Gourmet News • Winter Fancy Food 2020 by OserCommunicationsGroup

GOURMET NEWS

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Bakeable Packaging from Novacart

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SPECIAL SHOW ISSUE

What Makes ENZO Olive Oil Company Unique?

Bella Sun Luci Launches New Plant-Based Jerky

JM: Novacart manufactures bakeable

Twelve years ago, Patrick and Vincent Ricchiuti, representing the third-and-fourth generation of Ricchiuti Family Farms, sought out to further diversify their agricultural business. Through industry research conducted by the University California Davis Olive Center, they discov-

Vertullo Imports: Sourcing the Finest Italian

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An interview with Joseph Miglia, General Manager, Novacart GN: What kind of products does Novacart have to offer?

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Jake’s Nut Roasters Almonds

Jake, a fourthgeneration member of the Jasper Family, is proud to continue the farming traditions of his great-grandfather that have been passed down for over 70 years. Since 1948, a commitment to quality and innovation has propelled many

BOOTH #5964

DeBrand Chocolate Art Boxes

D e B r a n d Chocolate Art Boxes are handcrafted, exceptionally unique edible masterpieces. One of the newest additions to DeBrand’s collection of Chocolate Art Boxes is Draped in Gold. This box is ele-

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Oat Creamers from Elmhurst By Nicholas Budniewski, S e n i o r C o p y w r i t e r, Elmhurst 1925

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Stonewall Kitchen Welcomes Vermont Village

Oat milk has officially broken coffee. Cafés everywhere have been infiltrated by a “boring” whole grain gone cool. Who saw that

Specialty food maker Stonewall Kitchen expands with the addition of Vermont Village, maker of fine apple sauces and apple cider vinegar products. The company’s high-quality offerings and New England roots make the acquisition a natural fit for Stonewall Kitchen, which has been

BOOTH #155

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Vertullo Imports sources high quality specialty items from all over the world, leveraging longstanding supplier relationships and robust networks. While the company truly is all over the map, a high concentration of its items are sourced from Italy. To ensure Continued on Page 118

Mooney Farms and the Bella Sun Luci brand, which blazed the trail for the California sun dried tomato market over 30 years ago, is introducing an exciting new product to its line-up, Plant-Based Tomato Jerky. This new vegan, plant-based jerky Continued on Page 118

This Saves Lives: Snacks That Give Back

Sustainability in the Deli Case

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This Saves Lives is a snack bar company on a mission to end child malnutrition worldwide. CoFounders Kristen Bell, Ryan Devlin, Todd Grinnell and Ravi Patel believe all children, no matter what their circumstances, deserve the opportunity to Continued on Page 114

The Meaning of Monti Trentini’s Name

Monti Trentini cheeses are made in the heart of the Dolomite Mountains in the Trentino Province of Italy. The creamery’s name literally means “the Trentino’s Mountains,” and it was there that the Finco family decided to start their dairy in 1925, just after the conclusion of World War I.

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Health benefits and clean ingredients are key drivers of consumer purchase decisions; transparency about ingredient sources, rBST-free milk and health claims have become standard across the deli case. Today’s consumers are also pushing companies to address sustainability Continued on Page 112

Las Olas Confections and Snacks An interview with Lauren DiSanza, Brand Manager, Las O l a s Confections and Snacks.

GN: Tell our readers about Las Olas

BOOTH #6163

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GOURMET NEWS

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N E W S P A P E R JANUARY 2020

Bakeable Packaging from Novacart

An interview with Joseph Miglia, General Manager, Novacart

What Makes ENZO Olive Oil Company Unique?

JM: Novacart manufactures bakeable

BOOTH #5135

BOOTH #5974

Continued on Page 116

Jake’s Nut Roasters Almonds

BOOTH #5964

Oat Creamers from Elmhurst

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DeBrand Chocolate Art Boxes

DeBrand Chocolate Art Boxes are handcrafted, exceptionally unique edible masterpieces. One of the newest additions to DeBrand’s collection of Chocolate Art Boxes is Draped in Gold. This box is elegantly adorned in edible stunning 24-karat gold leaf and is

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Stonewall Kitchen Welcomes Vermont Village

By Nicholas Budniewski, Senior Copywriter, Elmhurst 1925

Oat milk has officially broken coffee. Cafés everywhere have been infiltrated by a “boring” whole grain gone cool. Who saw that coming? The connoisseurs of lattes and

BOOTH #155

BOOTH #5327

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SPECIAL SHOW ISSUE

GN: What kind of products does Novacart have to offer?

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Vertullo Imports: Sourcing the Finest Italian Ingredients

Bella Sun Luci Launches New Plant-Based Jerky

BOOTH #2345

BOOTH #1442

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This Saves Lives: Snacks That Give Back

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Sustainability in the Deli Case

This Saves Lives is a snack bar company on a mission to end child malnutrition worldwide. Co-Founders Kristen Bell, Ryan Devlin, Todd Grinnell and Ravi Patel believe all children, no matter what their circumstances, deserve the opportunity to thrive.

BOOTH #5378

BOOTH #2327

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The Meaning of Monti Trentini’s Name

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Las Olas Confections and Snacks

An interview with Lauren DiSanza, Brand Manager, Las Olas Confections and Snacks.

GN: Tell our readers about Las Olas Confections and Snacks.

BOOTH #1735

BOOTH #6163

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GOURMET NEWS

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Elevate Your Athletic Performance with Honey

With such a vast array of food choices available these days, it can be difficult to navigate all the options. Even when it comes to something as seemingly simple as sugar, there are far more different varieties than many might actually be aware of. In fact, there are numerous different

BOOTH #6565

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Urban Accents Launches Meatless Mixes

“We are thrilled to bring our global flavor creativity to our new Meatless Mixes to help our food-loving fans have fun experimenting with satisfying vegetarian meals.” – Tom Knibbs, President and Mixmaster of Urban Accents

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Principe Delivers True Italian Tradition

Founded in 1945, Principe is a third generation, family owned Italian company, with over 70 years of tradition, experience and unique know-how. The company, famous for its innate ability to always move forward and constantly innovate while

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For over 40 years, Snak King® has prided itself on innovative entries into the snack category. From its early beginnings, Snak King produced pork rinds and cracklins for the greater Los Angeles area. It wasn’t long before the company realized a need in the

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Lemon & Vine: Dedicated to the Art of Food

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By Natalia Garcia, Senior Marketing and Business Development Manager, Tortuga Rum Cake Company

Tortuga is a Caribbean-born brand that has become world-renowned, continuing to lead the specialty and liquor cakes category by Continued on Page 114

Marine Plant-Based Minerals for Beverages

Aquamin is a marine plant based multi-mineral complex manufactured by Marigot, which derives it from the red seaweed, Lithothamnion sp. The seaweed is sustainably harvested, with maximum sensitivity to the environment, from the pristine waters off the Continued on Page 110

Silano of Savello USA: Quality Products from Italy

By Alethia Erotas, President and Owner, Lemon & Vine

Lemon & Vine is a family owned and certified woman owned company dedicated to the art of food with true quality, taste and visual appeal that is made with the

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New Products from Tortuga Rum Cake Company

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Innovative Snacking from Snak King

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Fresh Products Sprout Category Growth

An interview with Lee Coté, Marketing Director, Garden Fresh Gourmet.

GN: Tell our readers about Garden Fresh Gourmet and where to find your products. LC:

Garden

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Fresh

Gourmet

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Calabro Introduces Full Line of Formaggi di Bufala

Calabro’s new products include Mozzarella di Bufala, Ricotta di Bufala, Burrata di Bufala and Bufarella. Calabro brings in the freshest, never frozen, buffalo milk and hand makes a truly unique line of cheeses in its New England Continued on Page 110

Savello USA is an importer of Italian cheeses, meats, oils and other specialty items. Founded in 1997, the company is family owned and operated with a focus on building relationships with producers, as well as taking a partnership approach with customers. The company

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The Forest Farmers Presents New Leaf

New Leaf Tree Syrups (New Leaf), produced by Forest Farmers, is a premium line of certified-organic sweeteners made from a variety of tree species. The company’s unique syrups are crafted exclusively from the sap of maple, birch, walnut, beech, basswood and other rare tree species

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An Alternative to Meat Alternatives

Good Seed, Austinbased hemp-focused food brand, is expanding its retail footprint. Beginning in August, products are available in the northern California and Oregon Safeway stores, as well as 1,300 other retailers in the West, Midwest, and Southern U.S. Continued on Page 112

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Flax-Based Products from Flax4Life By Kasondra Shippen, General Manager, Flax4Life

Flax4Life is a small family owned and operated bakery located in the Pacific Northwest that is certified gluten-free, dairy-free and nut-free (except coconut). Our goal is to make flax-based products that not only taste good, but are good for you. Healthy ingredients are important, but the taste is, too! Our baked goods are meant to be enjoyed by anyone, allergies or not. If you are looking for a flavorful treat that is high in Omega 3s, healthy protein, fiber and lignans, look no further. Your taste buds will not be disappointed with our delicious line of muffins, brownies, granola, cakes and

toaster buns. All the products are all natural, preservative and cholesterol free. In search of something on-the-go, our single-serve muffins and brownies are a perfect solution. The same quality product, but in more convenient packaging. You can choose from our muffin flavors Carrot Raisin, Chocolate Chip and Wild Blueberry, or our brownie flavors Chocolate and Toasted Coconut. These small delicious packages are perfect for lunches, road trips, games or any time you need a little treat. Celebrate any occasion guilt-free with either our rich Chocolate Cake covered in fudge frosting and dark chocolate shavings or our scrumptious Carrot Cake covered in dairy-free cream cheese frosting with toasted coconut. If

House of Webster Offers New Items House of Webster, a specialty food manufacturer based in Rogers, Arkansas, has been in the specialty food business since 1934. It offers a wide range of wholesale private label products including jams, jellies, preserves, pickled vegetables, salsas and mustards. House of Webster is a one-stop shop for retailers seeking a diverse private label food program. With its niche small jar capabilities in the 1.5-ounce and 2.25-ounce sizes, House of Webster has positioned itself as a national player for retail gift packs and room serviceready condiments. Known for its classic mason jar packaging

and quality ingredients that can’t be matched, House of Webster offers over 100 items in stock and ready to ship. Freight is included with a minimum order of 13 cases, mix and match. You will be assigned a dedicated Customer Service Representative to help you through the on boarding process. For a small fee, just send a digital file of your established logo or artwork and House of Webster’s in-house graphic artists can build a label to your approval. It’s that easy. New for 2020, House of Webster introduces six new exciting salsa flavors: Fire Roasted, Habanero, Ghost Pepper, Scorpion

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A SPECIAL SHOW ISSUE OF GOURMET NEWS

you are at a birthday party or dinner gathering, there won’t be any leftovers of these cakes. You can enjoy our products any time of the day for a healthy treat to keep you going. If it is first thing in the morning with a bowl of our uniquely soft granola or a late-night chocolate brownie snack, you will not feel guilty enjoying our products. Handmade wholesome goodness, nutritious and delicious!

Muffin Flavors: Wild Blueberry, Carrot Raisin, Chocolate Chip, Cranberry Orange, Apple Cinnamon and Hawaiian Pineapple. Continued on Page 118

Pepper, Avacado Tomatillo and Serrano Pepper. It has turned up the heat and these items are immediately available for private label. Be sure to check out House of Webster’s new Candied Jalapeños. This classic southern recipe is like no other and will be a staple for years to come. Try it over cream cheese as an appetizer or add it to your next barbecue sandwich. Visit House of Webster at booth #6147.

GOURMET NEWS® T H E

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------Publisher Kimberly Oser Senior Associate Publisher Jules Denton-Card Editorial Director Lorrie Baumann Associate Publisher Anthony Socci Associate Editors Jeanie Catron • JoEllen Lowry • Karrie Welborn Art Director Yasmine Brown Graphic Designer Jonathan Schieffer Senior Account Manager Marcos Morhaim Account Managers Abeer Abiaad • Adrian Chacon • Alisha Dicochea Adina Morhaim • Joseph Bellon • Kim Whiteman Director of Operations Tara Neal Customer Service Managers Susan Stein Customer Service Associate Spencer Fisher Show Logistics & Distribution Jay Watson • Hannah Stefanovich • Margaret Oser European Sales Enrico Cecchi Publishing office: 1877 N. Kolb Road, Tucson, AZ 85715 520.721.1300/Fax: 520.721.6300 Subscriber services: Gourmet News P.O. Box 30520 Tucson, AZ 85751 Gourmet News is published by Oser Communications Group ©2020 All rights reserved.

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Suzie’s Offers Conventional Store Club Style Displays Good Groceries Company, under its popular Suzie’s brand, has long offered club store programs. Included in the company’s vision for 2020, it is offering conventional store club style displays. Its half pallet display program offers all the value with half the required quantity commitment. This program offers real value to consumer (25-70 percent) over individual item purchasing, higher ring for the retailer, minimum store labor required and remnant issues are virtually eliminated. Its half pallet program offers full size displays with lower product commitments, ranging from a low of 65 units to a high of 336. Introducing Suzie’s high protein, organic, gluten-free couscous. Available in Pea, Red Lentil or Chickpea. Each half pallet offers 336 units of 4 x 14 ounces (400g total) al-

lowing for consumer value and increased profits. Next up is a six pack of 5.3-ounce Organic Popcorn Cakes. With only 65 units on a half pallet, look for a quick sell through, higher retail ring and significant value to consumer. Introducing Suzie’s six Meal Fixin’s kits. You provide the bowl, wrap or taco and Suzie’s provides everything else you need for Chinese Mu Shu, Korean Barbecue, Indian Kati Roll, Spicy Habanero, Smokey Chipotle or Guerrero Herb & Lime. Each kit contains all the Fixin’s you need, such as jackfruit, seasonings packet, Mashu sauce, cheese paneer, vegetable blend, chutney, barbecue sauce, refried rice and beans, salsa con queso, etc. Each half pallet display includes 270 units containing 4 x 15.5-

Honey Stinger’s Fruit Smoothie Chews Honey Stinger makes convenient, nutritious and great-tasting energy foods using honey. The company is a firm believer that you are what you eat, which is why it is passionate about using wholesome, organic, non-GMO ingredients whenever possible. Why does Honey Stinger care so much about sourcing its ingredients? Because it wants people to enjoy their favorite foods produced in a way that is not only better for you, but also better for farmers, animals, communities and the environment. Honey Stinger stands firmly behind the idea that the

less you mess with Mother Nature, the better. Honey is one of Honey Stinger’s key ingredients not only because it’s delicious, but also because it’s naturally rich in carbohydrates and antioxidants. You push your body to the limits, so why not reward it with a sweet treat that works? Honey helps the body perform better by providing sustained energy into the system without the spikes or crashes that come from other simple sugars. This makes Honey Stinger’s honey-formulated energy chews a great solution for those con-

Golden Cannoli Celebrates 50 Years This year, family owned Golden Cannoli Shells Co. is celebrating its 50th year of business. Known for supplying the U.S. and Canada with its hand rolled cannoli shells, cannoli chips and ricotta fillings, this 50th year is a major milestone for the second generation, who joined the family business in 2001. Based out of Chelsea, Massachusetts, this nationally recognized brand is known for not just its authentic cannoli products, but its commitment to innovation, customer service and quality. Golden Cannoli is proud of its clean label cannoli shells, chips and fillings that are all trans fat free, contain no artificial preservatives, no artificial flavors or colors and are certified kosher. Over the past 50 years, the family recipe

has been perfected, resulting in crispy golden brown shells that are unparalleled in taste and quality every time. Each shell is still hand rolled, the same way the original golden cannoli was made back in 1970. When asked about the future of cannoli, Owner Valerie Bono said, “As the cannoli category grows, we’re excited to continue innovating by extending our ready to serve cannoli product line, and educating new customers about this much loved dessert.” Over the past 10 years, Golden Cannoli has seen major growth, first with the purchase and renovation of its 30,000 square foot SQF III facility, and then with the creation and extension of its ready to serve retail

Daddy Sam’s All-Natural Bar-B-Que Sawces By Kyle Oglesby, Owner, Daddy Sam’s LLC

We make delicious West Texas style barbecue sauces. Daddy Sam Oglesby was a cowboy and rancher in West Texas and our amazing family recipe is named after him – he is also our great grandfather! Sharing great food and fun with family and friends is what we are trying to complement at Daddy Sam’s (and ribs!). Good food always tastes better with great company and

we want to be a part of that at Daddy Sam’s. As we like to say ... Just Slop It On! We created Daddy Sam’s because we couldn’t find anything like it on grocery store shelves. We wanted a West Texas barbecue sauce without any corn products, gluten, soy, MSG, fillers or anything artificial, so we decided to bottle up the family recipe. Daddy Sam’s is certified gluten free, certified kosher, non-GMO compliant, vegan and a woman-owned business.

ounce Fixin’ Kits. Your favorite nosh sits best on a Suzie’s Flatbread with flavor profiles that include: Sprouted Multiseed or Pretzel Top, Kamut & Sesame; Kamut with Rosemary; and Spelt Multiseed. Its Ancient Grain Flatbreads made with whole grains are non-GMO, kosher and delicious. Half pallets consist of 260 units containing two 14-ounce trays. When a flatbread just won’t do, make it a Suzie’s Organic Cracker. Suzie’s Organic Crackers Club Half Pallet Program consists of 308 units each containing 20 individual serving packets, keeping them fresh right up until time of use. What falls between a flatbread and a cracker? Suzie’s Thin Cakes – and the company has included them here: Organic Corn Quinoa & Sesame, Organic Brown Rice and now Lentil. Each half pallet consists of 210 units containing 4 Thin Cakes each.

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Need more than a snack? Suzie’s shelf stable RTE Organic Quinoa meal is the answer. Half pallet consists of 162 units containing six 8ounce Organic Olive Oil & Sea Salt Quinoa. Each serving contains 8 grams of protein and 7 grams of fiber, is healthy, delicious and warms in the microwave in 60 seconds. Suzie’s RTE Quinoa Meals are a perfect side dish for two or meal replacement for one. Suzie’s – innovation you can taste, innovation for your health! Innovation that drives sales!

For more information, visit booth #6244, go to www.goodgroceries.com, email info@goodgroceries.com or call 718.768.0821. Follow the company on Pinterest and Instagram or go to www.twitter.com/SuziesBrand or www.face book.com/Suzies.Natural.Products.

stantly on the go. Smaller and softer than other chews, Honey Stinger energy chews are formulated specifically for health-conscious individuals. They’re bite-size, don’t stick to your teeth and are made from multiple carbohydrate sources – organic honey, tapioca syrup and natural fruit flavors – for optimal absorption into the system. The company’s most popular flavor is Fruit Smoothie blend, which includes three different fruit flavors in every package. Expect a variety of delicious cherry, refreshing

orange and bursts of berry as you fuel up for your next adventure. Each packet also contains 70 percent of the recommended daily value of Vitamin C, an antioxidant important for combatting inflammation and damage from high activity. No matter how you move your body, you need convenient nutrition that tastes great and works – every single time. Turn to Honey Stinger and give your body the fuel it needs.

product line, including the invention of The Original Cannoli Chips. “The launch of innovative ready to serve items, like our Cannoli Chip & Dip Platter, has been a total game changer for us,” says Owner Eric Bresciani. “Now we’re able to share the cannoli experience in places that might not have the space or staff for filling traditional cannoli.” Golden Cannoli hopes to spread “cannoli awareness” by introducing its cannoli chip and dip platters and cups to not just stores and bakeries, but into quick serve restaurants, on campus dining halls, and even stadiums and theme parks. With projects like its cannoli inclusion line, the company hopes that other manufacturers will get a

taste for this unique flavor profile. “There isn’t a dessert we can’t cannoli,” says Foodservice Director Margaret Dwyer. “From donuts and cake, to ice cream and pies, the potential for collaboration is endless. We’re excited to share the experience of cannoli across the spectrum of desserts.” Golden Cannoli is proud to celebrate the start of its 50th year at the Fancy Food Show. Stop by booth #6158 to get a taste of its hand rolled cannoli shells, crispy cannoli chips and decadent cannoli cream. Golden Cannoli looks forward to talking cannoli with you, and to continue sharing the family’s tradition for another 50 years.

Daddy Sam’s Original West Texas Recipe is molasses, vinegar and mesquite based. It’s tangy and sweet with a kick at the end, and very versatile. We created Daddy Sam’s Salmon & Seafood Glaze because fish and seafood are so often left out when people think of barbecue. We know people are missing out on great flavors if they are not barbecuing fish and seafood. There is nothing else like it on the market and we’ve changed perceptions about what can be barbecued with it. It also has a 1st Place Scovie award! Our Ginger Jalapeño flavor is an updated

For more information, visit booth #6565 or go to www.honeystinger.com.

Visit Golden Cannoli at booth #6158.

and zesty take on West Texas barbecue. We wanted a sauce with a modern twist and more heat, that still excites barbecue traditionalists. Daddy Sam’s Ginger Jalapeño BarB-Que Sawce has two 1st Place Scovie awards! Daddy Sam’s has amazing and exceptionally loyal fans. You are the best! We know that barbecue is a passionate world and brand loyalty is a big deal. Thank you so much, Daddy Sam’s fans!

Visit Daddy Sam’s at booth #5403. For more information, go to www.daddysams.com, call 512.827.1958 or email kyle@daddysams.com.

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Cynara Launching Artichoke Chyps and Artichoke Delights Cynara Worldwide Sourcing is excited to introduce two new groundbreaking and innovative additions to its family of premium quality artichoke products: Artichoke Chyps and Artichoke Delights. Made from farm picked, 100 percent artichokes, these innovative and first to market Artichoke Chyps (pronounced: Chips) are a crispy, authentic, culinary delight. The Chyps are plant based, high in natural plantbased fiber, naturally gluten free, non-GMO verified, kosher and zero sugar. Add texture

and a burst of artichoke flavor to salads or use as you would any other produce-based snack product. Great as a soup topper, sandwich partner or simply snack all day. Available at your local grocery store and online fall 2019. Get the crispy crunch you crave with Cynara Artichoke Chyps. The company’s Artichoke Delights are for families and friends on the go. Hand selected from fresh picked, 100 percent tender artichoke hearts, sustainably grown and harvested, non-GMO verified, kosher and

Salty Wahine Gourmet Hawaiian Sea Salts Salty Wahine Gourmet Hawaiian Sea Salts is an award-winning Kauai Made company that specializes in Hawaiian sea salts, seasonings and tropical cane sugar using fruit infusions such as mango, coconut, guava, passion fruit, lychee and pineapple. Salty Wahine’s goal is to “make eating healthy fun.” Salty Wahine’s Founder, Laura Cristobal Andersland, started selling Salty Wahine products at her sister’s business, “Aunty Lilikoi” and craft fairs on Kauai. Salty Wahine’s products can be found at over 200 stores and restaurants worldwide including Hawaii Commissaries, Navy Exchange,

Safeway, Foodland, ABC stores, Lamont’s, Whalers General Stores and Accents throughout Hawaii, the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan. Laura promotes her products at Specialty Food Association Fancy Food Shows in New York City for the summer show and San Francisco for the Winter Fancy Food Show, and the Tokyo Food and Beverage Show in April. Salty Wahine promotes its products at Hawaii Aloha Festivals in California, Nevada and Arizona. Salty Wahine has grown from a small parttime business to a nationally recognized family owned company. Laura has used her

Fabrique Délices Refreshes Branding, Visual Identity Fabrique Délices just redesigned its website; the new design gives a fresh look that better reflects the high quality of the company’s products. “We wanted to create a style that accurately reflects the artisanal side of our products with a twist of modernity,” said Sébastien Espinasse, Vice President of Sales and Marketing. The company is currently redesigning its entire line of products: organic flatbread crackers, pâtés, rillettes and mousses, truffle butters, cornichons, dry and cured meat, specialty meats and all-natural sausages. The new modern design features a bright color palette that catches the eye. Each label is printed with vivid colors and with the product name written on a chalkboard. This

emphasizes the authentic and traditional aspect of the products. This combination creates just the right style for Fabrique Délices charcuterie. With this new change, the products immediately stand out on grocery store shelves. Charcuterie products have, undoubtedly, trended over the last few years – however, pâtés, rillettes and mousses are still unfamiliar to the American diet. In order to demonstrate how to enjoy these specialties, Fabrique Délices sleeves provide easy-to-understand instructions: within the sleeve, drawings detail how to build a charcuterie board, how to unmold pâtés, how to store the products and more. “We want to be sure to provide the tastiest

Bella Sun Luci Sun Dried Tomato Chipotle Topper & Sauce Mooney Farms, the original California Sun Dried Tomato Company, recently introduced Sun Dried Tomato Chipotle Topper Sauce to its line of Bella Sun Luci products. The new product has been a huge success at trade shows and tastings around the country and is shaping up to be a great addition to Mooney Farms’ product line up. While searching for an interesting way to incorporate sun dried tomatoes into a spicier dish, the Mooney Farms team looked to chipotle peppers from the Southwest. The

two vine-grown vegetables, from opposite sides of the world, made for a harmonious marriage. The richness of the sun dried tomatoes coupled with the smoky heat of the chipotle peppers created an unparalleled flavor profile. “The versatility of this sauce is unparalleled,” says Chef Richard. “We have tried it on vegetables, pasta, hamburgers, fish tacos, in dips, as a spread, on top of grilled steak, on chicken and more; these dishes were all enhanced by the mouth-watering flavors of

packaged in BPA-free trays, which are safe for both microwave and freezer. No more fuss or confusion on how to cook the perfect artichoke. Simply peel and eat or add to your favorite recipe for a burst of fresh artichoke goodness. Available in your local grocers produce department and online fall 2019, its best-selling open flame, slow grilled artichoke hearts and quarters, Roman Style with and without stem and Natural Artichoke hearts in brine. Use as a topping on pizza, bruschetta, tapas, antipasto, salads or pair with cheese or hummus for an authentic culinary delight. business experience to prepare her children to expand the Salty Wahine brand worldwide. Laura’s children are the fifth generation to live on Kauai, have graduated from college and have become full time employees assuming all responsibilities, allowing Laura and her husband David to travel to food shows to further market the business. Salty Wahine has gained the reputation of being a premier Hawaiian sea salt seasoning company with 44 international awards. Salty Wahine was selected as the best Kauai made product by the Garden Isle newspaper “Best of the Best Peoples Choice Awards” for 20132019, 2017 Pacific Edge Best Hawaii Family Business, 2017 SBA Hawaii Exporter of the experience for our customers,” said Sebastien. The new look has now shipped to retailers nationwide and has received great feedback from customers.

Traditional and Artisanal Charcuterie since 1985 Fabrique Délices is based in Hayward, California, and has been preparing time-honored classics along with innovative products for more than 30 years. With dedicated attention to consistent quality, Fabrique Délices has created an offering of more than 100 traditional French delicacies, including all-natural pâtés and mousses, duck breast, duck rillettes, boudins, sausages, truffle butters, cornichons and many more. Fabrique Délices charcuterie is made in this new sauce.” Chef Richard and Mooney Farms have been producing recipe videos to help consumers see the many ways in which this sauce can be used. These top-down videos are a large part of the Bella Sun Luci marketing, and have made a huge impact on helping educate customers about their products’ uses. Be on the lookout for more videos about the chipotle sauce soon. Bella Sun Luci is a line of premium Mediterranean-inspired products created from authentic family recipes. The line includes a variety of deliciously sweet sun

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Cynara is exclusively focused on artichokes. The heart of its corporate philosophy is a commitment to being great global citizens with an uncompromising focus on the high quality, freshest, nonGMO ingredients, all sourced from sustainable farming communities passionate about best practices and human-planet leadership. Its artichokes and snacks are minimally processed, nutrient dense and delicious. Snacking made simple, at heart.

Visit Cynara at booth #5382. For more information, go to www.cynara.net.

Year, Hawaii’s 2017 Ho`okela Awards for Retail Merchant of the Year and Fastest Growing Retail Merchant of the Year, and 2017 and 2019 Pacific Business News Fastest Fifty award. Laura’s dream of having her own store and commercial kitchen became a reality in 2012. Salty Wahine can provide any quantity of Gourmet Hawaiian Sea Salts to retail, foodservice and wholesale customers, with the Salty Wahine’s 4,200 square feet retail factory outlet in Hanapepe, Hawaii.

Visit Salty Wahine at booth #2645. For more information, go to www.saltywahine.com, email info@saltywahine.com, call 808.378.4601 or go to www.facebook.com/saltywahine. the USA with authentic French recipes using simple and highquality ingredients to provide the best products. Products are available nationwide in local specialty food stores such as Wholefoods Market, Mollie Stone’s, Andronico’s Market, Draeger’s Market, Lunardi’s Market, Mill Valley Market, Woodland Market, Schaub’s Meat, Sunshine Foods, Bev’ Mo Walnut Creek, Gourmet Corner, Gourmet & More, Dean & Deluca, as well as local Bay Area Farmer’s Markets in Palo Alto, San Mateo, Sunnyvale, Mountain View and Campbell.

Visit Fabrique Délices at booth #1044. For more information, go to www.fabrique delices.com, email info@fabriquedelices.com or call 510.441.9500. dried tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes in olive oil, sun dried tomato chipotle sauce, pasta sauces, bruschetta spreads, estategrown olive oil, risotto, marinades and new vegan jerky. Bella Sun Luci is produced by Mooney Farms, a third generation, familyowned company based in Chico, California, that is rooted in quality, integrity and family values. Mooney Farms is the premier producer of sun dried tomatoes in the United States.

For more information, visit booth #1442 or go to www.bellasunluci.com.

