new life to the South Worcester Industrial Park, Kokkinis started to consider a new headquarters.

“We’ve just seen how that’s met all of our expectations and then some there in terms of efficiency, reduction of waste and just the ability to manage our process and I think we were inspired by that new building to take a serious look at Washington Street and what could be done there,” Kokkinis said. “I think we came to the conclusion that we really needed a new building to have something that was efficient and cost-effective.”

 

Worcester Making Strides Towards Redevelopment And Building Polar Park (CBS Boston)

WORCESTER (CBS) — A big bang in Worcester marked a new milestone on the way to Polar Park and the revitalization of an important area of the city. Workers have begun demolishing the last building standing on the property that will become the new home of the Woo Sox, and right next door, a longtime Worcester institution is moving to a new home, clearing the way for more development in Kelley Square.

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Table Talk leaving Kelley Square for $22-million Main South facility (Worcester Business Journal)

By Thomas Grillo

Table Talk Pies Inc., the third generation dessert manufacturer, plans to leave its Kelley Square location and build a $22-million facility at the former Crompton & Knowles campus in Worcester’s Main South neighborhood, the company said Thursday.

In collaboration with Chacharone Properties, the Worcester real estate management company, the 95-year-old pie company  will move its operation to an 8-acre site. Plans call for hiring 50 more employees, bringing its total to 180 at the new facility. Table Talk proposed a 120,000-square-foot plant that would include production space, a warehouse, and offices.

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Table Talk to Build New Facility in Main South, Add 50 Jobs (This Week in Worcester)

by  

WORCESTER – Table Talk Pies announced Thursday it will build a new 120,000 square foot bakery in the former Crompton & Knowles Complex in the Main South neighborhood of Worcester.

The new state-of-the-art and energy efficient facility is expected to open in June 2021. It will replace the company’s current and largest operation operation on Washington Street in Kelley Square which opened in 1942.

Some 130 current full-time production staff will move to working at the new facility with 50 new full-time positions added over the first three years. 60% of Table Talk’s current employees live in Worcester.

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Table Talk Pies to build a new 120,000-SF bakery in Worcester (Boston Real Estate Times)

WORCESTER, MA – Table Talk Pies, Inc. plans to build a new state-of-the-art, energy efficient 120,000 + square foot bakery to produce dessert pies within the former Crompton & Knowles Complex in Worcester’s Main South neighborhood.

Partnering with Chacharone Properties, the 95-year old Worcester company will move its Kelley Square bakery on Washington Street to an underdeveloped plot of land in a revitalized area of the City.

“My father and his partner—two Greek immigrants—moved to Worcester and started Table Talk here because it was a city where they could build a life for their families and a business,” said Mary T. Cocaine, Table Talk Pies, majority shareholder. “I am proud that over 95 years later, Worcester is still a city that the company calls home and the Table Talk family can continue to grow.”

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Table Talk Pies HQ to leave Kelley Square (Worcester Telegram and Gazette)

By Steven H. Foskett Jr.
Telegram & Gazette Staff
Posted Jan 16, 2020 at 6:46 PM
Updated Jan 17, 2020 at 12:28 PM

WORCESTER – Table Talk Pies plans to move its headquarters from Kelley Square to the South Worcester Industrial Park area, the city and the company announced Thursday.

The iconic bakery and longtime Kelley Square mainstay has been shopping around for a new home, and in partnership with Chaharone Properties has proposed a new 120,000-square foot production headquarters at six contiguous parcels in the industrial park area on the former Crompton & Knowles factory complex near the Boys & Girls Club of Worcester.

“Staying in Worcester was very important to us,” Table Talk President Harry Kokkinis said Thursday afternoon. “Worcester has been an important part of our success.”

As part of the move, the company is filing an application for certified project designation that will allow the project to take advantage of tax increment financing. According to Michael E. Traynor, the city’s chief development officer, the proposed term of the TIF is 20 years at an average exemption of 60%. The proposed project is expected to increase the total assessed value of the Gardner Street property from $1.3 million to $10 million. The estimated savings over the life of the TIF is approximately $4.6 million; at the same time, the city will receive an estimated $4.4 million in tax revenue, Traynor explained in a communication to City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr.

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Worcester’s Table Talk Pies moving out of Kelley Square, building new bakery in Main South (Mass Live)

Table Talk Pies, an iconic 95-year-old Worcester business, has announced that it will move its Kelley Square bakery to an underdeveloped plot of land, building a brand new, state-of-the-art bakery in the city’s Main South neighborhood.

Table Talk is partnering with Chacharone Properties to build the new 120,000-plus square foot bakery to produce dessert pies within the former Crompton & Knowles Complex, the company wrote in a news release Thursday.

