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Grand opening at Whitehall Dunkin’

A grand reopening is planned for Saturday at the Dunkin’ on MacArthur Road in Whitehall. 

The Dunkin’ located at 3670 MacArthur Rd will be celebrating its remodeling to become one of the chain’s “next generation” stores from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

 Starting at 11 a.m., the restaurant will surprise the first 100 guests in line with free coffee for a year. 

At noon, Dunkin’ franchisee Mihir Vyas will host an official ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening.  

Following the ribbon cutting ceremony Vyas will present a check for $500 to United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley. 

Dunkin’, founded in 1950, is the largest coffee and donuts brand in the United States, with more than 13,200 restaurants in nearly 40 global markets. 

New Dunkin’ opens in Whitehall

The new Whitehall Dunkin’ features the chain’s new, next-generation premium pours tap system. PHOTO/SUBMITTED –

Whitehall has a new Dunkin’. The coffee and doughnut chain recently opened a new location at 1174 MacArthur Road. 

The new Dunkin’ is one of the chain’s next generation store design, which features a more modern look, a faster drive-thru experience and “premium pours,” which is a new tap system for cold beverages such as iced tea and nitro-infused cold brew. 

Owned by Dunkin’ franchisee Mihir Vyas, who currently owns and operates four Dunkin’ locations throughout Pennsylvania, the location will have an official grand opening on June 18. 

Features of the new Dunkin’ include a faster drive-thru experience, featuring an exclusive On-the-Go drive-thru lane, which lets DDPerks members who order ahead via Dunkin’s Mobile App to bypass the ordering lane and head straight into the line for the pickup window.  

The company said that it is the first national restaurant brand to offer this type of drive-thru service. 

The location was also designed with increased energy efficiency in mind to help meet DD Green Achievement specifications.  

Stores that achieve DD Green Achievement status are built with sustainable and efficient elements like LED lighting, high-efficiency mechanical equipment, low-flow faucets, and more.  

On average, they are 33% more energy efficient compared to conventional Dunkin’ restaurants, the company said. 

It also features Dunkin’ on Demand, which offers digital kiosks where guests order with or without the help of a crew member. Dunkin’ has also introduced an area dedicated to mobile pickups so that members of the DD Perks Rewards program who order ahead via Dunkin’s Mobile App can get in and out of the restaurant faster. 

The 2,000-square-foot restaurant will employ approximately 15 crew members and is open daily from 4:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.  

A Conversation With: Mary McMahon, president and CEO of Fellowship Community in Whitehall

LVB: Fellowship Community has a few different residential options. Tell me more about them and how they work together. 

McMahon: We offer a continuum of care including independent living, personal care, memory support, short-term rehabilitation, and skilled nursing. 

Our independent living residents have the option of enjoying a spacious townhome or a well-appointed apartment with the ability to create their own lifestyle. They may choose to join in campus activities, work out in our wellness center, create in our woodshop, participate in activities by our pastoral care department or learn something new in our lifelong learning programs. 

Personal care is designed for people who need assistance with medication management or other activities of daily living. They can still come and go as they please with the comfort of knowing there is someone available 24/7 if they need help.  

Our memory care unit focuses on keeping our residents safe and happy, and every staff member has been certified in dementia care.  

Skilled nursing is designed for people who have advanced care needs and short-term rehab provides excellent physical and occupational therapy to bring people back to their personal best. 

The advantage of living on a continuing care campus is that all of the services are right here. If you’re an independent living resident and have a knee replaced, short-term rehab is on campus. If you have a spouse with dementia, they can reside in our memory care unit and you can spend every day with them knowing that they are well cared for by trained staff.  

LVB: There have been many changes in the care industry since the pandemic. How has Fellowship adapted? 

McMahon: We developed a special COVID unit for our positive residents staffed by a team who volunteered to care for them during isolation to prevent the spread of the pandemic. 

We improved our indoor air quality, installed automated visitor check-in kiosks, and increased our supply of PPE and testing supplies. 

Vaccines and boosters were offered on campus for our residents, employees and their families and continue to be available today. 

Using varied technologies really helped us stay in constant communication with our families, residents and employees through videos, social media, virtual platforms, and automatic phone calls. 

Most importantly, we never lost sight of the need to take care of our employees and residents so that they felt safe here and acknowledged for the physical and psychological hardships they endured. 

LVB: Do you still have ongoing challenges? What are they? 

McMahon: We continue to face workforce recruitment challenges. Maintaining competitive salary and benefit packages for staff retention is also a priority. We focus on our workplace culture which is rooted in our mission and values. We want to always be a place where people feel valued and respected. We strive to attract and retain staff who understand and will advance our caring and compassionate culture. We are also closely watching the proposed changes to the pending skilled nursing regulations related to staffing minimums. As we currently staff much higher than the Federal and State requirements, the workforce shortage may make compliance difficult depending on what level is set as the new standard. 

We must adhere to continued compliance with vaccination, masking and reporting mandates for skilled nursing and personal care that are ever-changing considering the decreasing restrictions for the public and declining case counts in the Lehigh County. 

Lastly, we are facing a challenge related to funding skilled nursing care for residents who have exhausted their savings. Reimbursement for this care through the Medicaid program is significantly lacking. We need support from our legislators on this critical issue. 

LVB: What do you want for the future of Fellowship Community? 

McMahon: My goal is to have Fellowship Community be the first place seniors come to when they want a wonderful retirement place to live. I would like to continue to have a happy and committed workforce that understands our mission and fits our value-driven culture. I would love to be able to expand our campus to serve more people in the future. 