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DeBrand Truffle Collection DeBrand Truffles are the luxurious sweet conclusion that will entice each and every customer. These 12 incredible variations seem almost too beautiful to eat … almost! Each oversized piece is individually and artistically designed, but their true beauty lies within. These irresistible silky, rich Truffles are petite, gourmet chocolate desserts. DeBrand Truffles boast a minimum shelf life of two months at room temperature, with no need for refrigeration or preparation by your staff. All varieties are guaranteed in

stock and are available to ship within one to two business days, all year round. DeBrand packaging is also available for purchase, and its Truffle wholesale prices are currently set for resellers to earn a margin over 62 percent. DeBrand makes it easy to offer a gourmet chocolate experience year round. Simply set on a plate and serve! Featuring these beautiful Truffles in a display case is the perfect way to entice your customers. As they arrive, they will be greeted by the promise of a high-quality,

New Organic Tea Line from TEEKANNE For more than 135 years, TEEKANNE GmbH & Co. KG with its headquarters in Düsseldorf, Germany, has been synonymous with highest tea indulgence and innovation power. Since the foundation of the company in 1882, family-owned TEEKANNE has been giving major impulses to the German and international tea trade, focusing on highest quality and convenience to the consumer. The invention of the first fully automatic tea bag machine and the invention of the double-chamber tea bag (used in virtually every tea bag product worldwide) have been major milestones in the company’s history. Today, TEEKANNE (German for tea pot) is the world’s No. 1 in Herbal & Fruit Infu-

sions (Source: Euromonitor, 2018) and among the leading tea purveyors in the world. Every year, numerous new product innovations drive the growth of its core markets and beyond. TEEKANNE’s mission is to create indulgent products that offer a positive contribution to a healthy lifestyle for consumers. This is sustained by the Allfrom-one-source Quality Concept which controls the quality from the leaf to the cup. Strategic partnerships with the farmers, its own agronomists that travel the world and a state-of-the-art quality lab in Germany provide the best raw materials available. These are blended in the company’s facility in Düsseldorf according to the blend compositions

Rogue River Blue Named World’s Best Cheese Rogue Creamery’s Rogue River Blue Cheese beat 3,800 of the world’s most distinguished cheeses, according to a panel of 260 expert judges from around the globe, to be named World’s Best Cheese at the 2019 World Cheese Awards in Bergamo, Italy. This is the first time an American-made cheese has received this top honor. Rogue River Blue Cheese is an organic, cave-aged blue cheese that is wrapped in Syrah grape leaves that are soaked in pear spirits. The cheese was designed by Rogue Creamery, a small artisan cheesemaker in Southern Oregon that has been in operation since 1933. “This is truly the greatest distinction a cheese can receive. What an extraordinary

validation of our commitment to quality, the place that inspires our cheese – Southern Oregon’s Rogue Valley – and the excellence of the growing American artisan cheese industry,” said Rogue Creamery President and self-professed “Mr. Blue,” David Gremmels. “I am humbled and filled with gratitude.” Every aspect of Rogue River Blue reflects its Oregon roots. It is made exclusively with milk from Rogue Creamery’s Certified Organic Dairy Farm in Grants Pass, Oregon, where cows graze on pastures bordering the Rogue River and enjoy a diet of native plants and grasses. A seasonal product, Rogue River Blue is made in limited quantities each year beginning on the Autumnal Equinox, when cooler temperatures bring renewed

Nutiva: Revolutionizing the Way the World Eats Nutiva is on a mission to build a better future. One where food is sustainably sourced, trade is fair and good global citizenship is not just a responsibility but a source of purpose and pride. The care the company takes with every Nutiva product is vital to that mission. It’s the commitment it makes to you and the way it works to revolutionize the way the world eats. Since 1999, Nutiva has invested 1 percent of its sales revenues in programs that spark change in the food industry by supporting regenerative farming practices to create healthier communities. With every

product sold, Nutiva is helping make the world a little better with meaningful changes to the way food is farmed and support for the people who farm it. That’s over $5 million dollars to date. Nutiva produces organic, plant-based food, supplements and body care products, and it protects what’s best about them, at every step of their journey to you. That way the benefits of ingredients like organic coconut and hemp reach you intact, to enhance your diet, care for your body and energize your life. Nutiva is showcasing its Squeezable Or-

gourmet chocolate experience. This is an easy add-on sale and has no need for any preparation, just bag or box and go! DeBrand is also happy to provide artwork and product descriptions for menus, displays and social media advertising. DeBrand recommends carrying an ongoing selection of at least four to six different Truffles to provide a wide selection and an eye-catching display. Its four most popular Truffles are Dark Chocolate, Caramel, Peanut Butter and Raspberry. In addition to selling Truffles by the piece, they are also developed by its own expert team of product developers and tea tasters. The result is a broad portfolio of products that are both healthy and tasty. Of course, TEEKANNE aims to provide best-in-class packaging and follows a sourcing strategy that puts sustainability aspects in its focus. TEEKANNE is now introducing to the U.S. its new range, TEEKANNE ORGANICS. The new eco-friendly organic tea line has a fresh, young and chic packaging design that is especially aimed to attract the Millennials which are looking for healthy drinking alternatives that do not come with a bad conscience. These new flavors are offered: Start Your Day (Mate,

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available in prepackaged assortments, ideal for holidays, events and when guests are in a hurry. These high-quality, gourmet chocolates are perfect for gift shops, restaurants and other gourmet shops. DeBrand Truffles deliver a high-quality, gourmet chocolate experience that your guests are sure to remember and come back for more.

For more information, www.debrand.com.

Spearmint & Lemon Peel); Spritz Up your Life (Ginger infusion with Turmeric); You’re My Berry (Raspberry & Cranberry); Swinging Green (Green Tea with Moringa & Lemon); Calm & Relax (Honeybush, Lemon Balm and Hops); and Sleep & Dream (Lemon Balm, Peppermint, Lavender Blossom). Begin 2020 with a fresh new addition to your tea set, bound to please your customers and create sustainable excitement.

For more information, visit booth #1627, go to www.gourmetint.com, contact Gourmet International at 800.875.5557 or info@gourmetint.com; Niche Gourmet at sales@nichegourmet.com.

growth to the pastures and the cow’s milk becomes richer and higher in butterfat, which Gremmels considers the best milk for expressing the unique attributes of the region. First created in 2002, Rogue River Blue wowed the cheese world by winning Best Blue Cheese and Reserve Champion at the World Cheese Awards competition in 2003 – cementing it as one of the United States’ most celebrated cheeses in a growing artisan and farmstead cheese market. With this latest win, Rogue River Blue becomes the No. 1 cheese around the globe. “As a result of that 2003 award, we pursued the first American raw milk cheese Health Certificate for export to fine cheese shops and restaurants in Europe, the UK, Australia, and beyond,” continued Gremmels. “To have

Rogue River Blue recognized again, 16 years later, and crowned World Champion – is a tremendous honor. Rogue River Blue’s recognition reinforces the quality of our cheesemaking tradition in America.” Hosted by the Great Taste Awards, the 32nd annual World Cheese Awards gathered more than 3,800 cheeses from 42 countries on six continents. Each product was ranked by the panel of expert jurors, and ultimately 16 Super Gold winners were selected – from among which a World Champion cheese was chosen. Receiving 100 points at judging, Rogue River Blue tied for top honors with an Italian Parmigiano-Reggiano. A tiebreaking vote crowned Rogue River Blue as the 2019 champion.

ganic Coconut Oil pouches at the 2020 Winter Fancy Food Show, available in Virgin and Steam Refined. These innovative, easy-to-dispense, mess-free pouches are perfect for everyday cooking and baking. Squeezable Organic Virgin Coconut Oil is made from 100 percent organic, young coconuts, cold-pressed immediately after harvesting, and provides a mild creamy coconut flavor to a variety of dishes. Organic Steam Refined Coconut Oil is made from dried coconut (copra) that is steam refined without chemicals, for a neutral flavor, making it extremely versatile. Both Squeezable Coconut Oil pouches are keto certified.

Nutiva’s innovative packaging is environmentally friendly and uses less materials. From manufacturing to transporting, these pouches require 50 percent less carbon than glass or plastic containers. When you choose Nutiva products, you can feel confident that the food that sustains you also sustains ethical organic farming communities and supports regenerative farming techniques. Together, let’s revolutionize the way the world eats.

Visit Rogue Creamery at booth #2127.

Visit Nutiva at booth #5221. For more information, go to www.nutiva.com, call 800.993.4367 or find the company on Facebook and Instagram.

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Ricchiuti Family Farms: Fresh, Premium, Organic Products For more than 100 years, the Ricchiuti family has diligently worked the land with a goal of bringing premium, fresh, Californiagrown products to its loyal customers. Following in the footsteps of patriarchs Vincenzo and son, Pat Ricchiuti, are Patrick and Vincent Ricchiuti, representing the thirdand-fourth generation, with an aim to carry on the family legacy of being a diversified California agricultural business. The Ricchiuti family has long been known worldwide for their almonds and more recently, for their organic almonds under the PR Farms, Inc. label. P-R Farms, Inc. is a grower, huller, packer and shipper, in addition to being qualified in all export regulations which has earned it an excellent international reputation. As members of the Almond Board of California, P-R Farms, Inc. abides by prescribed grower practices that are sustainable,

economical and environmentally friendly. With a strong commitment to stay abreast of technological advancements, the family continually reevaluates and upgrades equipment aand production methodologies to ensure exceptional products, efficiency and food safety. In a quest to continue diversification while responding to consumer demands, the Ricchiuti family took on a new venture in 2008, drawing upon old world expertise and four generations of farming in the heart of California’s San Joaquin Valley to craft 100 percent estate-grown organic extra virgin olive oil. The Ricchiuti’s ENZO Olive Oil Company remains steadfast in its pursuit to uphold the family’s 100-year tradition of excellence by planting each and every tree, harvesting the crop, milling the fruit and bottling the oil under the direction and supervision of Patrick and Vincent Ricchiuti. This meticulous, hands-on

The Inimitable Le Gruyère AOP Switzerland In 1115 A.D., a cheese was discovered in western Switzerland – a region with rolling fields, scenic mountains and a majestic castle. This place, Gruyères, is the origin of the only true Le Gruyère AOP, with the unrivaled quality and flavor known the world over for more than 900 years. How was cheese ‘discovered’? In the old times, the farmers couldn’t keep the milk their cows produced for very long without spoiling, so they decided to try to produce something that would last longer. The result was cheese, and in particular, Gruyère. They soon discovered that this cheese, because its

taste was unique and very appealing, could be exchanged with others for goods, services – even soldiers. As time went on, Gruyère became famous for its unique flavor, and like most exceptional things, fame begat imitation. Cheese makers from other countries tried to make their own Gruyère, even calling it by the same name, but they always produced a cheese with a different flavor, which became very confusing. Gruyère had become not only popular, with a worldwide demand, but important to the region’s economy as well. Something had to be done.

Soft-Baked Cookies from J&M Foods J&M Foods proudly continues its family tradition and passion for good food by providing customers with the best tasting cheese straws and cookies in the market. As a family-owned business operating for roughly three decades, J&M Foods is happy to bring a little joy to its customers’ eating experience. J&M Foods currently offers 21 varieties of cheese straws and cookies as well as additional seasonal offerings. Working with various combinations of cheeses, chocolates,

nuts, grains, fruits and spices, there’s never a dull moment at J&M Foods. Its products are great for everyday pleasure and make the perfect gift. In addition, the company is always in the kitchen exploring new possibilities to tickle the taste buds and provide something new for its customers’ enjoyment. In keeping with the 100-year-old family recipe that inspired its great tasting Original Cheese Straws, J&M Foods is committed to maintaining its heritage of providing great products made from the finest ingredients

Discover Porthos from Conservas Portugal Norte For more than 100 years, Conservas Portugal Norte has perpetuated the tradition of canned fish that has been passed down from one generation to another. In 1912, its first cannery opened in the little fishing village of Sesimbra in Portugal, ideally located on the Atlantic coast. From this little village cannery, the company grew to become a reference in terms of canned fish. A few years later, in the 1940s, Conservas Portugal Norte moved to another village, Matosinhos, where it could benefit from a

more modern and efficient facility. After renewing all its infrastructures, it was able to produce the best canned fish while maintaining its traditions. Since then, the factory remains at the same address and preserved its savoir-faire to offer its consumers the best product. Every day, fresh fish arrives at the facilities and is processed according to the traditional recipes. Being just 10 minutes away from the port enables Conservas Portugal Norte to produce different preparations with

approach is what Patrick and Vincent believe it takes to produce the finest oil. Most recently, the Ricchiuti family took another step to expand their product offerings by introducing the perfect complement to their ENZO organic extra virgin olive oil with the addition of ENZO organic balsamic vinegar. This prized Italian classic is fashioned in the Old World style where time-honored traditions and techniques yield a rich, complex and flavorful artisanal treasure. Vincent has also enhanced the line of specialty items, which includes handcrafted pesto and almond butter featuring nuts and organic extra virgin olive oil from the Ricchiuti’s orchards and mill. As a proud member of the California Olive Oil Council, ENZO Olive Oil Company adheres to the most stringent standards in the world and shares in the organization’s mission of promoting fresh, certified extra virgin olive oil. ENZO Olive Oil is also sancThe most consumed cheese in Switzerland, and one of the most wellknown in the world, is now – since 2001 – protected with an “AOP” designation, which in English means Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). This guarantees a clear origin, a level of quality and a complete traceability back to the region of production. Le Gruyère AOP Switzerland takes it a step further, and places markings on each wheel that enable it to be tracked to the specific dairy in the region that produced it. There is only one true Le Gruyère AOP, the incomparable cheese from Switzerland. The “Le Gruyère AOP” mark on the side of the wheel proves it. available. All of its products are trans fat free and baked with care. The latest creation and something the company is very proud to add to the Janis & Melanie line of products comes in the form of a large, softbaked cookie (3 inches in diameter). They’re made with butter, whole egg and a whole lot of love. Varieties include Chocolate Chunk, Brownie and Oatmeal Cranberry. Each carton contains eight 1 ounce cookies, which are individually wrapped. Enjoy them with milk, coffee, tea, ice cream or by themselves the best ingredients. The result is products of quality, certified by the highest standards. Since introducing Conservas Portugal Norte a little over a year ago, the demand for these unique sardine tins has seen a steady increase, gaining more momentum with each passing day. The tins have eye-catching shelf appeal, attracting buyers and customers with original artwork and bright colors. Each flavor comes in a different colored tin, and a variety of these tins on the shelf will be sure to draw the attention of any consumer. Better yet, the

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tioned organic by the United States Department of Agriculture, certified organic by California Certified Organic Farmers, kosher certified by Kosher Supervision of America, as well as certified by the Non-GMO Project. With their nationally and internationally acclaimed, award-winning line of varietals, infused and co-crushed ENZO organic extra virgin olive oil, ENZO organic balsamic vinegar, and premium P-R Farms, Inc. California almonds, one could easily agree that founders Vincenzo and Pat Ricchiuti would be most pleased to see the direction and progress that Ricchiuti Family Farms has realized since its inception back in 1914.

To taste ENZO’s full lineup of olive oils and to meet Vincent Ricchiuti and his team, stop by the ENZO Olive Oil Company booth #5974. For more information, go to www .prfarms.com or www.enzooliveoil.com, email info@prfarms.com or info@enzooliveoil.com, or call 559.299.7278. Today, Gruyère AOP is made in 170 small batches, with fresh, raw milk, and no additives or preservatives – it is 100 percent natural. The same recipe is used from more than nine centuries ago, a time before the use of additives and synthetic feed and ingredients were the norm. As such, Le Gruyère AOP is still tightly linked with the local, long-held traditions and terroir of Switzerland. This is why each taste of Le Gruyère AOP is a unique experience, centuries in the making.

For more information, visit booth #2361, go to www.gruyere.com, email interprofession @gruyere.com or call +41 (0) 26 921 84 10.

anytime as a snack. J&M Foods enjoys being flexible enough to handle all its customers’ needs. Located in a 32,000 square foot facility residing on 21 acres, it has room to grow along with its customers. Centrally located and nationally recognized, J&M Foods is an award-winning market leader within the specialty foods industry.

Visit J&M Foods at booth #5234. For more information or to discuss a private label need, call 800.264.2278 or email sales@ jm-foods.com. uncompromising quality and flavor will lure customers back for more. The French Farm offers the Porthos line from Conservas Portugal Norte Tuna in Olive Oil and six flavors of sardines: Tomato Sauce, Hot Tomato Sauce, Brine, Hot Vegetable Oil, Olive Oil, Spiced in Olive Oil. They all come packaged 24 in a case and will please every seafood lover. Looking for an original gift? Try the wooden gift box assortment of five of the best-seller’s flavors. Visit The French Farm at booth #1742. For more information, go to www.the frenchfarm.com

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A New Year, a New Recipe for Champignon Bavaria is well known for its beer and wurst, but many may be surprised to know that cheese is also one of its culinary delights. Bavaria, a southern state of Germany, has a long history and tradition of cheesemaking and is home to Käserei Champignon. This family-owned cheese producer was founded over 100 years ago and is named after the flavor profile of the first cheese it ever produced – a Camembert that had a distinct mushroom aroma and earthy flavor, begetting the name Champignon. The company is still located in the Allgäu, a region of green

pastures lined by the Alps, and continues to source its milk only from regional farms. Over the years, Käserei Champignon has expanded its cheese production beyond Camembert, creating a variety of unique specialty cheeses while still retaining the same quality in milk and craftsmanship. “Many of our cheesemakers have been trained in traditional methods handed down for generations but also in innovative technologies,” says Flynne Wiley, Chief Executive Officer of Champignon North America, the exclusive importer of Käserei Champignon products in

The Asaro Family from Sicily: 104 Years of Olive Oil Excellence Since 1916, the Asaro family has harvested and crushed the best olives the Belice Valley has to offer. Located in Partanna, Sicily in the province of Trapani, the olives benefit from the environment around them. The Mediterranean Sea, the Sicilian soil and the salinity from the air transform the olives and olive oil into balanced, unique products. Today, the fourth generation of the Asaro family is continuing its commitment to bringing its customers the highest quality

natural and organic Sicilian olive oil, olives and other specialty foods. Thanks to the company’s deep knowledge in specialty foods production, The Asaro family seeks to satisfy the needs of both its customers and farmers. United Olive Oil Import Corp. is born as an exclusive importer and distributor for the Asaro Family brands. The strong passion for the Mediterranean diet with an increasing market demand for natural and organic foods

Custom Decorative Tins from TinScape TinScape has been producing custom decorative tins for the past 20 years. The company was founded by Thomas Doyle, who previously ran sales for a tin manufacturer in the United States. Thomas left his job to chase the dream of producing highly enhanced tin structures. Today, TinScape produces out of four facilities in China and ships direct to client

warehouses. The company manufactures for mom-and-pop companies to Fortune 500 companies. With sales located in the U.S. and production in China, it allows TinScape to effectively communicate with clients and meet all commitments and expectations. TinScape can produce custom tools in 30 days or less. You can also take advantage of hundreds of ready to go tools in all shapes

Seviroli Foods: Chef-Inspired, Artisan-Filled Pastas and Sauces An interview with Joseph Seviroli, Jr., Chief Executive Officer, Seviroli Foods.

GN: Seviroli Foods is a family owned and operated company. Tell our readers how the company started.

JS: We started as a small pastry shop in Queens, New York, in 1960. Making pasta, especially tortellini, was my father’s passion. He purchased equipment from Italy so he could start making pasta at our bakery, and

that’s really where and how it all started. Today, Seviroli Foods is the world’s largest frozen tortellini manufacturer.

GN: What items does Seviroli Foods offer?

JS: Seviroli offers a large portfolio of products including tortellini, ravioli, manicotti, stuffed shells, cavatelli, ready-to-eat meal kits, sauces and more. We also offer an extensive variety of fillings, shapes and styles to match each of our customer’s specific needs.

Sunflower Chips – Sun Baked Goodness Sunflower Chips, a fresh, truly unique healthy snack made by SNACKS FROM THE SUN™, a JDW Family of companies, is crafted in a proprietary sun kernel milling process to deliver the richest flavor available on the market.

Artisan-baked Sunflower Chips are made from the highest levels of simple, plant-based ingredients, and meet the highest standards of being non-GMO, vegan, kosher, gluten, grain and eight allergenfree.

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the U.S. “We think of our cheesemakers of having one foot in tradition and one in innovation. We look back for the expertise of the past but also look forward and make sure we always innovate.” The company’s most recent development is a creamier recipe for its namesake cheese Champignon Mushroom. This triple cream soft-ripened cheese has a bloomy rind and wonderfully creamy texture with buttery notes and an earthy aroma from the champignon mushrooms. These mushrooms are similar to button mushrooms in the U.S. and have a mild flavor profile. “Our Champignon Mushroom cheese is distinct from other soft ripened cheeses in

that it has an exquisite mouthfeel and a mild flavor that is very approachable,” Wiley notes. “It is not overpowering in the notes of mushroom as some other mushroom or truffle cheeses can be – it is wonderfully balanced in flavor and texture.” The cheese is made with milk sourced only from Bavarian farms – a hallmark of Champignon cheeses – and is gluten-free and lactose-free due to the cheese’s natural ripening process. Champignon Mushroom is available at retailers nationwide.

have brought the company to expand its line of imported products, becoming the perfect partner for small and medium Italian specialty food producers. Tommaso Asaro, United Olive Oil Import Corp Founder and President, is continuing the commitment to bring customers the highest-quality Sicilian foods. Brands include NYIOOC award winners Partanna, Paesanol, Green Gold, Frankies and many more. The latest line, the ASARO ORGANIC FARM brand, brings the most delicious Si-

cilian gourmet specialties. The line includes ancient grain busiate pasta, artichoke cream, roasted artichoke hearts, oven roasted cherry tomatoes, marinated olives, Castelvetrano olives spread and olives salad, raw honey from orange blossom and natural Sicilian sodas. United Olive Oil Imports Corp. brings the best, healthiest, natural products Sicily has to offer to the USA – from the Asaro Farms to your table.

and sizes. TinScape has the ability to 3 dimensional emboss anywhere on the tin, produce windows, hinges, latches and vac tray inserts. You are only limited by your imagination. Should you have a concept, TinScape will take it from CAD drawing to prototype to finished structure in a blink of an eye.

Tins are a great way to help build your brand. They are 100 percent recyclable, sturdy, and enhance the perceived value of what’s packaged inside. TinScape will partner with you and help bring your vision to market in a reliable, professional and fun atmosphere.

GN: Tell our readers about your manufacturing process.

JS: We have two, state-ofthe art, SQF certified manufacturing facilities. Each houses authentic, Italianmade pasta equipment. We source only the highest grades of ingredients from a global base of suppliers, while maintaining stringent standards for all of the ingredients we select, such as 100% Hard Durum Semolina, eggs, hard cheeses and whole milk ricotta. Great ingredients, quality control and food safety are of utmost importance to us. SNACKS FROM THE SUN Sunflower Chips is the first to market an allnatural chip made from sunflower kernels – authentic, trend-forward and wildly delicious. Sunflower Chips is a savory sensation available in three flavors: Original with Sea Salt, Cracked Pepper with Sea Salt, and Sweet

For more information, visit booth #2163 or go to www.champignon-usa.com.

For more information, visit booth #1429.

Visit TinScape at booth #6170. For more information, email sales@tinscape.com.

GN: Are you introducing any new items?

JS: Always! Our R&D department, which consists of a full team of culinary-trained chefs, is hard at work developing a variety of ready-to-eat meal kits. We’re also expanding our pasta line to include items such as Burrata Cheese Ravioli, Sausage & Broccoli Ravioli, Shrimp & Roasted Garlic Ravioli and Crepe Manicotti, just to name a few.

For more information, visit booth #2345, go to www.seviroli.com, call 516.222.6220 or email customerservice@seviroli.com. Onion with Sea Salt. Suggested retail price is $3.99. Taste the experience of SNACKS FROM THE SUN!

For more information, visit booth #5776, email rory@giftbasketsupplies.com or call 714.634.3478.

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Le Bon Magot Launches Foodservice Packs The embrace of Middle Eastern/Mediterranean/North African and South Asian flavors makes Le Bon Magot’s heritage recipes and approach to producing small batch condiments entirely relevant in 2020. The expansion of its line from 3-ounce and 7-ounce retail sizes to include 58-ounce tubs means that the line of six (soon to be seven) chutneys and preserves is now available for food service applications. User friendly for all types of foodservice outlets (ready to eat counters, bakeries/patisseries, restaurants/hotels, aircrafts/yachts, etc.), the packaging is light and both odor as well as stain free. From viennoiseries and bread puddings to soups and stews or simply including them at breakfast buffets, incorporating these items into an operation’s go-to recipes can reduce labor costs, make prep time more efficient and add desirable flavor

enhancements. Products include: Brinjal Caponata – Purple Aubergine (Eggplant) with Cumin & Curry Leaves; Carrot and Fruit Conserve with Coriander & Jaggery; Lemon-Sultana Marmalata with Caraway & Saffron; Sour Cherry and Pomegranate Conserve with Cocoa, Mahleb & Orange Flower; Spiced Raisin Marmalata with Ras al-Hanout & Smoked Cinnamon; Tomato and White Sultana Chutney with Ginger & Garam Masala; and White Pumpkin and Almond Murabba – Preserves with Cardamom & Vanilla. Le Bon Magot is a multi-award winning, woman-owned specialty food producer operating out of Hopewell, New Jersey. “Magot” (mă-gō′) or “the hidden treasure,” specializes in African, Middle Eastern and South Asian inspired condiments and culinary ingredients: caponata, chutney, con-

Crispy Green Introduces All Strawberry Flavor to Crispy Fruit Product Line Consumers seeking healthy snack alternatives to bring in the New Year have even more options to choose from. Crispy Green, makers of Crispy Fruit freeze-dried fruit snacks, is adding a new flavor to its Crispy Fruit line: All Strawberry. All Strawberry makes its debut at The Winter Fancy Food Show and will soon be available at retailers across the country starting in January. Crispy Green is very

excited to bring this flavor to consumers in response to a strong request for a berry product. Like all Crispy Fruit flavors, All Strawberry is pure fruit, nothing else – no added sugar or additives. Just one clean single ingredient that’s non-GMO, gluten free, vegan, OU Kosher Certified and under 60 calories per serving. Crispy Green captures the nutrients and flavor of delicious, ripe strawberries, and freeze-dries to

New Sauces from Dave’s Gourmet Dave’s Gourmet has been making great sauces for almost 27 years, has won 17 sofi awards and continues to innovate. The company wants to stretch what hot sauce and pasta sauces are on the market and give consumers more and better options. At the Fancy Food Show, it will be showing off some new innovative sauces. Founder of the company, Dave Hirschkop, commented, “In many cases we take years more to develop our products. This is because we

have certain taste standards that must be met, or we just continue trying and innovating.” He continued, “Our philosophy over the last few years has been to not give up on products that we really believe in but overall that a product must be great or can’t have our name on it.” Dave’s Gourmet is an interesting company that originally created the super-hot sauce niche in the early ‘90s with Dave’s Insanity Sauce, which continues to be a top seller. Dave’s then created many innovative products in its early

Alternative Air Climate Controlled Chocolate Displays Manufactured in New Jersey, with standard options in over 500 different finishes and five standard sizes, Alternative Air gives all chocolatiers many options to make their display cases personal for each store application. The company offers assistance with fixture layout and design to the final install. Alternative Air has been there for hundreds of chocolate stores since 1996. Now with a

full lineup of fused glass displays, Alternative Air has taken the chocolate display case look to a new level. Chief Executive Officer James Lunstead explains that Alternative Air deals directly with the end user, giving them the best pricing and making the standard and even custom cases fit in their budget. “Most people are shocked if they have been shopping

Fruit Jams from Ariston Specialties Ariston has a new series of fruit jams, perfect for entertaining. These jams include Ariston’s Fig Preserves, Apple Cinnamon, Strawberry & Basil, Apricot with Bitter Almond and Lemon

with Caramelized Ginger, and its newest additions, Ariston Orange & Whisky Marmalade and Ariston Peach & Mastich Chiou. Not your ordinary orange marmalade,

serve, marmalata, preserves, tapenade and dressing. Expect to taste fresh, locally sourced produce and sweet, sun-dried fruit blended with the best quality oils, vinegars and spices sourced through specialist traders and ateliers from around the world. Each mouthful takes diners on a culinary journey to a different part of the Spice Route, offering distinctive flavors created from unique spice blends, unusual ingredients and innovative treatments of traditional recipes. Crafted preserves and relishes are made in small batches from heritage recipes using high-quality seasonal produce, customblended aromatics and no preservatives. They have the added benefit of being glutenfree and vegan friendly. In addition to the distinctive look and taste of the products, a notable feature of the condiments is an enduring shelf-life, which the quintessential crispy texture for a berry delicious and healthy grab-ngo snack. The Crispy Fruit line also includes seven other flavors (apple, banana, cantaloupe, mango, pear, pineapple and tangerine), all freeze-dried to snack like a chip, and meet the snacking needs of consumers seeking convenient and healthier, better-for-you snacks. Because of Crispy Green’s high quality standards, thought leadership position and years like The Adjustable Heat Hot Sauce (you can change the heat of the sauce by turning the top of the bottle), Lucky Nuts (every tenth nut is hot), Dave’s Private Reserve (hand signed limited edition sauces that sold for up to hundreds of dollars), Olives in Pain, Mad Mushrooms, Demented Dills and much more. In 2001, Dave’s added its signature line of California fresh, premium, mostly organic pasta sauces. This was the result of Dave seeing a sea of red sameness in the pasta sauce around at how low our prices are and how high the quality is.” If you have a budget, as everyone does, using Alternative Air fixtures is always your best bet if you need standard or custom displays. The company’s engineering and service team is second to none and will help you before and after the sale. The company will make sure all your needs are taken care of before they become a problem. Don’t just think of Alternative Air as a chocolate display manufacturer. Alternative

Ariston Orange & Whisky Marmalade combines oranges from Greece with a touch of cooked whisky for a marmalade with exceptionally complex flavor. Ariston Peach & Masticha Chiou, pronounced Mah-stika Hiou, combines peaches from mainland Greece with aromatic mastic

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has been achieved through classical, proven cooking and preserving techniques (e.g. pickling, temperature control, oil, sugar). The products are made in the heart of wine country on the North Fork of Long Island where they benefit from sourcing ingredients of the surrounding wineries, including the Wölffer Estate Vineyards, Sagaponack, New York. Le Bon Magot is fiercely proud of its supply chain and chooses suppliers carefully. It collaborates with B-Certified Corporations, like Rumi Spice, fair trade organizations and other small entrepreneurs, like La Boîte NY, who are focused on superior quality ingredients and support ethical practices.

Visit Le Bon Magot at booth #827. For more information, go to www.lebonmagot.com or follow the company on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (@lebonmagot).

ongoing consumer engagement, it’s easy to see why it is the No. 1 freeze-dried fruit snack at retail in the country. People are seeking healthy, tasty snacks to fuel their active lifestyle. Crispy Green provides 100 percent pure fruit as a grab-n-go snack that satisfies without sacrificing taste, while adding more fruit to their diet.

Visit Crispy Green at booth #6561. For more information, go to www.crispygreen.com or email sales@crispygreen.com. aisle and wanting to shake things up. He started by creating sauces based upon heirloom tomatoes, including a golden colored sauce using yellow tomatoes. He then extended it to butternut squash, wild mushrooms, sweet basil and a few other sauces. Dave’s Gourmet invites show attendees to stop by the booth for further information.

Visit Dave’s Gourmet at booth #5641. For more information, go to www.davesgourmet.com. Air also makes pastry cases, both dry and refrigerated, in the same quality and craftsmanship as it does in all the displays it manufactures. Keep Alternative Air in mind for the next time you need a display. The company will not let you down. Alternative Air makes your product look better and increases sales one display at a time. Proudly made in the USA.

Visit Alternative Air at booth #3421 or follow the company on Facebook.

gum, a rare ingredient that grows only on the Greek island of Chio. Mastic is widely used in Greek cuisine and gives this jam a unique flavor.

For more information, call 860.263.8498 or go to www.aristonspecialties.com.

