PRIVATE 2019 A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT OF GOURMET NEWS
Caputo: Crafting Customized Distinction
Take Your Private Label Brand to a Higher Level with Seviroli Foods
Smitty Bee Honey: A Sweet Success Story
In addition to plate appeal and exceptional taste profiles, operators are also looking for multiple formats, innovative formulations and customized distinction in their ingredients. To fulfill their needs, operators are looking for manufacturers with the experience and passion to create authentic products that best fit their culinary visions. Founded in 1978 by René and Pasquale Caputo, many industry-savvy clients are choosing Caputo Cheese in Melrose Park, Illinois, as their manufacturer of choice. Caputo offers countless and diverse types of cheese from all over the world. Caputo offers customers authentic Italian cheeses, from the award-winning Mozzarella, Ricotta and
Seviroli Foods is your source for chef-inspired, artisan-filled pastas and sauces. Family owned and operated since 1960, Seviroli offers a full line of authentic and innovative filled pastas, including many shapes of ravioli, tortellini (meat, cheese and tri-color cheese), ricotta cavatelli, stuffed shells, manicotti (both crepe and pasta dough), potato gnocchi, pasta sheets and more. Seviroli uses only the finest semolina and searches the world for the best spices, herbs and other premium ingredients that go into creating its delicious filled pastas. Seviroli’s pasta is rolled very thin and tender, giving it the perfect “al dente” texture. Its fillings are unusually generous
Close to 100 years now, Smitty Bee has been passionate about producing and packaging high quality honey. That passion has helped create one of the most respected honey packaging businesses in the industry. Louis Henkelman, who always had a love for honey, started producing honey from a single colony hobbyist kit from Sears and Roebuck. In those days, honey wasn’t commercially produced and like most foods at that time, you needed to produce the food yourself. At that time, honey was a novelty item and not mass marketed like it is today. It wasn’t until the 1940s, when sugar was rationed to support the war effort, that honey was turned to as an
Booth #F3912
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Apple Blueberry Salsa Delivers Full New England Flavor
Stonewall Kitchen gives Maine attitude to a Mexican classic with its new Apple Blueberry Salsa. The company has a history of expertise with fruit-inspired salsas, including its luscious Raspberry Salsa and smoky sweet Pineapple Chipotle Salsa. This new product is a perfect addition to the line, featuring tasty blueberries along with crisp apples – always New England favorites. The recipe starts with a base of tomatoes, sweet red peppers and a touch of jalapeño. Apples lend a smooth texture to the mix, with mildly sweet undertones. In the finished product, the blueberries remain whole and impart a hint of blueberry flavor that is brightly sweet without being overwhelming. Dark red in color, this salsa is mildly spicy – a 2 on a scale of 1 to 10 (Stonewall Kitchen’s flaming hot Ghost Pepper Continued on Page 22
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“Better-for-You” Products from Quality Candy An interview with Eric Holler, Vice President of Sales, Quality Candy Company, LLC. Private 2019: Tell our readers about yourself.
EH: I’ve been a sales and marketing professional in the consumer-packaged goods industry for over 25 years, with experience in both domestic and international markets. While I’ve worked with some of the world’s most iconic brands throughout my career, my passion is working with mid-sized family-owned businesses to develop strategic sales and business development plans to drive organic growth in all channels of sales in retail, foodservice and industrial segments.
Booth #F9223
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Complete Turnkey Program from Bazzini
The Bazzini company is one of the oldest nut companies in the country. Founded in 1886, its roots are strong in the New York market but span nationwide. As the Bazzini and Barton’s retail brand line continue to grow, Bazzini has focused to invest in technology and manufacturing capabilities. Among the initiatives that have seen substantial growth in recent years are the company’s private label and contract manufacturing programs. Bazzini offers a complete turnkey program. Product development, design work, packaging, product fulfillment, and storage are available. Bazzini can offer any segment. Depending on the customer, Bazzini can take full responsibility for the product development, or work directly with a customer’s Continued on Page 22
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Italian Rose/La Mexicana Fresh Salsa Offer the Power of Fresh In the first part of 2018, there was a coming together of two key fresh salsa players on the east and west coasts. Together, they are the largest producer of fresh salsa in North America. The new company offers salsa products in a wide variety of store brand formats, including preservative, fresh, natural and organic recipes. The company produces five of the top 25 SKUs in IRI with La Mexicana and Tabla Fresca Farmstand brand names along with a line of Mediterranean specialty items under the Italian Rose banner, including fresh bruschetta and garlic spreads. The company’s chef driven product development focus assures each salsa has a unique flavor profile of dice, spice and heat. According to Angelo Fraggos, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, “We bring a new dynamic to the fresh category with both
our plants being located in the two yearround produce growing regions in the country to assure the freshest product possible.” While starting with fresh ingredients is important, the addition of culinary recipe development along with the latest advances in food science allow the company to offer great taste with extended shelf life and a true national footprint. Fraggos further notes, “In addition to producing a full range of salsa types and styles, we have invested an enormous amount of time and money into original research to ensure we are the thought leaders and category experts. Success in today’s highly competitive perimeter of store is all about the right products in the right places in the right mix. We not only have the product in the right product format, we can help buyers fine tune
Pizzeria Operators Turn Heads with Signature Menu Items With the explosion of social eating and foodie-mania, more and more operators are turning up their culinary creativity to build menus that stand out from the competition. They seek manufacturers with the experience and know-how to create authentic products that best fit their culinary visions. They demand exceptional taste, as well as the multi-
ple formats, innovative formulations and custom seasoning blends, along with the melting temperatures, shelf life and back-ofhouse ease they need. That’s why more and more pizzerias are turning to Caputo. Offering countless and diverse types of cheese from all over the world, Caputo is an
offerings within our segment as well as across the category as a whole.” In addition to developing private label programs for customers, Italian Rose can provide a complete line of branded products for one stop shopping. This multifaceted approach allows Italian Rose to service the full range of departments offering fresh products including deli, produce and dairy. Fraggos concludes, “We help our customers be successful by really partnering with them to offer great tasting items and back them up with meaningful consumer insights ... all supported by an industry leading food safety program.”