Warby Parker store opening at Lehigh Valley Mall

Rendering of the interior of the new Warby Parker store in the Lehigh Valley Mall. –

The Lehigh Valley is getting its first Warby Parker. The fashion eyeglass retailer is opening a store at the Lehigh Valley Mall in Whitehall. The grand opening will be held Saturday. 

The retailer was founded in New York City in 2010 and has approximately 160 retail stores in North America but is known for selling glasses online. 

According to a press release the company expects the new location to be a one-stop-shop for customers’ eye needs. The location will offer eye exams and carry Warby Parker’s full line of sun and optical eyewear offerings. 

It will also have the company’s first brand of daily contact lenses Scout by Warby Parker, as well as third-party contacts. 

The company said it has also teamed up with local artist Marian Bailey to create a custom mural for the store, which will be available as a limited-edition gift-with-purchase print to celebrate the store’s opening.   

Fellowship Community names new VP/COO

Tracy Roman –

Fellowship Community in Whitehall has named Tracy Roman as its new senior vice president and chief operating officer.  

Roman had previously served as executive director of regional operations for Allentown-based Phoebe Ministries. 

She is replacing Donna Conley who retired after 24 years with the community. 

In the role, Roman will provide leadership, vision and administrative oversight for skilled nursing and personal care.  

She will oversee all clinical and support departments such as quality, compliance, nursing, admissions and rehabilitation.  

She will also serve as the nursing home administrator for Fellowship Manor. 

Roman was named a 2021 Health Care Hero by Lehigh Valley Business and serves on the Lehigh County Aging and Adult Services Advisory Council.  

She has held leadership positions as education chair and treasurer of the Northeast Chapter of LeadingAge PA and organized the Upper Bucks Forum on Aging. 

Roman received her nursing diploma from St. Luke’s Hospital School of Nursing. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from Kutztown University and a Master of Business Administration degree with a concentration in Health Care System Management from DeSales University.  

She is a licensed registered nurse and nursing home administrator. 

Harvest Health & Recreation opens marijuana dispensary in Whitehall

Harvest of Whitehall is located at 1809 MacArthur Rd. PHOTO / PROVIDED

 

Phoenix, Arizona-based Harvest Health & Recreation Inc. has opened a new medical marijuana dispensary in Whitehall.

Harvest of Whitehall, 1809 MacArthur Rd,, is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The cannabis company has a number of Pennsylvania dispensaries, including two in Reading and one each in Harrisburg, Camp Hill, Cranberry Township, King of Prussia, Scranton and Johnstown.

This is the company’s first dispensary in the Lehigh Valley.

“We are pleased to open our ninth Harvest-affiliated location in Pennsylvania, one of the fastest growing medical markets in the U.S.,” said CEO Steve White. “We look forward to serving patients and providing quality products at this new location in one of our core markets.”

Founded in 2011, Harvest Health & Recreation has grown a retail and wholesale presence throughout the U.S., acquiring, manufacturing, and selling cannabis products for patients and consumers in addition to providing services to retail dispensaries.

Electronics recycler opens Lehigh Valley facility

ATR’s new facility in Whitehall Township. PHOTO/SUBMITTED

 

Advanced Technology Recycling, a certified woman-owned national recycling company, opened a new facility in the Lehigh Valley.

Brody Ehresman, director of marketing for ATR, said the new 30,000-square-foot facility in Whitehall Township is part of its growing network of R2 Certified facilities and is one of the largest independent sites to date.

“We work in a hub and spoke model, this would be one of the spokes,” he said.

The company specializes in the secure recycling of computer and electronic equipment and has federal contracts to dispose of such devices for the U.S. Military and Aerospace customers.

The new site will help expand its portfolio of IT Asset Disposition and electronics recycling to the Northeast U.S.

The location will give ATR a better opportunity to work with new regional clients in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City and Baltimore.

Brody said ATR will be the first company in the region to have U.S. State Department authorized ITAR (International Traffic and Arms Regulations) compliant destruction programs and, GSA (General Service Administration) approved pricing discounts for all levels of governmental agencies that seek responsible and sustainable recycling and ITAD services.

ATR also has business to business recycling programs.

Work that will be conducted at the new Whitehall facility will include processing loads of IT and other electronic scrap, metal and plastics recovery and electronics recovery including the resale of tech assets.

“We’ll have everything from server equipment to laptops and touch pads,” Ehresman said.

ATR is currently hiring at the site. It will initially need five to 10 people and expects to have a staff of 20 in the long term.

Smoothie King adds Whitehall to its kingdom

A photo of a Smoothie King smoothie.

 

The Lehigh Valley is getting its first Smoothie King.

Billing itself as the country’s first smoothie franchise, a location was opened at 2701 MacArthur Commons Road in Whitehall last week.

The franchise is owned by Humza Tanvir, who has four other locations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Originally a consultant with a computer software company, Tanvir has been a Smoothie King franchise owner since 2017.

Focused on promoting healthy and active lifestyles, Smoothie King has a menu that features 70 smoothies under the categories: Fitness, Slim, Wellness and Break Time.

“As the first Smoothie King in the Lehigh Valley, I’m very excited to show locals the healthy and delicious menu items Smoothie King offers,” said Tanvir in a release. “Each Smoothie King location matches their community, so I know the Whitehall location will be a great success.

With the COVID-19 pandemic the shop will be taking extra precautions for safe and contactless service.

The new Whitehall location will use its drive-thru window, and during particularly crowded times of the day it will send team members out to take orders on tablets for faster pickup.

Hours of operation will be Monday through Friday 7 a.m. – 9 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m. – 9 p.m., and Sunday 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.

A Dallas-based franchise company, Smoothie King has more than 1,000 locations worldwide. It was founded in 1973.

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