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Bellucci EVOO Traceability System is Blockchain Validated Tree to Table An innovative leader in the production of fully traceable, high-quality, 100 percent Italian extra virgin olive oil, Bellucci launched its Trust Through Traceability campaign in 2014 with a proactive and ethical approach to providing a transparent look into its supply chain while bringing clarity in food labeling directly to the consumer. With the Bellucci app and the unique lot code printed on the label of every bottle, consumers can verify the authenticity of their extra virgin olive oil, as well as trace their bottle of Bellucci back to its source in rural

Italy. This traceability system has also received an independent third-party ISO 22005 certification by Bureau Veritas. In 2018, Bellucci began integration of blockchain cloud technology to further validate its traceability system. The platform was initially launched at its bottling facility through the point of distribution in the U.S. Bellucci now takes blockchain integration to the next level with expansion and implementation to include the cooperative of growers and the mills throughout Italy. Each participant in the supply chain creates and

New Products and Packaging Options from The Spice Lab The Spice Lab is showcasing its expanded line of Everything + More bagel topping blends, new dip mixes, popcorn seasoning packets and air fryer kits at the 2020 Winter Fancy Food Show. The company’s full line of salts, premium seasonings, all natural sugars and gourmet gifts will be on display at booth #5576. Expanding on the popularity of its original mix of toasty topping that includes chili flakes for a touch of heat along with sesame seeds, poppy seeds, onion, garlic and sea salt, The Spice Lab’s chef has created other flavorful blends. Choose the mildly spicy Jalapeño, the sweet dried Tomato or the mild onion Scallion. Like all The Spice Lab seasonings, these all-around blends are all-natural and OU Kosher and come in a choice of

packaging options. The company is introducing boxed packets of dip mixes, Southwest seasonings, popcorn with seasoning and air fryer kits. These are sold as a mixed case of four flavors each. Dip mixes include French Onion + Garlic, Spicy Italian Roasted Garlic, Spicy Italian Sundried Tomato and Rosemary Roasted Garlic. The all-natural Southwest Kits include Chili, Spicy Ghost Pepper Chili Starter, Guacamole and Taco seasonings. A packet of popcorn kernels and two seasoning packets are boxed together offered in four flavors – Garlic & Herb, Everything & More, Little Bit Spicy and Smoking Popcorn. The Air Fryer Kits include a packet of seasoned rice flour and a packet of seasoned panko bread crumbs to achieve that perfect

Novacart’s Bakeable Packaging By Joe Miglia, General Manager, Novacart

Novacart is known for our full product line of bake and sell paper packaging. We have been leading the industry with quality and innovation by creating the standard, not following it. We only use the finest paper from renewable forests, which is only one of the reasons our products stand above the rest. Our innovations have led to one of our most sturdy lines that can handle just about anything someone can put into them. Our Ecos Series Baking Mold product line is a great way to ditch those metal pans without having to lose the benefit of baking and selling in the same pan. We have a

wide variety of sizes and many with optional lids. Our newest sizes are a Round 35/8" mold and a Square 3-1/8" by 3-1/8" mold, both 1-½" deep; both of these have optional lids. These new sizes are great for the single serve market and ideal for pies, cakes, brownies and even savory dishes like quiches or frittatas. This line of products can handle just about anything, including metal detectors. Trying to get away from metal muffin pans, our Muffin Tray System (NTS trays) is the way to do it. The NTS trays are a disposable paper muffin tray that has pressed in grease-resistant cups. The cups are released from the frame by pressing out the cup or by

San-J Releases Korean BBQ Cooking Sauce San-J, an eighth-generation family brand of Asian sauces, is expanding its cooking sauce line and adding Korean BBQ. San-J Asian Cooking Sauces are all verified non-GMO, certified gluten free by the GFCO, kosher certified and made with the best quality ingredients. With sweet notes and rich savory flavor, San-J’s Korean BBQ cooking sauce is incredibly versatile. It can be used as a marinade, stir-fry sauce or even a glaze. It has no

artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. It will be the ninth sauce added to the Asian Cooking Sauce collection. “For over 200 years, we’ve been at the forefront of ingredient health. It’s always exciting when we are able to add to that and create new sauces with the same degree of integrity in every bottle,” said SanJ President, Takashi Sato. “We always strive for our all-natural sauces to be the foundation of a delicious and healthy meal.

shares a permanent, unalterable record of the product journey from olive groves to the mills through bottling, shipping and distribution all to a secure shared open ledger. The ultimate goal is to provide retail buyers, distributors and consumers with complete transparency and traceability from grove-to-grocer. From the ground up, precision agriculture is leveraging advances in technology via satellite, GPS and even photographic equipment to improve the efficiency of food production. The industry has already progressed from using tech to measure and track crop crunchy coating. Flavors include Hot Nashville Chicken, Herb and Garlic, Kickin’ Mustard and Sweet & Smoke Air Fryer Kit. The Spice Lab specializes in creating exclusive, custom blends offering numerous packaging options and low minimums. Products are processed and packed in its 75,000 square foot SQF certified facility in Pompano Beach, Florida, that includes a design department, research and development kitchen with full-time chefin-residence, business offices and a product showroom. With six production lines, the company can produce more than 25,000 units per day. The Spice Lab is also certified organic by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for packaging organic spices. As a woman-owned and family-run busisectioning the frame. These are a great way to cut out the mess of metal pans. Our Muffin Tray System is a wonderful way to bake directly in the package, making a complete unit to bake and sell all in one. Are you wanting to dress up your cupcakes or muffins without all the grease showing through? Introducing our new Elite Tulip Cups, which are created with a 70-gsm heavyweight paper, available in Black, Eggplant, Pumpkin, Pine and Cherry. They are designed to form a barrier to oil transfer, resulting in a Tulip Cup that has more rigidity and consistent color, which creates an exceptional look for your baked good. We know that many of our customers use our molds for the bake and sell market as

We love being invited to the family dinner table.” San-J is no stranger to creating unique and innovative cooking sauces. The full line of cooking sauces include Hoisin, Thai Peanut, Szechuan, Teriyaki, Sweet & Tangy, Asian BBQ, Orange and Mongolian, along with its classic and mosttrusted 100 percent soy Tamari sauce (available in organic, reduced sodium, organic reduced sodium and lite) and Shoyu sauce. San-J also carries a line of brown rice crackers, Brown Teriyaki, and Sesame and instant soups, Miso and Wakame flavors. San-J is the go-to brand for recreating the authentic gourmet taste of easy

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yields and soil levels, to monitoring weather patterns and water usage, and how these factors affect harvest. Now, the agricultural industry is beginning to see the positive impact of technologies and AI to differentiate between crop plants and their neighbors, for increased efficiency in the application of fertilizers and pesticides. This is just the beginning, with Bellucci continuing to drive innovation in food tech and raise the industry standards in the extra virgin olive oil category.

Visit Bellucci at booth #5759. For more information, go to www.belluccipremium.com.

ness, The Spice Lab takes great pride in being one of the world’s premier suppliers of sea salts and seasoning blends. Its extensive product line includes salts, awardwinning seasonings and rubs, premium spices, peppercorns, natural sugars, loose teas, Himalayan salt shot glasses and plates, regional brands, private label and a wide array of corporate gifts. The company’s high quality brands can be found in grocery, gourmet, specialty gift shops, foodservice, club, major retailers and online through Amazon and www.spices.com.

Visit The Spice Lab at booth #5576. For more information, contact Gary Oliver at 954.275.4478 ext. 108, email sales@ thespicelab.com or go to www.spices.com.

seen in grocery stores and retail bakeries, but our products can be used in a variety of applications, such as catering, restaurants and manufacturing. Our paper baking molds transport easily and dispose after one use, making them great for sweet as well as savory foods. Our PET-laminated line works great for quiches, lasagna and other savory dishes that make great to-go containers going from freezer to oven or microwave to table. Created from paper, a renewable source, Novacart products are a perfect solution for the food industry. Visit Novacart at booth #5135. For more information, go to www.novacartusa.com, call 877.896.6682 or email info@novacartusa.com. Asian cooking at home.

About San-J International San-Jirushi was founded by the Sato family as a Tamari and Miso company in 1804 in Mie, Japan. Current San-J President, Takashi Sato, is an eighthgeneration member of the founding family. The company began brewing the first Tamari from its Henrico, Virginia, facility in 1987, continuing the 200-year tradition of Japanese brewing mastery.

Visit San-J at booth #5344. For more information, go to www.san-j.com or find the company on social media.

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Summerhill Goat Milk: From Goat to Glass By Anneke de Jong, co-Owner, Summerhill Goat Dairy

Summerhill Goat Dairy has been familyowned and operated for over 20 years. After years of hard work, we’re honored that people let us share our goat milk with them. Each year, the demand for Summerhill Goat Milk grows. As a result, our family of team members and goats has grown too – but our commitment to them remains unchanged. We think simple is better. Our goats are milked just steps away from the creamery, where we pasteurize and bottle the milk, and

then ship it to our customers. Just pure, wholesome goat milk from our amazing goats. Simple. Our dairy is powered by clean, renewable energy, because we care about being good stewards. We are a Certified Humane® family farm, because we think that milk from happy goats just tastes better. Our customers can drink our milk knowing it comes from a safe place that cares for the health and wellbeing of our goats. You can enjoy our goat milk with total peace of mind, knowing it was brought to you in the most sustainable, humane way possible.

Rapid Growth for HATCH Organic Salsa Sales Since introducing HATCH Organic Salsas, certified organic by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in mid-2018, distribution and sales have been growing quickly in supermarket and upscale grocery stores. HATCH Organic Salsas are advancing the HATCH brand’s reputation for superior quality products and is driving category sales growth for retail customers. HATCH Organic Salsas have superior flavor and taste and are made with organic ingredients, including organic tomatoes, onions, bell peppers and jalapeños. HATCH

Organic Salsas are also gluten free and Kosher OU certified and only contain 100 milligrams of sodium per serving. The trend in growing sales of USDA Certified Organic food items continues as consumers seek superior quality food made with superior quality ingredients. In 2018, organic food sales accounted for over 5.7 percent of total food products sold in the United States. Sales of organic food items reached $47.9 billion in 2018 and were up 5.9 percent versus prior year while the overall U.S. food sales only grew 2.3 percent. (Source: Or-

New Additions to La Truffe Royale Line MarDona Specialty Foods announces four new products to the La Truffe Royale line. After much research, taste testing, rejections and so on, the company came up with these four great new items to add to its La Truffle Royale product line. It is certain you will find these to be a great addition to your truffle retail lines.

Black Truffle Acacia Honey MarDona had searched for quite some time to replace its Wild Forest Tupelo Honey. It kept getting batches of honey that didn’t meet its standards. After some research, MarDona discovered a great acacia honey (the best of the best). It imported this fine,

smooth acacia honey from Italy and then blended it with some black truffle pieces along with truffle essence. This honey makes a perfect addition to any cheese platter, roasted poultry or great over fresh ricotta cheese and toasted bread. It is perfect for any dish or even as a dip. Black Truffle Rub MarDona has been working on a truffle version of a rub for some time. It wanted the rub to stand out on its own merits. After much research, trials and errors, MarDona came upon a great find. By incorporating a dried black truffle with a hand harvested salt, it came up with the rub to beat all rubs. It’s a

Elmhurst Introduces New Oat Creamers By Nicholas Budniewski, Senior Copywriter, Elmhurst 1925

Elmhurst® 1925, the plant-based company that used to be a dairy, is launching a line of oat creamers. These will join the existing Barista Edition, forming a small arsenal of at-home answers to the big plant-based coffee questions. Oat milk has officially broken coffee. Cafés everywhere have been infiltrated by a “boring” whole grain gone cool. Who saw that coming? The connoisseurs of lattes and cappuccinos are happy. Now, in what is projected to be a banner year for oat, it’s time for the next thing.

Elmhurst oat creamers come in original unsweetened, hazelnut, vanilla and chai spice varieties. There will also be seasonal flavors for the perfect coffee repose: apple pie spice, gingerbread and lavender vanilla. Each is packaged in a shelf-stable 16-ounce carton and made from 100 percent whole grain oats. None contains more than 1 gram of sugar. Most importantly, in a world where trends are only as good as their substance, Elmhurst oat creamers perform. They’re made to add body and texture rather than dilute your cup. You’ll be able to lighten to your desired hue. Each creamer in the set shows due reverence to the roast, balancing

Why goat milk? Summerhill Goat Milk is 100 percent pure nature made milk. Nothing is added in or taken out. It is naturally a good source of protein, as well as calcium, potassium and Vitamin A. Goat milk contains less lactose and milder proteins than cow milk, making it easy to digest and even easier to enjoy. One of our priorities here at Summerhill is customer relationships. We love to hear from our customers when they call the number on the bottle or send us an email. We answer the phone directly and maintain those relationships personally. We are so thankful for our customers and wouldn’t be where we are ganic Trade Association (OTA) Industry Survey (May 2019).) In addition to organic salsas, the Hatch Chile Company has a broad product line that includes premium quality green chile and jalapeno peppers, enchilada sauces, salsas and taco sauce. HATCH branded green enchilada sauces are certified by the Non-GMO Project, and HATCH branded red enchilada sauces are certified organic by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Hatch Chile Company was founded in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1987 and is a brand leader in marketing premium quality very fine powder that rubs well into any meat, poultry or seafood. Also, it can be added to sauces and more.

Black Truffle Sea Salt One of MarDona’s great finds was its new imported Black Truffle Sea Salt. This sea salt is a perfect addition to anything you would put salt on. Perfect over fries, onion rings, pizza, all burgers, sandwiches, popcorn and so much more. The salt is a perfect blend of truffle essence mixed with a fine imported sea salt and truffle pieces.

Black Truffle Tapenade MarDona has had many requests for a truffle spread, but the company just never got

rather than overwhelming its flavor – and it all happens without useless additives. Essentially, Elmhurst makes better products via simplification. Ingredient labels are de-cluttered, freeing the source ingredient to bestow its excellence upon consumers. This is made possible by HydroRelease™, a unique technology which preserves the nutritional integrity of the oat with a satisfyingly creamy texture. Elmhurst has charted new territory with its hemp creamer line, but Chief Marketing Officer Pete Truby stresses that there is sometimes more to innovation than winning the race to the shelves. “Being first to market is great, but we can’t forget that

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today without them. We believe that everyone should be able to experience the benefits of high-quality goat milk, so we are thrilled to bring our products to a greater number of customers each year. The simplicity and efficiency of our operation help us keep our goat milk accessible to as many people as possible, all while maintaining the quality and taste that customers have come to expect from us. From goat to glass, we are committed to providing our customers with high quality goat milk, from our wonderful goats.

For more information, visit booth #2545 or go to www.summerhilldairy.com.

Southwestern food to consumers across the United States. The Hatch Chile Company has been an industry pioneer in introducing USDA Organic, Certified Gluten Free (GF), Non-GMO Project Verified and Kosher OU products to the category. HATCH and HATCH Select branded products are available in supermarkets and natural and specialty grocery retailers across the United States.

For more information, visit booth #5784 or go to www.hatchchileco.com.

around to it. Then one day after doing R&D, it worked out this great formula of black truffles, truffle infused oil along with some TLC and came up with a great spread. But it’s more than that! This is a tapenade. Use it straight from the jar and spread over some toasted crusty bread, or mix with a mayonnaise and create a wild truffle aioli. Add to hot cooked pasta as a great truffle pasta dish. There is no limit to what you can do with it!

For more information, call 855.OIL SPRAY (645.7772), email info@mardonaspecialty foods.com or go to www.mardonaspecialty foods.com.

things that already exist can be made better. In sense, we’ve absolutely innovated in oat milk. And we’re doing so in creamers, too.” Truby is talking about the core virtues that envelop the entire Elmhurst line: more of the source ingredient; six ingredients or less; no added gums or thickeners; and specific to coffee support products, no added oils. If you aren’t already on the oat train, we’ve saved you a seat. Sit back and enjoy the scenery of life. Elmhurst will make your best cup for the ride. For more information, visit booth #155.

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Full Fat Whole Milk Sheep Yogurt from Bellwether Farms Family owned and operated since 1986, Bellwether Farms is located in the beautiful rolling hills of the Sonoma County coast. The creamery is only a few miles from the ocean and well-known areas like Tomales Bay, Point Reyes Seashore and Bodega Bay. This region, about an hour north of San Francisco, is known for mild temperatures and summertime fog, and has a rich history of dairy production going back over 150 years. Among the first in the United States to specialize in the production of sheep milk cheeses, Bellwether Farms began milking sheep and producing its handmade cheeses in 1990. In 1996, the family added cheeses using local Jersey cow milk. This award-

winning line of dairy products now includes both fresh and aged products made from each of these amazing types of milk. Early on, the company was fortunate to visit traditional, small-batch cheese makers in Europe. It discovered that when using traditional methods, no two cheese makers produced the same cheese due to terroir – subtle differences in milk, climate, equipment and technique. This was welcome confirmation that it had chosen the right path; its emphasis on the traditional and time-tested methods would ensure the quality and unique flavors that could not be replicated anywhere. Bellwether Farms sheep milk yogurt is a revelation in flavor and health. The No. 1 in-

Increase Deli Sales with Souperb’s Plant-Based Soups Souperb has been enjoying strong, steady, triple-digit YOY growth due to its unique nature and commitment to maintaining its high standards. Souperb’s fresh, refrigerated soups are made with non-GMO and glutenfree ingredients, with low sodium and without any added sugar. Additionally, many of Souperb’s flavors tout plant-based, paleo and keto friendly attributes. With delicious, comforting flavors, a recognizable ingredient list and easy-to-read nutrition label, Souperb is at the forefront of clean and convenient refrigerated soups.

Offering exciting flavor combinations that are perfect for any time of year, Souperb’s premium, better-for-you soups are made using creative plant-based blends of nuts, herbs and spices. Flavor variety is an important element in any fresh soups line, and in total Souperb offers seven unique flavor varieties to choose from. These comforting, satisfying soups are sold in 24-ounce tubs (suggested retail price $7.99) in natural food stores like Whole Foods Market and Natural Grocers. They are typically found on the refrigerated shelves of prepared food or deli

Piller’s Black Kassel – Where Charcuterie Takes Shape For over 60 years, Piller’s Black Kassel has been bringing Old World Craftsmanship & Legendary Taste to the North American market with famous deli case salamis and more recently with snacking innovations. The brand’s premium dry-aged salamis, known for their unique artisanal shapes, like the heart-shaped D’Amour Salami, have long been featured in service delis across the country, but now Black Kassel has introduced convenient packages for the specialty deli meats category.

Just in time for the holidays, Black Kassel has launched a 6-ounce Charcuterie Trio, combining three of its popular shaped salamis – D’Amour (heart shaped), Mustard Seed (square/diamond shaped), and Old Forest (flower shaped) – in a convenient presliced package. Earlier this year, the brand also relaunched its Mustard Seed, Old Forest and Picante salamis in 4 ounce pre-sliced packages. Certified gluten free, MSG free and free of all major food allergens, these unique ar-

New Country Mayup Adds Flavor and Fun to Savory Meals Discerning dippers have long considered a combination of ketchup, mayonnaise and seasonings to comprise the ultimate condiment. Often called “fry sauce,” it’s popular in the U.S. and beyond for its creamy, tangy flavor. In its January product launch, specialty food maker Stonewall Kitchen debuts its take on this addictive sauce. A blend of its thick, delicious Country Ketchup – which has a richer taste than most other ketchups – and its robust Farmhouse Mayo, this new offering is especially tempting. The name of the product

is a playful merge of “ketchup” and “mayo” (“Mayup”) that’s as fun to say as it is to taste. Unlike Thousand Island sauce, which is a combination of ketchup and mayo that often includes add-ins like pickles and onion and is often used as a dressing, Country Mayup is totally smooth and creamy, making it an exceptional partner for everything from fries to vegetable sticks to burgers and more. It has an especially pleasing tangy, slightly sweet flavor that both kids and adults will want to include as a complement to all kinds

gredient is whole sheep milk. Bellwether Farms sheep milk yogurt can be enjoyed by many people who are intolerant of cow’s milk, and want a yogurt that tastes like cow’s milk but doesn’t have a soy or goat milk aftertaste. When compared to cow and goat milk yogurts, Bellwether Farms sheep yogurt has 70 percent more protein, 70 percent more fat and 50 percent more calcium. The yogurt is available in plain, vanilla, strawberry, blueberry, blackberry and spiced apple. It looks beautiful on the shelf and customers will love it. The enthusiastic support the company receives from customers around the San Frandepartments. Founder of Souperb, Joanna Terry, is dedicated to ensuring that Souperb is a trustworthy brand and is contributing to a healthy planet by using plant-based products, while making it easier to eat well and get the bounty of nutrients provided in vegetables. Souperb is proudly women-owned and women-run. Souperb understands today’s savvy and aware consumer. Those who seek food with honest, clean ingredients rather than fillers and preservatives; who look at labels for ingredients they can pronounce and easily understand. Consumers have increased awareness about clean labels and seek prod-

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cisco Bay area and across the country is proof that it is providing something very special. The awards it receives at the American Cheese Society’s competition and the NASFT Sofi awards are a further stamp of approval from within the industry. Bellwether Farms is committed to making the very best cheese and cultured dairy products using full-fat whole milk from both sheep and Jersey cow milks. Its awardwinning cheeses and yogurts are found in specialty cheese shops and superior retailers as well as being featured on the menus of the finest restaurants across the country.

Visit Bellwether Farms at booth #5638. For more information, go to www .bellwetherfarms.com.

ucts with transparency, and demand those products also be readily available and easy to prepare. Following the growth of convenience foods, ready-to-eat soups are in demand as consumers are faced with low time availability for food preparation, and seek fresh and readily available options. Today’s time-starved and busy families are looking out for healthy and quick options. Souperb satisfies with its comforting and convenient better-for-you soups.

Visit Souperb at booth #6647. For more information, go to www.souperbsoup.com, call 415.685.8508 or email info@souperbsoup.com.

tisanal shapes are a perfect choice to serve guests and elevate the entertaining experience and presentation of any charcuterie board. All varieties pair exceptionally well with specialty cheeses, fruits, artisanal breads and many other accompaniments. For added merchandising flexibility within the deli department or in other areas of the store, all varieties are shelf-stable and can be displayed outside of refrigeration in their retail ready display box or in-store baskets, and are also peggable.

To satisfy retailers and consumers looking for “better for you” alternatives, Black Kassel is also launching a 4ounce All-Natural Charcuterie Trio. It offers three uncured salamis – Double Smoked, Spicy Hungarian and Black Peppercorn – which are minimally processed, contain no artificial ingredients, flavors or colors, no preservatives, no nitrites and nitrates added, and is made with pork raised with no added hormones.

of snacks and savory meals. Stonewall Kitchen has had great success with a series of delicious aiolis and sauces that feature some innovative ingredient combinations. Its Roasted Garlic Aioli and Sriracha Aioli, for example, already have a strong following among many who appreciate a unique dip for their chicken tenders and fries. Country Mayup makes a great new addition to the line. Another product in the January launch, Legal Sea Foods Sea Salt & Vinegar Aioli, features the tart and tangy flavors of salt and vinegar potato chips in a mouth-

watering, creamy sauce and makes a wonderful addition as well. A third new sauce, Lemon Avocado Oil Aioli, delivers a citrusy kick thanks to lemon juice and pure lemon oil and is great for adding a punch to sandwiches or baked salmon. Country Mayup is a condiment that people will love to include at all kinds of gatherings, whether it’s a Super Bowl party or a cozy midwinter meal between family and friends. Whatever the occasion, anyone who loves to dip will want to keep it stocked in the pantry.

For more information, go to www.black kassel.com or visit booth #5253.

For more information, visit booth #5327 or go to www.stonewallkitchen.com.

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Fromagerie Henri Hutin Introduces Belletoile Semi-Soft Sliced Cheese Fromagerie Henri Hutin, creator of the excellent triple crème Brie, Belletoile welcomes on the U.S. market the Semi-Soft Sliced Cheese. Belletoile Creamy Slices are natural Semi-Soft Sliced Cheese made from just three ingredients and are certified nonGMO. They are produced by Master Cheese Makers from the Lorraine region of France in the art of soft ripened cheese like Brie. They offer a unique texture with a mild satisfying taste and an incredibly creamy

mouth feel. Belletoile Creamy Slices are wafer-thin precision-sliced and packed in re-sealable packaging in Germany for continued freshness after opening. They are versatile and perfect for sandwiches, burgers and in warm applications such as pasta or on melts. This product launch is part of Henri Hutin’s ongoing activities for reinforcing Belletoile brand in the U.S. and the efforts to meet the wholesale and retail customer de-

DORVAL Introduces GNAW CHOCOLATE GNAW CHOCOLATE LTD. is the newest line to join the DORVAL portfolio. The GNAW CHOCOLATE bars are handcrafted in England in small batches and feature quirky, eye catching packaging, high quality ingredients sourced locally and from around the world and contain no artificial colors or flavors. “We were approached by GNAW, who were looking for U.S. distribution of their unique handcrafted chocolate bars. From the moment we saw and tasted their line, and

learned about their passion for creating fun, playful chocolates, we felt that their premium bars belonged on the shelves. We’ve seen demand continue to grow for artisanal chocolate with socially responsible, sustainable sourcing,” says Roberta Cappel, Dorval’s President. GNAW prides itself on being an ethical company, sourcing cocoa only from farms in Brazil and West Africa and its factory is powered by 100 percent renewable energy. GNAW is an innovative premium choco-

Mamie’s Pies Offers Homemade Taste Mamie’s Pies are the frozen little pies with the big homemade taste. Shaped like apples, blueberries and pumpkins, these pocket pies are the perfect size to enjoy any time of the year. With their unique shapes and absolutely delicious homemade taste, it didn’t take long for Mamie’s pocket pies to be chosen as Oprah’s Favorite and now regularly sell out on QVC. Using simple, all-natural ingredients and no preservatives, Mamie’s pocket pies are frozen, unbaked and go freezer to oven, air

fry or deep fry. Mamie’s flavors include the sweet and tart McIntosh apple, Wild Maine blueberry, tart Michigan cherry, sweet strawberry, perfect peach and New England pumpkin with molasses and brown sugar whipped to perfection. Each pocket pie is surrounded by Mamie’s signature flaky crust and chock full of fruit forward fillings. With only four ingredients in the crust and four in the filling, the company prides itself on simplicity, letting the delicious fruit speak

Popcorn Advent Calendar from Wabash Valley Farms Advent calendars are a classic tradition in many homes where families are able to embrace the counting down of the days until Christmas. There is nothing more fun than waking up every morning and discovering a new surprise. What better way to enjoy this activity than by pairing it with popcorn? Exclusively designed, standing tall at 20 inches and in a unique tree shape with whimsical

artwork makes it the perfect gift for kids and kids at heart. Families will have a blast reading the rhyme on the back, such as “1, 2, 3 Time to Trim the Tree,” and unraveling the mystery with the opening of doors 1, 2 and 3 one day at a time revealing the answer to the rhyme. Discovering all the delicious popcorn recipes, gourmet popcorn kernels, unique

Fratelli Pinna Celebrates 100 Years For over a century, Fratelli Pinna has been handcrafting sheep and goat milk cheeses on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, Italy. Founded in 1919 by brothers Giommaria and Francesco Pinna, today Pinna is a fourthgeneration family-owned company, and the largest sheep milk producer in all of Italy. Milk from grass-fed sheep and goats is delivered daily from shepherds all over the island. These sheep and goats graze freely in the rolling hills and flatlands, feeding on indige-

nous wild grasses and herbs. The aromas are then transferred into the milk, giving it a uniquely complex and herbal flavor. Sheep milk is high in protein, calcium, potassium and Vitamins A, D, E, B and C. Both sheep and goat milk are easier to digest than cow’s milk. Traditionally known for its Pecorino Romano, Fratelli Pinna has a wide variety of cheeses, including fresh, aged and DOP sheep cheeses, as well as fresh and aged goat cheeses. Pinna’s Medoro (Pecorino Sardo

mands for its high-quality offerings. Henri Hutin will continue to support Belletoile Triple Crème Brie and the Creamy Slices during next year. The Belletoile Creamy Slices are already available to retailers and distributors as of 2019. Belletoile, a creation of Henri Hutin, was first produced in 1960 and quickly rose to acclaim in the world community by being the first triple crème brie exported to the United States of America. All of Belletoile cheeses contain the same premium milk late brand with exciting and imaginative flavors such as Bananas Foster, Rocky Road, Peanut Butter, Snowberry Crunch, Mint Choc Chip and Crystallized Ginger. They are also GMO-free. All bars are 3.5 ounces and are packed in 10-count or 12count shelf ready displays depending on the flavor. Each carton is packed 6x12ct. The new GNAW line is available now.

About Dorval Trading Co., Ltd. Dorval Trading Co., Ltd., is an importer of

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from cows in the Lorraine valley, a region in Northeastern France known for its agriculture and farmland. Many of the same techniques are used today as they were almost 100 years ago, but with modern equipment. Belletoile holds on to that tradition of artisanal craftsmanship in order to bring a flavor that’s as sophisticated as its origins.

For more information, visit booth #7004, go to www.belletoile.us or email info@ belletoile.us.

an extensive range of high-quality confectionery products from major manufacturers around the world. Dorval has grown into a significant presence in the confectionery and specialty distribution arena. Dorval celebrated it 50th anniversary in business in 2016.

For more information, visit booth #5669, call 800.367.8252, email info@dorvaltrading .com or go to www.dorvaltrading.com.

for itself. It knows that pie doesn’t have to be complicated, so Mamie’s Pies brings it back to the basics, just like your grandmother used to make. It’s as easy as pie! With her grandmother’s recipes, company Founder Kara learned how to make pies in the kitchen with her mom Mamie. She took that life-long passion of pie making and raised money for her daughter’s high school dance. Now over one million pocket pies have been sold nationwide, through e-

commerce, retail and foodservice. The company’s mission is to spread happiness one pocket pie at a time. Mamie’s Pies launched into 1,000 retail doors nationwide in the fourth quarter of 2019, with over 4,000 more lined up this year. Mamie’s pocket pies are filling a white space in the frozen dessert category and are introducing a way to enjoy singleserving pie year-round.

seasonings, fun activities such as stringing popcorn for the tree plus many more fun treasures to create during the holiday season is just the beginning to the adventure behind each door. The advent calendar will be a gift that is remembered for years to come. The Popcorn Christmas Advent Calendar is packed full of stopping power and offers an incredible value. The calendars come in a

convenient 5-piece case pack and have a suggested retail price of $39.99. Offer something unique and unexpected in your store with the Popcorn Advent Calendar.

Maturo DOP) has a wonderfully rich and nutty flavor with undertones of burnt caramel that impressed the judges at the 2018 World Championship Cheese Contest, who awarded Medoro Second Place in its class. Combining traditional cheesemaking methods with highly sophisticated and modern technology, Fratelli Pinna crafts an exceptional line of cheeses. Since 1919, it has been committed to spreading an authentic taste of Sardinia

Visit Mamie’s Pies at booth #5122.

See the Popcorn Advent Calendar in booth #6555 and grab a cup of fresh popcorn made in the Whirley Pop. For more information, call 877.888.7077 or go to www.wfarms.com. around the world. Fresh product, such as traditional hand-ladled sheep milk Ricotta Fresca, is exported weekly by air from Italy. All Pinna cheeses are available through InterSource, a distributor with warehouses in New Jersey, Wisconsin and California. InterSource – great cheese ... better service!

Visit Fratelli Pinna in booth #2118. For more information, go to www.fratellipinna.com or email sales@inter-sourceinc.com.

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White Coffee Introduces NIWRI White Coffee Corporation, a Long Island City coffee importer and roaster, is proud to introduce the latest addition to its coffee portfolio: NIWRI Cold Brew Cascara. NIWRI is a unique beverage cold brewed from green tea and coffee cherries, also known as cascara. Cascara, which means “husk” or “skin” in Spanish, is the dried skins of the coffee cherries. These pulped skins are collected after the seeds (i.e. coffee beans) have been removed from the

cherries. While it can’t be defined as strictly coffee or tea but rather something in the middle, NIWRI does derive from the coffee plant. Specifically, cascara is a product of the fruit of the coffee tree. Since NIWRI is a cascara-based drink, you can expect a sweet, fruity taste with notes of rose hip and hibiscus. The essence is like a superb blend of fruits including raspberry, currant, cranberry and cherry.

Helping Your Customers Think Beyond the Cheese Plate By Lorrie Baumann

Cheese plates have become a staple form of creative expression that’s shared in the course of home entertaining. For those who are less confident about their ability to put together a cheese display that will impress their guests, cheesemongers are happy to give advice, there are discussion groups on Reddit and cheese boards are all over Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube. But artisanal cheese, great as it is as the centerpiece of a cheese board, doesn’t have to be something that people enjoy only when they’re standing up to eat – great cheese is very capable of taking its place in the meal’s main course.

Price Is Indeed an Object Nobody’s suggesting that anyone should spend big money on a high-dollar specialty cheese and then use it as the whole cheese component for a mac and cheese, but a metered portion of something better can elevate a dish beyond what can be achieved with mass-marketed shreds and slices. “Beyond a certain price point, you want to feature it, but Carmody is at a price point where you can use it to lend its flavor,” said Liam Callahan, who makes the cheese at Bellwether Farms. Callahan makes Carmody from the milk of Jersey cows, which makes it mild and creamy with a golden color and buttery flavor, and for his family table, he likes to cube it up and add it to a bean salad or pair it with a tomato soup made from very ripe tomatoes, and his kids like to put it in quesadillas. “Carmody doesn’t get super-oily like some aged cheeses do,” he said, “It melts nice, but it doesn’t break and get oily. A lot of aged cheeses don’t accomplish that.” Bellwether Farms is known particularly for sheep milk cheeses, but those tend to be too expensive for people to want to cook with them – they’re better eaten as they come from the market, Callahan said, but Crescenza, a soft-ripened cheese made from Jersey cow milk, works well on a flatbread or a bruschetta along with some balsamic

vinegar or maybe a tapenade, and it pairs well with fruit, too. “It picks up flavor and adds creaminess,” he said. “If you’re looking for a really soft-ripened cheese that you can spread on bread without having a rind left over, the Crescenza works great for that.”

