TodayMechanicsburg's Brittle Bark makes ‘Rachael Ray’
Show will distribute locally made Brittle Bark to its audience
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Diane Krulac, left, prepares and bags freshly made Brittle Bark at her Mechanicsburg store. Jason Malmont/The Sentinel
Packages of Brittle Bark, right, will be distributed to audience members at “The Rachael Ray Show.” Jason Malmont/The Sentinel
A drizzle of dark chocolate on a piece of peanut brittle is enough to make mouths water.
It also happens to be enough to give a local company national attention.
One of the chocolate-drizzled products from Mechanicsburg’s Brittle Bark Co. will be featured as the “Snack of the Day” on “The Rachael Ray Show” on Thursday.
“It is a real honor to be featured on ‘The Rachael Ray Show,’” said Brittle Bark President Diane Krulac.
“Brittle Bark constantly strives to produce a quality product,” said Mechanicsburg Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jeff Palm. “Getting national recognition for it is a testament to how a small business can grow in an extremely competitive market.”
Brittle Bark, which sells various flavors of brittle mixed with nuts and dried fruits, will have its Poppin’ Time showcased on “Rachael Ray.” The product is one of the company’s snack varieties and is made up of popcorn and pretzels covered in its Just Peanut brittle and chocolate.
Despite the long hours of work Krulac and her team of women put into the homemade brittle, it was a stroke of luck that got it into the hands of Ray.
“We had divine intervention,” Krulac said. “We have a group of seven women working from Labor Day and one of them won a contest to meet Rachael Ray. We wanted to get Brittle Bark in her hands, so we gave (Ray) a gift box, and on Feb. 8, they gave us a call back saying they wanted to have it on the show.
“We shipped it out on Tuesday and now, a week and a half later, it’s going to be on the show. Some people who submit it to the snack of the day wait months. We’re so lucky.”
The extra attention required some extra work — about 140 more pieces of extra work.
Ray’s 140 audience members will also be the recipients of Poppin’ Time snack gifts, which Krulac and her team placed in special orange wrapping to fit the color scheme of the show.
“Brittle Bark is one of the Mechanicsburg area’s best-kept secrets,” Palm said. “Diane and her staff deserve a real pat on the back for all their success.”
Matching wrapping with a televised color scheme was not on Krulac’s mind when she first started the Brittle Bark business in October 2003.
It was mostly the reactions of friends and family that led her to start the business, which begins production of the homemade Brittle Bark on Labor Day and runs through Mother’s Day. It wasn’t until later that the business started growing at a faster pace than Krulac expected.
“We did have a plan for growth,” Krulac said. “We knew we had an incredible product. It was carried locally, and we planned for the growth to be slow. This past year, it just exploded. We’ve had demand from stores throughout the Northeast, but there’s only so much brittle we can make at a time, because everything is still homemade.”
Brittle Bark Company was primarily a wholesale business selling the product to other stores nationally, but much of Krulac’s customer base happens to be from Central Pennsylvania. The growth in sales at stories nationwide, from her own home and online was enough for the creation of the company’s showroom at 221 W. Main St., which may already be too small for the production.
“We’re thinking of having a second facility,” Krulac said. “My husband and I actually own another location two doors down that we’re hoping to come online this summer. We’ll have two locations on Main Street.”
Krulac, who does “99.9 percent” of the baking now, may turn her spatula in when the second store opens, though she hopes to continue with some of the cooking.
“We make so many unusual products, including the pizza pies, which takes a little bit of talent and hand pouring, so I may still be doing that,” Krulac said.
Before celebrating a new store opening, Brittle Bark Company will first hold an open house on Saturday for its local patrons to take part in the Rachael Ray feature.
The Poppin’ Time with special packaging will be available at 10 percent off at the event, and the company’s 20 other varieties of brittle bark will be available for purchase. Poppin’ Time will also be available online on Thursday, when the show airs.
“The Rachael Ray Show” can be seen on WGAL, Channel 8, at 2 p.m. on Thursday.
