If your sweetheart received Madelaine Chocolate candy roses for Valentine’s Day you can thank Yenis Hernandez for making it happen. 

“This is my job for long time,  I’ve been working here for 35 years,” said Hernandez.

Hernandez works at Madelaine Chocolate’s Far Rockaway factory,  a staple in the area for decades. 

But, a little more than four years ago when superstorm Sandy ravaged the area, the factory was on the verge of shutting down. 

Hernandez, one of more than 400 employees who lost their jobs.

“I was very sad, I was with depression I thought that I wasn’t going to have my job back,“ recalls Hernandez.

But, thanks to $3.5 million in tax benefits from the city’s Industrial Development Agency and a considerable grant through the Department of Small Business Services, the company is rebounding.  

NY1 was the only station there when James Patchett, the President of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, toured the facility and saw for himself the progress that has been made.

“It’s incredible that they’re back over 230 employees not to mention that they hired over 100 in the last six months,“ said Patchett.

Company officials say they they’d like to hire back even more employees there are already plans in the works to bring in new equipment to produce they haven’t been able to produce  since before Sandy. But, that will likely be a slow process, the company says, as it’s  still trying to settle with its insurance company.

Still, Madelaine’s Chief Administrative Officer Scott Wright says that won’t stop the progress.

“We’re looking at the business everyday we want to remain competitive we want to stay where we are and we want to continue to grow,“ Wright said.

It’s a business model that could not get any sweeter for employees just like Hernandez, who said she was happy to be gainfully employed.

“I see that they are keeping the work on there’s a lot of people coming over here to work now we very happy, “ said Hernandez.