Don’t Let Good Cheese Go to Waste Laura Werlin, speaker and author of books including “The All American Cheese and Wine Book,” which won her a James Beard Award and “Grilled Cheese, Please!,” among other cookbooks, is an expert on ways to incorporate specialty cheese into everyday meals. She’s one of those who says she’d never recommend that anyone go out and buy expensive cheese solely to cook with it, but she also says that it’s common for people who enjoy making cheese plates when they’re entertaining to have bits and bobs of that cheese left over at the end of the party, and they may need ideas for what to do with those orts, which was an inspiration for her books. “There’s nothing worse than buying good cheeses and having them go to waste,” she said. “We’re afraid of our cheese. We love it, but we’re not entirely sure what to do with it.” She points out that the home cook who has a specialty cheese she loves at hand and a recipe that works with commodity cheese can simply start by substituting a bit of the specialty cheese into the recipe along with the less expensive cheese she’s used before and tasting what happens. “More times than not, you’re going to be happy with the result,” she said. She likes to suggest to fellow foodies who’d like to venture into cooking with cheese that they think beyond the mac and cheese and grilled cheese sandwiches and experiment with cheeses in other recipes as well. One of her suggestions is to try adding a new cheese into a salad. “Everybody knows they can put feta into a salad,” she said. “There’s nothing wrong with that, but there’s nothing wrong with trying queso fresco, another salty cheese that does the same thing.” Brie is great on a crostini, to use for a

Formaggio Brand Artisan Wraps Formaggio Brand is responding to consumer demand with expansions to its line of Artisan Wraps, deli-style meats wrapped around sticks of Formaggio’s award-winning silky fresh mozzarella. This product was initially

presented as a 22-ounce tray offering three kinds of meats: prosciutto, pepperoni and soppressata. Since then, demand has grown for different meats and a greater variety of package sizes.

Aside from its taste, cascara is reputed to have many great health benefits. It may be best known for its high level of antioxidants. The coffee cherry fruit has higher antioxidant levels than many other fruits high in antioxidants. Green tea is also a great source for antioxidants and is reputed to have many health benefits. Including this product among your SKU crouton on salad, it melts really well on a snack cracker, and it pairs well with fresh fruit, she added. “It doesn’t have to be party food,” she said. “I want people to embrace cheese in every form. We use it on a hamburger or on a sandwich, but do that one better. Take the cheeses you like anyway and incorporate it into your food. Once you start thinking along those lines, it’s amazing what opens up.”

Use the Opportunity to Get Creative Cooking with specialty cheese presents opportunities for creativity, which is an urge that brings consumers to purchase specialty foods in general. The marriage of cheese and culinary creativity is reflected in the way that the ideas for many of Rogue Creamery’s newer cheeses were born in conversations between Gremmels, who is Rogue Creamery’s “Mr. Blue,” and the chefs who were interested in using his cheeses in the dishes they were putting on their menus. “When you have food people in your life and around your table, creative things happen,” Gremmels said. “Uninhibited sharing around food gave birth to Smokey Blue, Blue Heaven and TouVelle.” Smokey Blue was the first smoked blue cheese on the market and has become one of Rogue Creamery’s top-selling cheeses, but the original idea behind it came from a chef who said that he’d be interested in a smoked blue cheese but wasn’t aware that such a thing existed. Gremmels hadn’t heard of one either, but he accepted the challenge and started experimenting. After a good deal of trial and error with various woods, he tried smoking Oregon Blue with hazelnut shells, and those produced the balance between spicy and sweet flavors that he’d been looking for. “The cheese offered the chef the magic he was looking for on a salad, on a burger, creating a compound butter,” Gremmels said. “I like to fold the chunks into a burger patty along with sauteed onions.” Blue Heaven, which is a blue cheese powder, was created as a result of a similar suggestion that the same technology that produces dehydrated powdered milk could also be used to dehydrate a blue cheese, and there might be a culinary point to that. “I thought he was crazy,” Gremmels said, but he turned over a wheel of cheese for exFormaggio brand has answered that demand by offering two new sizes: an 18-ounce version of the larger variety tray and also smaller grab-and-go 5-ounce and 6-ounce trays (depending on flavor) which feature just one individual kind of deli meat. The

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selection allows the opportunity to offer a great tasting, healthy option in one beverage. White Coffee is excited to bring NIWRI to the marketplace and hopes you enjoy every sip.

Visit White Coffee at booth #1327. For more information, call 718.204.7900 or 800.221.0140, go to www.whitecoffee.com or email info@ whitecoffee.com.

periments. That 5-pound wheel came back to him as a snack bag full of powder. The size of that small bag surprised Gremmels, but so did the flavor of the powder inside it. “It was just so robust and so wonderful,” he said. In the powdered form that Gremmels now calls Blue Heaven, the cheese had a flavor that was subtly blue but carried a burst of umami and the characteristic Rogue Creamery sweetness, he added. Gremmels promptly sent little samples to molecular chefs around the country who’d been experimenting with foams and spheres and powders to capture the essential essence of food and flavor in interesting new formats to see what they’d do with this new powder. “It just sailed from there,” he said, and chefs began sprinkling it on steamed vegetables, stirring it into sauteed mushrooms, turning it into compound butters and incorporating it into spheres. Blue Heaven became so popular among chefs that it’s no longer their secret ingredient, and Rogue Creamery is now packaging it for retail sale alongside its premier handmade cheeses.

Cooking with Specialty Cheese Doesn’t Have to Be Hard Zoe Brickley of Jasper Hill Farms says that she hears a lot of questions from people who want to know what they should do with their specialty cheeses, and while she says that her first advice is usually, “Just bust out a spoon and a baguette and go nuts,” she also acknowledges that the advice that’s often given when people think about how to cook with wine also applies: “Your dish is only as good as the wine you use in it – and the same is true of cheese.” Specialty cheeses tend to have complex aromas that elevate the experience of dishes to which they’re added, she said, and so she suggests that consumers who’ve bought a little wheel of The Cellars at Jasper Hill’s Winnimere for their Christmas cheese plate and have that last little bit of the gooey goodness left over afterwards think about using that to top a dish of roasted potatoes and bacon or carve a slice off their wedge of Bayley Hazen Blue at a summertime patio party and slap it onto a steak as it comes off the grill. “It’s a lot easier than making a pan sauce, and it’s just as impressive,” she said.

meat choices have grown as well and now additionally feature Hard Salami, Genoa Salami and Chorizo.

For more information, email info@formaggiocheese.com or go www.formaggiocheese.com.

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A Dutch Masterpiece Announces Brand Redesign The classic but unique A Dutch Masterpiece is a collection of four premium mature cheeses that have won excellence awards around the world, including overall World Champion at the World Championship Cheese Contest in Madison, Wisconsin, for both Rembrandt (2004) and Vermeer (2012). Thanks to the exclusive recipes and a commitment to the art of traditional Dutch cheesemaking, A Dutch Masterpiece produces premium cheese in a classic, traditional Dutch way and ensures that every Dutch Masterpiece cheese delivers a taste experience like no other. A Dutch Masterpiece varieties are works of art, with each variety named after a great Dutch artist. Each cheese has its own unique recipe and ripening process. This results in a distinctive and refined texture,

taste and flavor. The packaging redesign, launching during the first half of 2020, will help make the award-winning collection more accessible to consumers. Distinctive in flavor like their artists, the new brand identity and package design showcases the distinctive features of each painter, their formative work, and the unique age and tasting notes of each of the awarding winning cheeses in the masterpiece collection. A Dutch Masterpiece collection of four premium mature cheeses is available in both wheels and wedges.

Rembrandt: Traditionally ripened for one year, this award-winning Extra Aged Dutch Cheese has a firm texture, a robust flavor and an exceptional taste.

New Spreadable Cured Meats from La Quercia La Quercia has launched new spreadable cured meats: Ground Pancetta and Pesto Bianco. Available in tubes for easy use, similar to La Quercia’s Nduja spread, these meats are ready for creative cooking in the kitchen. They embody what La Quercia is known for: delicious cured meats from humanely raised and responsibly sourced pork. The spreadable Pancetta features Pancetta Americana, La Quercia’s antibiotic-free pork belly, dry-cured with sea salt and spices. The company’s pancetta is beloved by chefs around the country for its flavor and versatil-

ity. The finely ground pancetta kicks any dish up a notch or three – cooks and novices alike can use it in place of butter on the stovetop or in place of bacon in a sandwich; in grilled cheese, crostino and pizza; and in ragu, meatballs and meatloaf. La Quercia’s pancetta can be used with or without cooking. Pesto Bianco is a savory Lardo spread that begins with delicious cured fat from La Quercia’s prosciutto – a rich and creamy fat from vegetarian fed, antibiotic-free and family-farm raised hogs. The 9-12 month aged Lardo is blended with sea salt, black pepper,

Seasonings and Garden Kits for Enjoying the Outdoors By Lorrie Baumann

Retirement was getting old for husband and wife Clyde and Sherri Hutchison in 2010, so the couple decided that, recession or no, it was time to start a new company. “There’s never a good time to start a company – you just have to do it,” Clyde said. They called it Backyard Safari Company, and its initial mission was to make and sell grilling rubs that reflected Clyde’s love of entertaining around his backyard grill. “I’ve always had an interest in grilling and flavors for meat and such,” he said. “The Backyard Safari is adventure and fun in your back yard.” Since then, they’ve expanded their product range to reflect Sherri’s love of gardening and their shared love of hanging out with family and friends around the dining table. The Grill. spice rubs from Backyard Safari Company are offered in four flavors packed in tin metal tins. Grill. Grilled Corn Rub is a sweet chipotle spice blend; Grill. Steak & Burger is a peppered garlic rub; Grill. Chicken & Veggies is made with lemon zest and garlic; and the fourth is Grill. Seafood, a blend of rosemary, lemon and dill that can be added to melted butter to make a dipping sauce for shrimp, crab or lobster in addition

to its use as a grilling rub. All four spice blends are all natural and gluten free. In addition, Backyard Safari Company offers a Dinner Tonight! line of meal starters, three seasoning mixes for nuts, and two lines of garden starter kits. “We’re in a variety of stores – we are in meat counters, but we have gift shops, any kind of tourist attraction – a lot of gift shops around the country,” said Clyde, who is the company’s Vice President. “We’re in quite a few upscale grocery stores and corner markets as well.” Small-batch blended, all natural and gluten free, Backyard Safari’s Dinner Tonight! meal starters allow the home cook to turn out a family meal for up to eight people in about 30 minutes. Two of the varieties have won gold sofi Awards from the Specialty Food Association. White Bean Chili Seasoning won a gold sofi Award in 2014, while Black Bean Tortilla Chili won the gold sofi Award in 2016. Other varieties include Southwestern Chipotle & Lime Fajita Seasoning, Salmon with Angel Hair Pasta Seasoning and Burger Seasoning. Packaging includes the whole shopping list for the meal on the back, so that a shopper can pick up the meal starter package and then collect everything else that’s needed for the recipe on the same shopping trip. For the

Vincent: Where Gouda meets Parmesan, this rich, sweet tasting, fully ripened Dutch Cheese releases pleasant characteristic bursts of flavor with every bite.

Frans Hals: A rich aged Dutch goat cheese that is naturally matured up to six months. Frans Hals is made from 100 percent goat’s milk to create a unique full-bodied taste and delicate aroma.

Vermeer: Traditionally ripened for six months, this award-winning aged Dutch Gouda cheese has a delicate fruity taste with a delightful flavor.

Of course, this work of art is created by the biggest producer of Dutch Cheese in the world, FrieslandCampina. FrieslandCampina Consumer Dairy US, based in Paramus, New Jersey, is the world’s largest producer of

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Gouda and Dutch cheeses and one of the largest importers of specialty cheeses to the United States. Visitors to the Winter Fancy Food Show will be able to experience a diverse showcase of exciting cheese brands from the Netherlands, UK, Denmark, Australia, Ireland and other countries in its

exhibit. FrieslandCampina’s rich portfolio includes over a dozen cheese brands, including UK brands Wyke Farms® and Organic Kingdom® and Dutch made Kroon®, Melkbus®, Parrano®, GayoAzul®, Frico® and A Dutch Masterpiece®. FrieslandCampina is a company rich in heritage, with deep roots in Dutch culture, and a history of selling products across the globe for a century and serving U.S. consumers for over 50 years. Visit FrieslandCampina at booth #2151.

rosemary and red chili flake. It can be used in place of shortening in biscuits or tart crust, melted over a juicy steak or rubbed on chicken before roasting, stirred into warm pasta or simply spread over warm bread. Both new products offer the same versatility as La Quercia’s popular Nduja Americana, the spicy prosciutto spread that’s gained popularity since launching in 2015. Nduja is a blend of cured pork, three types of dried New Mexico red chilies and sea salt – it packs an umami punch and has developed a cult following from chefs and home cooks around the country. The spreads have no artificial additives, just organic spices, and

present an innovative addition for any dietary lifestyle or flavor desire. “Cooking should be fun and food should be delicious – these spreads deliver on both counts,” says La Quercia co-Founder Kathy Eckhouse. “Add a dollop to sauteed vegetables or soup, use any one of them instead of mayonnaise or mustard on a meat or cheese sandwich. Try a crusty baguette, split and ‘buttered’ with any of the spreads, to fuel your next hike!” This trio of spreadable cured meats can be found online at www.mondofood.com and at supermarkets and specialty retailers around the country, including Eataly and Hy-Vee.

ingredients to make the chili from the sofi Award-winning Dinner Tonight! Black Bean Tortilla Chili seasoning mix, for instance, the package lists a pound of chopped, cooked chicken breast and suggests a rotisserie chicken as an option; butter or oil; an onion; a quart of chicken broth or stock; a can of whole kernel corn; a can of black beans; salsa and heavy cream along with the seasoning mix and optional toppings that might include sour cream, shredded cheese and cilantro. Each of the meal starters retails for $3.95 to $4.95. The company’s gardening kits are adorably packaged in egg cartons that contain seeds and planting medium as well as instructions. “It’s got everything that you need – you only have to add water and love,” Clyde said. They retail for $11.99. The gardens are offered as two product lines: Sunny Side UP Gardens, which are intended for children, and GROW. Gardens, which offer the opportunity to “grow happiness in small spaces” and include a Tranquility Garden, Chili Pepper Garden, Cocktail Garden; Colors Flower Garden, Herb Garden, Honey Bee Habitat, Pizza Garden, Salsa Garden and Sunflower Garden. The Pizza Garden, for instance, includes six packages of heirloom seeds for

sweet basil, Heirloom Rutgers Tomatoes, green bell peppers, Greek Oregano, parsley and scallions along with everything else needed to start the garden plus growing instructions and even the recipes to make the pizza. The Tranquility kit comes with seeds for chamomile, holy basil, lavender, peppermint, wild bergamot and sage and includes recipes to make oil infusions, teas and a smudge stick. The egg carton planters are made from 100 percent recycled fiber, and the seed envelopes are made from FCS certified paper that contains 30 percent post consumer waste and was produced in a plant powered by wind. The Sunny Side UP garden kits for children come in a range of seven products: Kaleidoscope Flower Garden, Little Bunny Garden, Little Fresh Veggie Garden, Little Good Night Garden, Little Pizza Garden, Little Summer Fun Garden and Little North Pole Garden, which includes six packages of non-GMO heirloom seeds for a spruce Christmas tree and five cool weather blooming flowers along with the planting medium, wooden plant identification stakes, growing instructions, growing journal, pencil and 100 percent recycled fiber egg carton planter.

For more information, visit Backyard Safari Company at www.backyardsafarico.com.

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Zia Pia imports & Italian kitchen Purveys Authentic Flavor By Lorrie Baumann

Zia Pia imports & Italian kitchen is a link to the authentic taste of Italy for residents of Charlotte, North Carolina, and for its wholesale and online customers across the U.S. “The idea behind the business was to source unique Italian foods that were difficult to find – those foods you experience when you travel to Italy,” said Victoria Custodi Zabel, who founded Zia Pia imports & Italian kitchen six years ago. “We wanted to bring in authentic flavors that were hard to find – flavors that were representative of the regional traditions of Italy, striking a balance of unique foods with foods that people will buy at an appropriate price.” That’s still a good description of the products she’s bringing into the U.S. from Italy today. Her product range now includes egg pastas from Antica Pasta di Campofilone, which makes its range of pasta shapes according to a centuries-old tradition in the small medieval town in the Le Marche region and pastas from Gragnano, a hilltop town overlooking the Gulf of Naples that has a unique microclimate particularly well suited for growing the grain.

Sauces from Zia Pia are equally authentic, from Perche Ci Credo and Italianavera, both made from premium ingredients and traditional recipes. Chocolate is imported from Sicily and made according to the Modica cold working process; olive oil comes from Frantoio Galantino in Puglia and Terre di Grifonetto in Umbria. “Galantino has a range of fused extra virgin olive oils, including lemon, basil and peperoncino and extra virgin oils in artisan handmade ceramics,” Zabel said. She started her business after growing up spending time in Italy with her Italian family members and then going on to study international business studies at the University of South Carolina, where her masters degree program required her to live and learn in Italy. “I lived in Milan and then worked for six months in Turin,” she said. “My family was Italian, and I wanted to learn that language, and I just loved the culture and the language and the food and wanted to spend time over there.” After graduation, she went to work in New York City, coming home in the evenings to shed thoughts of her corporate job by daydreaming about the business she planned to

Expanded Local Offerings Enhance Oakville Grocery Oakville Grocery, a northern California general store that has been a gathering place for locals and tourists for nearly 140 years, has been enhanced since joining the Boisset Collection in January. Visitors to both Oakville and Healdsburg will now find an emphasis on local sustainable, organic and biodynamic food offerings as well as an expanded wine selection that includes exclusive, highly allocated wines by the taste, glass or bottle. These new items, as well as the grocery’s signature favorites, can now be enjoyed on renovated patios during extended summer hours. “We are so excited to bring new life into community landmarks in Napa Valley and Sonoma County,” said Jean-Charles Boisset, Proprietor of Boisset Collection. “Oakville Grocery is a phenomenal destination where guests can spend a relaxing afternoon trying a selection of amazing wines; fresh, healthy and local cuisine; and fabulous craft beers!” The historical legacy of the Oakville destination has been made more prominent through extensive signage throughout the property that tell the story of its founding role in Napa Valley. In addition, the property next door — 1881 Napa Wine History Museum & Tasting Salon — features tastings of wines from 13 sub-appellations of Napa Valley as well as an archive of wine relics open for complimentary visitation and has published its own history of the region. A unique feature of both Oakville Grocery locations is that guests can taste some of the

most sought-after wines from rotating producers that have included Opus One, Screaming Eagle and Kosta Browne by purchasing cards and using them in Napa Technology dispensers. “Normally wine lovers have to wait on allocation lists for years to purchase these bottles,” said Ed Maass, Oakville Grocery Wine Program Manager. “We are thrilled that we can make these beautiful wines more accessible and offer them by the taste and glass at Oakville Grocery, and through our Oakville Wine Society.” Throughout each store, the wine selections have been significantly expanded and diversified as well as organized by appellation. In the Oakville location guests can discover wines from nearly 300 Napa Valley vintners and in Healdsburg they can browse through an equally large selection of Sonoma County producers. The flagship location in Napa Valley also has two new spaces dedicated to wine: a “cave” where guests can sample the highest-end wines from the Napa Tech machines as well as a wine vault that guests can enter and make selections from, as if they’re perusing their own wine cellar at home. A wine vault is also planned for the Healdsburg location, which has a revamped and upgraded main floor wine section. The robust and diverse wine offerings are now available through a unique wine club. The Oakville Grocery Wine Society offers wine enthusiasts the opportunity to continue their journey through the wine country of

start one day – drawing up business plans for an Italian imports business and tasting them in her mind. “This is something that I’ve always loved as long as I can remember,” she said. “It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do.” After she had a daughter and moved to Charlotte, she decided to get serious about launching her business in her new city. “Charlotte is a great place to grow Zia Pia. In addition to the many Italian foodies, there’s a growing native Italian population in Charlotte as well. A lot of Italian companies have been opening headquarters in this area. Charlotte also has a lot of people who have moved from northeastern cities where they have immigrant roots. They bring that culture down here with them.” She named her nascent business Zia Pia, after her aunt Pia, of Orvieto, Italy. “I named her after my aunt because she was like a grandmother to me,” Zabel said. “When I lived in Italy, I traveled and stayed with her. I learned so much from her about food, and about life.” When she was ready, Zabel got in touch with an Italian friend who was a chef and had similar ideas about the types of foods that ought to find their way into the American market, and they started sourcing products. “I wanted to start out and see how it worked,” she said. “I wanted to explore what I could do on my own, as an independent business

Napa Valley through quarterly shipments of wines, many of which are small lot and hard to find. Society members receive access to private tasting experiences as well as a 10 percent discount on reorders and store purchases. The society has four different levels: Embarcadero, with a three-bottle allocation averaging $225; Expedition, with a three-bottle allocation averaging $450; Quicksilver, with a 3- or 6-bottle allocation averaging $1,050 or $2,100; and Savant, which offers the selections of the most exclusive and hard-toprocure wines, and is available exclusively by invitation for the most discerning collectors. As a community fixture in the hearts of Napa Valley and Healdsburg, Boisset welcomes chefs, friends, neighbors and visitors to come in to shop. Oakville Grocery is also committed to its community and invites artisans and purveyors to bring in their products for consideration for sale. A steadfast practitioner of biodynamic and organic farming, through the new food selection at the groceries, Boisset is spreading its mission for people to “take a stand for the future of food” and carefully consider what they are putting in their bodies. As part of this ideal Boisset has improved and expanded the line of Oakville Grocery-branded proprietary offerings – such as vinegar, olive oil, preserves, tapenade, mustards, charcuterie and beer – while at the same time ensuring they derived from more local sources. “Our motto is ‘Eat Local, Drink Local, Picnic Local.’ We want to sell products that are made as close to Oakville Grocery as possible,” said Oakville Grocery General Manager Barry Dinsmore, referencing both the Oakville and Healdsburg locations of the store. He estimated that 70 percent of prod-

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connected to Italy.” After a couple of years of quietly establishing an online and local wholesale business, Zabel decided to open a small retail presence in Charlotte, beginning with a stall in the 7th Street Public Market, a food hall featuring all local vendors with a mission to celebrate the food culture of the Carolinas and to promote high quality, fresh and affordable foods. The little stall provided some visibility for Zia Pia and helped market the online business and created synergy for wholesale. Eventually, a larger space opened up that had a kitchen in it, so that Zia Pia is able to cook with its authentic products as well as to offer them from retail shelves. Zia Pia has about 750 square feet of space, with its service counter taking up about half the space and generating about two thirds of the space’s revenue. Guests order at the counter and take their food to the tables in the market’s common area. “It’s super casual counter service,” Zabel said. “An easy and accessible way for everyone to experience authentic Italian flavors. We get a lot of diversity of people who come into the market.” A small space redesign will open up space for a retail tasting counter. “The foodservice component completes the cycle,” Zabel said. “We’re allowing our customers to directly experience the authentic foods and flavors from our kitchen.”

ucts in the stores hail from California, with another 20 percent from the U.S. and the remaining 10 percent international. One of the new food providers Oakville Grocery has partnered with is Ohm Coffee Roasters. The Napa Valley-based company led by former sommelier and wine marketing professional Derek Bromley is the exclusive coffee provider for both the Oakville and Healdsburg locations. The Oakville location now has a coffee machine from La Marzocco, the benchmark Italian brand, as a central feature of the upgraded coffee program. In addition to new foods and wines, the Oakville location has a renovated patio with new furniture and umbrellas to better enable guests to take in views of some of Napa Valley’s most notable landmarks—the Mayacamas Mountains and the landmark To Kalon vineyard to the west and the valley’s highest point, Mt. St. Helena, to the north. Guests can soak up the atmosphere while enjoying sandwiches and salads from the deli cases inside; delicious pizza, burgers and sandwiches made in the wood-fired outdoor oven; or locally raised roasted chickens from the rotisserie, along with wine selected from the grocery or the new, adjacent 1881 Napa tasting room. The Healdsburg patio, which has 40 seats and is one of the only outdoor eating spaces near the Healdsburg Plaza, will also soon have an updated look. 1881 Napa derives its name from the history of Oakville Grocery, which was founded in 1874 as a general store by P.B. O’Neil and then transitioned into a community hub in 1881 under the auspices of Jim and Jennie McQuaid. “None of us own 1881 Napa or Oakville Grocery. We are just guests in their history. These places will outlive us,” said Boisset.

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Fresh Origins Mini Herb, Flower, & Fruit Crystals Fresh Origins’ Mini Herb, Flower, & Fruit Crystals® are the most innovative choice for all mixologists, pastry chefs and tea/coffee enthusiasts. Mini Crystals are fine granules of flavored sugar that make the perfect glass rimmers and desserts, lattes and foam tea dusters. Unlike other glass rimmers, Fresh Origins Mini Crystals are all-natural with authentic

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Southern Style from Mississippi Sisters By Lorrie Baumann

Two former elementary school teachers have made a tiny town in northern Mississippi their headquarters for making Southern-style hospitality a convenient option for home cooks across the country. Their Southern Sisters Gourmet offers starter kits for Southernstyle entrees, jams and jellies, mixes for dips and cheeseballs and mixes for treats like Mississippi Mud Cake, Chocolate Cobbler and Chocolate Gravy – everything that a home cook would need to put a dinner party on the table in a flash, according to Kay Al-

lison, the sister who handles the marketing and technology duties for the company. Her sister, Claire Easley, is the company’s product developer and the one who had the idea to start a gourmet food business eight years ago after she retired from teaching. “Claire just has always liked to cook,” Allison said. “When we first started, I was just going to make labels and help Claire.” Easley had a collection of recipes passed down from her mother, father and grandmother that included family favorites as well as experience working in a local gourmet food shop that had given her insight into re-

Olive and Sinclair Puts Southern Flavor in Gourmet Chocolate By Greg Gonzales

Olive and Sinclair is the first and only beanto-bar brand in Tennessee, using Fair Trade and organic chocolate from the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Ecuador and Madagascar. “We’re first and foremost Tennessee’s, and arguably the South’s, first bean-to-bar chocolate company,” said Owner Scott Witherow. While bean-to-bar is nothing new in itself, Witherow’s creative take

on chocolate and infusion of Southern-inspired flavors bring something new to the confection world. Some of these infusions are the result of partnerships and friendships. Allen Benton, Owner of Benton’s Smoky Mountain Country Hams, smokes Olive and Sinclair’s cacao beans that go into the brand’s Smoked Nib Brittle. Some of Witherow’s Kentuckian distiller friends came down to the factory with used bourbon barrels; he aged some cacao in

Makers of Plant-Based Meat Alternatives Headed to Court The American Civil Liberties Union, The Good Food Institute, Animal Legal Defense Fund, and ACLU of Arkansas filed a lawsuit in late July challenging an Arkansas law that would impose fines of up to $1,000 for every plant-based and cell-based meat product, such as “veggie burgers” and “tofu dogs,” marketed or packaged with a “meat” label. The labels would be subject to fines within state borders even if followed by modifiers such as “vegan,” “veggie,” or “plant-based.” Under the law, products labeled as “cauliflower rice” (but not “riced cauliflower”) and

“almond milk” would also be considered mislabeled and subject to fines for not containing any actual rice or dairy. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Tofurky in federal court. It argues the Arkansas law violates the First Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause by improperly censoring truthful speech and creating consumer confusion in order to shore up the state’s meat and rice industries. The lawsuit adds that there is no evidence that the current labels mislead consumers, pointing out that Tofurky’s products all

Diana Ybarra Joins Fresh-Link Produce Fresh-Link Produce, LLC, a nationwide provider of grower products specializing in dry vegetables, tomatoes, and fruit, has hired industry veteran Diana Ybarra. In her new sales role, Ybarra will be responsible for Fresh-Link customers and for developing

and strengthening relationships between Mexican growers, packers and shippers out of Nogales, Arizona. “I am thrilled to find such a strong talent to add to our rapidly growing West business. She is passionate about produce, and will be

There are ten available flavors: Basil, Cilantro, Cranberry, Fennel, Ginger, Habanero, Hibiscus, Mint, Pumpkin Spice and Rose. Just like the original Herb, Flower, & Fruit Crystals® but with a finer granule, these unique Mini Crystals are perfect for inspiring forward-thinking mixologists. The Mini Crystals can even be tossed into a cocktail and used as a flavorful ingredient and a splash of color. They look stunning at the bottom of the glass and stay semicrunchy to be savored in the last sip. tailing. In Kay, she also had a sister who’d been doing photography for 30 years and was willing to shoot pictures and design labels for her. Since she also had experience making websites, she could be drafted to that too. The two of them decided to form a partnership in which each would contribute their own skills. “You do your thing, and I’ll do mine. I don’t step on her toes, and she doesn’t do my computer work,” Allison said. “My sister’s the product developer; I’m the computer lady, and we have figured out that if I can make something, anybody can – and

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Recommendations: Mini Mint Crystals are the perfect glass rimmer for signature mojitos. Rim an exotic citrus cocktail with the bright yellow Mini Fennel Crystals. Savory and sweet Mini Basil Crystals pair well with strawberry and lemon drinks. Vibrant pink Mini Rose Crystals are a beautiful and romantic glass rimmer for champagne cocktails.

For more information, go to www.freshorigins.com. that’s true!” Newer products include Cherry Vanilla Bagel Spread and Waffle Topper, White Chocolate Bread Pudding Mix, Cheesy Cheddar Potato Soup and Cheddar Broccoli Soup, while best-sellers include a Southern Chicken Salad mix; BLT Dip mix, which can also be used as the seasoning for a cheese ball; and the seasoning for a Gourmet Gumbo. The products are made in small batches and shipped from Coldwater, Mississippi.

For more information, visit www.southern sistersgourmet.com.

them, and the result was the Bourbon Nib Brittle. Pappy Van Winkle sends some its own barrels to Olive and Sinclair so they can order their own version of the brittle, and local breweries make some flavorful stouts using these Nashville nibs. Olive and Sinclair also produces the Seersucker Candy Co. line, which includes the Original Seersucker, a chocolate sphere with sea salt chocolate ganache inside. Muzzle Loaders are a new take on the bourbon ball, filled with liquid salted bourbon caramel, and Cherry Bombs are like cherry cordials, but have a pickled Maraschino cherry inside, which is coated with buttermilk fondant and a dark chocolate finish. All of them are packaged

in a recreation of an old gramophone tube, in a celebration of Nashville’s music scene. Other creations include Chocuterie – a small-batch product that looks exactly like dried salumi inside and out, but is actually chocolate made with other ingredients, depending on when it’s made – and the fresh limited-edition bars. “When I started on this, I wanted it to sound and feel timeless,” Witherow said, from classic packaging to stone-grinding the chocolate, the name of the company and the flavor of the product. “It’s gone over well for us.”

clearly indicate the products are plant-based, meatless, vegetarian or vegan. The law’s proponents have admitted that the law’s purpose is to protect the agricultural producers in the state. “The only confusion here seems to be on the part of the Arkansas legislature, which seems to have forgotten its responsibility to its constituents in its rush to pass an unconstitutional law at the behest of its special interest donors,” said Jaime Athos, Chief Executive Officer of Tofurky. “When consumers choose plant-based foods, it is not because they are confused or misled, it is because they are savvy and educated about the health and environmental consequences of eating animal products. What’s really going on here is that the state of Arkansas is seek-

ing to limit access to healthier, more sustainable food choices for its constituents, and it is doing so to benefit the animal agriculture industry.” The Arkansas law is substantially similar to meat-labeling censorship laws recently passed in Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, South Dakota and other states. A number of those laws face similar legal challenges, including by the ACLU, Good Food Institute, and the Animal Legal Defense Fund. The Missouri law, for instance, was initially proposed by the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association. When discussing the perceived need for the Missouri law, state representative Jeff Knight publicly admitted that: “We’re just trying to protect our product.”

a great asset to our business by adding her extensive experience in commodity and account management. Diana’s enthusiasm to create value for her customers is amazing!” said Garry Rowe, President of Integrated Fresh Solutions, parent company of FreshLink Produce. Ybarra comes to Fresh-Link Produce with

more than 25 years of produce industry experience. She started with Fleming Companies in 1995-1999, then Mann Packing for the last 20 years selling fresh cut vegetables to the retail and foodservice industries where she specialized in identifying and tracking industry changes with resultsdriven business development practices.

For more information, visit www.olive andsinclair.com.

