Classic Delight Inc.

Classic Delight Inc. was founded in April of 1987 by Darl & Joni Harkleroad. The Company started operations in August 1987 in rented facilities located in Columbus, Ohio.

Classic Delight Inc. was co-founded by an individual with an extensive background in the meat processing industry. Initially by serving in the U.S. Army, Veterinary Corps in 1961 and spending 3 1/2 years inspecting products and plants that supplied the military, and then as a USDA Federal Meat Inspector for 3 1/2 years before going to work in private industry.

The early background was very formative in the importance of proper handling procedures to ensure food safety.

Classic Delight Inc. was a front runner in producing "Modified Atmosphere Packaged" (MAP) fresh, refrigerated sandwiches for sale through the nation's major supermarket chains. (View Food Processing Magazine article of March 1989)

With wide acceptance of the product line, it was necessary for Classic Delight Inc. to secure new facilities better suited for the operation. In November 1988, the owners purchased a USDA processing plant located in St. Marys, Ohio and made the necessary modifications to the building to meet production needs. Sales continued to grow and 2nd and 3rd shifts were added to meet the requirements of sales. Shortly after this stage, it was apparant the packaging department would need to be enlarged and thus in 1991 plans were made to enlarge the production and packaging area, add dry storage and additional office and welfare facilities for employees.

The planned addition was completed in September of 1992. Additional packaging equipment was added and all production was moved to 1st shift. In January 1993, an additional production line was added. This equipment and additional packaging capabilities allowed Classic Delight Inc. to produce new product lines, primarily wedge cuts, hot dogs and 6" sub sandwiches.

With the addition of this equipment, Classic Delight Inc. saw their product line expand to well over 60 available items. With new items available, the business began contacting convenient store chains, c-store distributors and vending machine operations.

By producing a wide variety of consistent high quality, competitively priced products, demand for Classic Delight items continues to grow!

Classic Delight Inc. was founded with the philosophy of producing premium quality products under the strictest food safety procedures.

We have our own in-house lab that monitors plant environment. We perform microtesting by use of SPC, listeria, yeast and mold, and coliform plating. In addition, our QC lab peforms pre-op inspections to ensure our sanitation department is doing a thorough clean-up of all equipment and facilities.

Being involved in Modified Atmosphere Packaging requires that perfect temperature requirements are maintained to ensure the shelf life we guarantee our customers. (View Convenience Store Decisions article of August 1993)

An environmentally temperature controlled clean room, production facility maintained at 45°F.
Monitors ingredients through lab analysis and compliance to our strict product specifications.
Quality Control continually monitors the inert package oxygen level to ensure that we meet our required level of 00.25% residual oxygen.
Our Quality Control department along with the entire work force and supervision operates on a TOTAL QUALITY CONTROL PROGRAM that includes a strict and precise HACCP (Hazardous Analysis Critical Control Point) System.

The HACCP concept used by Classic Delight Inc. revolves around the following basic principles:

Assess hazards and risks associated with ingredients, materials, packaging, distribution, preparation and consumption of our products.
Determines the critical control point required to control the hazard.
Establishes the critical limits that must be met at each critical control point.
Establishes a procedure to monitor the critical control point.
Establishes corrective action to be taken when there is a deviation identified by monitoring the critical control point.
Establishes an effective record keeping system to monitor the HACCP program.
Establishes a procedure that verifies the HACCP system is working.

In final summary, Classic Delight Inc. is dedicated to providing consistent high quality, produced under the strictest controls to ensure safe quality products.