Cherry HIll Foods, Left to right, Frank DiMartini-Graphic Designer, Suzanne- Secretary. George Mum- ford-Comptroller, Herman Shooster - President, Hank Malon - Securities Attorney Cherry HIll, New Jersey, 1969
1969-1972 CHERRY HILL FOODS
serve this entire region with cable TV service. I took note. A few years later, it became a vast enterprise. They virtually started the cable TV business in the United States. The company was called Liberty Cable. I tried to keep selling frozen food for another two years. Sales were difficult, but I was enjoying the friendships. Most were from New York and Philadelphia. One of my closest associates became Hank Malon, the securities lawyer that handled National Food Marketers. Hank kept nudging me to take Shooster’s Frozen Specialty Company public. I thought the idea was ludicrous. Shooster’s was a small, unproven company that did not warrant the public’s attention, much less their investment. However, months went by, and he kept bring- ing it up, insisting that he had an underwrit- er who owed him a deal. Eventually, I relent- ed and got on board. That is how Cherry Hill Foods, Inc., was born as a public company and me as its President.
My business plan was sound. I had no debt and people were investing. My goal was to buy other companies for stock, and use our cash as working capital to expand their operations. I knew the ropes, having already done something similar for National Food Market- ers. The stock market was hot. So hot it was taking months to achieve certification from the SEC. All we could do was sit back and prepare for the long wait. Then, just like that, we received a telegram from the SEC notify- ing us that we were effective. The underwriter could immediately begin selling the stock. I was ecstatic. We were a public company, but the underwriter was not too happy. They were not finished selling a previous offering. Regardless, there was no turning back. What the SEC does, everyone has to live with. A frantic effort was underway in New York to sell our stock and, to my amazement, it was successful. We applied for and achieved a Full Filing,
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