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Consumers Seek Functional Benefits From Teas By Greg Gonzales

Six marathons over six days on six continents – that’s the bang with which Joe Gagnon wanted to end his book, “The High Performance Life.” The bodily strain combined with little sleep and an irregular schedule required something to keep him feeling ready and refreshed every day, so he brought along a loose-leaf tea that would later inspire an instant tea mix called Energy, a staple product of his Performance Tea brand. By the end of his challenge, he said, he felt great, despite nearly a full week of intense

exertion and stress, and credited the tea in part for his well-being. Gagnon isn’t alone in wanting this kind of effect from tea. A growing segment of tea consumers are looking to tea for more than caffeine, and they’re part of a lucrative functional beverage market – a $27.2 billion market, according to a SPINS infographic on functional beverages published in June. A functional tea, specifically, fills a specific need – more energy, added nutrition, improved focus, relaxation, general health, gut health or even beauty – that goes beyond the benefits traditional teas are known for. These

teas contain botanicals, spices, mushrooms and extracts, often with a centuries-old history in remedies from other cultures. These ingredients are steeping slowly into the public consciousness due to consumers seeking out natural ways to feel better and maintain health. Mintel’s Healthy Lifestyles report from November found that 65 percent of consumers seek functional benefits from their food and drink, and its “US Flavor and Ingredient Trends 2019” report listed “flavors that tap into relaxation and support a healthy gut,” along with “Ayurvedic-inspired ingredients, adaptogens and botanical flavors,” among those trending. These trends already have the attention of large mainstream retailers. When David Eberwein, Director of Innovation and Business Development at Shrooms Snacks, was mak-

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ing a sales presentation recently to one of his bigger national retail partners when he was asked about adaptogenic mushrooms being added to coffee and tea. The brand, launched in recent years by 80-year-old mushroom producer South Mill, had already been formulating ready-to-drink functional teas with reishi, lion’s mane and chaga mushrooms, and that question from the retailer was the nudge that Shrooms needed to ramp up development – and the teas launched in September. It’s a natural part of the evolution of tea, said Kristina Richens Tucker, Minister of Commerce and Enlightenment at Republic of Tea, which expanded its offerings of functional teas this year and last year. Republic of Tea, she said, is responding to increasing consumer familiarity with teas, herbs and botanicals as something to enjoy throughout the day and consumer requests for new and trendy ingredients. That means there’s a tea for absolutely everybody, she added. And everybody is right – more than half the U.S. population drinks tea on a daily basis – but the general consensus is that Millennials largely drive this trend, with Baby Boomers following closely behind. Eighty-seven percent of Millennials drink tea, according to the Tea Association of the USA’s fact sheet, and Fona International’s Flavor Combinations report from May said Millennials and Gen Z are more willing than their older counterparts to try new and unique flavors. But even though Baby Boomers might not be interested in beverages that combine an exotic mushroom with botanicals in a fermented tea – at least not on the merit of flavor – some of them are looking to teas for health support. Good Nature Tea, for example, launched a line of functional teas last year and expanded them this year – made with herbs processed by a Macedonian pharmaceutical company called Alkaloid D, for teas marketed with specific health effects in mind, like controlled blood pressure and sugar levels, sleep, weight loss, detox and cholesterol. That line attracts Baby Boomers because a lot of them are dealing with high blood pressure and different diseases that are common with older populations, explained Victoria Evans, Marketing and Business Development Manager at Good Nature Tea. They don’t see the teas as an actual treatment for their conditions, but they do see a health benefit that could help prevent their conditions from getting worse, she said. Functional teas also find a market with active consumers, like Gagnon, and stressed consumers looking to recover from workouts or a long day at the office. Some teas have an appeal to this crowd through nutrition density, like Miracle Tree’s moringa teas. Miracle Tree Owner and Founder Kunal Mirchandani explained that moringa has extraordinary amino acid and antioxidant properties that consumers are looking for. And because the Millennial segment of active consumers still like caffeine, said Mirchandani, he added a line of caffeine-infused moringa tea, which can promote fewer jitters thanks to L-theanine. The idea with these teas, explained Gagnon, is to replace high-caffeine, sugary drinks with holistic herbal alternatives that don’t put the body through so much stress. Functional teas also give retailers and producers a chance to provide convenience for consumers, who might perceive the potential for added value out of rituals they already have.

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Urban Farmer Gets Pickled in South Carolina By Lorrie Baumann

City Roots is introducing a line of specialty pickles. They come from a brand more familiar in the Southeastern U.S. for microgreens and mushrooms, and while the new line of pickles will be available first to retailers in the Southeast, co-Founder Eric McClam hopes to expand the pickles, along with new CBD oil products, beyond the region as the organic farm at the heart of the operation develops. City Roots was started in 2009 by father and son Robbie and Eric McClam, who were both architects. Robbie was nearing the end of his career in architecture even as his son was completing his graduate degree in the field from Tulane University. With the collapse of the real estate market in the Great Recession, both Robbie and Eric decided to abandon architecture to return to family roots in agriculture. Robbie had become interested in Will Allen’s Growing Power urban farm-

ing project in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and enrolled in its commercial urban agriculture training program. “In his retirement, he decided that he wanted to provide local organic produce to our community,” Eric said. After his training in Wisconsin, Robbie returned to Columbia, South Carolina, his home town, and arranged to lease a 5-acre piece of city-owned property in an underdeveloped part of Columbia’s downtown and turn it into an urban farm. “It was a joint project, initially,” said Eric. The organization built a greenhouse on the property and added a commercial kitchen. Local students were encouraged to come and tour the property with their schools so they could learn something more about where food comes from. As the farm developed, City Roots started winning awards for successful urban development, and eventually, the city sold the land to City Roots. City Roots has experimented with a number of crops and business enterprises through the

Meal Kits Prompt Consumers to Cook More than half of U.S. adults claim they really enjoy cooking (53 percent) and more than a third consider the kitchen to be the most important room in the home (35 percent), according to data in the new report “Eating Trends: Cooking & Food Shopping” from market research firm Packaged Facts. These percentages are up compared to a decade ago. Packaged Facts found that most people who don’t cook at home either have a lack of time to grocery shop and meal prep or they lack confidence in their cooking skills. The latter reason is especially prevalent among Gen Z adults (ages 18-24) and to a

lesser extent Millennials (ages 25-39). The meal kit industry is arguably the best example of a food industry segment that’s making it easier for adults to start cooking more at home again. The products are marketed to emphasize several advantages that pique consumer interest and encourage cooking at home. Meal kits appeal to important consumer segments, namely busy consumers who don’t have time to shop for groceries or plan meals, high income consumers who don’t want to or like to shop for groceries or plan meals and are willing to pay more for convenience, consumers who have few cooking skills but who want to

Chef Darin’s Kitchen Table Cooks in Savannah By Lorrie Baumann

More than three decades of cooking professionally has taught Chef Darin Sehnert that the three things that lead to success for any cook – whether at home or in a commercial restaurant kitchen – are techniques, ingredients and equipment. That’s the philosophy he passes along to the home cooks who come to his Savannah kitchen store, Chef Darin’s Kitchen Table, to learn about Southern coastal cooking while they’re weekending in the city. While they’re in the store, he’s also happy to sell them the kitchenware that they’ll need to be successful at home with the dishes they’ve learned in class. “The approach is to look at what’s out there and offer what has great performance plus value,” Sehnert said. “My approach is not to be everything to everyone because I think it’s easy to fill up with a lot of inventory that may or may not be purchased.” Sehnert opened his store as a cooking school four years ago, then added the retail end of the operation about two years

ago after other Savannah kitchenware stores closed. His business is now the only specialty kitchenware store in the community of more than 145,000 people. “We’re still getting the word out that there’s still a store here in Savannah,” Sehnert said. His business draws most of its clientele from Savannah’s tourist trade, and Sehnert encourages that by marketing his cooking classes through TripAdvisor and advertisements on Savannah’s Convention and Visitors Bureau’s guides to local attractions. “We’re number one for food and beverage activities on TripAdvisor, so customers find us when they’re looking for things to do in Savannah,” he said. His premises includes about 1,000 square feet of teaching kitchen equipped with four separate dual-fuel KitchenAid ranges on two stations with a chef’s station at the front. Up to 16 guests at a time work in small groups of four or five on menus that reflect seasonal ingredients and an emphasis on local culinary traditions. Low Country Shrimp and Grits is the single most popular class, offered

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years, from microgreens to mushrooms and cut flowers and from agritourism to catering and became one of the largest microgreens suppliers in the Southeast, distributing to retailers and chefs across the region. “We’re close by and engaged in our community,” said Eric McClam, who finished his studies at Tulane and returned to Columbia to become part of the project. “I got my hands dirty and started enjoying farming.... I’ve picked it up and run with it.” Two years ago, the organization added an 80-acre organic farm that’s a few minutes away, and the farm now employs 25 staff and is focused on its successful microgreens business, root crops and commercial hemp production and on continuing to be a community hub where students from local elementary schools and even the nearby University of South Carolina can come to learn about urban agriculture. “That’s been a mission for a long time as well,” Eric said. “We serve as a resource for them.” The company will introduce pickles made

For more information, visit www.city rootspickles.com, www.cityrootscbd.com or www.cityroots.org.

learn to cook and consumers who live alone or in a small household who don’t like wasting food and want proportions tailored to their needs. Online grocery services provided by Amazon Prime Pantry, AmazonFresh, Instacart and Peapod, among others, have also proven to be time savers for aspiring home cooks. Since 2013, online sales of groceries have more than tripled from $6 billion to $20 billion in 2018 at a compound annual growth rate of 26 percent. Through 2023, online grocery sales are forecast by Packaged Facts to rise 34 percent annually, more than quadrupling from the levels in 2018 and coming to represent 7 percent of the total grocery market. Worth watching in coming years will be how grocers and food retailers capitalize on

contextual commerce (also known as connected commerce, voice commerce or conversational commerce). Contextual commerce offers consumers options ranging from buy buttons to messaging bots and voice assistants to scan-and-bag apps. With contextual commerce, consumers have the opportunity to make purchases anytime or anywhere with a button click if they choose, but even more conveniently, with just their voices. Ultimately, the goal of contextual commerce is to expand retailers’ reach, allowing them to effortlessly implement purchase opportunities into consumers’ daily activities and natural environments. Much like meal kits and food ecommerce, it’s ultimately another step toward saving home cooks time.

monthly in a rotation that includes seven to nine topics a month with five to seven classes offered in an average week. In the winter months, a class on northern Italian cooking that features a menu with osso buco and saffron risotto is popular. “I do all the teaching,” Sehnert said. “One of the things that people like is the focus on science and technique, which resonates particularly among men. They like it fun.... When it’s a leisure learning experience, where you’re choosing to do it – if it’s not fun, people aren’t going to want to come back.” In addition to his regularly scheduled classes, Sehnert also offers private classes and events for up to 60 people at a time. “People do book classes as special events like family reunions,” he said. “We have a special New Year’s Eve class, and there’s a Thanksgiving class for out-oftowners or locals who aren’t going out with their family. It’s out of the ordinary, and it’s better than sitting in a busy restaurant.” At the front of the store, he has about 1,000 square feet of display floor in which he offers products from Microplane, cookware by Hammer Stahl and baking pans from USA Pan as well as Messermeister knives and Epicurean cutting boards. All

of the tools and equipment in the store are items that he actually uses in his classes, chosen because he and his one store assistant can personally vouch for the value proposition offered by each piece. “I like to be able to explain how a piece of cookware will perform for them,” he said. “I want people to feel confident in what they’re buying rather than buying a name that they recognize that may or may not serve their purposes.” The sales floor is part of the attraction for the location when Sehnert volunteers his store as a host site for guest chef classes during the Savannah Food and Wine Festival. Over the course of the week-long festival held in November of each year by Savannah’s Tourism Leadership Council, Chef Darin’s Kitchen Table will host 12 to 15 classes, with class fees benefiting the council’s TLC Scholarship Fund, which offers educational opportunities for students enrolled in hospitality programs in the region’s colleges and universities. “We get a lot of out-of-town visitors for that as well as year-round,” Sehnert said. “The store acts as a waiting area between the festival classes. It’s definitely a marketing effort; it draws people in who would not have known about us otherwise.”

in its commercial kitchen and CBD oil products made from its hemp into the retail market, starting with its home territory below the Mason Dixon Line, where City Roots is already a familiar name in produce aisles across the region. “Our initial marketing push will be in the Southeast,” Eric said. “Regionally in the Southeast is the initial focus, but we’re not going to restrict where we go. We’re already drop-shipping across the U.S.” The pickles’ initial launch will include five products, all certified organic: Classic Beets; Curry Beets, made with golden beets; Spicy Carrots and Ginger Carrots, both made with rainbow carrots; and Sweet Onion, which is made with red beets and onions. They’re all packed in 16-ounce glass jars that will retail for $12 to $14 as well as in 32-ounce packages for foodservice applications. The company will also be launching its City Roots CBD line.

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Queens Incubator Hatches Hundreds of Food Businesses By Greg Gonzales

“If I didn’t have Katherine, it would’ve been scary,” said Chocolatier Milène Jardine. “She helped me set up the licenses I need, she’s so connected – she just knows! She has good instinct, knowledge and experience. I went through three different incubator programs, but I knew this was the one.” Jardine is a client of Entrepreneur Space, a food business incubator in the Queens Borough of New York City, and its Founder and Managing Consultant, Katherine Gregory, who helped her grow her eponymous brand of couture, travel-inspired truffles and bars. The line is now selling in 15 stores, spas, florists, co-branded labels and soon, private airlines. “They partner with you, and they’re behind you the whole way,” Jardine said. “If you’re smart enough to ask questions, you’ll succeed.” Since 2010, Entrepreneur Space has been giving local food producers the chance to take their businesses out of their home kitchens and spread new wings in a commercial production facility. It also provides professional consulting and staff for clients, along with job training and employment for disadvantaged populations. The incubator has helped hundreds of local producers – 672 clients since the start and currently 135 of them – grow enough to find a copacker or start production in their own independent facilities. Entrepreneur Space is the passion project of Gregory, who has 45 years of experience in the food industry. It’s now funded 90 percent by revenue, she said, and the other 10 percent comes from a mix of local, state and national grants. But the idea she had for the incubator started when she was working with a trade organization called Roundtable for Women in Foodservice, at the nexus between nonprofit and for-profit food business. “I came across so many women who were looking to start food businesses – not sure what they needed to do, how to do it,” she said. “So I started informally mentoring, gave seminars, things like this. I got a good understanding of what was going on with them and what their needs were, so I filled the need for these women, but, since I don’t like being sexist, it was men, too.” These new business owners needed space to work in, but they also needed guidance on licensing, insurance and how to take their businesses further, she said. In addition to helping them with those issues, Gregory

wanted to help them with staffing and job training. Instead of taking that on herself, she chose to find a nonprofit organization that could collaborate. She found that in a place called Artisan Baking Center, a nonprofit in Long Island City, that was housed in a building complete with a large kitchen space, storage space and classrooms. “They did the job training program during the day. I would come in and work with them and rent the kitchen at night,” she said. “The best part about the job training program was that I would be able to take these graduates and filter them in with the entrepreneurs, the food-preneurs, giving them access to staff. In the beginning, because many job training programs had paid internships, they would have free staff.” “It was a real win-win situation there,” Gregory added. “You had an equipped kitchen, and the nonprofit running the job training program got extra income at night from renting out. And at the same time, their graduates were getting on-the-job training, whether through a paid internship or directly paid by the entrepreneurs.” Eventually, Artisan Baking Center dropped its culinary training program, but that worked out for the better when the Queens Economic Development Corporation moved into the space. “Then we created a full-fledged incubator where the kitchen was rented 24/7,” Gregory said. “Before that, it was only rented in the evenings and weekends.”

To replace the training program, the two organizations partnered with Fortune Society, a program dedicated to providing support and job training for formerly incarcerated people. That’s largely where the kitchen staff at Entrepreneur Space comes from. And because they have hands-on commercial kitchen experience, they can provide support for the incubator’s clients. “All our clients get two hours of staff time, free, every shift,” Gregory said. Those staff members might be washing dishes, chopping vegetables, scooping cookies, packaging –

Fall River Wild Rice: New Ways with America’s Native Grain Interest in plants and grains is soaring, as shoppers look for new ways to eat healthy. High in protein and fiber, nutty and with a striking visual appeal, wild rice is one of the healthiest grains available. It was a staple food of several Native American tribes, who

called it “manoomin” or “precious grain.” Fall River Wild Rice brings this culinary gem to your store shelf. This naturally cultivated wild rice is great in salads, soups and stir-fries. However, it also works well in mixes for pancakes and muffins and even in

whatever the client needs. And because the staff members have been trained in a commercial kitchen, they can show clients how to use the equipment on site, whether it’s a 20- to 80-quart mixer, hearth oven, proofer, sheeter or a technique to be more efficient. The difference could be 120 dozen cookies in a shift versus 20 dozen in the same shift, Gregory explained, “which means you’ve amortized the cost of that shift considerably, which means you’re probably making more of a profit.” Entrepreneur Space clients get help outside the kitchen as well, including access to

several consultants, most of whom are current or former business owners and experts in their fields. They include marketing consultants, strategy consultants and financial assistants. The consultants help each client work through common problems such as understanding worker’s compensation and other kinds of insurance, how to build a brand identity online and in the physical marketplace, how to budget ingredients and price products, how to build a long-term plan and listen to the needs of their target consumers. They also help the fledgling entrepreneurs get into street markets and retail. From inspected licenses to ingredients labels and kitchen assistance, it’s these individualized teaching moments that set this incubator apart from the rest, Gregory explained. “When I say incubator, I’m really fussy about this,” she said. “Most commercial kitchens, shared-use kitchens, are for profit. An incubator refers to a space that’s nurturing. If you have an incubator for a chick, if you have an incubator for a baby, it’s warm, it’s comforting, you’re being fed until you get big enough to grow. I’m looking at growing businesses, taking someone who’s possibly pre-revenue or somebody who’s been cooking out of their home for five years and selling to their friends and family, and take them to a level where they give up their day job and follow their passion. I’m into the mentoring, the nurturing, the education, the slap on the wrist when they’re doing something wrong, maybe saying, ‘I don’t know how you’re going to succeed,’ because my goal is their success. That’s, to me, what an incubator really is. It’s that space that is forming a business that will eventually grow and leave the incubator. We chocolate and desserts. Fall River’s Fully Cooked Wild Rice is high-protein goodness in seconds. The only cereal grain native to North America, wild rice is not even a rice at all. It is the seed of Zizania palustris, a tall, blooming water grass that prospers in the Great Lakes

JANUARY 2020

don’t want somebody here for the rest of our lives.” With that range of available resources, it’s rare that clients hang up the kitchen towel. Some of the businesses limp along, Gregory explained, but the point of the incubator is to get a limping business to lengthen its stride. “We do all sorts of things to get someone to, instead of coming in here once every four months, to come in once a month,” said Gregory, adding that some clients start out a little ahead of themselves, wanting to sell 1,000 pieces a week before they’re ready. “I’m like, you’re not ready for that. I’d like you to sell to a store, to start with four stores at two dozen cookies every week. If you can do that, can you get it to three dozen cookies per week? Then, can we add a couple more stores? Eventually, you know, Stop N Shop wants 1,000 cookies a week! At this point, they can handle it. They know what they’re doing.” One brand sprouting into its own facility from Entrepreneur Space this year is LUV Michael, a granola brand that employs autistic adults. The business started in the kitchen of Demitri Kessaris and Lisa Liberatore, two physicians who wanted to ensure that their autistic son, Michael, could have a fulfilling career. With the help of Entrepreneur Space, the brand grew to employ 10 full-time “granologists,” developed a more marketable product with a grab-and-go bark-style granola and now sells in more than 60 retailers, including Starbucks, D’Agostino Supermarkets, and Fresh and Co. “The beauty of Entrepreneur Space to me is the help and mentoring, and the opportunity to have space and infrastructure,” said Clare Davis, who handles communications for LUV Michael. “You never know who you’re going to meet there.” For brands that need a little extra care, Gregory said Entrepreneur Space has added a sort of boot camp, where the team takes on four clients for an intensive three-month mentoring program. They get an even closer look at their website, expenses, return on investment for marketing and more. Clients get homework like adding more images to their websites, writing press releases and making sell sheets. Now that they’ve completed the pilot program, Gregory said they’re planning on an even better one later this year, and to make it happen more than once or twice a year. “We help people live their dream,” Gregory said. “They’ve got a dream, they’ve got a passion. We work with that passion to get them to succeed. They’ve got to make money in their business – if they don’t make money, it’s not a business, and it becomes a frustration for them. We’re looking to take on their dream, help them make money and live it.” region, as well as in the fruitful valleys in the shadows of the Sierra Nevadas. Fall River Wild Rice is a small grower-owned cooperative in the Fall River Valley, a rural mountain valley nestled between the Cascade and Sierra Nevada ranges.

For more information, call 800.626.4366 or go to www.fallriverwildrice.com.

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Global Collaborative Launches Effort to Address Soil Health, Climate Change Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture & the Environment, together with founding collaborators Stonyfield Organic, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s LandPKS project and Foundation for the Food and Agriculture (FFAR), have launched OpenTEAM, the first open source technology ecosystem in the world to address soil health and mitigate climate change. OpenTEAM is projected to provide quantitative feedback on millions of acres of farmland by 2024. OpenTEAM, or Open Technology Ecosystem for Agricultural Management, is a farmer-driven, interoperable platform to provide farmers around the world with the best possible knowledge to improve soil health. Currently, farmers are faced with an everexpanding assortment of decision-making software; however, these tools often do not “communicate” with each other, making it difficult to transfer, share or use by farmers and scientists or in supply chains. With OpenTEAM, farmers are not only in control of their own data, but also able to enter data

once to access all available tools in the OpenTEAM collaborative. OpenTEAM offers field-level carbon measurement, digital management records, remote sensing, predictive analytics and input and economic management decision support in a connected platform that reduces the need for farmer data entry while improving access to a wide array of tools. The platform will support adaptive soil health management for farms of all scales, geographies and production systems. OpenTEAM will also accelerate scientific understanding of soil health by providing more high-quality data to researchers collaborating on the project. To date, more than one dozen organizations have joined to develop, fund and implement OpenTEAM. These include The Soil Health Partnership; General Mills; Colorado State University/USDA-NRCS Comet Farm; Applied GeoSolutions, LLC; DNDC Applications, Research and Training; Dagan, Inc.; Michigan State University Global Change Learning Lab; Purdue University

Market of Choice Places Community at the Core By Greg Gonzales

Market of Choice lives up to its name with the range of products on its shelves, and shoppers coming into any of the 10 stores scattered around Oregon from Portland in the northwest to Bend in the southeast feel as if they’ve been transported somewhere that connects them to the food, their lifestyle and their community, says Beth McDonald, Vice President of Perishable Product and Merchandise. “And that’s intentional on our part,” she adds. Choice isn’t just part of the name, it’s the ethic of the stores, down to how they organize products.

“You don’t have to go to a specific section of the store to find your natural or organic products,” said Amy Delaney, Manager of Customer Experience. “It’s all there on the shelves, right next to the conventional products, which gives the customer the choice to choose what they like. Whether they want organic pasta or Kraft mac and cheese, both are right there next to each other, for them to have the choice.” Among the offerings are from-scratch bakeries in each of the 10 stores. “We are one of the few places that does custom cakes from scratch, whether that’s a first birthday or a wedding or any kind of special event,” Mc-

New Campaign Sheds Light on Beef Animal Care Standards Consumers will soon learn about the steps beef farmers and ranchers take to care for their animals and to produce high quality beef in a new promotion and advertising campaign about the Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) program. BQA trains farmers and ranchers on best practices and cattle management techniques to ensure their animals and the environment are cared for within a standard set of guidelines. The program began 30 years ago, and today more than 85 percent of beef produced in the U.S. comes from a farmer or rancher who has been BQA certified. The formally producer-facing BQA program, will now be introduced to consumers via a campaign designed to meet their desire to learn more about how beef is produced. The integrated marketing and communication campaign includes a new video from Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner. that brings the BQA program to life by highlighting how

cattle farmers and ranchers across the country raise cattle under BQA guidelines. The video will be used in marketing efforts and is available to consumers on the new BQA section of BeefItsWhatsForDinner.com. Consumers will also be able to learn more about BQA through interactive “BQ&A” Instagram stories addressing common questions about how cattle are raised. The video, website and social activations provide consumers with an overview of the BQA program and the ongoing commitment of cattle farmers and ranchers to caring for their animals and providing the safest and highest quality beef possible. “According to market research, the majority of consumers say they consider how and where their food is raised when making a meal decision,” said Josh White, Executive Director of Producer Education at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, a contractor to the Beef Checkoff. “The BQA

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Open Technology and Systems Center (OATS); University of British Columbia Center for Sustainable Food Systems; Regen Network; Our.Sci; Quick Carbon at Yale F&ES; U.S. Cover Crop Council decision tools; Sustainability Innovation Lab at Colorado (SILC); The University of Colorado Boulder; and FarmOS. Wolfe’s Neck Center will coordinate OpenTEAM from its headquarters on more than 600 acres of conserved landscape and farmland on the coast of Maine. Implementation and demonstration began in fall 2019. Field testing will continue in the 2020 growing season across the U.S. and international hub farm networks. “At Wolfe’s Neck Center, we are collaborating to create solutions that address climate change through regenerative agriculture,” said Dave Herring, Executive Director, Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture & the Environment. “OpenTEAM pairs agriculture with open source technology to accelerate soil health right here in Maine and around the globe.” The more than $10 million public-private collaboration is made possible by a $5 million grant from FFAR, with more than $5 million matching contributions coming from across the network, including a $200,000

grant from The Stonyfield Foundation and $200,000 in in-kind contributions and a grant from Stonyfield Organic. “Optimizing soil management practices not only improves soil health, but also protects the environment,” said FFAR’s Executive Director Sally Rockey. “At scale, OpenTEAM can improve soil management practices for farmers around the globe and mitigate the effects of climate change.” “Stonyfield is strongly committed to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions,” said Britt Lundgren, Director of Organic and Sustainable Agriculture at Stonyfield Organic Yogurt. “Over half of our emissions come from agriculture, so in order to hit our target we know we need to work with the farms who provide our ingredients and help them reduce their emissions and sequester more carbon. OpenTEAM will enable us to do this, and track farms’ progress so we can be confident we’re hitting our goals.” “We are inspired by the level of collaboration, leadership and vision our OpenTEAM partners have provided,” said Dorn Cox, PhD, Research Director, Wolfe’s Neck Center. “Through the power of open technology, we aim to make what was invisible visible and in so doing the unvalued valuable.”

Donald said. “Our customers know they have that choice to come to our store and have that service in our perishables department.” Custom, personalized service is crucial to the store experience, said Marcus Purkapile, Kitchen Manager at the flagship Eugene store. He said the quality and local products the stores provide require a high level of salesmanship and ample time to help customers find exactly what they want. That, he said, builds a loyal customer base. “A lot of people, we know by name. They come in every day,” Purkapile said, adding that some of their customers grew up shopping there as kids. “We get a lot of regular customers. A lot of the time, when people are walking up – especially in the mornings – we’re already starting to put their order together. We know exactly what they want.” The bakeries are completely open, so

shoppers coming into the store can see the bakers at work, according to Vicky Anderson, Bakery Manager at the flagship location in Eugene, Oregon. “When they come in, they see 15 busy bees back there working, everybody doing their jobs. It brings that fresh in-house reality to them, and they really get a kick out of that.” Constant communication with the customer base helps set the store apart, Anderson said. “Market of Choice allows each store to adjust to their communities,” she said. “It’s not as if every store has to be exactly alike; we have the freedom to come up with new ideas.... When people want special, they come to Market of Choice. When they want to create that wow factor, they come to Market of Choice. If it’s an occasion that really matters, and they want the best, they come to us.”

program offers consumers assurance that there are consistent animal care standards in place across the beef industry. BQA exemplifies what beef farmers and ranchers have always cared about – a commitment to caring for their animals and providing families with the safest and highest-quality beef possible, and we look forward to introducing this important program to consumers.” The foundation of BQA is a set of educational resources promoting animal care practices that are based in science and align with governmental regulations. These resources are reviewed by an expert advisory group consisting of farmers and ranchers, veterinarians and animal scientists who meet quarterly to evaluate the program, discuss trending topics, review the latest research and make recommended changes or updates, as needed. The BQA program specifically addresses and provides training on cattle handling, animal health, animal nutrition and transportation, among others. “With the vast majority of the beef supply in the U.S. today coming from a BQA certified farmer or rancher, and many packing plants and restaurant chains

setting BQA requirements, consumers should have the utmost confidence in the beef they consume and purchase both at restaurants and supermarkets,” White said. Cattle farmers and ranchers can become BQA certified by either attending a classroom course taught by a network of hundreds of state BQA coordinators and trainers or by completing a series of robust online courses. Certification is good for three years, after which time farmers and ranchers must become re-certified to ensure they have the most up-to-date information and are trained on the latest BQA guidelines. Not only does the BQA program provide guidelines for proper animal care and welfare, these management guidelines also result in the production of higher quality beef. Today, the beef industry is producing more high-quality beef today than ever before, with more than 80 percent of beef grading the highest available USDA quality grades of Prime or Choice. For more information about the BQA program and the high-quality beef produced today by U.S. cattle farmers and ranchers, visit www.beefitswhatsfordinner.com.