For more information, visit booth #F7610, call Italian Rose at 561.863.5556 or email info@italian-rose.com.
expert in formulating the perfect cheese blend for an application. Taking into account flavor, functionality or simply cost reduction, the Caputo team will determine the best cheese for you without sacrificing Continued on Page 22
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A Special Supplement of Gourmet News
PRIVATE 2019 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 Customer Service Manager Susan Stein Customer Service Associate Spencer Fisher Senior Account Manager Marcos Morhaim Account Managers Abeer Abiaad • Joseph Bellon • Alisha Dicochea Director of Operations Tara Neal
Show Logistics & Distribution Jay Watson • Hannah Stefanovich European Sales Enrico Cecchi PRIVATE 2019 is published by Oser Communications Group ©2019 All rights reserved. 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 www.gourmetnews.com
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Specialty Private Label Products from Captain Foods Captain Foods is a 25 year old family business based in Edgewater, Florida. It is a gourmet food company that focuses on offering specialty private label products. Captain Foods has established long lasting relationships with its clientele and is known as the “most trusted name for private label.” The product line includes sea salt grinders, Himalayan salt grinders, black peppercorn grinders, specialty hot sauces, steak sauce, wing sauce and all natural seasoning blends.
Captain Foods has established a competitive edge by offering low minimums, excellent pricing and superior products. Its products are just as good, if not better than your national brands. Captain Foods will save you money, and it’ll be your brand proudly displayed on the label. Your restaurant has an image – your condiments should too.
Five Benefits of Private Label 1. With private label, you essentially create
Once Again Nut Butter Spreads Integrity By Lorrie Baumann
Once Again Nut Butter has produced its line of nut and seed butters and honeys since 1976, when the company was founded by husband and wife Jeremy Thaler and Connie Potter after a friend suggested that they use the barrel roaster in which they’d been making granola to roast nuts for peanut butter. From there, a local museum in Nunda, New York, asked them to make an old-fashioned peanut butter that included the peanut skins. Thayler liked the result so much that he fig-
ured he could sell it. That thought came naturally to the couple because they’d already been serial entrepreneurs, which is why they named their new peanut butter company “Once Again,” according to Gael Orr, who is the Marketing, Communications and Public Relations Manager for what’s now an employee-owned enterprise. “Once again, they were in business,” she said. Thayler and Potter retired from the business in 2006, and it became 100 percent employee-owned at that time. Orr has
Dryland Farmers Prosper with Organic Specialty Pulses By Lorrie Baumann
Timeless Natural Food offers a gourmet line of heirloom certified-organic lentils, peas, chickpeas and specialty grains. Grown in Montana and its neighboring states, the pulses that Timeless offers in both retail packaging for specialty grocers and in 10pound and 25-pound packages for foodservice use come from a group of organic farming pioneers on a mission to preserve Montana’s family farms by rebuilding soils subjected to a century of industrial monoculture wheat production. “We are not alone on this planet, and we have an obligation for stewardship, not only to our fellow human beings, but also for the environment,” says company co-Founder and President David Oien. “Through the business that my three friends and I have created, called Timeless Seeds and the brand name Timeless Natural Food, we really have been instrumental in supporting many other farmers around Montana to convert some or all of their acreage to certified organic production to allow their family farms to survive.” Oien grew up on his family’s wheat farm in north central Montana’s Golden Triangle before heading off to college for a degree in philosophy and religious studies that still informs his farming mission today. After several years of working and traveling in Europe following his college graduation, he came back to the family farm in 1976 determined both to repay his parents for the upbringing and education they’d given him and to practice a system of agriculture that’s kinder to family farmers and to the land than conven-
tional wheat farming. Today, Montana farmers like Oien inherit the state’s history of dryland agriculture, which began with the 1877 Desert Land Act that drew settlers to homestead in arid lands across the American West. These new homesteaders relied on assurances from agriculturists like Charles Dana Wilbur that “Rain follows the plow,” and when the climate refused to obey those prognostications, the development of modern irrigation assisted by the Newlands Reclamation Act of 1902. With the newly opened land, irrigation projects across the American West, improvements in farming technology, and the introduction of hard red winter wheat in the 1870s, American wheat production took off. The country’s annual wheat production more than tripled in the 50 years between 1871 and 1921; increasing from about 250 million bushels during the period of 1869–1871 to more than 750 million bushels during the period of 1919–1921. Then came the Great Depression and the collapse of agricultural markets that led to the paradox of huge national grain surpluses and widespread hunger. The New Deal followed, with the Roosevelt Administration’s Agricultural Adjustment Act, which paid farmers to fallow some of their acreage when the nation had a grain surplus. New Deal agricultural policies that controlled national grain supplies and stabilized markets remained in force until 1971, the beginning of Earl Butz’s tenure as Secretary of Agriculture. Butz’s policies, encapsulated in his decree that farmers needed to “Get big or get out,” reversed the New Deal’s protections for family farm-
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your own unique image, which establishes a marketing identity and promotes stronger customer recognition and loyalty. 2. Why pay for high priced brand names, when you can brand your own quality food products at a much more cost effective price. 3. Gourmet private label products are often more profitable than those of national brands because private label items are (usually) more cost efficient to make. (It’s a given that the lower your expenses, the higher your profits will be.) 4. The packaging and labels are tailored
to meet the private label owner’s specifications, including product name, description, company’s logo and contact information. 5. Private label branding is one way to separate yourself from competitors. One of the greatest attributes of private labels is that you inherently have an exclusive right to sell the products.
