A year in, new Wertz Candies owner eyes the shop’s 100th birthday

It’s been a year since ownership of a sweet Lebanon city retailer passed into new hands … and, according to the new owner, things are great.

“I would say it’s going swell,” said Jazzie Battle, who co-owns Wertz Candies with his wife, Missy. “Lots of ups and downs, figuring stuff out, but definitely enjoyable and fun.”

Wertz Candies, at 718 Cumberland St., has been synonymous with handmade opera fudge, caramel corn, jelly-filled chocolates, and other sweet treats for nearly a century.

The store, originally part of the Karmelkorn Shop franchise, was founded in Lebanon by William Howard Wertz in 1931 in a building used in the 1700s as an inn. He ran the store until his death in 1960, when son William Jr. and son-in-law L. Saylor Zimmerman Jr. took over. William Jr. later bought his brother-in-law’s share of the business and in 1971 changed the name to Wertz Candies. Retiring in 1986, he left the business to his four children: William Howard, Jean Louise, Richard Alan, and Charles “Chuck” Wellington Wertz.

The shop was featured in an episode of “Dirty Jobs” on the Discovery Channel, and it was twice featured on the Food Network. Chuck Wertz told LebTown in a previous interview that they’ve had customers visit from all over the world.

In February 2023, the Wertz siblings – by then in their 60s and 70s – decided to sell the business. On April 14 of that year, they handed the keys to Rob and Lindsay Wertz, no relation, who jointly own three orthodontics practices in Lebanon, Robesonia, and Hegins. Rob and Lindsay Wertz announced that the business had been sold on Oct. 1, 2025.

Enter Battle, who also owns Poncho’s Backyard Grubbin’. He made it clear at the outset that the candy store’s legacy mattered a lot to him.

“I mean, 94 years of business – that’s a huge deal,” he told LebTown in October 2025. “And I don’t see why can’t we do another 94 years. My main goal is to make the Wertz brothers and the guests who came through this door proud.

“We want to make it to 100 years – we’re six years away from that. That’s my first goal. But this is bigger than me. It’s not about me. … It takes a community that loves a place like this to keep it going.”

That, he reiterated just a few days before his one-year anniversary as proprietor, is still his guiding light.

“This place deserves 100 years. And I want to accomplish that, that’s still my main goal,” he said. “I want smiles – people coming in and being happy.”

Some things never change

Asked what has changed at the business in the past year, Battle said he’s keeping much of the store as it was when he took over.

“Some new decor, the flooring, a few pieces of equipment … that’s about all that has changed here,” he said. “We want to keep this staple of Lebanon County.”

That doesn’t mean they’re stagnating, however.

They’re bringing back some old recipes, such as molasses coconut and salted butter pecan caramels, Battle said. Likewise, he said, the “big blocks (coated in milk or dark chocolate) are being made in house again … using the original recipe.”

Also, Wertz Candies has a booming new business of wholesale sales of its popular caramel corn, which is available at stores including Gristick’s Fresh Market and Dutch-Way Farm Market.

“Wholesale has blown up,” Battle explained.

“We recognized that everybody cannot get downtown to pick up their caramel corn, so a better idea would be to put it in some local, family-owned grocery stores,” he said, noting that the crunchy snack is now available at around 30 locations. “There’s a town in New York that just placed a big order as well. It’s spreading around. … People are really eating it up.”

While the wholesale side of the business is mostly dealing with the traditional caramel corn, some are also carrying select new flavors such as buttery dill pickle, cheddar sour cream, and Cajun cheddar. He also sold two limited-edition flavors: Liberty Crunch and the Big Boy (referencing the locomotive that recently passed through Lebanon County).

“We have a new one I’m going to drop next month, the smoked bacon jalapeño. It’s a gourmet corn,” Battle said. “We’re hoping to drop a new flavor each month. I can’t say they’ll all stay in the store. … We’ll put them into the rotation. We’re checking the public’s taste buds to see what they like.”

Caramel corn, Battle says, remains Wertz’s bestselling item.

“Every day,” he said, “it’s continuous turnaround.”

As for the ever-popular opera fudge, he added, “we’ve made no changes at all. We’re sticking to its roots.”

Otherwise, he said, “we’re in the lab, working things out.”

While Battle’s plan of fielding a Wertz Candies food truck has not come to fruition – yet – he said they did launch the Wertz “candy cart,” which has made an appearance at a few local events. Most recently, the candy cart was at the Myerstown Community Block Party on Sept. 26.

Don’t give up hope on the food truck, Battle said. If not a food truck, he added, he might run with a pop-up tent or “some other kind of mobile unit.”

“Right now, we’re focused on the store,” he explained. “After the holidays, we’ll sit down at the drawing table and see how creative we can get with it.”

Blessings from the past

Former store owner Chuck Wertz, along with his former co-owners (and siblings) Richard and Jean, comes in to help sometimes with store operations. Chuck Wertz was recently on hand and shared a few insights into the evolution of Wertz Candies with LebTown.

“When the Battles took over this time last year, they were really thrown into the fire at the most critical time of the year, the holidays. They weathered it, and learned a lot,” he said. “They asked if we’d come in to help keep the tradition alive.”

They’re still coming in “on a part-time basis, as needed and requested,” Wertz added. On the day of the interview, he said he was making vanilla caramel.

“It’s filling in the gaps to keep the train moving,” he said. “We’re happy to do it. … We want to see this business endure. Jazzie and Missy are extremely committed to that concept. We really want to be a part of it, and help them where we can.”

Wertz stressed that he doesn’t expect the Battles to maintain the business exactly as it was when the Wertz family ran things.

“I feel – and my siblings as well – that it’s extremely important that they bring a new twist to the business. The Battles have done it. They’re extremely entrepreneurial … it’s amazing,” he said. “And we’re all cool with it.”

At the same time, Wertz said, the Battles have not sacrificed the tried-and-true, handmade traditions that made the business so beloved in the community.

“The core DNA of Wertz Candies is still alive and well, and circulating through the blood of the business,” he said. “I think they have things on the right road to success.”

Blessings from the present

Battle said he isn’t able to speak to every customer who comes into the store, but added that “the reviews they’ve been giving to the employees” have been overwhelmingly positive.

He is particularly pleased, he said, to see a lot of young people coming into the store after school – lured, no doubt, by the free samples he offers each day.

“I’ve heard from a lot of our older clientele,” he added. “They tell us how they’ve been coming here 40, 50, 60 years. Then they brought their kids, and now they bring THEIR kids. … It’s important for a family business to keep the families coming in.”

Battle said he wants to thank his family, friends “and all the folks who came in to give us a hand” for helping to make his first year at Wertz Candies successful.

“Every day is a learning experience. But it’s fun,” he said. “Well, 98% of it is fun.”

Battle asked a LebTown reporter to make one point very clear in this article.

“Tell the adults: Don’t stop bringing the kids,” he said. “Kids love candy stores.”