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Tierra Farm Grows by Cultivating Employees By Lorrie Baumann

Tierra Farm is celebrating its 20th anniversary in business, and as it does so, it’s also facing the challenge of scaling up the business while ensuring that a growing workforce continues to see the company as a good place to work. “When you start with a company with 10 employees, the culture’s always going to be different than when you have 60 employees, said Chief Executive Officer Todd Kletter. “We try to take that small company feel and try to replicate it the best we can.” Tierra Farm’s shiny new status as a certified B Corporation is part of that, he said. Tierra Farm is a certified-organic manufacturer and distributor of nuts and dried fruits that attained B Corp status in August. B Corp Certification is the only certification that measures a company’s entire social and environmental performance. To qualify for certification, companies must earn a minimum score of 80 on their “B Impact Assessment,” a self-assessment that measures how the company’s operations and business model affect its workers, community, the environment and customers. “B Corp is very exciting to me and I believe that I’m selling the future,” Kletter said. “It’s going to be very prevalent and very important to consumers and companies over the next five years.” In its self-assessment, Kletter and his team took a hard look at how the company’s rapid growth over the past few years has affected its employees and their working conditions. They’ve had to adjust as the company ex-

panded out of its single facility in Valatie, New York, a small town about 20 miles south of Albany, to include additional distribution and sales operations based in Latham, New York, and in Aurora, Colorado, about 15 miles outside of Denver. The company also acquired Power of 3 Nutrition, a seed blend company created by founder Anne Elise Stern and headquartered in Tenants Harbor, Maine, and Señor Sabor, a Pennsylvania-based organic spice company. “We’re looking at additional acquisitions in 2020,” Kletter said. “We feel that there are a number of companies that could add to our growth opportunity.” The rapid growth from a few employees who operated like a family in Valatie to more than 60 employees in multiple facilities has led to some growing pains that Kletter has been working to solve since being hired by Founder Gunther Fishgold in late 2016. Although his position at Tierra Farm is his first as the CEO of a food and beverage manufacturer, Kletter has extensive experience managing and growing other companies, and his challenge was to figure out how to scale the company while keeping intact its solid relationships with customers and suppliers and ensuring a quality working environment for its staff. “It’s been amazing,” he said. “We’ve made a lot of changes – as the business has evolved, there were things that had to happen to move forward. I brought in people that were able to scale.” Certifying as a B Corp gave Tierra Farm a way to evaluate its progress in terms of the social values underlying those relationships with customers, suppliers and employees as

Barry Callebaut Launches Cacaofruit Experience Barry Callebaut AG, the world’s leading manufacturer of high-quality chocolate and cocoa products, is rolling out a new range of products called Cacaofruit Experience. According to the company, Cacaofruit Experience celebrates the fresh, fruity taste and natural richness of the cacaofruit and marks the creation of a next-generation food and drink category. Whereas normally 70 percent of the cacao fruit is discarded as waste, Cacaofruit Expe-

rience products make use of the entire fruit: its beans, its nutrient-dense peel and its fresh and fruity pulp and juice. This results in a range of high-quality ingredients that can be used in applications such as juices, smoothies, frozen desserts, bakery and pastry products, as well as snacks all the way to chocolate. Callebaut believes that these products will appeal to consumers who earnestly want to live a happy, healthy life, in symbiosis with

Quality, Value and Tradition from Carmelina When it comes to quality, value and tradition, nothing compares to the simple goodness of Carmelina ‘e...San Marzano® Italian Tomatoes and Carmelina Brands® Italian Beans. Produced and imported from southern Italy, Mangia, Inc.™ takes pride in providing clean, quality ingredients that are all-natural, with no added salt, sugars or preservatives. These products are Non-GMO Project Verified, OU kosher, gluten free and packed in BPA-free, easy-open containers. The cans are nestable. At Mangia, Inc., innovation is key. With

a solid production and quality assurance team on staff, the company is continually developing cutting-edge, new items to meet the growing needs of its clients and the industry at large. Over the last few years, Mangia has launched two Prepared Tomato Sauce products in shelf-stable, eco-friendly pouches: Carmelina ‘e…San Marzano Authentic Italian Pizza Sauce, and Carmelina ‘e…San Marzano Authentic Italian Marinara Sauce. These sauces are available in 91-ounce pouches, and have been a huge hit with retailers in deli

JANUARY 2020

well as a way to evaluate and to publicize the company’s ongoing commitment to the environment, which is expressed in activities such as recycling boxes, using solar power and seeking transportation efficiencies. “It’s important to us,” Kletter said. “The organic piece goes without saying.” “We didn’t have a guide before. We didn’t have a way to evaluate how we do things better as we’re judging ourselves with our former self,” he continued. “There wasn’t a pathway to continuous improvement. B Corp provides a framework that allows us to continuously improve our company.... It’s really neat for us to be able to keep score, and that’s one of the major reasons why we wanted to become a B Corp.” Part of that score involves an evaluation of how well the company treats its employees. Tierra Farm has paid its employees a minimum starting wage of $15 an hour for the past five years and has provided health care for all employees for the past 10 years, including co-pays, which are reimbursed. “The only thing you would ever have to pay for is something elective,” Kletter said. “We spend a lot of money every year on health care, and we are thrilled to do so.” While the company’s operations were located on a single campus, Tierra Farm provided lunch for all of its employees. “We recently ended it because we couldn’t manage it in three different locations,” Kletter said. “We had a chef, had meals together, and everything was great.” But with growth came complexity, and the lunch program has been retired in favor of simply paying everyone for their lunch time. “We’re paying employees to eat lunch now,” Kletter said. “It’s gone over very, very well, and we’re able to take care of our Latham and our Denver staff much easier because of that.” While the company gym at the Valatie fa-

cility used to be accessible to all of Tierra Farm’s employees, that was no longer the case once those employees were spread across multiple facilities. “That used to be easy, so now, every employee who wants to join a gym, we pay for it,” Kletter said. Tierra Farm also subsidizes its employees’ education – whether or not their education involves coursework that’s directly tied to their job responsibilities. “It doesn’t have to be in the food business, as long as it’s an accredited program,” Kletter said. Employees with outstanding student loans are eligible for reimbursement for a share of those loans every month. Employees celebrate their birthdays as a day off that isn’t counted against their vacation days, and they’re invited to participate in frequent company events that give new employees an opportunity to meet their coworkers and provide everyone with informal opportunities to give management some feedback, Kletter said. “We’re not alone in that area, but we try to do an event every other month or so,” he said. Counting in the health care, lunch program and other benefits, the average Tierra Farm employee earns more than $50,000 a year and has been with the company for more than five years, according to Kletter. “In most cases, when an employee leaves for one reason or another, it’s very amicable,” he said. “We’re very confident that we provide a great working environment. Sometimes an employee leaves to pursue another opportunity, and we are fine with that – we wish them well and hope that some of the skills they learned at Tierra Farm are transferable elsewhere. Sometimes that same employee will look to come back after they discover that they aren’t going to find the same working environment elsewhere. And in most cases, that’s okay, too.”

the world around them. Cacaofruit Experience responds to their need for food and beverages that are tasty and nutritious for them and also good for the planet and its people, according to the company. These products have the fresh and fruity taste of the cacao fruit along with fiber, protein and magnesium. At the same time, they are good for the planet and its people because the entire cacaofruit is utilized. “Innovation is one of the pillars of our growth strategy. Our unparalleled knowledge has enabled us to break new ground, unleashing the full power of the cacao fruit, which the Mayans cherished as ‘food of the gods,’” said Antoine de Saint-Af-

frique, Barry Callebaut’s Chief Executive Officer. “We are looking forward to starting a new journey with our customers and discovering the completely new range of applications that Cacaofruit Experience and whole-fruit chocolate will make possible.” SnackFutures, the innovation and venture hub of Mondelēz International, the world’s largest snacking company, is the first company to introduce Cacaofruit Experience in a consumer product under its new CaPao brand. CaPao is piloting two cacaofruit snack products – Smoothie Ball and cacao fruit Jerky Strips – with select retailers in Los Angeles, California.

and prepared food sections. With the global demand for legumes skyrocketing and the desire for healthier food options on the rise, Mangia, Inc. recently launched Carmelina Brands Chick Pea Puree, which are simply smashed chickpeas. The product is packed in an easy-open, triple-barrier, BPA-free aseptic pouch. Carmelina Brands Chick Pea Puree is extremely versatile and easy to use. Simply open the pouch, season, flash blend to desired consistency and go. This revolutionary item saves on time, labor and energy costs. No need to wash or soak chickpeas overnight, or cook, drain and pulse them for an extended time. No need to deal with safety or carbon footprint issues faced when working with canned product, and it pro-

duces a 100-percent yield. Carmelina Brands Chick Pea Puree offers the perfect base for hummus, soups, sandwich spreads, vegetarian burgers, baked goods and more. The possibilities are endless. With one of the cleanest ingredient statements on shelf, Carmelina ‘e…San Marzano Italian Tomatoes and Carmelina Brands Italian Beans offer chefs and families consistent, quality, flavorful ingredients that they can feel good about bringing to the table. Products are available in 14.28-ounce and 28ounce retail sizes, 91-ounce foodservice size and industrial drum sizes.

For more information, call 866.462.6442, email info@mangiainc.com or go to www.carmelinabrands.com.

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Grocery Industry Drivers Combat Human Trafficking By Lorrie Baumann

KeHE’s professional truck drivers have joined the fight against human trafficking, and the national distributor of natural and organic, specialty and fresh food is hoping that grocers and food manufacturers will join them in support of Truckers Against Trafficking. Truckers Against Trafficking is a nonprofit organization that exists to educate and mobilize members of the trucking, busing and energy industries to combat human trafficking. KeHE recruited its drivers into the organization’s mobile army earlier this year and now has all 632 of its drivers trained to identify possible victims of human trafficking and to know how to help. “The shocking thing to us is how big the problem is and how it’s all over the place – it’s everywhere,” said Randy Shaw, KeHE’s Director of KeHE Cares Outreach. “For me, it’s the most horrific thing I’ve ever seen. I don’t know how anyone who has a daughter or a sister or a mother cannot be affected by these things.” Through KeHE Cares, the employeeowned company’s philanthropic volunteer program, he got involved with the issue of human trafficking five years ago through the program’s support of Restoring Hope Nepal, a rescue organization that provides healing and a new beginning to young women and girls who have been sex trafficked. KeHE Cares sponsors two safe houses in Kathmandu, Nepal. “We got very involved with them, and we are to this day,” Shaw said. “From there, that led to awareness of the growing problem in the U.S.” “In Asia, they basically take these girls and they’re raped into submission,” he con-

tinued. “Here, it’s more a guy who convinces a girl he loves her, and then he starts selling her. We’ve been very involved in India and Nepal with trafficking, and from there, we’re now involved with four groups that are working against trafficking in the U.S.” KeHE’s efforts to stop human trafficking in the U.S. started with a collaboration with RESTORATION61, a nonprofit group cofounded by one of KeHE’s category managers to provide a variety of services to victims of human trafficking. “The group was focusing on local truck stops. We’ve helped them with a safe house for the girls here in the Chicagoland [Illinois] area,” Shaw said. From there, KeHE expanded its efforts through involvement with other Chicago-based programs: Salt & Light Ministries, which operates a program for traumatized girls in downtown Chicago, and Naomi’s House, a safe house in the area of Naperville, Illinois, that’s operated as a faithbased residential treatment program. Then, earlier this year at Natural Products Expo West, Shaw met Gina D’Orazio Stryker, the founder of Gina Cucina, a KeHE supplier that makes and sells handcrafted organic soups. “Gina is very passionate about their mission to fight against human trafficking, and she brought us together with Truckers Against Trafficking,” Shaw said. KeHE’s Laura McCord, Executive Director of Sustainability & Corporate Responsibility, took the point on KeHE’s new partnership with Truckers Against Trafficking, which offers a free training program for drivers and works with truckers’ associations, truck stop managers and law enforcement to provide them with the knowledge

Study Predicts Growth for Specialty Grocers Consumers are increasingly turning to nontraditional channels such as club stores, limited assortment stores, online and specialty stores to satisfy their food and beverage needs, according to Pentallect, a leading food industry strategy firm. These nontraditional channels, which are not systematically measured, have emerged and/or solidified their positions, and are poised for accelerated growth at the expense of traditional channels, most notably retail. Pentallect estimates that the nontraditional food channels currently represent $210 bil-

lion in consumer expenditures, and projects 7 percent annual growth for the referenced channels over the next five years compared to 3.5 percent for foodservice and 1 percent for traditional retail (which includes supermarkets, supercenters, mass/drug, and dollar stores). The referenced channels will account for 30 percent of food industry growth over the next five years. Bob Goldin, a Pentallect Partner and coauthor of the study, says, “Nontraditional channels represent a ‘sweet spot’ in the food and beverage industry. Their growth is based

Acme Smoked Fish Balances Trends With Heritage By Greg Gonzales

More than a century ago, Harry Brownstein emigrated from Russia to Brooklyn, where he first began selling smoked fish. That business grew steadily over the next few decades, and officially became Acme Smoked Fish in 1954. Despite several setbacks, including a 1966 factory fire, Acme has grown into arguably the largest fish smoker in the U.S., a fourth-generation fam-

ily business boasting four brands and five production facilities – two on both coasts of the U.S. and one in Chile. “We want to be the leading smokehouse in the category,” said Ellen Lee-Allen, Senior Marketing Manager of Acme Smoked Fish. “That’s a combination of having the widest array of products available, making our customers happy and doing what we can to keep up with consumer demand.” To meet the differing expectations from a

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regardless of the age or gender of that victim.” Drivers who suspect they’re seeing human trafficking are urged to call in an anonymous tip to the National Human Trafficking Hotline. “That number is 1-888-3737-888, and that’s the way we say it,” Cyrus said. “Thanks to this work, and drivers being willing to call in those tips and being aware of what to look for and what to do, truck drivers alone have made over 2,300 calls to the hotline, which have helped to identify 635 likely cases of human trafficking involving more than 1,100 victims.” KeHE has incorporated the program into its training for new drivers, and it has already made a difference to the drivers as well as the victims they now know how to help, Shaw said. “Virtually every one of them has been approached. [Before they took this training], they had no idea they were trafficked women. The guys who were aware didn’t know what to do about it, so they did nothing,” he said. “It’s really affecting our drivers. We’re thrilled that all of our drivers have gone through it, and it’s helping.” He’s now encouraging grocers operating truck fleets to sign on with Truckers Against Trafficking. “We would like to encourage other companies and groups to be involved. In this case, we think it’s good to talk about it,” Shaw said. “If you can get your truckers involved, we can be a catalyst for difference.” Truckers Against Trafficking will also work with manufacturers that ship product, even if they don’t employ drivers directly. “If they’re contracting with people moving product for them, those people have a great opportunity to make an introduction.” Cyrus said.

and tools to intervene in cases of human trafficking. The organization also provides the industry with training and awareness materials, including stickers for truck drivers to apply to their cabs to let trafficking victims, who are sold at truck stops and other locations frequented by truck drivers, know they’ve reached a point of contact through which they can access help. The stickers also prominently display the National Human Trafficking Hotline number and help to keep this effort at the top of mind of drivers. “We work with all kinds of truck drivers: overthe-road, regional – anyone who’s in a truck or bus or anyone who works in the energy industry,” said Laura Cyrus, Director of Corporate Engagement for Truckers Against Trafficking. “We now have a mobile army of transportation professionals that can assist law enforcement in the recognition and reporting of the crime of human trafficking.” Truckers Against Trafficking was founded in 2009 by Lyn Leeburg, who got the idea after she heard a speaker at a human trafficking awareness conference talking about the possibility of training gas station attendants to recognize and report human trafficking. “She had a light bulb go off in her head and recognized that truck drivers – through their sheer numbers – could be an asset to law enforcement,” Cyrus said. “She knew that truck drivers are salt-of-the-earth people, knights of the highway, knights of the road.” The organization now provides a whole series of training materials free of charge to participating companies and drivers’ associations. “There is no charge for any organization to be involved in this work,” Cyrus said. “The video is easily incorporated into new driver training. In 30 minutes or less, the companies can equip their drivers to recognize if they see anyone that appears to be a minor engaged in selling sex or anyone they believe is under the control of [a trafficker],

For more information, visit www.truckers againsttrafficking.org, where you can view the training video or request materials. Or you can email Cyrus at lcyrus@truckers againsttrafficking.org.

upon strong consumer appeal and generally favorable business models. Without question, they demand increased attention from suppliers.” Pentallect conducted comprehensive research and analysis into 10 nontraditional channels, including obtaining insights from over 1,000 consumers and trade sources, and the findings are documented in a comprehensive new report: “Nontraditional Food Channels: A Key Industry Growth Driver,” an update of a major report conducted on the topic in 2017. The channels studied are: club stores, community-supported agriculture (CSA), ethnic/neighborhood stores (e.g, bodegas), farmers markets, food trucks, limited assortment stores, meal kits/home-delivered meals,

online, specialty stores (e.g., bakeries, butchers, etc.) and Trader Joe’s. Pentallect’s research shows that a sizable number of consumers plan to try or use the channels more often in the future. Many reasons are driving this use, including convenience, a desire to save money, availability of unique items, support of local businesses and perceptions of better quality (largely in the context of fresher products) than traditional channels. Rob Veidenheimer, Pentallect’s President, notes that, “Each of the channels has unique consumer appeal and continues to evolve at a very rapid rate. We have studied these channels closely over the past several years and see them as significant share gainers for the foreseeable future.”

variety of consumers, Acmes four brands each offer something unique. Acme is the flagship brand, concentrated more on the East Coast; Blue Hill Bay is a premium brand with the widest array of products. Ruby Bay is a regional brand for select markets, and Great American Smoked Fish Company serves the Florida-based foodservice side of the business. Last year, Acme caught the Hawaiian poke bowl wave by offering its own take: Blue Hill Bay Smoked Salmon Poke Bowls. “We put our twist on the trend – it’s usually made with fresh fish and vegetables and seasonings and a starch, but we used our smoked fish,” Lee-Allen said. “Not only did it get a

smoked fish taste, it also had a longer shelf life, so we were able to introduce it as a packaged product... We’re trying to expand the eating occasions of smoked fish.” To further achieve that end, the company introduced its version of salmon candy, a brown-sugar cured Atlantic salmon that’s double-smoked. It’s a sweet and savory snack on its own that also works as a replacement for bacon. “Back in the day, there were a good number of Brooklyn smokehouses, and we’re one of the last standing,” LeeAllen said. “Customers who have known Acme, they trust our heritage. We’ve been around a long time, and we’re still Brooklyn based. That sets us apart.”

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A Righteous Salty Snack with Crunch By Lorrie Baumann

Bubba’s Fine Foods offers a line of snack mixes for customers who love the salt and crunch of the snack foods they grew up eating but who’ve gone grain-free in adulthood. Bubba’s Fine Foods Grain Free Snack Mixes were invented by gourmet chef Jared Menzel, who co-founded the company along with Jeff Schmidgall, a former CrossFit trainer and health coach. “We couldn’t find salty, crunchy snacks that fit our new diet criteria,” Schmidgall said. “If the food had the right ingredients, it didn’t taste good. If it tasted good, it just had too many ultraprocessed ingredients.” The two men are brothers-in-law and became business partners in 2014 after Menzel – nicknamed Bubba as a child – showed up at a family vacation with a grain-free snack mix he’d put together so he could nosh without throwing his blood sugar out of whack. “Both of us had started changing our diets toward more whole foods, less processing, less

sugar,” Schmidgall said. “Jared ended up making this snack mix from banana chips and nuts with nothing but kitchen pantry ingredients, and it tasted great and had the crunch.” At that point, neither of the men had any experience at all in bringing a food product to the retail market – they just knew they were onto something that people like themselves needed and the market wasn’t offering. “We started Googling all the basics on how do you legally start producing a packaged food product for sale. That same morning we were brainstorming all of this,” Schmidgall said. “One month later, we’d produced 150 packages of this grain-free snack mix.” The first sales for the product came through the company’s website, but it wasn’t long before a manager at Hy-Vee came to them saying the store was getting customer requests for the product, and would they like to put it on shelves? “That was our first experience with supermarkets was this little health food division of Hy-Vee,” Schmidgall

Rustic Bakery Gains Mainstream Popularity By Greg Gonzales

Rustic Bakery, which started 14 years ago as a small operation in the back of a wine bar has expanded into four upscale cafes and a national wholesale operation with a 35,000 square-foot production facility and more than 300 employees. It produces flatbread crackers, artisan crisps, cheese coins and shortbread cookies in a variety of flavors.

According to Scott Frank, Rustic Bakery’s Vice President of Sales, the company’s success comes from strong attention to quality and detail. “We really follow our recipes,” Frank said. “If it’s not perfect, it doesn’t go out the door, whether the product is just a bit too dark or doesn’t have the right texture or flavor.” The bestseller – a 2019 Good Food Award Winner – is the Olive Oil & Sel Gris Flatbread. “That’s our number-one seller by far,”

Gillibrand Calls for USDA Study of Produce Industry Market Conditions U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, has called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to investigate if fruit and vegetable farmers in New York and across the country are receiving fair prices for their produce. While the prices of fruits and vegetables have increased for both consumers at the grocery store and for wholesale buyers, the prices that farmers receive for these same products has not kept up with these increases – and even gone down in some cases. “Our New York farmers are facing a produce-pricing crisis. Throughout the state, fresh fruit and vegetable growers are hurting because the prices they get for their produce have stayed flat, and in some cases have even gone down, while the middlemen who move the produce from farmers to grocery

stores and grocery store shoppers have seen the prices for the same produce increase,” said Senator Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee. “Despite this, the USDA has not reviewed the fruit and vegetable industry in decades. We need to understand what is causing these unfair prices for our farmers, and I am calling on the USDA to complete a top-to-bottom review of the fruit and vegetable industry so that we can help New York’s farmers better price their produce and plan for their future.” United Fresh Produce Association is taking issue with Gillibrand’s position. “The fresh produce industry operates on extremely tight margins, at every stage from grower to wholesaler to retailer. Our industry is the ultimate supply-and-demand economy, and our real goal must be to increase demand for

New Hot Sauce Brings Flavor of Brazil to U.S. Market Légal (pronounced Lay-Gal) is launching its new Brazilian hot sauce in the U.S. market. Légal Hot Sauce, owned by Homer Foods LLC and based in Hollywood, Florida, is made from a special recipe that incorporates the Brazilian malagueta pepper, which has

been passed down for generations, and is now available for the first time in the U.S. With its uniquely Brazilian flavor, Légal is wellpoised to shake up the U.S. hot sauce market, which has already been on fire over the last few years, according to its makers.

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said. “They were just really great partners for us to sort of grow into and learn the ropes.” Shortly after the two started the company, Schmidgall relocated from Iowa to the Boulder, Colorado, area, where he found a community with the infrastructure to support the natural foods industry. The company relocated its operations to Loveland, not far outside Boulder, in 2016. Freed from the constraints imposed by the restaurant kitchen that Menzel had been able to borrow after hours, production of the snack mix started in earnest. In the five years since Menzel came up with that first snack mix, now known as Bubba’s Fine Foods Original Savory Grain Free Snack Mix, the company’s product range has grown to include several new flavors of snack mixes and then several flavors of UnGranola. The most recent addition to the range is ‘Nana Chips, which is the snack mix without the nuts. Righteous Ranch is one of the most popular flavors of the snack mix. “If you look at the ingredients of a lot of ranch flavors of anything, the ingredient deck gets a bit processed. What makes ours righteous is that the ingredient deck is just spices from your

kitchen pantry, dairy-free as well for people who have problems with that allergen,” Schmidgall said. Like all of the company’s products, the Righteous Ranch Snack Mix is grain free, gluten free, Paleo, non-GMO and kosher, with no refined sugar, no soy and no dairy. “The big trick that we’re pulling off is naughty taste but with super-simple ingredients, and it’s what sets us apart from almost all the other salty snack producers,” Schmidgall said. The Bubba’s Fine Foods Snack Mixes are packed in 4-ounce bags that retail for $4.29. ‘Nana Chips packages are 2.7 ounces retailing for $2.99, and UnGranola, recently named the top Paleo granola by the readers of Paleo magazine, is packaged in 6-ounce bags that retail for $6.29. The products are distributed nationally, with the greatest density now in Colorado, Texas and California. They’re generally sold in the natural channel and in conventional grocers with a strong natural foods presence.

said Frank. “It’s been around for 14 years. It’s really what we started with.” The company expanded its lineup this year to capture the attention of the on-the-go snacking crowd. Originally, its single-serve products were only available for airlines, but Rustic Bakery and its retail partners saw an opportunity to appeal to a new crowd. They’re now available in 0.7-ounce packages for a suggested retail price of 99 cents. Along with the single-serve packages, Rustic Bakery also launched its Everything Spice Flatbread Crackers, which the brand introduced at the 2019 Summer Fancy Food Show. It also refreshed its packaging in re-

cent years. “We do a really good job on our packaging, letting the consumer know what’s inside that box,” Frank said. “We have a lot of photography on our packaging now.” In addition, the design team refreshes the holiday packaging frequently. That includes designs for Valentine’s Day, Easter, Halloween and Christmas. “It’s not the Rustic Bakery image you see on our everyday line, which is very clean, elegant and sophisticated,” Frank said. “Our holiday lineup is really fun.”

fresh fruits and vegetables,” said Tom Stenzel, President and Chief Executive Officer. “That’s the key to raising prices paid to farmers, allowing reinvestment for growth. Transparency in any supply chain is a good thing, and we always welcome USDA’s analysis of our markets. It’s important for each sector in our supply chain not to lose sight of our goal to grow fresh produce consumption, while fighting with one another over whose share of a dwindling pie is bigger.” There are thousands of farms and orchards throughout New York State, and New York consistently ranks as one of the top agricultural states in the nation, Gillibrand noted. “However, data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and National Agricultural Statistics Service shows that the prices paid to farmers for many of New York’s specialty crops – including apples, snap beans, cabbage, and broccoli – lag behind the terminal prices (the prices that the middle men who move these same crops from farms to grocery stores receive),” she said in a statement. “Fur-

thermore, structural changes to the fruit and vegetable industry in recent decades, such as new farming technology, nutrition science, and consumer behavior, have left farmers facing uncertainty as they feel that the market is not transparent enough to know if the price they are offered for their produce is fair.” The persistently low prices that farmers receive for their fruits and vegetables have led to the loss of small family farms, and in the last five years alone, New York lost 11,000 acres of vegetable production. The USDA hasn’t conducted a full review of the fresh fruit and vegetable market for decades, and Gillibrand’s push for a new study of this industry would help identify which factors contribute to unfair prices for farmers and increase transparency in the market. Gillibrand is also calling for the USDA to use new technology to improve farm sales reporting to ensure that data is updated in real time, increasing transparency for farmers and allowing them to see if the prices they receive are fair.

The malagueta pepper, discovered by the Portuguese while exploring modern-day Brazil, is the key ingredient in Légal Hot Sauce. The pepper has been used for thousands of years by the natives for medicinal purposes and has also been considered a sign of good luck. Legend has it that when explorers came across the malagueta plant, gold was discovered nearby shortly thereafter. For years, the plant was used to season food in local recipes, but it wasn’t until a

local village woman started to create a sauce using the malagueta chile that the precursor to Légal was born. The name “Légal” means “cool” in Portuguese and conveys the carefree lifestyle of the Brazilian people, coupled with their spice and zest for fun. Légal Hot Sauce is available for purchase at www.legalhotsauce.com, at all Heatonist and Fairway Market stores throughout New York City and online at Heatonist and Amazon. The sauce retails for $8.99/bottle.

For more information, .bubbasfoods.com.

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For more information, visit www.rustic bakery.com.

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Regatta Craft Mixers Sets Sail in Retail Channel Waters By Lorrie Baumann

Regatta Craft Mixers has launched a retail line of premium cocktail mixers with a brand that already has customers behind the bars in 25 states across the country. The line, now packaged in carefully designed cans illustrating the brand’s aspirational appeal, has a following wind from consumers who favor clean ingredients and complex flavors, even when they’re indulging. “Gone are the days, in my opinion, of people ordering generic cocktails with low-end mixers. The spirit game has elevated significantly in the last 10 years toward premium and premium-plus spirits. For the most part, the mixer side hasn’t evolved that much, and is just now catching up,” said Sam Zarou, Regatta Craft Mixer’s Chief Executive Officer. “We’re looking to complement the trend on the spirit side by offering a premium experience to the consumer from start to finish.” When Stan Rottell founded Regatta Craft Mixers in 2006, he just wanted to make a

classic Bermuda stone ginger beer, with a balanced flavor that was a little more citrusforward than a spicier Jamaican-style ginger beer. He built a business around the beverage that’s now Regatta Craft Mixers’ Classic Bermuda Stone Ginger Beer, which has become popular with bartenders, especially those along the East Coast, for its small batch quality and natural ingredients. Zarou and his partners bought the thriving company in 2016 with the intention of expanding the product line and going deeper into the retail channel. To accomplish this, they would build on the market strength of consumers who had already been introduced to Regatta by their favorite bartenders and who were receptive to the idea that they could duplicate their restaurant-quality experiences in their own homes. Zarou’s first extension to the line was Light Ginger Beer. It’s the same flavor as the brand’s flagship product except that it’s sweetened with organic blue agave rather than cane sugar. “Our Light Ginger Beer is 50 calories and 13 grams of sugar compared

New Products from Suzie’s Good Groceries Company, under its popular Suzie’s brand, continues to launch categorydisrupting great tasting healthy products with “better for you” ingredients. If you share the company’s 2020 vision for higher profits through great tasting innovation, then look no further. Introducing six Suzie’s Meal Fixin’ kits. You provide the bowl, wrap or taco; Suzie’s provides everything else you need for Chinese Mu Shu, Korean Barbecue, Indian Kati Roll, Spicy Habanero, Smokey Chipotle or Guerrero Herb & Lime. Each kit contains all the Fixin’s you need, such as jackfruit, seasonings packets, Mashu sauce, cheese paneer, vegetable blend, chutney, barbecue sauce, refried rice and beans, salsa con queso, etc. Merchandise inline by the burrito and taco wraps, on shelved ends or tie in over meat cases for a tasty new profit center.

Introducing Suzie’s high protein, organic, gluten-free couscous. Ready in five minutes, this delicious take on couscous will energize your side dishes. Available in Chickpea with 10 grams of protein per serving, Pea with 13 grams and Red Lentil with a whopping 15 grams of protein per serving. No longer just a side dish, here’s a meatless meal that won’t let you lose any nutritional value. Suzie’s Couscous comes in a 14-ounce (400g) offering, a value over other options on the shelf. Be part of the lentil revolution! Help your consumers get their day going with Ginergy Ginger Shots from Suzie’s. Available in three flavor profiles – Ginger, Beet and Carrot, and in a value sized 17 fluid ounce bottle. Each bottle contains two pounds of compressed ginger and packs a jolt of natural energy. What’s next and new from Suzie’s is the

Hitting the Road from Hickey Bottom By Lorrie Baumann

Rebecca McCrea spent most of the last half of 2019 running her Hickey Bottom Barbecue Company from the road. Starting on May 18 from her home in Butler, Pennsylvania, she walked more than 2,600 miles across the country to Los Angeles, California, to raise money for the Best Friends Animal Society. Along the way, she ran Hickey Bottom Barbecue Company from roadside motel rooms and her cell phone with some help from friends back home and a sister who pitched in to pay her household bills and mow her lawn. “I have my cell phone in my hand all the time,” she said from a few days’ hike from Los Angeles. “I have people helping me out here and there who know a little bit about [the business].” Her desire to hike cross-country started

with knee surgery and a decision that, after a month of healing, she was ready to take a hike. “Back when I was a teenager, I always wanted to hike the country, and I never did it,” she said. “I’m 45 years old. If I don’t do it now, I never will. And if I’m going to do it, why not do it for a good cause?” McCrea founded Hickey Bottom Barbecue in 2013 with three flavors of the barbecue sauce she’d been making for friends and family for years. “They said that I ought to bottle it,” she said. “It went well, so I thought, why not give it a shot? I didn’t want to dive into it just because my friends like it.” She named her new company after a quiet country road in western Pennsylvania, a place that she says reflects a way of life that includes hard work and doing your best for your family and neighbors, keeping their word and standing be-

to 120 calories and 30 grams of sugar. It’s just incredible refreshment, but it’s also good for somebody that’s looking for a lighter-bodied, lighter-calorie, just overall lighter experience,” Zarou said. Light Ginger Beer has been followed by Royal Oak Ginger Ale, Dry Citrus Sparkling Tonic and Pacific Sea Salt Club Soda. The Dry Citrus Sparkling Tonic brings out the botanicals of any gin and also pairs well with vodka, tequila or any rum. Royal Oak Ginger Ale is smooth and sweet with oak barrel and ginger flavors. It pairs well with bourbon as well as vodka, gin and tequila. Pacific Sea Salt Club Soda is a zero-calorie option with the balance of flavor and carbonation to make a great gin and soda or vodka and soda. All of the mixers are non-GMO. “The new line is resonating with its packaging and graphics, flavor profiles, and the Non-GMO Project verification,” Zarou said. “As consumers become more interested and educated on what’s inside the products they are

JANUARY 2020

drinking, I think they will eventually demand that kind of transparency.” Along with the retail launch comes the necessity of scaling up the enterprise to accommodate the new market. Zarou says the company is well prepared to do that without compromising product quality. The distribution network is in place, and marketing and sales are tooled up and ready. Ingredient suppliers are ready to deliver. “It’s a very well capitalized business with a very smart board that is well resourced....This is not a spray-and-pray model. Everything we do has to make sense,” Zarou said. “We have secured the ability to produce at scale with favorable economics for the company for the foreseeable future.... We’re really focused on the best ingredients; we’re a premium craft mixer. The second we stop focusing on that, why do we exist? The ingredients are uncompromisable – it’s just never on the chopping block.”