For more information, contact National Sales Manager, Bryan Forand, at bryan@captain foods.com, call 800.749.5047 or go to www.privatelabelrestaurants.com.
worked for the company for the past 10 years and says she’ll probably retire from Once Again Nut Butter when it’s time for that to happen. “The company really cares about my family,” she said. “They care about employees. They care about my voice.” Over the years, the company’s original old-fashioned peanut butter line has expended to include a total of about 30 products in about 80 SKUs comprising salted, unsalted, roasted, unroasted, stabilized and stir-style peanut butters as well as Almond, Hazelnut and Cashew Butters and Organic
Seed Butter. The company acquired Dawes Hill Honey in 1992. Milk chocolate products were launched in 2018. Each of the products bears the image of Rocky Raccoon on its label. Rocky Raccoon was born as the company’s mascot after a family of kit raccoons was found on the company’s property in its early days. The company’s employees cared for the raccoons until they were old enough to be released into the wild, and Rocky, named after a Beatles song, remains as a legacy of that time. The products are also gluten free, and all of the nut butters are certified by the Non-GMO Project.
ers in favor of industrial agriculture, bigger equipment, more acreage. That was the farming economy that Oien returned to in 1976. His father had resisted that temptation to get big even as neighbors around him were deciding that, presented with a choice that wasn’t really a choice, they were getting out and putting their farms up for sale. “One of the pieces of wisdom he left me was that he’d rather have the neighbors than the neighbors’ land,” Oien said. “That meant we needed to make our small farm viable in a different way.” Inspired by Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring,” Frances Moore Lappe’s “Diet for a Small Planet” and the connection between Earth and humanity explicated in “Black Elk Speaks,” Oien set to work to convert the family farm to organic production just at the time Lappe and others were helping Americans understand that there might be a connection between what they were eating and their own health as well as the planet’s. “My approach has always been, ‘Get better and you can stay in.’ For me, getting better meant converting the farm to organic production,” he said. “Our farm is 260 cultivated acres, while the average farm in Montana is about 2,400 acres, nearly 10 times larger. There are some farms in my county that are 20,000 acres, so our farm is not only small – in a sense, it’s obsolete. But on the other hand, converting it to organic and developing the infrastructure to process our crops has allowed the farm to survive another generation.” Practicing organic agriculture meant finding a means of replenishing soil depleted by nitrogen-hungry wheat crops without the use of synthetic chemicals. “The challenge with monocropping, monoculture within a given field, is that it makes those crops more susceptible to disease, to insects, and also requires input of chemical fertilizers. The
crops that we grow, such as lentils, chickpeas and peas, are soil-building crops by their very nature,” Oien said. “They’re legumes that have the power to capture the atmospheric nitrogen and convert it into nitrogen in the soil that’s accessible to crops.” In 1987, Oien joined three fellow organic farmers: Bud Barta, Jim Barngrover and Tom Hastings, in a company called Timeless Seeds to introduce those leguminous crops to other farmers in the northern Great Plains and spread the gospel of organic production. Their experiments with pulses, the edible seeds of legumes like peas and lentils, coincided with the growth of the natural food industry in the early 1990s that created a demand for organic grains and seeds, and Timeless Seeds capitalized on that demand to grow the infrastructure they needed to turn their raw crops into marketable organic food products. In 2001, the company created its Timeless Natural Food retail line of premium lentils, peas, chickpeas and heirloom grain. To supply that line, the company now works with about 50 certified organic family farms, primarily across Montana with a few in neighboring states as well. “We provide them the opportunity to grow crops that diversify the cropping rotation and to grow crops that are higher value,” Oien said. “I think one of the things that’s most promising is that we are not only supporting these farms, but we’re also having a greater and greater environmental impact across the northern Great Plains. As the market for high-quality plant-based protein grows, farmers can convert some or all of their land to certified organic production, and Timeless is part of the infrastructure to find or create high-value markets for family farms by distributing to food retailers, restaurants and chefs, institutional food service and food manufacturers.”
