RARITAN TOWNSHIP – One of Hunterdon County’s most popular businesses wants to convert a building into its own version of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.The Fudge Shoppe, a Central Jersey institution for more than six decades, is scheduled to appear before the township Zoning Board of Adjustment on July 18 with a proposal to convert the first floor of a building at the corner off Millbrook Road and Burry Lane into a candy manufacturing facility. The property is located at the back of the store’s location on southbound Route 202 by Case Boulevard.
The second floor of the building will continue to be used as a three-bedroom apartment.
The 3.4-acre property also has a one-story single-family home with an attached garage and a storage shed.
The L-shaped masonry building to be renovated was used as a metal and machine shop from about 1965 to 1984 when the township approved the building for use as an engineer’s office, apartment and storage.
About four full-time employees will be working in the facility to produce candy for The Fudge Shoppe, according to the development application.
The single-family home will remain residential.
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The Fudge Shoppe requires a use variance from the Zoning Board of Adjustment because manufacturing is not allowed in the zone and only one principal use is allowed on a property.
The store, which is packed with customers around holidays and on weekends, has been featured on the Food Network’s “Great American Food Finds.”
Anna and Allen Burry started the Fudge Shoppe in 1961 before Route 202 was a four-lane highway.
Email: mdeak@mycentraljersey.com
Mike Deak is a reporter for mycentraljersey.com. To get unlimited access to his articles on Somerset and Hunterdon counties, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Hunterdon’s Fudge Shoppe on Route 202 needs more space to make candy
