MennoNet.com

Trickling Springs Creamery, a regionally well-known Mennonite business in Chambersburg, PA is closing its doors under the shadow of financial wrongdoing. It is not a surprising outcome for those who have been even relatively familiar with the business, but its formal announcement of closure yesterday has surprised the public and sparked a number of news articles.

https://www.washingtonian.com/2019/09/2 ... tigations/
https://thetakeout.com/trickling-spring ... 1838530965
https://www.publicopiniononline.com/sto ... 785559002/

Official closure announcement

The Pennsylvania Securities & Exchange Commission has had its legal filing against the company and its executives public online for some time, but it is just now being discovered by news outlets. Although the company has not announced, and probably will not announce, a cause for the closure, it is clear enough that financial mismanagement and possible illegality has brought down the company.

It is a very unfortunate end for a business that produced a wonderful line of dairy and ice cream products, and it is a cause of dismay for consumers throughout the region who appreciated their highly-rated products.

This feels like watching someone being punched in the gut, as I am a business owner myself. I believe that the business likely brought this on itself, but still it is painful to watch. There are a lot of lessons to be learned here.

This is yet another example of Mennonites (and possibly others) being taken in by some non-conventional investment scheme, and losing. It seems clear that millions of dollars of investors' money may have been lost. You have to wonder when people will ever learn.

Ouch. Our local ice cream place uses their milk base. I hope they have plan B.

J.M.

mike wrote:This is yet another example of Mennonites (and possibly others) being taken in by some non-conventional investment scheme, and losing. It seems clear that millions of dollars of investors' money may have been lost. You have to wonder when people will ever learn.

That was my same thought when I learned of this a month or so ago. How can there be scandal after scandal, with people brokering other people's money, and and think that they can somehow get around the laws?
It seems that "success" goes to people's heads, and they can't believe they are capable of failing.
Somebody who was looked up to as a good businessman got caught up in this and lost his church membership.
I'm glad that at least some CA churches still believe that good stewardship of finances is a Christian virtue and that church discipline is in order if one is not accountable and transparent with his brothers in the Lord, and that handling money illegally is considered worthy of church discipline.

Ernie wrote:

mike wrote:This is yet another example of Mennonites (and possibly others) being taken in by some non-conventional investment scheme, and losing. It seems clear that millions of dollars of investors' money may have been lost. You have to wonder when people will ever learn.

That was my same thought when I learned of this a month or so ago. How can there be scandal after scandal, with people brokering other people's money, and and think that they can somehow get around the laws?
It seems that "success" goes to people's heads, and they can't believe they are capable of failing.
Somebody who was looked up to as a good businessman got caught up in this and lost his church membership.
I'm glad that at least some CA churches still believe that good stewardship of finances is a Christian virtue and that church discipline is in order if one is not accountable and transparent with his brothers in the Lord, and that handling money illegally is considered worthy of church discipline.

You probably know some of these people, Ernie? Surely not the bishop's brother?

Ernie wrote:

mike wrote:This is yet another example of Mennonites (and possibly others) being taken in by some non-conventional investment scheme, and losing. It seems clear that millions of dollars of investors' money may have been lost. You have to wonder when people will ever learn.

That was my same thought when I learned of this a month or so ago. How can there be scandal after scandal, with people brokering other people's money, and and think that they can somehow get around the laws?
It seems that "success" goes to people's heads, and they can't believe they are capable of failing.
Somebody who was looked up to as a good businessman got caught up in this and lost his church membership.
I'm glad that at least some CA churches still believe that good stewardship of finances is a Christian virtue and that church discipline is in order if one is not accountable and transparent with his brothers in the Lord, and that handling money illegally is considered worthy of church discipline.

Financial malfeasance often hurts a wide range of innocent people and discredits a person's Christian testimony and even that of the church or larger group of churches he is a part of. Although it has a vastly different type of damage than sexual sin, it has some similar effects and should have similar consequences. Lifelong accountability and hard work rebuilding of trust and other things are necessary to overcome financial wrongdoing, just like some other major moral failures.

One of the things I have been thinking about doing that has been underscored in my mind by this situation is to utilize business advising services. I don't really have a business partner to bounce my decisions off of, and who can take a look at the entire picture and identify potential issues. I only had a single meeting with a business adviser once and the advice proved to be quite helpful. I think it's time to do some more of that.

I’m really sorry this is happening, especially for the investors whose trust was taken advantage of and for the employees who are loosing their jobs.

Judas Maccabeus wrote:Ouch. Our local ice cream place uses their milk base. I hope they have plan B.

It's probably a good idea for businesses like that to have a secondary supplier for at least 2% of each ingredient, in case the main supplier decides to skim off the profits and go awhey.

Szdfan wrote:I’m really sorry this is happening, especially for the investors whose trust was taken advantage of and for the employees who are loosing their jobs.

I hope the court forces reorganization on the company, giving the investors the equity in the business. Maybe they can save the business and ultimately preserve the jobs and make the investors whole.

J.M.

ohio jones wrote:

Judas Maccabeus wrote:Ouch. Our local ice cream place uses their milk base. I hope they have plan B.

It's probably a good idea for businesses like that to have a secondary supplier for at least 2% of each ingredient, in case the main supplier decides to skim off the profits and go awhey.

I am hearing they have a plan, so they will not wind up in the weeds.

J.M.