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Bella Rosa Takes a Bow at Fancy Food Show Schuman Cheese relaunched off one of its long-standing but lesser-known brands this year at the Summer Fancy Food Show. Bella Rosa, an entertaining-friendly line offered previously in limited distribution, will now be available on a national scale. Vibrant packaging and a new brand platform accompany Bella Rosa’s national rollout. Fresh, modern iconography complements packaging with a progressive, differentiating color palette that reflects the premium brand. At a glance, shoppers can identify whether the cheese they’re selecting is shaved, shredded or grated, reinforcing a
brand promise that emphasizes simplicity: “Good to Go. Real cheese ready for any dish so you can entertain with ease.” “The Good to Go statement is highlighted on the package to let people know Bella Rosa has the quality they want, and that we help them enjoy the occasion they’re shopping for,” said Jim Low, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Schuman Cheese. “They’ll spend less time prepping, and more time in the moment and present for life.” The Bella Rosa line also delivers on the True Cheese guarantee, which Schuman Cheese created to assure consumers that
Stonewall Kitchen Launches 27 New Products Stonewall Kitchen offered a wealth of new products at the Summer Fancy Food Show. Included in the lineup for launch were the new Organic Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup, Lemon Fig Shortbread Squares and New England Cranberry Grape Jelly, along with a variety of seasonings, sauces and pastas. The Tillen Farms brand continues to grow with the launch of Bloody Mary Olives, stuffed with onions and sun-dried tomatoes, and Rum Bada Bing Cherries. Stonewall Kitchen also grew the co-branded partnership with Legal Sea Foods with the addition of Malt Vinegar, Seafood Remoulade Sauce, Lemon Teriyaki Sauce and a variety of new seasonings. Additionally, Stonewall Kitchen expanded the Napa Valley Naturals and Montebello lines with four new products after their 2018 acquisition. “We started the year with a momentous launch in January, as we wanted to showcase
the growth of Stonewall Kitchen and our Family of Brands,” says Director of Marketing Janine Somers. “The July launch is just as notable. After acquiring Napa Valley Naturals and Montebello, we’re introducing new additions to each brand. We’re continuing to expand Napa Valley Naturals with an Organic Apple Cider Vinegar, which contains living nutrients known as the ‘mother,’ and by introducing three new pastas under the Montebello name: Tricolor Fusilli, Maccheroni and Spinach Fettucine. We’ve seen great success with our co-branded, Legal Sea Foods line and are excited to expand the offering further with these new outstanding restaurant-quality products. Our guests are going to flip over the Lemon Teriyaki Sauce. The Seafood Remoulade Sauce is amazing with crab cakes or as a spread on your salmon burger.” This summer’s Legal Sea Foods product
Parmacotto Partnership Promises Prosciutto Proliferation By Lorrie Baumann
In 1971, Sophia Loren got laughs importing mortadella into the United States in “Lady Liberty” because she brought her sausage into the country “without benefit of inspection,” as American authorities express the matter now when they notify the public about similar debacles that occur now and then in real life. A venture has now formed to bring similar products into the U.S. through legitimate channels that promise a steadier supply than Sophia Loren’s character, Maddalena Ciarrapico, was able to manage to satisfy the same American hunger for authentic Italian meats – albeit without the laughs provided by Loren’s comedic abilities. Cibo Italia and Parmacotto SpA have joined forces to form a new American company to import a wide range of high-quality cured meats, deli meats and cooked ham from Italy into the United States and to distribute it nationally into the American market. The new company, Parmacotto, LLC is a partnership between Larry Saia and Alessandro Sita, who have been doing business in the American market as Cibo Italia
for 10 years now, and Parmacotto SpA, an Italian producer of cooked ham. As Parmacotto, LLC, they’re planning to add the cooked ham products for which Parmacotto is known in Italy to the Cibo Italia line of imported sausages and deli meats and distribute all of them nationally in the U.S. under the Parmacotto brand name, said Andrea Schivazappa, the Chief Executive Officer of Parmacotto SpA, which will own 70 percent of the LLC. “In Italy, we are an extremely well known brand, held in the highest regard. Parmacotto is a staple in salumerias, retail stores and households alike,” he said. “Our goal for the United States launch is to obtain the same status in the American market.” Saia and Sita will own 30 percent of the American subsidiary LLC and will serve as its President and Chief Executive Officer, respectively. “It’s a partnership,” Schivazappa said. “Cibo Italia has been on the market for 10 years and is very well known. They have a very strong presence on the market from a commercial point of view.” With the addition of the products made by Parmacotto SpA to the range formerly offered by Cibo Italia, the new company will now be able to offer a range of meat products
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what they’re getting is always the highest quality cheese; no fillers, no additives, just pure, 100 percent cow’s milk, free of hormones.
Product Selection New to the Bella Rosa line is a pair of snack format products, aptly named Snacks to Go. Offered in two flavor combinations, each tray offers superior quality all-natural cheddar cheese, premium sea-salted roasted nuts and juicy dried cranberries. Snacks to Go will be offered in 16-count display-ready cases. Suggested retail price for each package is $1.33. A staple of the Bella Rosa line is a series of cheese trays featuring collections of sliced cheeses ready to serve a crowd. Each selection has been curated with entertaining in
mind and can be offered on its own as a party snack or as a flavorful addition to a sandwich station. The Bella Rosa European Cheese Selection includes Irish Cheddar, Dutch Gouda, Danish Havarti and German Swiss. Two Party Trays are also available; one features Cheddar, Swiss, Colby Jack and Pepper Jack, while the other includes Aged Cheddar, Swiss, Havarti and Gouda. Suggested retail prices for the 16-ounce trays range from $7.99 to $9.99. Single cheese varieties include Bella Rosa Shaved Parmesan, Bella Rosa Shredded Parmesan, Bella Rosa Shredded Asiago and Bella Rosa Grated Romano. Each of the 5ounce cups carries a suggested retail price of $3.69. All items in the new Bella Rosa line are now available for retail and club orders.
