HAZLETON -- Everyone loves a fresh pizza.
Now, Longo's bakery in Hazleton is hoping to keep theirs as fresh as possible with new grant money from Ben Franklin Technology Partners.
This money will help make Longo's success even tastier.
Longo's Bakery is one of 12 Pennsylvania companies to get a grant from Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania.
It's a state-funded organization that helps businesses with growth and development.
Longo's is one of them, getting $25,000 to continue expanding.
Longo's Bakery is rolling in the dough, literally and figuratively.
For more than 80 years, the Hazleton Bakery has been making pizza shells and baked goods, but when new owners took over last year, business soared.
Longo's president said the company now serves 1,800 grocery stores in the northeast, an accomplishment that's hard to manage.
“We started losing a little bit of control of the manufacturing and basically it ended. Basically we weren't able to track our shipments, manufacturing, try to put it all together,” said Derek Zukovich, Longo’s Bakery President.
The grant money from Ben Franklin Technology Partners now has the business teaming up with Lehigh Unversity to develop a new software system.
The system will better track shipments, production and customer needs.
A spokesperson for Ben Franklin said Longo's was chosen since it's well established and has room for improvement.
Office manager Stephanie Sirochy said the upgrades will make her job a little easier.
“They went to a new, sort of an upgraded computer system but it was nowhere near what we need. With this new system, we'll be able to handle it and these glitches and problems will go away,” said Stephanie Sirochy, Longo’s Office Manager.
Longo's goes through about 80,000 pounds of flour every 10 days, mostly to make these pizza shells, but with the new technology they're getting, they might be able to make even more.
“When you're bringing product back that didn't sell, well you had to pay for that product to be made. You had to pay for the materials, and it'll help manage that and hopefully lower that,” said Josh Holmberg, Longo’s Route Driver.
Lehigh University is already doing some research for Longo's.
In a few months they'll pick a software company and by early 2013, they'll be training on and installing on a brand new system.