A Family Business from the Start

There really is a Mrs. T behind all those boxes of delicious pierogies. Her name is Mary Twardzik, and it was her original pierogy recipe that launched this successful business back in 1952. Mary and several friends would gather around her kitchen table and make pierogies to help raise funds for church suppers.

Throughout his childhood, Mary's son, Ted, watched and learned from his mother and sampled plenty of the results. It wasn't until he graduated from college and worked for a year in an accounting firm that he realized this Polish specialty might have wider appeal. He figured if they did so well at church suppers, why not try the supermarket?

Way Too Much for the Family Kitchen!

Ted Twardzik returned to his hometown of Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, and started making pierogies on that same kitchen table. Six weeks into his venture, Mom was fed up with the mess and asked her son to move the operation. He set up headquarters in his dad's former tavern and began churning out pierogies by the dozen.

Today, that same tavern space is still a part of the Ateeco ("A 'T' [for Twardzik] Company") headquarters. Since then, Ateeco has expanded to many of the surrounding buildings to accommodate production. Today, Ted's sons, Ted Jr. and Tom, look over the operation, which proudly employs nearly 200 people in its eastern Pennsylvania plant, making Ateeco its hometown's largest employer. Shenandoah, home to just 6,000 residents, has helped make Ateeco as successful as it is today!