launch includes Lemon Pepper Seasoning, Cajun Seasoning, New England Seafood Seasoning, Malt Vinegar, Seafood Remoulade Sauce and Lemon Teriyaki Sauce. This year’s holiday packaging showcases beautiful, hand-painted botanicals. Collections, such as the Cheese Pairing Collection and Classic Jam Collection, are assembled in boxes displaying original artwork, offering the ideal holiday gift. “We can’t forget about our Fine Home Keeping line,” said Somers. “Just in time for the holiday season, we’re introducing our Sugar & Spice Fine Home Keeping that will include hand soap, hand lotion and soy candles. We’re also expanding our Grapefruit Thyme and Coastal Breeze line with an allpurpose cleaner.” The remainder of Stonewall Kitchen’s July 2019 product launch includes Tillen Farms Bloody Mary Olives and Rum Bada Bing Cherries as well as Montebello Tricolor Fusilli, Maccheroni and Spinach Fettucine. From its Napa Valley Naturals brand, we’ll see Organic Apple Cider Vinegar, which contains the mother. And under Stonewall
Kitchen’s own brand name, the company is introducing New England Cranberry Grape Jelly, Bacon Vinaigrette and Cilantro Lime & Avocado Oil Dressing as well as Lemon Fig Shortbread Square Mix and Caramel Apple Pie Waffle Cookies. Sriracha Horseradish Cream Sauce, Turkey Seasoning Rub and Bourbon Barrel-Aged Maple Syrup, which is organic, will also be coming. Stonewall Kitchen’s Fine Home Keeping brand is bringing out a new seasonal scent: Sugar & Spice, in a product line that includes hand lotion, hand soap and a soy candle. A new line of all-purpose cleaners launched in scents that include Coastal Breeze and Grapefruit Thyme. For Stonewall Kitchen’s 2019 holiday collection, the company is bringing out its Cheese Pairing Collection, Salsa Collection, Dessert Sauce Collection, Pepper Jelly Collection, Classic Jam Collection, Farmhouse Breakfast, Individual Wild Maine Blueberry Jam, Individual Holiday Jam, Cocktail Party, Grilling Collection, Blueberry Breakfast, Jam Tree, Mustard Tree and Sampler Collection.
that are clean-label and produced with no antibiotics ever, Sita said. “We can really cover the whole category of premium meats from Italy,” he said. “They’re better for the environment, better for the animal and better for the people.” Parmacotto LLC, based in New Jersey, has already begun distributing its first products in the U.S. and will be ramping up its distribution over the next few months, in time to ensure that stores across the U.S. have the Parmacotto products in stock well ahead of the holiday season. “We have a vision for North America,” Sita said. Once those first products are in the stores, retailers can be assured that Parmacotto already has the supply chain in place to provide a ready supply of consistently high-quality product, according to Schivazappa. In Italy, Parmacotto SpA works with a network of farmers who are held to the company’s standards for how the animals are raised, and by 2020, all of the Parmacotto products sold in the U.S. will be Animal Welfare-certified, he added. Packaging for the new brand will call out its clean-label quality and the promise that the meat was raised with no antibiotics ever, so that Americans will have the confidence that they’re buying a quality product, Schivazappa said. “Everybody can taste the quality,” he said. “They are true to our land of tradition.... They make you happy when
you eat them.” Parmacotto LLC will be supporting the launch into specialty grocery stores and gourmet foodservice establishments with instore marketing programs and a social media campaign, according to Sita. “At the end of the day, we want to interact one-on-one with consumers,” he said. “We’re very hopeful that consumers will accept it.” The product line, already available in several states, includes Parmacotto Italian Roasted Ham, Prosciutto Cotto Italiano, Cooked Ham All Natural, Italian Roasted Pork Loin, Mortadella, Porchetta, Speck Alto Adige IGP, Sopressata, Toscano Salame, Genoa Salame, Milano Salame, Salame Felino PGI, Spianata Romana, Spianata Calabrese, Prosciutto di Parma, Prosciutto di San Daniele and Prosciutto Italiano – all offered in packaging for foodservice use as well as pre-sliced in retail packaging. The brand’s new zero line of meats that are produced with no antibiotics ever from humanely raised animals includes ABF Mortadella, ABF Cooked Ham, ABF Prosciutto Italiano, ABF Porchetta, ABF The Italian Roasted Ham, ABF The Italian Roasted Pork Loin and ABF Salami Italiano – all offered presliced for retail sale. For more information, .parmacottousa.com.
