“There’s nothing precise about the

machines,” Hild said.

Hank’s opened at its 13940 Con-
neaut Lake Road location on June 4,
1952, by Hild’s grandparents, Margue-
rite (Marg) and Ernest (Ernie) Hild. They
took in $4.05 on opening day.
The business was named after Marg’s
father, Henry, whose nickname was
Hank. In 1947, Hank opened Hank’s
Frozen Custard in New Brighton in
Beaver County and was doing well.
The Hilds opened a stand with the idea
they would draw business from those
visiting nearby Conneaut Lake amuse-
ment park.
By 1980, Ernie and Marg Hild had
passed along the business to their son
Rick Hild and his wife, Linda, who are
Ryan’s parents.
Ryan began working at the business
as a young teenager in 1991. After
getting a business degree in 1999 from
Baldwin Wallace College, he began
working full time and took over owner-
ship in 2007.
Though retired, Rick Hild still is at the
business part time helping out with the
mechanical aspects of the machines to
keep them running. SHANNON ROAE/MEADVILLE TRIBUNE

HAGAN BUSINESS
MACHINES OF
MEADVILLE INC.: 30 years
Thirty years after Craig Guy and
Jay Verno purchased Hagan Busi-
ness Machines of Meadville Inc., the
company is flourishing amid a time of
transition for the business and a time
of uncertainty for a region and world
still emerging from the effects of the
pandemic.
Chip shortages and staffing challeng-
es have affected the company over the
past two years, but the company, which
already serves more than 2,000 cus-
tomers in a six-county area, has plans
for growth coming out of the pandem-
ic, according to Guy.
While the pandemic has presented
challenges, the transition has been
seamless, Guy said.
John Cascio (left), a six-year veteran of Hagan’s Business Machines of Meadville,
took over as co-owner with Craig Guy earlier this year.
After Verno’s retirement in February,
John Cascio, a six-year veteran of the
firm, took over as co-owner with Guy
remaining onboard and Verno still
available — “It takes a while to get out
of the office,” Cascio joked — Hagan
has ensured stability for both its cus-
tomers and its community.
“We were able to keep the business
locally owned as well, which was a big
thing for Jay,” Guy said inside the con-
ference room at the company’s Mead
Avenue office in Meadville, one of
three locations along with a technology
center in Vernon Township and another
office in Seneca.
The key to serving those customers
well, according to Guy and Cascio,
be their last first day on the job when
we hire someone.”
Having the right people on board
makes responding to unexpected pan-
demics easier, the two men said.
“One door closes, another one
opens,” Cascio said.
While Hagan’s copier business de-
clined with the onset of the pandemic,
Guy pointed out, its network services
have grown rapidly in response to
increases in remote work and customer
demand.
The willingness and ability to
respond to such changes nimbly, ac-
cording to Guy, has been a key factor
in Hagan’s ability to thrive for three
decades and more.

“
starts with making the right calls when
it comes to staffing, a process that
pandemic-related labor shortages has
made all the more important.
We’re trying to do “We want to hire people who are
very good at customer service and
everything we can teach them how to do the technical
part of the job,” Guy said. “All of our
to provide a place employees interact with our customers
someone can retire from. — we don’t have anybody hiding in the
back room that we can live with having
We want it to be their a bad attitude.”
With a staff of 20, hiring a new
last first day on the job employee represents a commitment
when we hire someone. on the business’s part, according to
Cascio, who recalled looking for — and
finding — “a company that cared”
John Cascio when he started with Hagan.
BLOSSOMS AND BLOOMS
BOUTIQUE: 5 years
A marriage forged between the
county’s newest floral shop and its
oldest has proved a fertile proposition,
according to Travis Crytzer, the owner
of the two stores.
Having decided to return to Craw-
ford County in 2017 after spending
more than a decade in politics and
lobbying in Washington, D.C., Crytzer
began exploring opportunities. A
series of fortuitous events led him to
launch Blossoms and Blooms Boutique
in Linesville. The store marks its fifth
anniversary in September.

”
“We’re trying to do everything we The next year, Crytzer bought
can to provide a place someone can re- Loeffler’s Flowers and Gifts in Mead-
tire from,” Cascio said. “We want it to ville, which will mark its first century in

22 FOUNDATIONS 2022/2023 Milestones

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