This article is one in a series of articles about what life looks like in Butler County ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary on July 4, 2026. Stories in this series aim to showcase what it’s like to live, work, play and serve in Butler County during this moment in history.

On a bitterly cold December day last year outside Sam’s Club, 58-year-old Barry Cummings stood beside Butler Rotary volunteers ringing bells for the Salvation Army and greeting shoppers with thanks as they dropped donations into red kettles.

He was not a Rotary member. He had simply shown up to help.

“He was very welcoming and expressing much gratitude to the people who donated,” recalled Jeff Simmons, president of Butler AM Rotary.

On other occasions, Cummings has helped Rotary volunteers with their annual flower planting at the corner of Hansen Avenue and New Castle Street in Butler. He also volunteers as a guitar instructor for veterans through Guitars for Vets.

Those interactions reflect the reputation Cummings has built in Butler — not only as a member of the family that has operated Cummings Candy & Coffee for more than 120 years, but as a businessman known for generosity, community involvement, customer relationships and a down-to-earth leadership style.

He said he learned much of his approach to business from growing up alongside his father, Tom Cummings.

“My dad was the best mentor I could ever ask for on how to treat people, run the business and treat employees,” Cummings said, noting that he is proud to have employees who have worked for the company for as long as 26 years.

Cummings Candy & Coffee traces its roots to 1905, when Pete Cummings, an immigrant from Sparta, Greece, opened a candy shop on South Main Street in Butler. Within a decade, the business moved to North Main Street, where it has remained under continuous family ownership as the oldest family-operated business in Butler.

Pete Cummings died when Barry was just 6 months old, so his childhood memories of the candy business center around spending time at the store with his father.

One of his earliest memories was drinking a chocolate milkshake at the shop. By age 10, he was helping box and weigh chocolate-covered cherries while occasionally sampling a few himself.

“Just to make sure they were good,” he said with a smile.

Barry’s teenage years coincided with difficult economic times in Butler as two of the city’s largest employers — Armco Steel and Pullman-Standard — faced layoffs and closures.

“It was a rough time for Butler and certainly a rough time for my family,” he said.

In 1995, Barry was a senior at Robert Morris College, preparing to graduate and interviewing in Pittsburgh for a corporate job. He had invested in a couple of suits and a briefcase. While waiting for a bus one day, he stopped at the candy store to have coffee with his father. Before he left, the trajectory of his life changed.

“How about the store adding coffee?” Barry asked.

A trip to Italy had introduced Barry to a different coffee culture – one centered around espresso, cappuccino and conversation.

His dad looked up over his tortoise-shell glasses and gave a one-word reply.

“OK,” he said.

That conversation helped reshape the family business for a new generation.

Over the next 20 years, father and son expanded Cummings Candy & Coffee to three locations: Downtown at 146 N. Main Street; West at 530C Evans City Road; and Butler Memorial Hospital. A South location was added in 2019 at 454 Pittsburgh Road.

They expanded Cummings Candy & Coffee beyond its traditional candy roots, introducing specialty coffees, baked goods and café-style foods while continuing the homemade chocolates, peanut brittle, milkshakes, and chocolate-covered treats that had defined the business for generations.

“The best 20 years of my life was working with my dad — great stories, great memories,” Cummings said.

Today, the smell of roasting coffee and homemade chocolate still fills the Main Street store each morning as regular customers stop in for coffee, breakfast and conversation.

Cummings begins most mornings working the front counter of the original store before heading into the back room or one of the other stores later in the day to roast coffee or cashews, make peanut brittle or temper chocolate for the store’s homemade treats.

“I really enjoy interacting with the community,” he said, estimating that about 75% of the customers each day are regulars. The other 25% are surprised by the classic décor and eager to ask questions about its history.

“There’s a front-room part and a back-room part to the job, and I adore them both,” he said. “I love coming to work.”

Barry’s wife, Jennifer, handles many of the company’s business operations, including payroll and administrative duties.

And the future of the business may already be taking shape in the next generation. Barry and Jennifer have two daughters, Penelope, 14, and Tommi, 21, both of whom have expressed interest in continuing the family tradition as fourth-generation owners.

The daughters help in both the kitchen and storefront, and Penelope has already begun offering ideas for future menu additions.

“I would like to include donuts,” she said.

She has also shown a head for business: she recently suggested extending store hours on holidays — a move that pleased her father.

Jordan Grady, executive director of the Butler County Chamber of Commerce, said he is encouraged to see the next generation interested in continuing the family business.

“You see business leaders, students, families, elected officials, retirees and visitors all sharing the same space,” Grady said. “There is a warmth, authenticity and sense of community there that is increasingly rare today. Barry and his team have created an environment where everyone feels welcome, and that is a major reason why this business has remained so beloved for more than 120 years.”

For Cummings, the business has always been about more than candy and coffee.

He said he remains proud not only of his family’s business, but also of Butler itself.

“What I love most about Butler is that we persevere,” he said. “We saw major manufacturing leave, and we reinvented ourselves and never stopped trying.”