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Avocado and Cauliflower that Crunch By Lorrie Baumann
Making snacks from real food is in the DNA at Hippie Snacks, says Founder Ian Walker, who started the business in the late 2000s with Coconut Chips. “We brought that out before any of the players in the States brought out a coconut chip,” he said. “Right from the get-go, we liked the idea of making products that were as close to their natural state as possible but were a little more convenient.” Hippie Snacks’ latest innovations are a family of crispy cracker-type snacks: Cauliflower Crisps in Original and Classic Ranch
flavors and Avocado Crisps in Guacamole and Sea Salt flavors. “For eight years, we’ve been trying to come up with an avocado snack,” Walker said. “Nutrient-dense, tasty – people get it.” In that quest for a tasty avocado snack, Hippie Snacks’ research and development team tried a lot of different approaches, from baking slices of avocado to freezedrying, but they kept running into barriers created by the natural oiliness of avocados, their tendency to turn brown when the tissue is exposed to air, the fruit’s tendency to turn bitter when it’s dried, and when those approaches didn’t pan out, the team turned
Nancy Johnston Joins Renaissance Food Group Renaissance Food Group (RFG) has announced that Nancy Johnston has joined the company as Vice President, Produce Procurement. In this role, Johnston will continue to drive the company’s procurement initatives and lead all aspects of the corporate sourcing and regional procurement teams. Johnston brings to RFG a wealth of experience and knowledge from her past 30 years
in the produce industry. She received her bachelor of arts degree in business administration from Wichita State University, and her background includes: sales management, purchasing, team building and mentoring, budgeting, relationship building, new product development, marketing and brand development. Prior to RFG, Johnston served as senior sales manager for Sysco Corporation,
JSL Foods Reconnects with Family Legacy By Lorrie Baumann
JSL Foods has re-established a relationship with the company’s founding family by naming Jade Wong Lucas as National Accounts Sales Manager. As National Accounts Manager of Foodservice, Lucas is now promoting the Twin Dragon brand her grandfather created 65 years ago. Her grandfather, Hailey On Wong opened Main On Company in 1954, producing authentic Asian won-ton
wrappers, egg rolls, pot-sticker wraps, tofu and bean sprouts, which he sold to local restaurants and bodegas in and around the Los Angeles area. “The company started with my grandfather as Main On. We then created the Twin Dragon brand. Under that brand, we sold almond cookies, Asian noodles,” Lucas said. The company passed out of the family’s ownership in the early 1970s, and although Lucas was still involved in the same industry,
Crunchy Granola Goodness in a Portable Snack By Lorrie Baumann
Crazy Monkey Baking’s Granola Cookie Crunch comes from a mom who had a degree in dietetics and an urgent desire to give her own kids a snack that she could feel conscientious about giving them and that they’d enjoy too. She started with an oatmeal cookie that her kids enjoyed and went to work on the recipe to come up with a product that was a bit more oat and a little less cookie but still delicious. Her kids loved it. Their friends loved it. “My kids really liked it, and that’s the beauty of children – that they’ll be honest,” said Teresa Humrichouser, that Ashland, Ohio, mom. “We are a chocolate family, so I knew that if I put chocolate in it, there was a pretty good chance they would eat it.” It was a bonus that she could take it along in her mom-van, and the kids could nibble on it during their rides without leaving behind a mess of crumbs in the car. “Our lives are so busy,
so, as a mom, I can have this in my minivan as I pick the kids up from practice,” she said. Humrichouser’s friends encouraged her to take her Granola Cookie Crunch to the local farmers market, where, every weekend for two years straight, she sold out. Local grocery retailers saw what was happening, and a few of them approached her and asked her if they could carry her product in their stores after the farmers market season had ended. Humrichouser started looking for a commercial kitchen. She found a 350 square-foot facility that had been vacated by a pizza kitchen. “It was a few minutes from our house, and it was a small kitchen that we could move into and get it licensed because it had been used for food service in the past,” she said. Three years later, she moved out of the former pizza shop and into a 1,000 square-foot facility. Then in January, 2017, she moved into a 7,500 square-foot bakery, where eight employees make small batch after small
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its attention to cauliflower a year or two before cauliflower found itself trending in the market. “We had kind of given up on avocado,” Walker said. “We tend to take food that has a long tail [rather than leaping on trends]. Cauliflower took off this year, but it just happened. We just thought it was a great way to create a cracker without flour.” As the team was coming up with a way to do that by blending the cauliflower into a base with some starch in it to hold the crisp together, they started wondering if they could maybe lick their avocado problem with the same approach, and they made it work. The resulting Avocado Crisps have avocado as their first ingredient, just as the ingredients label for the
For more information, .hippiesnacks.com.
where she launched and managed the new Sysco/FreshPoint brand revitalization. She also held various other roles within Sysco Corporation, The Richard Kaiser Company, and TKO Farms Inc. In addition, Johnston is committed to making a positive impact on the industry through Produce Marketing Association programs such as Center for Growing Talent Women’s Fresh Perspectives. She mentors students each year at PMA Fresh Connections: Retail and PMA Foodservice Expo, taking care to maintain relationships with students after their graduation. She also actively partici-
pates with Produce for Better Health Foundation and Southeast Produce Council. “RFG is excited to have Nancy join our team,” said Raina Nelson, Senior Vice President, Supply Chain. “She is a well-respected industry professional, and we look forward to her contributions in leadership, expertise and knowledge. We also express our gratitude to Debbie Vest for her years of service to RFG and celebrate her devotion to this industry. We wish her a wonderful retirement.” Johnston’s role with RFG began effective June 3, 2019, replacing Debbie Vest, who retired effective June 30, 2019.
