Looking to the future at Matthews 1812

CORNWALL — Good sense, good timing, good family — not to mention a 2015 food product of the year prize winner. It’s all good at Matthews 1812 House, where a new generation is now taking over. 

For Deanna and Blaine Matthews, it’s a perfect circle. The business she began at her kitchen table so she could stay home with the kids is now in the caring hands of their daughter, Cynthia (Matthews) von Berg, the company’s new president.

For those who only know it from catalogues and the Internet, the company is a source for award-winning cakes, cookies and candies that are handmade here in Cornwall. Matthews 1812 is a very popular provider of corporate gifts. 

The community here is also important to the family. They love it when their friends and neighbors and people from the area buy their products. And they are grateful to be able to operate a successful small business that creates jobs and allows them to be a family.

It was the birth of Sienna last November, to Cynthia and Walker (an architect), that put in motion the succession plan for the business. 

“My husband is from a small town, too, and we both wanted to raise our children they way we were raised. We love New York, but this is better,” von Berg said. “It’s even better when family is close by. It’s nice for everyone and great to have help. We were very lucky he was able”

With her wiggly baby girl on her lap, von Berg is seated at the same time-smoothed farmhouse table where she helped her mother package cookies for shipping when she was younger. Behind them is the same behemoth Garland oven and the desk where Deanna used a typewriter to type up the acknowledgments that went with each order. 

“During the holidays especially, I remember it always smelled so good in here, and there would be baking racks in the hallway.”

The house is at the top of Whitcomb Hill Road in Cornwall Bridge. It was built in 1812, hence the company name (the Matthewses are only the third owners).

Matthews 1812 House was started in September 1979. By 1990, the business had outgrown their kitchen. They built a bakery on Route 7, literally two minutes away.

In those early days, von Berg was a student at Cornwall Consolidated School and Housatonic Valley Regional High School, where her passion was the music program. She graduated from high school in 1997, and went on to Yale University to study art history and to Pratt Institute to study commercial design.

The Matthewses are now in their 70s. They’ve had time to imagine what retirement could be like. Maybe some traveling. Definitely grandchildren to spoil. 

And so, they are “sliding into retirement,” said von Berg, who is enjoying a stay at her childhood home while she and her husband search for a place of their own. The couple, her parents and von Berg’s babysitter share time with little Sienna.

Any anxiety that von Berg and her husband felt over leaving jobs in the city are gone. He has already found a job as an architect in Lakeville. She is bringing her 10 years’ experience as a graphic designer to Mudpuppy, a company that makes children’s books and toys.

She has confidence and enthusiasm and a modern outlook, all of which are taking Matthews 1812 House in new directions. In the works are a fresh look online and a social media presence to reach out to a younger audience. The products might be made available for retail sale. 

After chatting about her plans and ideas, von Berg went off to visit with the employees and settle her baby down for a nap, leaving her parents to  offer their perspective.

“She has already redesigned the website,” Deanna Matthews said. “One of our goals was to allow people to use it with their smart phones. She did a beautiful job.”

Keeping up with the demands of technology is something they have done out of necessity, not because they feel any affinity for the Internet.

“We would probably continue doing what we’re doing,” Blaine Matthews said. “We prefer developing new products.”

They introduce three or four new ones each year. These days, it’s often about offering sugar-free and gluten-free treats. 

“Maintaining a quality product has always been our priority,” Deanna said. “We trust Cynthia with that end. She has the energy to take the business to the next level with technology. Things are changing so fast, it’s like a second business.”

They are experimenting with new products to reflect the changes in the way people entertain, and are thrilled to have just received validation for not one, but three of their staple products.

In their lobby, they need to make room for more trophies. The Connecticut Specialty Food Association just picked their chocolate-dipped hazelnut cookies (gluten-free) as Food Product of the Year. 

Their marzipan cookies took second place in the dessert division; and both first- and second-place in the gluten-free division went to their chocolate-dipped hazelnut and cranapple cookies.

For all things yummy, go to www.matthews1812house.com, or visit their Facebook page.