Allegheny Treenware, owned by Stanley and Sue Jennings, and located in Thornton, West Virginia, is a company focused on the production of handmade, West Virginia hardwood wooden kitchen utensils. Each item is shaped by hand, and every spoon has been hand gouged–making every piece unique in its own way.
Jennings talked with Jim Matuga, host of The Positively West Virginia Podcast, about her business, the perks of being a business in West Virginia and her insight on how her business uses local products.
What is your 30-second pitch for Allegheny Treenware?
“We make West Virginia hardwood utensils that are beautiful, functional, affordable and we enjoy the heck out of making them,” said Jennings.
What would you say is the best thing about being in business in West Virginia?
“I like where West Virginia is located for our type of business because we have found our biggest market places tend to be in the outside states,” said Jennings.
What is your worst business moment?
“On the way to one of our big shows our truck broke down, I don’t know what kind of lesson you can learn from that other then we kept pretty good maintenance on it so we couldn’t understand the problem. We did miss the show which was a significant amount of income,” said Jennings. “We have simply been blessed with what we have done. I can’t tell you how positive our whole business experience has been but I do think we overworked ourselves in the beginning and we may have almost burnt out but we realized what we were doing and we backed off.”
Jennings was a guest on The Positively West Virginia Podcast. Listen to her full podcast here.
PWV QUICK BITS | WOODEN KITCHEN UTENSILS
- RECOMMENDED BOOK: Experience is better than books in this line of work.
- RECOMMENDED RESOURCE: Quickbooks
- TYPE OF WOOD USED: Local wood from local wood companies.