For more information, visit www.regatta craftmixers.com.

launch of Lentil Crisps and Sprouted Lentil Crisps. Consumers love the square Corn, Spelt or Rice Thin Cakes and the round Puffed Spelt & Kamut Round Cakes; now add Thin Round Lentil Crisps. In trial runs, customers told the company they loved them; you’ll love the sales they add to your stores. Speaking of added sales, Suzie’s Organic Round Popcorn cakes will complement your “better for you” snack sets. Each bag contains 5.4 ounces of goodness. Unique flavor profiles like Sunflower & Salt, Indian Coconut Spiced and Beetroot & Carrot complete the story. “Better for you” sets growing and growing? How about adding next level “better for you” with Suzie’s Sprouted Pita Chips? With flavor profiles consisting of Sea Salt, Smokey Barbecue, Sour Cream & Onion,

Honey Mustard and Garlic Parmesan, you’ll give your customers more choices and your stores more profits. Finally, Good Groceries is offering Popped Lotus Seeds by Rooted. Vegan, gluten-free and delicious, Rooted offers seven tantalizing flavor profiles: Salt & Pepper, Cocoa & Sea Salt, Cheese & Chives, Thai Sweet Chili, Salt & Vinegar, Turmeric and Jalapeno. Suzie’s – innovation you can taste, innovation for your health! Innovation that drives sales!

hind their agreements. She wants her company to reflect that also, she said. The Hickey Bottom Barbecue sauces are gluten free and made without high fructose corn syrup, colors or preservatives. “I’ve tried to make a better quality product for the consumer,” McCrea said. They come from a company that’s certified as a women-owned business. They’re manufactured in North Carolina and distributed in brick-and-mortar stores on the northern East Coast and nationally through Amazon, retailing at prices ranging from $2.99 to $10. The range includes her Sweet BBQ, Honey BBQ and Hot BBQ sauces as well as a Smokey Hot Sauce and a Grillin’ Rub. The three barbecue sauces are packaged in 20-ounce PET plastic bottles,

while the Grillin’ Rub comes in a 6ounce plastic spice shaker bottle, and the Smokey Hot Sauce is packaged in a 5.25-fluid ounce glass bottle. As for McCrea herself, she was planning to end her cross-country hike by driving back home in the chase van that had been following her along the road with water and baggage and getting back to her routine of running her business from its home base. “I miss my family and friends,” she said. “I hope to grow nationally. It’s a small company, so it takes a lot of time, but hopefully, one day it will be national – brick-and-mortar national.”

For more information, visit booth #6244, go to www.goodgroceries.com, email info@ good-groceries.com or call 718.768.0821. Follow the company on Pinterest and Instagram or go to www.twitter.com/SuziesBrand or www.facebook.com/Suzies.Natural.Products.

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New Coffee Creamers Appeal to the Dairy-Cautious By Lorrie Baumann

Austin, Texas-based Picnik is launching from its foodservice origins into the retail market with a line of creamers designed to provide those with concerns about dairy products to enjoy a creamy coffee again. The launch, helmed by consumer packaged goods veteran Andy Malloy, includes Dairy-Free Collagen and Vegan Creamers along with a fresh look for the line, which also includes Picnik’s unsweetened Original Creamer. All Picnik Creamers are keto-certified, Non-GMO Project Verified, and contain zero sugar or net carbohydrates. Like Picnik’s Original Creamer, the two new options are unsweetened, powered by MCT [mediumchain triglycerides] oil for an energy and brain boost, and have a similar flavor profile to half-and-half. “This allows people to in-

dulge in a way that people with dietary restrictions can’t otherwise do,” Malloy said. “Many of Picnik’s values fall into that better-for-you category that I’m passionate about.” The Picnik’s new Vegan Creamer is made with coconut cream, cashew milk and MCT oil for a silky dairy-free creamer that’s paleofriendly and keto-certified. The Picnik’s new Collagen Creamer features grass-fed collagen and rich cashew cream to offer an added boost for hair, skin, gut and joints. It’s paleofriendly and keto-certified. The products, like the Picnik’s Original Creamer, are now offered in vibrant and modern packaging that puts a spotlight on the ingredients that appeal to paleo-, ketoand other nutrition-conscious shoppers while creating a strong and attractive brand block on shelf. The recipes for the products were

Rigoni di Asiago Launches New Nocciolata Bianca Hazelnut Spread Rigoni di Asiago, a 96-year-old familyowned Italian foods brand, has launched its newest organic spread, Nocciolata Bianca. The all-hazelnut flavor joins Rigoni di Asiago’s popular Nocciolata range of hazelnut and cocoa spreads, including its classic and dairy free offerings. Born in 2008 from a traditional Italian pastry recipe, Nocciolata is a range of organic sweet spreads made from the finest ingredi-

ents for a better-for-you hazelnut spread alternative without palm oil. Nocciolata Bianca is the only product in the range to not contain cocoa. It’s unique and intense hazelnut flavor is ideal on toast or in desserts for a natural snack. Meeting the needs of the modern food consumer, Nocciolata Bianca offers an indulgence with health benefits. Made with more hazelnuts than other spreads, Bianca is

Bono Extra-Virgin Olive Oils Offer Quality, Transparency By Lorrie Baumann

Bono’s premium Sicilian extra-virgin olive oils represent some of the most traceable on the market. At least for now, those oils are not subject to tariffs on a wide variety of other European food products, including the extra virgin olive oil coming onto the market now from Bono’s new production facility in Spain. In addition, the company also operates an oil factory in Tunisia, and that oil also is not subject to tariffs. Bono USA is the American satellite of the vertically integrated producer and trader of extra-virgin olive oil producer Bonolio. It’s been operating in the U.S. since 2015 under the leadership of Salvatore Russo-Tiesi, General Manager and President of the U.S. office. “Since then, we’ve been having great success in this country, both in private

label and with the brand,” he said. In those four years, Russo-Tiesi has taken the U.S. brand presence for Bono to distribution in all 50 states. The brand is now sold at more than 5,000 locations across the country. The product lines offered in the U.S. include Mediterranean Extra Virgin Olive Oil, produced in Italy, Spain, Greece and Tunisia and packed in Italy; 100% Product of Italy Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil produced in Sicily, Calabria and Puglia; PDO Val di Mazara Organic Olive Oil and Extra Virgin Olive Oil PDO– Val di Mazara, among others. Each oil has its own certifications, depending largely on the origin of the olives from which it was made. “Our distribution is led by our Siciliancertified product that comes with PDO and PGI certification,” Russo-Tiesi said. The PDO- and PGI-certified oils guarantee that

Belle Chevre Launches Single-Serve Cream Cheese for Foodservice Belle Chevre has added a convenient, 1.5ounce single-serve package to its roster of chevre cream cheese products for foodservice operators. Two of the brand’s favorite cream cheese flavors at retail, Original and Fig, are now available in this smaller format.

Belle Chevre’s handy 1.5-ounce portion cup will maximize convenience and eliminate waste for bakeries which provide cream cheese with their freshly-baked bagels, while hotels with breakfast bars which will be delighted to distinguish themselves by offering

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developed by brand Founder Naomi Seifter, who opened Picnik in a food trailer made from a repurposed shipping container in Austin in 2013. From her food trailer, she offered grab-and-go lunch items along with the butter coffee that developed a cult following for her the brand. In 2016, she opened her first brick-and-mortar cafe full-service restaurant in Austin. “My initial reaction was a bit of awe because it was extremely crowded and busy, and you could tell that people just loved being there,” Malloy said of his first visit to the cafe. “It has healthy food that tasted amazing.” Seifter expanded with a second food trailer and developed her first ready-to-drink coffee in 2017. Malloy joined the brand just this year after a career that included 20 many years with Frito-Lay and, most recently, as chief executive officer of Hail Merry. He’s made a specialty of growing brands in the CPG industry and has partnered with Seifter on this end of the business. “Naomi created Picnik after a life-changing difference in what the fats did for her physical health and

mental clarity. Now they’re getting back to where they started with functionality for physical and baking needs,” he said. “She is the gatekeeper to innovation and built all the recipes. We have a chef in our restaurant who helps as well, but the making of our products comes through her and her physical health and mental clarity.” “I created Picnik after discovering the lifechanging difference that high-quality fats and other functional ingredients could have on physical health and mental clarity,” Seifter said. “Based on the response we received to our Original Creamer, we knew we wanted to expand the line so it was more inclusive of all dietary needs. Inclusiveness is a core value we live by, so I’ve worked hard to create our new offerings keeping in mind consumers who are vegan or prefer plantbased food as well as the millions out there who are already putting collagen in their coffee daily.”

gluten-free and high in protein with 45 percent less sugar than the average hazelnut spread on the market. “For Rigoni di Asiago, organic production has always been the Rigoni family’s number one mission,” said Andrea Rigoni, Chief Executive Officer of Rigoni di Asiago. “Our company aims to preserve and maintain the flavors of the past, respect the environment, and uphold a strong relationship with its local region and traditions. Nocciolata Bianca has been carefully created to fit these values.”

Founded in 1923, Rigoni di Asiago is a family-owned and operated company from Italy and leader in the organic honey and organic fruit spread market. Located in Altopiano di Asiago, a mountain plateau in northern Italy, the company was one of the first in Europe to turn to organic farming in the 1990s and merit the Certified Organic label. The company’s production facilities operate with low power consumption, using renewable sources such as wind while re-circulating its own water supply after treatment and purification.

the origin of the olives as well as the factory that produces the oil is grown, harvested and processed exclusively in the Val di Mazara region of westcentral Sicily, which includes the province of Palermo and western Agrigento Province. “Those certifications guarantee quality and traceability,” Russo-Tiesi said. To attain the certifications, the company worked with a third-party auditor that “came in and tracked everything from the first day the olive grows on the tree to the day we bottle the oil,” which provides full transparency, according to Russo-Tiesi. “We have a very high-quality product, a very traceable product. Each bottle has its own serial number that kind of acts like a VIN number on a car, so you can trace each bottle of olive oil back to the producer, which is us, and where it comes from – the Sicilian land.” In addition to the certification standards, the PDO and PGI bodies contribute their

store of accumulated wisdom about oleiculture, which RussoTiesi says helps the company to grow the highest-quality olives and thus to produce the highestquality olive oil. “The PDO and PGI [which also certifies protected designations] bodies are with us every step of the production and selling way,” Russo-Tiesi said. The success of their efforts is measured by the more than 50 awards that Bono has taken home for its oils over the past decade. “The Bono family has done a great job,” RussoTiesi said. “It’s four brothers from a very close-knit family that have taken this factory to new levels. They’re now one of the top five premier extra-virgin olive oil traders [by volume of extra-virgin olive oil] in Italy. They’re now expanding and investing greatly into Spain and Tunisia.”

For more information, .bonousainc.com.

their patrons a hip and healthy alternative to regular cream cheese and butter. The fresh tang of Belle Chevre’s Original cream cheese and the brand’s Fig flavor made with real fig puree, combined with the products’ ultra-creamy texture, make them perfect for spreading on bagels, toast, muffins or even on pancakes. "With the tremendous popularity of cream cheese for bagels and other classic breakfast items, it made sense to offer our ‘better cream

cheese’ in a portion size for those vendors seeking a healthier and tastier alternative for their customers," says Tasia Malakasis, Belle Chevre Chief Executive Officer and Chief Cheese. Belle Chevre’s full line of all-natural cream cheeses for foodservice professionals also includes 4-pound and 8-pound tubs of its Original product. As with all Belle Chevre cream cheeses, these products have 2.5 times more protein, less fat, less cholesterol, and are easier to digest than regular cheese.

For more information, .picnikaustin.com.

visit

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Honey Stinger’s Organic Cracker Bars Made with delicious honey and organic ingredients, Honey Stinger provides the fuel you need to push harder and go farther. Using an ingredient engineered by nature as opposed to in a laboratory has its benefits, like providing a higher quality taste and texture without needing any additional flavoring or coloring. This is why Honey Stinger is proud to use honey as an important ingredient in every single one of its products. Honey not only tastes great, but it has amazing benefits for the body, too. Research

in endurance athletes has shown that a mixture of carbohydrates is better tolerated by the body, as it prevents fatigue and enhances performance more than a single carbohydrate form. Since honey is considered a combination of carbohydrates, its natural sugars fructose and glucose work together with the body to be quickly and easily digested to help it perform at its best. You push your body to the limits, so why not nourish it with food that tastes great and helps keep your muscles happy, too?

Soulfully Seasoned Beans on the Table in a Flash By Lorrie Baumann

A Dozen Cousins offers ready-to-eat bean dishes seasoned with the Creole, Caribbean and Latin American flavors of the ethnically diverse Brooklyn neighborhood that brand Founder Ibraheem Basir grew up in. “Food was a joyful, cultural experience,” he says of that neighborhood. “I grew up in a Black and Brown melting pot. I can remember eating jerk chicken, empanadas, black-eyed peas. It was a really interesting mix of flavors that I wanted to bring to life with this brand.”

Coming from a background as a brand manager for a natural foods manufacturer, where he fell in love with the ethos of healthy eating and responsible business pracBasir has tices, founded his own line with a vision of eventually extending it with other dishes created at the intersection of healthy food, convenience and bold flavor. “Beans is just first. Dinnertime is such a joyous time for people, and you want to put something healthy on the table for your family or for your loved ones. You want, in some cases, to share cultural expe-

How Golden Cannoli is Shaping the Future of Cannoli Since its start in 1970, Golden Cannoli Shells Co. has been making premium cannoli shells and ricotta fillings. Today, the company has expanded its offerings, with ready to serve cannoli, cannoli chips and more. Now celebrating its 50th year, Golden Cannoli is excited to share its vision for the future of cannoli, and why it thinks this tasty treat is ready for the spotlight. Cousins Angelo and Frank made the first Golden Cannoli in the back room of their bakery 50 years ago. Soon, other bakeries and restaurants were purchasing cannoli shells from them to resell in their own businesses. A second bakery was opened to keep up with demand, and Golden Cannoli Shells Co. was born. Fast forward to present day,

and you can find the second generation, cousins Maria, Edwin, Eric and Valerie, keeping this family tradition alive in their 30,000 square foot Chelsea, Massachusetts facility. The recipe hasn’t changed too much, just tweaked and perfected to keep up with the times, keeping it free of trans fats, artificial colors, artificial flavors and artificial preservatives. In 2017, the cousins worked to achieve their SQF III certification, and have maintained it every year since. “We’re proud to manufacture exclusively cannoli products,” Owner and CSMO Valerie Bono says. “This focus on specifically cannoli is what has caused us to be industry leaders and has pushed us to innovate in

New Plant-Based Jerky from Bella Sun Luci Mooney Farms and the Bella Sun Luci brand, well known for their sun dried product line, recently launched a new sun dried tomato product, Plant-Based Tomato Jerky. Made with moist and delicious sun dried tomatoes, this savory snack is sure to satisfy your salty cravings. With only 90 calories per serving, it’s sensible, too. Bella Sun Luci’s plant-based jerky line is vegan, non-GMO, kosher and contains a

good source of fiber, iron, Vitamin C and Vitamin K, and an excellent source of potassium. There will be two delicious flavors derived from traditional jerky favorites with a sun dried tomato twist: Hickory Smoked and Sriracha. “We’re excited to bring sun dried tomatoes to the snack market in this new and innovative plant-based jerky,” says Mary Mooney, Owner of Mooney Farms. “As with all of our

Honey Stinger’s Organic Cracker Bars™ are not only sweetened with honey, but they’re also organic, non-GMO and contain no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. With organic nut butter and honey sandwiched between two multi-grain crackers, then covered in delicious chocolate, they’re one sweet treat you can feel great about eating. Not to mention, their carbohydrate combination combined with protein and healthy fats help make these bars a complete post-exercise solution for replenishing working musriences with the people that you love. But, at the same time, usually people have, like, 20 minutes to prepare dinner each night,” he said. “There's always this tension between wanting to prepare something that's wholesome and high-quality, but to do it really quickly. We feel like, as a brand, that's a spot where we can help out.” Another of Basir's visions was to offer healthy natural food products that will appeal to those outside the traditional market for natural foods. He notes that people of color have been disproportionately affected by a public health epidemic of nutrition-related illnesses that could be mitigated by a diet that includes a wide variety of less processed options. In pursuit of his brand's mission, the company offers an annual grant and volunways our competition hasn’t even begun to dream up.” Valerie references the new ready-toserve products featuring cannoli chips (bite size pieces of cannoli shell dusted with sugar) paired with real ricotta cannoli cream. “We’re turning this special occasion dessert into an anytime, anywhere snack.” Golden Cannoli’s chip and dip platters aren’t the only new items shaking up the cannoli category – the company’s pre-filled cannoli (in family five packs and as single serve jumbo cannoli) have given bakeries without the space or staff to fill cannoli, an opportunity to get in on the action, too. As for the future of cannoli and where it can go, Bono continues to dream big with the launch of the inclusions line. She anticipates products, we’re only using the highest quality ingredients to create a snack that customers can enjoy without any guilt. We believe that this delicious, plantbased alternative to highfat, high-calorie, no nutrition chips and salty snacks is just what the market needs.” Bella Sun Luci is a line of premium Mediterranean-inspired products created from authentic family recipes. The line includes a variety of deliciously sweet sun dried tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes in olive oil, sun dried tomato chipotle sauce, pasta

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cles and kicking post-workout muscle fatigue. Any time you get a sweet craving, it’s time you reached for an Organic Cracker Bar. No matter how you move your body, you need convenient nutrition that tastes great and works – every single time. Turn to Honey Stinger and try each of its Organic Cracker Bars’ delicious nut butter flavors, and give your body the fuel it needs.

For more information, visit booth #6565 or go to www.honeystinger.com.

teer support to nonprofit agencies working to eliminate socio-economic health disparities in the U.S. The A Dozen Cousins line, named after his daughter and her 11 cousins, currently includes three products: Cuban Black Beans, Mexican Cowboy Beans and Trini Chickpea Curry. “They're ready-to-eat beans, fully cooked and seasoned, according to those traditions from Black and Latino recipes,” Basir said. They're all cooked with avocado oil, real vegetables and spices. They're packaged in pouches that tell the story of the ingredients and their flavors, and they're designed to stand out on the shelf. Each pouch contains 10 ounces and will serve two.

Visit www.adozencousins.com to learn more.

partnerships with other brands that showcase cannoli flavors. “Five years ago, we saw the creation of a ‘cannoli category’ within the greater bakery category. That in itself was a milestone, and since then we’ve been able to really track its explosive growth. We think consumers are finally ready for cannoli flavored products like pies, donuts and cakes. It has the potential to be so much more than just that traditional cream filled shell.” Find Golden Cannoli at the Fancy Food Show in booth #6158 to view its innovative new items shaking up not just the cannoli category, but the bakery industry, too. Sample cannoli shells and cannoli cream, or try the future of cannoli – Golden Cannoli’s crispy, crunchy cannoli chips.

Visit Golden Cannoli at booth #6158.

sauces, bruschetta spreads, estate-grown olive oil, risotto, marinades and new vegan jerky. Bella Sun Luci is produced by Mooney Farms, a third generation, family-owned company based in Chico, California, that is rooted in quality, integrity and family values. Mooney Farms is the premier producer of sun dried tomatoes in the United States.

For more information, visit booth #1442 or go to www.bellasunluci.com.

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Winner! Winner! Bar-B-Que Dinner! By Kyle Oglesby, Owner, Daddy Sam’s LLC

Daddy Sam’s has had an award-winning year! We swept the Texas Bar-B-Que Division at the World Hot Sauce Awards. Daddy Sam’s Original was named Champion, Daddy Sam’s Salmon & Seafood Glaze was 2nd and Daddy Sam’s Ginger Jalapeño was 3rd. We were the only brand to sweep a division this year. We also won our third 1st Place Scovie with Daddy Sam’s Ginger Jalapeño Bar-B-Que Sawce this year. The best award though, by far, is the loyalty of our amazing fans. You are the best! We know that barbecue is a passionate world and brand loyalty is a big deal. Thank you so much, Daddy Sam’s fans! Daddy Sam’s makes delicious West Texas style barbecue sauces. Daddy Sam Oglesby

was a cowboy and rancher in West Texas and our amazing family recipe is named after him – he is also our great grandfather! Sharing great food and fun with family and friends is what we are trying to complement at Daddy Sam’s. Food always tastes better with great company, and with Daddy Sam’s. As we like to say ... Just Slop It On! We created Daddy Sam’s because we couldn’t find anything like it on grocery store shelves. We wanted a West Texas barbecue sauce without any corn products, gluten, soy, MSG, fillers or anything artificial, so we decided to bottle up the family recipe. Daddy Sam’s is certified gluten free, certified kosher, non-GMO compliant, vegan and a woman-owned business. Daddy Sam’s Original West Texas Recipe is molasses, vinegar and mesquite based.

Aquamin (Cont’d. from p. 1)

coast of Iceland to produce the minerals complex that’s used extensively in fortification of food and beverages and in nutraceutical applications. Aquamin is supplied in Calabro (Cont’d. from p. 1)

facility. All of the bufala cheeses are made fresh to order, which assures customers a much longer shelf life than the traditional imported frozen product. The Mozzarella di Bufala is made using a Elmhurst (Cont’d. from p. 1)

cappuccinos are happy. Now, in what is projected to be a banner year for oat, it’s time for the next thing. Elmhurst® 1925 is ready. The plant-based company that used to be a dairy is launching a line of oat creamers. These will join the existing Barista Edition, forming a small arsenal of at-home answers to the big plant-based coffee questions. Elmhurst has charted new territory with its hemp creamer line, but Chief Marketing Officer Pete Truby stresses that there is some-

made baked beans, roasted vegetables, pizza, sloppy joes, grilled fruit, jalapeño poppers, zipped up chili, poured over cream cheese or other soft cheeses for a delicious appetizer, and of course, ribs! We are always working on new recipes and unconventional ways to use Daddy Sam’s, and we encourage our fans to do the same. Think outside the jar with Daddy Sam’s! Daddy Sam’s is committed to packing in glass and other easily recyclable materials and reducing waste as much as possible. Daddy Sam’s is a 1% for the Planet member and puts the money toward water issues.

Visit Daddy Sam’s at booth #5403. For more information, go to www.daddysams.com, call 512.827.1958 or email kyle@daddysams.com.

using traditional, globally friendly farming methods that are inspected by nationally recognized agencies to verify the organic authenticity. Each artichoke is handpicked and individually inspected for premium levels of quality. Add some artichoke flare to your favorite pizza, pasta, salad, bruschetta or a variety of other dishes.

Oil. This is the company’s first-ever Petite Tonno offering. Hand-packed in pure olive oil, these solid fillets of tuna can be served atop salad, in a favorite pasta dish or in a sandwich for a fla-

vor-packed treat. At 170 calories per 3-ounce serving for the Petite Tonno and 200 calories per 3-ounce serving for the Skipjack, these nutrient-rich items feature 22 grams and 20 grams of protein respectively. Both new products are gluten free and certified by the Non-GMO Project as well. The Skipjack Wild Tuna is sustainably pole and line caught near Cape Verde, and the Petite Tonno Wild Tuna is sourced in the

same region by purse seine fishing vessels that do not use FADs (Fish Aggregating Devices). Both of these methods are in line with the best practices for sustainability recommended by a consensus of environmental groups, including the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Program. Both products are available in 6.7-ounce glass jars with 1.5 servings per jar (drained). Each has a suggested retail price of $6.99.

several grades and is suitable for a wide range of formulations, including beverages. It is high in calcium content, but also contains magnesium plus 72 trace minerals and has a unique three-dimensional structure which provides novel bioactivities attributed to

Aquamin when compared with other forms of multi-mineral complexes. Physical properties, coupled with processing technology, as well as optimized systems inclusion and application development, has allowed Aquamin to be successfully included in a wide range of human

food, beverage and dietary supplement formulations, including some of the world’s leading blue-chip companies as its valued customers.

natural lactic culture imported from Campania, Italy, and is available in all the traditional sizes, including Ciliegine, Bocconcini, Ovoline, and 8-ounce. Ricotta di Bufala is delectably rich and creamy and has been awarded top honors by the Specialty Food Association’s sofi Awards

and World Championship Cheese Competition. The newest addition to the lineup is a hand-made Burrata di Bufala, made with bufala cream and bufala mozzarella. The outer shell is soft and smooth, while the inside bursts with fresh crèma di bufala and hand

pulled strands of Mozzarella di Bufala. Lastly, Calabro’s Bufarella is a blend of bufala and cow milk and was formulated specifically for use on artisanal pizza.

times more to innovation than winning the race to the shelves. “Being first to market is great, but we can’t forget that things that already exist can be made better. In sense, we’ve absolutely innovated in oat milk. And we’re doing so in creamers, too.” Truby is talking about the core virtues that envelop the entire Elmhurst line: more of the source ingredient; six ingredients or less; no added gums or thickeners; and specific to coffee support products, no added oils. Essentially, Elmhurst makes better products via simplification. Ingredient labels are de-cluttered, freeing the source ingredient to

bestow its excellence upon consumers. This is made possible by HydroRelease™, a unique technology which preserves the nutritional integrity of the oat with a satisfyingly creamy texture. Elmhurst oat creamers come in original unsweetened, hazelnut, vanilla and chai spice varieties. There will also be seasonal flavors for the perfect coffee repose: apple pie spice, gingerbread and lavender vanilla. Each is packaged in a shelf-stable 16-ounce carton and made from 100 percent whole grain oats. None contains more than 1 gram of sugar. Most importantly, in a world where trends

The company’s primary corporate philosophy is to be incredibly sensitive global citizens. With the expanded distribution and global citizen initiative to include certified Organic Artichokes, launching early Spring 2020, it won’t compromise flavor, quality or food safety. It exclusively provides customers with the best artichokes ever produced. Cynara Organic Artichokes are raised in the nutrient dense soil of Spain. The perfect

Wild Planet Foods Releases Tuna in Glass Jars Wild Planet Foods, the leading provider of sustainable seafood, is expanding its line of ultra-premium wild tuna with the release of its new Skipjack Wild Tuna in Pure Olive Oil and Petite Tonno Wild Tuna in Pure Olive

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summer days and mild winters create the perfect growing environment for its organic artichokes to thrive. With their striking and colorful flower buds, this perennial plant produces the most delicate, delicious and buttery sweet artichoke you will taste. Cynara Organic Artichokes are grown without the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides. Its farmers are dedicated to sustainable, renewable and conscious growing techniques

Organic Artichokes by Cynara Cynara Worldwide Sourcing, a global leader in premium artichokes, is launching its Certified Organic Expansion Project. Its mission is to continue to support artichoke farmers and growers, with new organic crops being expanded each year. The new distribution initiatives into the USA retail, ecommerce, foodservice and private label markets will continue to help grow brand awareness and product knowledge for Cynara Worldwide Sourcing.

It’s tangy and sweet with a kick at the end, and very versatile. We created Daddy Sam’s Salmon & Seafood Glaze because fish and seafood are so often left out when it came to barbecue. We know that people are missing out on great flavors by not barbecuing fish and seafood. There is nothing else like it on the market and we’ve changed perceptions about what can be barbecued. Our Ginger Jalapeño flavor is an updated and zesty take on West Texas barbecue. It’s a sauce with a modern twist and more heat, yet still excites barbecue traditionalists. The molasses, vinegar and mesquite base means that Daddy Sam’s Sawces are for so much more than ribs! We encourage fans to try out ideas with Daddy Sam’s. We have

Visit Cynara at booth #5382. For more information, go to www.cynara.net.

For more information, call 888.441.4233 or go to www.stauberusa.com.

For more information, call 203.469.1311 or go to www.calabrocheese.com. are only as good as their substance, Elmhurst oat creamers perform. They’re made to add body and texture rather than dilute your cup. You’ll be able to lighten to your desired hue. Each creamer in the set shows due reverence to the roast, balancing rather than overwhelming its flavor – and it all happens without useless additives. If you aren’t already on the oat train, we’ve saved you a seat. Sit back and enjoy the scenery of life. Elmhurst will make your best cup for the ride. For more information, visit booth #155.

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Good Seed (Cont’d. from p. 1)

Good Seed’s burgers are the first of their kind, using nutrient-dense seeds, vegetables, and sprouted grains and pulses as an alternative to meat. They have no added sugar or fillers and are naturally vegan and nonThe Forest Farmers (Cont’d. from p. 1)

in order to provide the greatest diversity of forest-based sweeteners in the world. New Leaf is a leading supplier of certified organic tree saps and syrups used by food technologists and manufacturers in beverages and packaged goods. Co-founded by Dr. Michael Farrell in 2017, New Leaf is the result of many years of innovative research and development determining how to best harness the wonderful and delicious diversity of America’s native woodlands. This is the first year Forest Farmers is exhibiting at the Winter Fancy Food Show. The company is excited to introduce people to its unique tree syrups made from a variety of DeBrand (Cont’d. from p. 1)

handcrafted in rich, dark chocolate. The perfect, unique gift for someone who has everything, it adds a touch of luxury to any special event. Not only is it stunningly beautiful, but is also delicious! Indulge like royalty with the magnificent Draped in Gold Chocolate Art Box and leave a lasting impression. DeBrand’s collection of Chocolate Art Boxes also includes Flower Power, Polka Monti Trentini (Cont’d. from p. 1)

chose the region within a mountain range that’s so internationally famed for its beauty that it’s now recognized as a World Heritage Site because they wanted to support the local mountain community and because they could obtain a higher quality of milk there. Since then, Florindo, who started the dairy, has passed it on to Franco and then to Franco’s Norseland (Cont’d. from p. 1)

recyclable or compostable packaging to corporate policies that prioritize green energy and waste reduction. Global Web Index’s “Sustainable Packaging Unwrapped” study found consumers not only rate sustainable packaging as important to their day-to-day shopping, but that it would also influence them to switch brands. Commitment to sustainable business practices is not only the right thing for the future, it also positively impacts brand perception ENZO Olive Oil (Cont’d. from p. 1)

98 percent of all olive oil consumed in the United States is imported. Further studies revealed a high percentage of the imported olive oil on American supermarket shelves continually fail to meet the sensory criteria for being officially classified as “extra virgin” as defined by the International Olive Council (IOC) and European Union (EU) standards. Therefore, with an earnest desire to craft and provide domestic consumers with the finest oil, the Ricchiutis founded ENZO Olive Oil Company in 2008. From its inception, the Ricchiutis adopted the highest quality standards into their olive oil operation so to earn the certification

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JANUARY 2020

GMO. Four burger flavors are currently available, including All American, Spicy Italian, Wild Mushroom, and Curried Sweet Potato. Two SKUs offer keto-friendly options that are the only grain and bean-free offerings in the alternative meat category. Founder Oliver Ponce stresses the com-

pany’s adherence to a “real food” mission, saying, “We find that, if you try to manipulate ingredients to mimic meat exactly, you lose many of the unique texture and flavor qualities. Our message to customers promotes veggie awareness rather than focusing solely on our ingredients’ ability to masquerade as meat.

You can have a better burger made of whole foods and have amazing flavor. We are thrilled to partner with Safeway to expand our footprint of plant-based real foods across the U.S.” In 2020, Good Seed plans to introduce new products and expand distribution further in the eastern U.S.

tree species. “After spending many years as Director of Cornell University’s maple research center, it is a unique opportunity to take the lessons learned there and apply them in large scale to harvesting and processing a wide variety of tree saps using the most environmentally friendly and advanced technology available. We are delighted to be able to showcase our syrups to the trade at the Winter Fancy Food Show,” said Dr. Farrell. New Leaf is proud to be developing the most diverse array of saps and syrups from native trees in wild forests, in particular bigleaf maple syrup from the Pacific Northwest. Building upon his experiences at Cornell, Farrell is now focusing his efforts on

expanding bigleaf maple syrup production through a partnership with private landowners and University of Washington researchers. Until now, bigleaf maple syrup has only been produced on a small scale and has not been available to the trade. Farrell is working to change that by getting more landowners interested in producing the syrup while also carefully blending it with its east coast syrup. New Leaf has developed a signature blend of pure maple syrup produced from sugar and red maples from northeast forests with pure maple syrup from bigleaf maples on the West Coast. The deeper, more intense flavors of bigleaf maple syrup gets a sweet lift from the traditional, iconic sugar maples of New

England. Whereas most maple syrup is made in March and April in the northeast, the sap is currently flowing well and most bigleaf maple syrup production occurs between December and February in the Pacific Northwest. The company works with specialty food retailers, gourmet grocers, restaurants and foodservice distributors. It provides unique, delicious syrups at competitive prices, which allows retailers and foodservice professionals to offer great products and memorable experiences to their customers.

