Bensalem's Longtime Sweet Treat

The Warner family started making candy on Bristol Pike in Bensalem in 1955.

But the business began a few years earlier with a different product.

"We were the only bakery in Bristol," said owner George Knauth, the son of Margaret Warner who passed away in the 1990s along with husband John.

As Knauth explains, one year his stepdad decided to buy two chocolate Easter eggs from Zitners.

"He stood them up and decorated the front of them to look like Mr. and Mrs. Egg," he said. The creations, Knauth said, were a big success and John Warner soon declared, "We're in the wrong business."

So when the family moved into a former house at 3518 Bristol Pike, the first floor became .

The rest, as they say, is history. And Ann Colon has been part of that history for more than 30 years.

"It's convenient for me. I have children and it's close to my home," said Colon, who has been manager about 20 years. "It was an after-school thing I started when I was 17 years old. They were nice to me and have treated me well."

Knauth added, "She recommended her sisters and they worked here too. One opened her own candy story in Doylestown."

Today, Colon said Warner's has little competition.

"If somebody wants homemade candy, there's really nothing around," she said. "All I know of in this area is Stutz in Warrington. "There used to be a lot in Philadelphia but a lot of those are out of business."

The building was more than doubled in size 25 to 30 years ago, to make room for what this week looked like a Christmas Wonderland, complete with a 25-pound chocolate Santa under construction. At Easter time, naturally, there are similar-sized bunnies. Throughout the year, there is a dietetic wing.

Warner's product has essentially stayed the same over the years. That means long-held recipes for such goodies as chocolate fudge, chocolate covered strawberries and handmade clusters.

"We try to keep mostly to what we're known for because we have older people who come back," said Colon, one of five employees.

The manager does acknowledge Warner's has been affected by the recession. But Knauth said he has no intention of closing.

"We have less corporate accounts," she said. "We used to have lots of business people and lodges placing orders but they stopped buying because of the recession."

"The economy affected us a little bit but people still buy chocolate I guess because it's a comfort food."

Made at a business that has been comfortable in Bensalem for more than five decades.