she had been working for one of JSL Foods’ competitors. “The owner reached out to me. We started talking, and he gave me an opportunity to move over to this company,” she said. “At first, I was very hesitant going to the competition, but with the Twin Dragon brand it held a legacy to me personally.” In her new position, she calls on national restaurant accounts all over the country representing JSL Foods and showcasing its Asian noodles, pasta and wraps, which are nonGMO verified, certified vegan and cholesterol free. “One thing I really love about this job is the ability to make an impact in growing the business. The owners give me an ability to grow this business with a lot of support. With
product that is innovative, that meets customer needs with portion control, with clean label – these are some of the new demands that our industry asks for,” she said. “We have the ability to have a noodle with protein added, the ability to incorporate green pea or spinach noodles or black bean noodle. These are added features for the noodle that gives added value to the noodle for the consumer. Asian noodles are as different as pastas, ramen, yakisoba, udon. What we do here at JSL Foods is that we do a lot of customization for our customers’ needs and preferences.”
batch of her Granola Cookie Crunch in four year-round flavors as well as occasional seasonal flavors. “With this move, it has allowed us to be in a location that suited us for bringing on larger customers,” she said. The move has also facilitated supplier audits and food safety planning and documentation to qualify for national distribution to grocers who sell the products in either the granola, healthy snack or cookie sections of their shelves. Crazy Monkey Baking is also certified as a woman-owned business, and Humrichouser offers contract manufacturing services to other companies that have a granola formula but not a facility. “Even after all this time, baking is still my greatest passion,” she said. “I don’t get to do it that often any more, that that’s what I love working with most in the business.” Crazy Monkey Baking is now offered in Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip and Dark Chocolate Chip, Mint Chocolate Chip and Cranberry Almond flavors in 1.25-ounce bags that are smart-snack approved for schools. They retail for 99 cents to $1.49. Those four flavors plus White Chocolate
Cranberry are also offered in 7.5-ounce bags along with a rotation of seasonal flavors that includes Cinnamon Pecan in the winter, Lemon Coconut in summer and Pumpkin Seed & Spice in the fall. Additional special-edition flavors also appear occasionally. “We have a variety of flavors, so there’s some variety to appeal to the kids and adults alike,” Humrichouser said. All of the products are wheat free and made with 100 percent whole grains. Oats are naturally gluten free, and the products are sweetened with honey, molasses and evaporated cane sugar. A serving of the Dark Chocolate Chip flavor Granola Cookie Crunch contains 8 grams of added sugars and 6 grams of fat along with 3 grams of protein and 150 calories. “There is fat in oats and in whole grain cornmeal and in flax seeds, but it’s all healthy fat,” Humrichouser said. “When you have the real ingredients without the fats stripped from them, you’re going to get those good, healthy calories in the fat.”
Cauliflower Crisps starts out with cauliflower. That’s important to Hippie Snacks, Walker said. “Some snack-makers, they want to latch onto a popular trend, kind of fairy-dust their products with whatever the trendy ingredient is,” he said. “We’re not going to call something an Avocado Crisp if avocado isn’t the first ingredient. No tokenism here.” Both the Avocado Crisps and Cauliflower Crisps are plant-based, non-GMO and gluten free. “All of our products go through NonGMO Project verification,” Walker said. They’re offered in 2.5-ounce bags that retail for $4.99 in the U.S. visit
www
For more information, visit www.jslfoods.com or email Lucas at jlucas@jslfoods.com.
For more information, visit www.crazy monkeybaking.com.
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Seviroli Foods (Cont’d. from p. 1)
in ratio to the pasta and Seviroli uses only authentic ingredients when making pasta from scratch. The company freshly grates its hard cheeses for fillings and makes its own Caputo Cheese (Cont’d. from p. 1)
Burrata made at its Melrose Park facility, to customized blends of imported and domestic Parmesan, Pecorino Romano, Asiago and other Italian and Italian-style cheeses. Caputo is an expert in formulating the perfect cheese blend for any application. Quality Candy (Cont’d. from p. 1)
Private 2019: Tell our readers about Quality Candy.
EH: Quality Candy Company is a leading manufacturer and distributor of high-quality hard candy and soft sugar candy. We’ve been a family owned and privately held business for the past 30-plus years. In addition to a leading position in the bulk hard candy market, Quality Candy produces and sells several distinct lines of branded products: King Leo, Gilliam, QC, Sonic and B4U. Combined, with our brands, contract manufacturing partners, private label and foodservice Smitty Bee Honey (Cont’d. from p. 1)
alternative sweetener. The popularity of honey grew, and the industry was born. Throughout the next 30 years, Louis grew his family orientated business into one of most respected honey producers in southwest Iowa. Lavern Schmitz worked for his father-in-law, Louis, after returning from the Korean War. Lavern saw the opportunities with honey early on and started his own producing operation in the mid1950s. Nicknamed “Smitty” in grade Bazzini (Cont’d. from p. 1)
formula making to their specifications. Bazzini is highly adept in achieving a taste or specific product profile and at being able to design and implement customer-specific items. With a far-reaching product range that includes chocolate, nutritional, cereal and power bars, caramels, cups, cherries, mints, nut clusters and crunches, as well as fine and Pizzeria (Cont’d. from p. 4)
the quality of the finished result. Whatever your needs, you can rest assured that Caputo will deliver the quality, flavor and consistency that only high standards and family pride can produce.
Focaccia with Pesto and Butternut Squash Recipe makes one full size sheet tray. 375˚ in a convection oven with a low fan.