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Press Release: Table Talk Pies and Chacharone Properties Plan to Build a State-of-the-Art Bakery in Main South

Historic Worcester Pie Company Strengthens its Commitment to the City and its Employees

Worcester, MA – January 16, 2020 – Table Talk Pies, Inc. plans to build a new state-of-the-art, energy efficient 120,000 + square foot bakery to produce dessert pies within the former Crompton & Knowles Complex in Worcester’s Main South neighborhood.  Partnering with Chacharone Properties, the 95-year old Worcester company will move its Kelley Square bakery on Washington Street to an underdeveloped plot of land in a revitalized area of the City.

“My father and his partner—two Greek immigrants—moved to Worcester and started Table Talk here because it was a city where they could build a life for their families and a business,” said Mary T. Cocaine, Table Talk Pies, majority shareholder. “I am proud that over 95 years later, Worcester is still a city that the company calls home and the Table Talk family can continue to grow.”

The plan is to build a more streamlined and efficient facility to produce dessert pies that will replace the Kelley Square operations.  Table Talk will lease the building from Chacharone Properties.  The new facility will include food grade production space, warehouse, and office space for Table Talk. As with two previous buildings developed for Table Talk Pies, Chacharone Properties plans to use high efficiency and environmentally-friendly construction materials that complement the designs of other updated buildings in the neighborhood.  The goal is to have the entire project completed and ready to begin operations in June 2021.

“Worcester has been an important part of Table Talk’s success over the years,” says Harry Kokkinis, President of Table Talk Pies, “We are very excited to find a location, with the help of Chacharone Properties and the City of Worcester, where we can build a facility that supports our desire to maintain and grow our presence in Worcester.”

The Table Talk baking facility will require approximately $10 million of private investment by Chacharone Properties and $12 million in equipment and building improvements by Table Talk.  The Company is seeking support from the City of Worcester and the City Council for the project in the form of tax incentives.

Over the last three years, with the help of the City of Worcester and community partners, Table Talk and Chacharone Properties successfully transformed the South Worcester Industrial Park, with the completion of the 25 Southgate Street bakery and Armory Street Cold Storage facility making a major economic impact through the redevelopment of vacant land and the creation of jobs for Worcester residents. The partnership plans for the same success at the new location.

“Chacharone Properties is excited to once again team up with Table Talk Pies,” said James Chacharone, Founder and Principal of Chacharone Properties.  “Working with the City, we were able to assemble this 8 +/- acre site and we look forward to developing this facility for Table Talk Pies, which will continue to improve the South Worcester and Main South communities.”

Table Talk plans to employ 180 full-time operations staff at the new location. The 130 current full-time production staff that will be relocated from the Kelley Square bakery will be complemented by 50 new full-time positions added over three years. Over 60% of Table Talk’s employees live in Worcester, many in the Main South and surrounding neighborhoods, making it an accessible location.

“The City has been working with Table Talk for years to facilitate their growth, starting with the sale of City-owned land to enable 80,000 square-feet of new space in the South Worcester Industrial Park, and now this proposed 120,000 square-foot facility just down the street. The jobs created at these facilities provide important economic opportunities and careers for our residents,” says Worcester City Manager, Edward M. Augustus, Jr.

Table Talk will continue to bake pies in Kelley Square while the building of the new bakery is underway. Once the new bakery is complete and is fully functional, the company will phase down production. At that point, the company will look at its options for the future development of the property.  There are no plans to move the company’s retail store, The Pie Store, from its current location at 153 Green Street.

About Table Talk Pies

Table Talk Pies, Inc. is a growing family-owned food manufacturing business that has been making fresh baked pies in Worcester, MA since 1924. Now in its 3rd generation of ownership and leadership, Table Talk is one of the country’s leading full-line producers of pies. Table Talk’s team of more than 300 full-time employees ­– over 60% of whom are Worcester residents—produce pies at three automated bakeries that are sold in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Canada and beyond.  Table Talk specializes in 4-inch snack pies as well as 8-inch dessert pies. In 2019, Table Talk sold 240 million 4 inch pies and 25 million dessert pies.

The company has three large scale bakeries located in Worcester and Shrewsbury, MA

  • Kelley Square, Washington Street, Table Talk’s largest and oldest bakery, was established in l942
  • Bowditch Drive on the Worcester/Shrewsbury line, opened in 2015
  • Southgate Street, the newest facility, opened in 2017

In September 2019, Table Talk opened a 30,000 square feet cold storage warehouse, consisting of 3,100 pallet positions and loading docks at 65 Armory Street, next to the Southgate Street bakery.

About Chacharone Properties

Chacharone Properties, which is family owned and operated, was established in 1982 and develops, manages and leases quality properties in central Massachusetts.  Today, the firm’s multi-faceted approach has resulted in the creation of nearly two million square feet of prime commercial property in one of the state’s most vibrant regions for economic growth.

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