Dot, White Rose and Seashell. Visit www.debrand.com to see each stunning box. For the ultimate gourmet experience, these incredible, edible pieces of art can be filled with an assortment of DeBrand’s popular Classic Collection or decadent Truffle Collection. Each box can hold approximately 12 Truffles or 23 Classic Collection pieces. The Classic Collection is perfect for those who appreciate quality and tradition. It includes timeless favorites such as luscious sons. Today, that third generation: Federica, Fiorenzo, Fabio and Florindo, still make cheese the same way that Florindo Finco did almost 100 years ago, following the ancient art of cheesemaking and respecting its traditions. Nearly 20 years ago, the Finco family decided to bring their mountain cheeses to the United States. Customers recognized the superior quality of Monti Trentini cheeses as soon as they’d tasted that first Asiago Fresh

caramel variations, pure fruit creams bursting with wonderfully intense flavors, as well as re-inspired traditional selections such as Gourmet PBJ, Orange Cream and Strawberry Rhubarb Caramel. DeBrand’s Truffle Collection is the perfect gift for the ultimate chocolate lover. These 12 incredible Truffle variations seem almost too beautiful to eat … almost. Each oversized piece is individually and artistically designed, but their true beauty lies within. Every silky, rich Truffle

wheel, and they started asking for more: Aged Asiago, Grana Padano, Fontal, Lagorai and naturally flavored Caciotta. The Finco family was ready and eager to meet that demand, and now, more than 15 different kinds of cheeses come to the U.S. bearing the Monti Trentini label. Monti Trentini USA also offers Parmigiano Reggiano, Pecorino Romano, Ricotta Salata and many more Italian PDO and tra-

and purchase decisions. TINE SA, Norseland’s parent company, won the Sustainable Brands Index Award in 2017 and 2019; the Index is the largest brand study on sustainability across Nordic countries. As a farmer-owned co-operative, TINE has always prioritized the well-being of its farmers and recognized environmental responsibility is essential for ensuring the health of future farms. Since 2007, TINE has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 14 percent by choosing renewable energy sources for production and transportation

and optimizing water, energy and fuel use. TINE’s objective is to use only renewable energy and fuel for production and transport by 2025, and to cut emissions by 40 percent by 2030. Westland, one of Norseland’s partner brands, has a sustainable vision for its future as well: a cheese with zero carbon footprint. This starts with maximizing sustainable packaging for its Old Amsterdam aged gouda products, but ladders up throughout the entire organization. From green electricity powered by wind turbines to ripening

of “extra virgin” from the California Olive Oil Council. Patrick and Vincent are also active stewards in the American Olive Oil Producers Association, a collective voice to ensure the integrity of olive oil production. Unlike many other olive oil producers, ENZO Olive Oil Company is vertically integrated, which means the entire growing, harvesting, milling, bottling and shipping process is completed from start to finish onsite, producing one of the freshest oils available with superior quality and taste. The olive trees – planted in an optimal climate, similar to the Mediterranean region – are carefully nurtured year-round. Once picked at prime conditions, the olives are transported

immediately from the grove to the Ricchiuti’s mill where the crush begins. When the milling process is complete, the olive oil is bottled and ready to be enjoyed by all. Another unique aspect of ENZO Olive Oil Company is Patrick and Vincent’s commitment to producing only the highest quality of certified organic and kosher extra virgin olive oil. Knowing the health and nutritional advantages of organic foods, Patrick and Vincent decided from the onset to subscribe to stringent organic and kosher farming and processing standards and principles. Drawing upon their farming expertise, Patrick and Vincent meticulously monitor each phase of the growing, harvesting and milling process. This

For more information, visit booth #5475, go to www.newleaftreesyrups.com or call 518.637.7000.

is a luxurious chocolate dessert that will entice each and every customer! Not only does DeBrand carry impressive chocolate gifts, but also provides many options for tempting impulse chocolates such as Caramel Pretzel Bars, Peanut Butter Cups, Mint Cookie Crunch Tasting Bars, Sea Salt Caramels and more. For more information, www.debrand.com.

ditional mountain cheeses selected directly by the Finco family. Monti Trentini continues to search for new products that will earn the esteem of American consumers and retailers, and today, Monti Trentini is one of America’s most trusted sources for a complete range of Italian mountain cheeses.

Visit Monti Trentini USA at the Lettieri & Co. booth #1735.

warehouses outfitted with solar panels, it is steadily working towards becoming climate neutral. Consumers actively seek environmentallyfriendly products; commitment to sustainability is not just a passing fad. The green choices we make today move us all closer to a more sustainable, ethically-produced future of food.

Visit Norseland at booth #2327. For more information, go to www.jarlsbergusa.com or www.norseland.com or call 203.324.5620.

hands-on approach has proven to be a difference-maker in producing award-winning organic and kosher extra virgin olive oil. For those oil enthusiasts looking for a nationally and internationally acclaimed line of organic, kosher, 100 percent estate-grown, fresh-tasting, high quality extra virgin olive oil, ENZO Olive Oil is the right choice.

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GOURMET NEWS

Las Olas (Cont’d. from p. 1)

LD: Las Olas Confections and Snacks is a manufacturer of nationally recognized brands that have been delighting consumers for decades. United with the common goal of driving growth for our customer and bringing joy to the lives of consumers, our portfolio of brands (including Anastasia Confections, Coconut Island, Money on Honey, Williams & Bennett and Hoffman’s Chocolates) provides a diverse offering to the specialty confectionery market. Las Olas is committed to growing our great brands and developing ‘waves’ of innovative new products like our 2017 sofi™ Product of Year award-winning Coconut Cashew Crunch – Chocolate Drizzle and our 2016 and 2018 sofi award winning Money on Honey Dark Chocolate French Sea Salt and Toasted Coconut Almond Varieties.

GN: What are some of your most popular Principe (Cont’d. from p. 1)

maintaining sacred respect for tradition, has quite an interesting history. After losing everything in WWII, the Dukcevich family was forced to flee its native home of Croatia and take refuge in Trieste, a multi-cultural port city in Northeastern Italy. This area, in the region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, is located on the Austro-Hungarian border and is enveloped by the Alps. Noticing the unique culture and eating habits of their new home city, the Dukcevich family began producing and selling traditional recipe frankfurters as well as cooked and This Saves Lives (Cont’d. from p. 1)

Ryan and Todd ﬁrst encountered malnutrition in 2007 while visiting a refugee camp in Liberia. It was heartbreaking. When Ryan and Todd came back to their beautiful homes, clean water and abundant food supply, they couldn’t shake what they experienced, and really, they didn’t want to. They wanted to remember the children they met and they wanted to do something about Tortuga Rum Cake Company (Cont’d. from p. 1)

focusing on innovation and ensuring that its consumers are presented with fresh and new options. With so many new products, increasing its penetration in the travel retail and specialty market has been a natural process, and Tortuga has strategically focused on these markets across the Caribbean, including most major air and cruise ports, principal hotel and gift locations and more than 100 cruise ships. In 2019, Tortuga released its highly-anticipated Rum Cake Bites in the travel retail space with three different packages – standard tapered box (5 ounces), Cruise ExcluSavello USA (Cont’d. from p. 1)

takes great pride in the products it carries. Savello strives to pursue products that best represent the country and region of origin. Many items carry the prestigious certification of “Protected Designation of Origin (PDO)” and “Protected Geographical Indication (PGI),” as well as being harvested and manufactured in traditional methods. At Winter Fancy Food, the company is highlighting the Silano brand. Silano is a

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products?

LD: By far, our most popular product is our Anastasia Confections Coconut Patties, a moist open-faced coconut confection. We have been manufacturing this Florida staple for over 30 years and it has developed a cultlike following. A close tie for second would be our Coconut Island Coconut Cashew Crunch – Original, a tropical, thin twist on a classic brittle, filled with cashews and coconut, and Money on Honey Dark Chocolate French Sea Salt, a unique clean caramel made with wildflower honey, instead of corn syrup. GN: What other products do you manufacture?

LD: Currently we produce salt water taffy, molded chocolate, chocolate enrobed classic snacks (like Oreo ® cookies, pretzels and grahams), caramel, toffee, brittle,

roasted hams to the locals, and the rest, as they say, is history! But they didn’t stop there. Today, Principe is the leading top quality producer of one of Italy’s most prestigious food products, Prosciutto di San Daniele. Principe’s ever-growing portfolio of products includes various ages of Prosciutto di San Daniele, Prosciutto di Parma and Prosciutto Italiano; an ample selection of cooked and roasted hams, Mortadella from Bologna, Roasted Porchetta and Pancetta, Speck IGP Alto-Adige, Bresaola, Cotechino and many other authentic regional Italian deli meats. Principe not only imposes higher restrichunger. When hanging with Kristen one night, Ryan shared this crazy idea: What if they could create a social impact business model to help end malnutrition? Considering malnutrition is the No. 1 cause of death in children under five, they knew something had to be done and it had to work – after all, real lives are depending on it. Kristen believed in a future for every child. She was in. But they needed someone who was busi-

sive (9 ounces) and Travel Retail Edition (12 ounces) – and has also expanded its line of specialty “provenance” rum cakes for each travel retail market. Consumers will now be able to spot beautiful, illustrative packaging on the shelves, featuring Tortuga Mexican Vanilla Rum Cake, Tortuga Mamajuana Rum Cake of the Dominican Republic, and Tortuga Jamaican Rum Fruit Cake. Tortuga has also relaunched its line of Tortuga Flavors of Florida, including Florida Key Lime, Florida Orange and Florida Coconut flavors with unique packaging. According to a new report published by Allied Market Research, titled “Global Travel Retail Market by Product and Chan-

contemporary supplier of imported Italian foods. The brand prides itself on providing superior quality and unmatched customer satisfaction. All Silano products are sourced directly from Italy and best reflect the traditions and culture of their respective regions. Cured meat, cheeses, gnocchi, olives, extravirgin olive oil, Calabrian hot cherry and chili peppers, hot vegetable spread, oregano and grilled artichokes are some of the current products in the Silano catalog. The company visits Italy yearly to ensure that the

bark, truffles and fudge. In addition to supporting our own brands, we offer private label manufacturing as well as copacking. GN: Are you introducing any new products?

LD: Absolutely! We are launching several new products across our brands this year at the Winter Fancy Food Show, four of which we will be sampling in our booth. From Money on Honey, our brand of Clean Wildflower Honey Caramels, we are introducing Milk Chocolate French Sea Salt, a highly requested milk chocolate version of our most popular flavor. From our Coconut Island line, we are launching three new products; Coconut Cashew Crunch – Raspberry, made with all the goodness of our original flavor with a premium, fruity kick, and Coconut Cashew Crunch Bark in Milk Chocolate and Dark Chocolate. These new bark varieties include coconut, cashews

tive standards on its products than most regulatory boards require, but also demands direct control over every step in the production process, from the development of free range natural farms to in-house de-boning and curing. This meticulous quest for perfection and constant innovation allows for dependable, consistent, top quality products and an exclusive, completely closed food safety system. With proprietary animal farms, six production plants, two slicing facilities and export to over 40 countries around the world, Principe has certainly become Italy’s industry leader for premium deli meats.

ness savvy to make this work, and that’s when they called Ravi. He was determined to build the brand to make a real and sustainable impact on malnutrition. The four actors started making bars in their kitchens until they developed the delicious and nutritious bars we know today. That’s how This Saves Lives was born in 2013. First in their hearts, then in their kitchens, as they worked on making an incredible product that would fuel millions of

nel: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2018–2025,” the global travel retail market size accounted for $74.9 billion in 2017, and is expected to reach $153.7 billion by 2025, providing an important source of revenue opportunity for the brand. By positioning Tortuga’s core offerings in this sector, it will continue to be top-of-mind for passengers globally and can provide consumers with iconic treasures that are ideal for gifting. After 35 years as ‘The World’s Best Rum Cake,’ Tortuga made the bold decision to create a new cake, but not with the spirit one might have guessed. Bourbon, one of the largest and fastest growing spirits in the na-

quality of the product continues to meet Silano’s standards. The Silano brand is pleased to offer its customers the finest selection of Italian products to satisfy the needs of chefs in any kitchen. Silano is destined to become a household name for reputable Italian ingredients that are distinguished for high quality and ease of preparation. The company is attending Winter Fancy Food in order to increase brand recognition. It is especially proud of its strong supplier

JANUARY 2020

and pieces of our signature Coconut Cashew Crunch brittle mixed into rich milk or dark chocolate then dusted with more coconut, sure to take you on a crunchy, coconutty, chocolate tropical taste adventure! GN: What is your favorite Las Olas Confections and Snacks product?

LD: We manufacture so many great products and I love each in its own way. I’m a bit omnivorous when it comes to confections. Thankfully, we produce such a diversified set of products so I can indulge all my candy cravings from fruity chewy taffy to butteryrich, crunchy toffee, and of course, an occasional Coconut Patty!

Visit Las Olas Confections and Snacks at booth #6163. For more information, go to www.lasolasbrands.com or call 800.329.7100.

Principe Foods proudly launched a new portfolio of domestically sliced salumi for both retailers and foodservice operators throughout the county. The new domestic slicing lines mark a significant investment by the Dukcevich family, again providing substantial future company growth and spreading the long-standing tradition of excellence in the United States. Stop by Principe’s booth to see and try its delectable offerings, including its Italian Antibiotic Free Salami snack items and more. Visit Principe at booth #2169.

people to do something radical to help end hunger. Through this unique social impact model, This Saves Lives became a social platform that makes delicious snack food while empowering people like you to make a positive change on malnutrition. This Saves Lives means it when it says, “We eat together.”

Visit This Saves Lives at booth #5378. For more information, go to www.thissaveslives.com.

tion is what makes Tortuga’s newest product extra special. Tortuga’s Kentucky Bourbon Butter Cake is filled with smooth notes of faintly sweet oak that will linger on the palate. It is created with only the finest high-quality ingredients, as are all of Tortuga’s products, and with the distinctive addition of aged Kentucky Straight Bourbon. Consumers’ taste buds will experience a unique, flavorful taste profile with bold character.

Visit Tortuga Rum Cake Company at booth #6442. For more information, go to www.tortugarumcakes.com or call 786.817.6880.

and customer relationships. This year, the company is introducing a Variety Pack of Pre-Cut Cheeses and targeting food service and retail clients in particular. Quality food at competitive prices is the hallmark of the company. Purchasing Silano products allows companies to utilize product excellence as a marketing tool. For more information, visit booth #2438, go to www.savellousa.com, email info@ savellousa.com or call 570.822.9743.

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GOURMET NEWS

Novacart (Cont’d. from p. 1)

packaging. Novacart’s bakeable packaging is by definition packaging that you can bake right in with no need to unmold and repackage, and is ready for sale. We produce over 300 styles of paper baking molds and cups to handle any baking need. GN: What does bakeable packaging mean?

JM: Free-standing paper baking molds you just fill, bake and sell all in the same unit. Once filled and baked in, your goods can be sold and/or served with no need to repackage, saving both time and money. GN: What is one question you are asked when people come to your booth? Urban Accents (Cont’d. from p. 1)

Meatless Meals Any Night of the Week Each Urban Accents Meatless Mix takes only 15 minutes to prepare and provides the base for a hearty, flavorful vegetarian meal. Nearly 45 percent of people identify as flexitarians, or mostly vegetarians who limit their consumption of meat. Urban Accents aims to help them and others experimenting with vegetarian cooking by creating convenient favorites to add to their weekly culinary repertoire.

Inspired, Global Flavors Urban Accents is a flavor expert. Inspired by global travel, trendy restaurants, comfort food classics and street food, the company Snak King (Cont’d. from p. 1)

market for high quality tortilla chips with unique flavors outside of the competition, such as its famous Guacachips® and Salsitas®, which can be found in retailers across the U.S. and internationally. Today, Snak King continues to look ahead with innovation in multiple categories and pushing boundaries from conventional snack thinking to exciting new concepts. Extruded Honey (Cont’d. from p. 1)

types of sugar, and each one has its own unique properties and effects on the body. Similarly, there are countless different sources of sugar. But if you are an athlete, there is one in particular that you should be seeking out, as it offers special advantages for performance: honey. “Because of both its makeup and consistency, honey is easy to consume, easy to digest and also easily absorbed by the body, making it an incredibly efficient fuel source that is ideal for sports performance,” says Kayla Martin, M.S., R.D., C.S.S.D., and the Director for Performance Nutrition Services at Penn State University. As Martin indicates, there are a number of Lemon & Vine (Cont’d. from p. 1)

best, premium ingredients. The inspiration for the products at Lemon & Vine came from our Yaya (Greek for Grandma). It was 1930 when Angelique came to America from Greece – a young woman with her husband and children. Times were hard, but she held her family together with her boundless love and the wonderful food she prepared. She knew that the

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JM: The one question we are asked consistently is, ‘Can I really bake in these?’ Yes, our baking molds are oven-safe up to 390 degrees Fahrenheit, as well as microwave and freezer safe. Just line up our molds on a sheet pan and fill, bake and sell. Our molds are designed for one time use that eliminates the need for metal pans, no washing and no maintenance. GN: What materials go into making Novacart products?

JM: Our molds are made of the finest quality food grade paper. We offer a variety of molds that feature easy release coatings or laminates. Our baking cups and tulip cups are produced with grease resistant paper and designed for automated denester use. We are proud to be

creates fantastic taste experiences crafted with natural ingredients. Its new Meatless Mixes are no exception. Taste buds will tingle with layered, nuanced flavors: Honey Barbecue Sloppy Joes, Sweet Black Garlic Korean BBQ Lettuce Wraps and Smokin’ Chipotle Street Tacos.

Plant-Powered, Natural Ingredients Urban Accents uses natural ingredients. You can read the back of the pack and not only pronounce the ingredients listed, but recognize them too! Each serving includes a hearty 11 grams of protein. The soy-based mix is flavored with natural herbs and spices and delivers a meat-like texture with enough hearty bite to anchor the main dish.

pea crisps are just one of those innovative categories, rich in pea flavor with a crispy snap. Another example is its popular Nutibles®, a tasty puffed corn snack coated in over 50 percent peanut butter and in the fun shape of peanuts. Nutible’s are a perfectly crispy corn puff snack, rich in protein and high in flavor. More examples that Snak King is the King of Snacks are in new grain-free snacks, rolled tortilla chips, nut clusters and multi-

factors that make honey a prime energy source for athletic performance. To start, it is a much purer sugar than many of its highly processed counterparts, like cane sugar or high fructose corn syrup. As athletes look to prioritize pure, ‘real’ foods that are less processed and feature quality ingredients, honey is an energy source that rises to the top. When it comes to high intensity activity, that pure, simple sugar source is exactly what you need to fuel your system. As Martin states, honey is incredibly easy to consume. It dissolves in your mouth, so you don’t even have to chew it, and it breaks down quickly and easily. This helps stave off digestion issues during activity, and also helps facilitate fast energy conversion.

dinner table was the center of family life. Just serving their favorite meals was her way of saying “I love you” every day. Lemon & Vine takes great pride in working very closely with our co-packers to ensure that only the best ingredients and time-honored techniques are used in our products. We order custom made pasta for our Pastichio entrees and only fresh Fillo dough made onsite for our appetizers. Every Lemon & Vine product is handmade to en-

JANUARY 2020

BRC certified and FDA compliant.

upkeep of metal pans.

JM: Our products are easy to use. You place the molds on a sheet pan and bake the same way you would as in a metal pan. Sometimes baking temperatures need slight adjusting, but generally baked goods brown nicely and produce beautiful results.

JM: Our new Elite Tulip Cups, which are created with a 70 gsm heavyweight paper. They are designed to form a barrier to oil transfer, resulting in a Tulip Cup that has more rigidity and consistent color, which creates an exceptional look for your baked good. Also, we have added to our grab-andgo line with three new individual sized molds with lids, and have introduced three sizes of corrugated walled Panettone molds which provide structural support.

GN: How do consumers use your products?

GN: Who uses your products?

JM: Retailers, manufacturers, grocers and co-packers all use Novacart products. Retailers appreciate the time they save and the variety it brings to their bakery cases. Manufacturers use our products to reduce waste, labor cost and the high expense and

GN: What’s new at Novacart?

Visit Novacart at booth #5135. For more information, go to www.novacartusa.com, call 877.896.6682 or email info@novacartusa.com.

Convenience for Curious Home Cooks As “your Culinary Wingman,” Urban Accents always has your back in the kitchen. Never a dump and stir, its products always help you actually cook, with confidence. Meatless Mixes have an easy recipe on the back of the package along with serving suggestions. With the addition of just a few fresh ingredients, its spiced, plant-powered protein provides a satisfying, out-of-the-ordinary culinary experience. Urban Accents removes the intimidating learning curve while still providing room for experimentation and personalization.

ous health benefits and are more gentle on the planet. Urban Accents avoids chemicals and artificial flavors and crafts its products in small batches to provide products it feels good about selling and that you can feel good about eating. Real food. Good for you. Good for the environment.

grain and seeds, organic and non-GMO products. The company accomplishes all this while laser focused on quality and service. Taste these and many more exciting snacks while meeting Snak King’s expert staff at its booth at the Winter Fancy Food Show. Snak King is uniquely equipped to offer products in conventional grocery, vend, convenience, foodservice co-pack and export. With every channel come unique business

relationships, partnerships in the industry that are extremely important to Snak King’s future. Let its experience push boundaries and partner with you. Snak King is here to help innovate and refresh your category with high quality snacks in both private label and branded.

Feel Good Food Vegetarian diets are proven to have numer-

Furthermore, honey offers the ideal combination of carbohydrates for quick energy. It contains two different sugar types, both fructose and glucose (along with water), which enables it to be more easily and efficiently absorbed by the body than other sugar sources. This rapid absorption makes it immediately available to use as fuel, and to restock glycogen stores in the muscles for sustained energy. How can you most effectively incorporate honey into your own training and daily life, to help take your athletic performance to the next level? Becci Twombley, R.D., CSSD, and the Director of Sports Nutrition at the University of Southern California, urges her athletes to utilize natural carbohydrates for energy, opt

sure the visual of the food you are eating is as beautiful as the taste is amazing. When you try a Lemon & Vine product, you will think they were made in our own home kitchens – they are that good. We would accept nothing less and neither should our customers. Today, Mediterranean flavors, especially Greek, are gaining popularity at a rapid rate. Discriminating consumers are looking for Greek food products that they can prepare in

Urban Accents’ new Meatless Mixes are available in three flavors: Honey Barbecue Sloppy Joes, Sweet Black Garlic Korean BBQ Lettuce Wraps and Smokin’ Chipotle Street Taco.

Visit Urban Accents at booth #5228. For more information, email customerservice@ urbanaccents.com.

Visit Snak King at booth #5162. For more information, go to www.snakking.com or call 626.363.7711.

for real food over supplements, and to keep convenient, healthy fueling sources readily available, like Honey Stinger sports nutrition products. “I like to keep quick carbohydrate options in locker and weight rooms to help athletes top off energy stores,” she says. “Honey Stinger waffles and chews are good options because the honey is easy to absorb and provides sustained energy without a crash... By using natural carbohydrate sources like honey and fruit, we maximize the nutrient absorption and ensure each athlete will have energy available to maintain a workload intense enough to stimulate muscle growth.”

For more information, visit booth #6565 or go to www.honeystinger.com.

their own homes yet also taste amazingly authentic and make the consumer feel good about what they are putting on their table. Lemon & Vine’s soul is based in Mediterranean ingredients and classic recipes as well as a creative modern spin on the traditional and new ideas.

For more information, go to www.lemon andvine.com, call 707.927.3249 or email info@lemonandvine.com.

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GOURMET NEWS

Garden Fresh Gourmet (Cont’d. from p. 1)

manufacturer of fresh salsas, hummus and chips. When I refer to fresh salsa, I refer to a salsa made with tomatoes or other ingredients that were never heated or cooked. You can find these products in the fresh section of your grocery store such as the deli or produce. In fact, Garden Fresh Gourmet is the number one fresh salsa brand in the United States and most notably known for its Jack’s Special Salsa. GN: How do you see the hummus category evolving?

LC: Hummus has been growing for the Vertullo Imports (Cont’d. from p. 1)

attention to craftsmanship, quality, authenticity and taste, it even has overseas staff headquartered in Italy to help source and interface directly with Italian suppliers. Every region has its own distinctive style of cuisine and Vertullo Imports’ goal is to bring a myriad of authentic Italian flavors to your dishes. Italy is synonymous with pasta; however, Northern Italy is actually known for its rice Stonewall Kitchen (Cont’d. from p. 1)

adding to its family by partnering with premium brands that are leaders in their categories. Since the 1970s, Vermont Village has been at the forefront of the organic food movement and focused on providing its customers with wholesome, quality products. Over time, the company has earned a loyal following of fans who especially love its apple sauces and sipping vinegars. Its Organic Unsweetened Apple Sauce was voted the best-tasting apple sauce by EpiJake’s Nut Roasters (Cont’d. from p. 1)

Jasper Specialty Foods products into the hands of health-conscious almond lovers around the world. Jake’s Nut Roasters is a creative line of specialty almond snacks with distinctively bold flavors. These almonds are in fact “Straight from Jake’s Orchard” showcasing the company’s vertical integration and commitment to sustainable growing practices. Jake’s almonds provide an unparalleled snacking experience, and make eating this healthy snack both fun and satisfying. Produced in a dedicated peanutBella Sun Luci (Cont’d. from p. 1)

snack is made with simple, non-GMO, gluten-free ingredients, and at only 90 calories per serving, these bite-sized morsels are the perfect guilt-free snack. Bella Sun Luci’s plant-based jerky line is vegan, non-GMO, kosher and contains a good source of fiber, iron, Vitamin C, Vitamin K and an excellent source of potassium. There will be two delicious flavors derived Flax4Life (Cont’d. from p. 4)

Brownie Flavors: Chocolate, Toasted Coconut, Dark Cherry, Cappuccino and new Mint Chocolate.

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GN: What other trends are you seeing?

past 15 years, however household penetration on average is only around 30 percent. Products have traditionally been focused on chickpea recipes, but there is a big trend towards legumes and other beans where the main ingredients are white, black beans, edamame and even lentils. These are mixed with various combinations of unique ingredients like vegetables, and even chocolate! Have you ever tried a dessert hummus? It has the benefits of classic hummus and tastes great with fruit or baked goods. Hummus really is a very versatile product. There are so many uses for it from adding it to your favorite salad dressing to topping it with grilled chicken.

LC: Increasingly there is a demand for fresh, plant-based products. Consumers, especially Millennials and Gen Z, know fresh just tastes better. Consumers are reading the ingredients on their products, and are making more informed healthy choices. Plant-based proteins and meat alternatives are also very popular. We see items like tofu and vegan sausages growing strongly over the next couple of years as consumers seek out plant-based protein alternative products not only for their health, but for their impact on the environment. These products are leading the way for vegans, vegetarians and also for flexitarians to incorporate healthier op-

and polenta. Vertullo Imports offers Arborio and Carnaroli Rice, Pearled Italian Farro, Quick Cooking Polenta and more. In addition, it also offers a line of frozen, ready to cook and serve Risottos, available in Parmesan, Broccoli & Cauliflower, Porcini Mushroom and Saffron. Southern Italy is all about olive oil. Vertullo Imports’ Mediterranean Blend Extra Virgin Olive Oil has a buttery flavor and fruity aroma. Enjoy it as an ingredient in

dressings, soups and sauces or drizzle over pasta, fish and grilled vegetables. In addition to its Olive Oil, the company also has a line of Truffle Oils. Vertullo Imports can’t talk about its Italian ingredients without mentioning its Balsamic Vinegar of Modena. Add an extra layer of depth, acidity and brightness to dressings, sauces, marinades, stews and more with the company’s flavorful line of vinegars.

JANUARY 2020

tions into their diet.

GN: What opportunities do you see in the fresh category?

LC: There is a large opportunity to bring consumers to do more of their shopping along the perimeter of the store where you find fresh products versus the aisles. Once consumers try fresh products, they taste the difference fresh ingredients make and are hooked. Cross promotions and demos are a great way to encourage trial. At the end of the day, better for you, fresh food is always a key for growth. For more information, visit booth #1050 or go to www.gardenfreshgourmet.com.

Head south to Sicily and enjoy Vertullo Imports’ Arancini rice balls. Each is blended with local mozzarella and Parmesan cheese and rolled in Italian breadcrumbs. If you’re looking for authentic Italian ingredients to elevate your next dish, look no further. Vertullo Imports is your source for the finest ingredients across the different regions throughout Italy.

For more information, visit booth #2345.

curious in an independent taste test of 28 different brands. Its unique sipping vinegars, which combine the health benefits of apple cider vinegar with the great taste of organic fruits, roots and spices, are a musthave for many. Its best-selling unsweetened apple sauce is well-loved for its rich, wholesome taste. Made in small batches using the whole apple including the peel, no water or sugar is added – just real fruit. A nutritious treat any time of day. It’s available both in jars and in convenient, snack-sized cups that are great for busy families on the go.

The apple cider vinegar is also crafted with care. Brimming with beneficial bacteria, apple cider vinegar has long been celebrated for its digestive powers and feel-good properties. The Vermont Village version is raw and unfiltered with the living nutrients known as the “mother” intact, preserving the best of natural fermentation. Certified organic and non-GMO, this apple cider vinegar is delicious in dishes, mixed with seltzer or – for those who love the tart taste – taken straight. Those less inclined to imbibe it as-is will love the company’s line of sipping vinegars, which are made with

raw honey and infused with organic blueberries, cranberries, ginger and other flavorful ingredients. Available in 8-ounce bottles or in handy single-shot pouches, these vinegars are a great choice for any healthminded customer. This brand is an excellent addition to the Stonewall Kitchen family. From apple sauce to apple cider vinegar, Vermont Village has good taste covered, crafting wholesome and delicious products that are good to their core.

free facility, these premium California almonds are dry roasted and seasoned in small batches to deliver exceptional quality. Jake’s 7-ounce can has a cool, classic appearance that looks great on store shelves, kitchen counters or table centerpieces. Take them on-the-go or conveniently fit them into the cup holder of your car. Almonds are an essential plant-based snacking alternative providing numerous health benefits with key protein, vitamins and minerals, which should always be part of a healthy diet. Be sure to try some of Jake’s bold and unique seasoned almond

products, “Straight from Jake’s Orchard” to you. Jasper Specialty Foods is a multi-generational, family-run operation headquartered in Newman, California, specializing in the production of unique almond related food snacks, confections and other treats for the specialty food market. “From Farm to Market” is a slogan often used to epitomize the philosophy of the company in that, first and foremost, it is farmers seeking to grow and produce the finest almonds in the world by controlling every aspect of the process including planting, farming, harvesting, processing, packaging, sales and distribution.

Some of its popular brands include Nunes Farms, Jake’s Nut Roasters and Jasper Ranch, to name a few. The company is actively involved in developing new flavors, custom mixes and smart packaging with an emphasis on small batch process and exceptional quality. California almonds from Jake’s Nut Roasters are the perfect pairing of bold new flavors and traditional, handcrafted production.

from traditional jerky favorites with a sun dried tomato twist: Hickory Smoked and Sriracha. “The vegan population is growing and with it we are bringing forward-thinking foods that appeal to both vegans and non-vegans alike. We believe bringing sun dried tomatoes to the snack market, in this new and innovative plant-based jerky, marks the start of a health trend that’s here to stay,” says Mary Mooney, Owner of Mooney

Farms. “As with all of our products, we’re only using the highest quality ingredients to create a snack that customers will crave without any guilt.” Bella Sun Luci is a line of premium Mediterranean-inspired products created from authentic family recipes. The line includes a variety of deliciously sweet sun dried tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes in olive oil, sun dried tomato chipotle sauce, pasta sauces, bruschetta spreads, estate-grown

Granola Flavors: Apple Cinnamon, Chocolate Chip, Pineapple Coconut & Mango, Banana Coconut and Cranberry Orange.

and Cinnamon Raisin.

Toaster Bun Flavors: Original, Everything

Cake Flavors: Chocolate and Carrot.

Visit Flax4Life at booth #6559. For more in-

For more information, visit booth #5327 or go to www.stonewallkitchen.com.

Visit Jasper Specialty Foods at booth #5964. For more information, call 800.255.1641 or go to www.jasperspecialtyfoods.com or www.jakesnutroasters.com. olive oil, risotto, marinades and new vegan jerky. Bella Sun Luci is produced by Mooney Farms, a third generation, familyowned company based in Chico, California, that is rooted in quality, integrity and family values. Mooney Farms is the premier producer of sun dried tomatoes in the United States.

For more information, visit booth #1442 or go to www.bellasunluci.com.

formation or to order a sample, go to www.flax4life.net, call 360.715.1944 or email customerservice@flax4life.net. Follow the company on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.