Thousands of New Jersey families will enjoy Thanksgiving dessert with a sweet treat from Delicious Orchards this year.
Just behind the walls of the crowded market, the aroma of apple, cinnamon and butter fill the air along with the chatter of an assembly line of workers.
There are employees like Stephanie Galetti, who sorts, molds and assembles each one of the 50,000 pies that leave the bakery straight to your table.
“They come out of the oven. As soon as they’re cool, they’re handed off to a customer,” said Galetti.
The baker is enjoying her 11th year working Thanksgiving week at the Colts Neck market.
“We are thinking about Thanksgiving starting in January. It’s the only way we can get everybody a pie,” Galetti said.
Erin Fuko’s journey to bakery manager nearly ended in a classroom.
“I went to school for teaching so I could be a teacher,” said Fuko.
She and her three siblings now run the Orchards with her parents Bill and Linda McDonald.
“I’m the fourth kid. My dad started here when he was 16. We’re just going to keep doing what we are doing and making it better, more efficient and having the most that we can,” said Fuko.
Efficiency is key when Thanksgiving week demands 100,000 donuts and 50,000 pies waiting to put the exclamation point on another feast in the form of a Delicious Orchards dessert.
“I can’t imagine being anywhere else,” said Galetti.