Ingredients 2 T instant yeast 1 T honey
Stonewall Kitchen (Cont’d. from p. 1)
Salsa gets a 10!), which makes it a quick and easy dip to offer at family gatherings like
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mortadella for its meat tortellini filling. Seviroli also has many varieties of fillings, including cheese, three cheese, spinach, portabella mushroom, beef and sausage. The company’s production facility is SQF Level 3 certified, so you know it takes food
safety very seriously. Seviroli can customize its formulas to meet the needs of your brand, from high-end artisan pastas to everyday value items. It started this business in 1960 with one small storefront. Since then, Seviroli has become
With its onsite laboratory, and microbiologist on staff, the company can create blends and formulas specific to your needs. With years of experience and knowledgeable staff, Caputo offers consistent results. In addition to being one of the most respected manufacturers and processors of hard Italian and Italian style cheeses, Caputo
is also known for its award-winning fresh Mozzarella line, most recently winning awards at the 2019 American Cheese Society Conference for Hand Dipped Ricotta, Burratatini and Nodini. Caputo Cheese is at booth #F3912. There you can meet Pasquale, one of the founders of Caputo and current Chief Executive Officer, and his son, Natale Caputo, current Ca-
puto President. Come by and try the newest additions to the Caputo Fresh Mozzarella line: Mini Nodini and Black Truffle Ovolini, and see how Caputo can craft distinction for you and your customers.
clients, we produce over 20M pounds of high quality candy produced annually.
the ‘better-for-you’ category.
business in combination with your ‘betterfor-you’ strategy?
Private 2019: What is your current focus at Quality Candy?
EH: Driving topline growth of our iconic nostalgic brands in the hard candy category through flavor and package innovation, to bring new users to the category in a highly competitive and price sensitive marketplace. As well as tapping into the current ‘betterfor-you’ category which is a large part of our 2020 strategic plan. Private 2019: Tell our readers more about
school, he named his new business Smitty Bee Honey. The business grew through the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s. Doug Schmitz, Lavern’s son, worked beside his father, learning the trade as well. Doug then started his own operation in the late 1970s, which he grew into a lucrative honey producing business throughout the 1980s and ‘90s. In the early 1990s, commercial agriculture changed the natural landscape and honey production yields decreased every year, as the majority of southwest Iowa was converted to corn and soybeans. To further di-
promotional boxed and bulk chocolates, the company’s production floor is laid out for maximum efficiency. The ability to produce high volumes of a wide range of products means being able to package those products efficiently for the market. The available pack styles are endless and range from boxed chocolates to tins, specialty seasonal packs, gift baskets, gift towers and single serve consumption items. Bazzini can
2 c warm water ¼ c olive oil plus more for drizzling 5 c AP flour 1 T kosher salt 1 butternut squash sliced in ¼" rounds, and roasted 1 ½ c shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano 8 oz basil pesto Sea salt to taste
EH: We are passionate about the category and what we can bring to the consumer. We’ve recently launched value-added products in the ‘better-for-you’ platform in both branded and private label. Sugar is a big topic of conversation with consumers as well as clean labeling. We are developing and producing products with reduced sugar, no sugar with a focus on non-GMO and organic ingredients.
Private 2019: What do you think allows Quality Candy to be a leader in product innovation as it relates to your private label
versify, Doug and his family turned their attention to packing honey for farmer’s markets and craft shows. The packaging business grew strong through the 1990s, while honey production struggled. Over the 20 years, Smitty Bee grew from a small honey producer and packer to one of the nation’s fastest growing honey processors, packaging over 20 million pounds of honey per year. Smitty Bee Honey packages different types of honey for all industry sectors. These markets include commercial food manufac-
produce almost every type of pack and wrap style in use today, ranging from hand-packed gift boxed assortments to lines equipped with robotic packaging. For high volume form fill and seal needs products are routed to high speed baggers that can make pillow, gusseted and flat bottom bags. The company’s end of the line solutions are equally expansive and encompass high speed box formers, sealers, end-loaded cartoners and shrink wrappers.
Preparation Activate the yeast by adding ¼ c warm water, ¼ c olive oil, and the honey to the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk to combine. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes, or until
the yeast starts foamy. Whisk the salt and flour together, and add to the yeast mixture. Using a dough hook, start mixing while drizzling in the rest of your water until a dough starts to form. Mix on medium speed for 8-10 minutes; the dough should pull away from the bowl. Add a sprinkle of flour if dough is sticky. During the last minute of mixing, add 4 oz of pesto. Coat the sides of the mixing bowl with olive oil, and put the dough in a warm place to proof until it is doubled in size. Place on parchment lined sheet tray, and shape to fit sheet tray, using your fingers to make inden-
pool parties or barbecues. Serving possibilities abound for this exciting new offering. It’s a great partner for chicken tacos, tostadas or taco salad, or try
it atop a pork, cheddar and green apple quesadilla for a gourmet twist on a favorite lunch. Of course, you can’t go wrong pairing this salsa with Stonewall Kitchen’s crunchy
the world’s largest frozen tortellini manufacturer, creating superb pastas that you can serve with pride and confidence.
Visit Seviroli Foods at booth #F7100. For more information, go to www.seviroli.com.
Visit Caputo Cheese at booth #F3912. For more information, go to www.caputocheese.com or call 708.450.0074.
EH: It’s a variety of things. We have a sharp Product Development Innovation Team who understands custom candy ideation and the science of ‘better-for-you.’ A team and test kitchen that allows us to be nimble and quick to market for our private label customers. We’ve been in the business of helping our private label customers bring products to market for over 30 years. We’re excellent at what we do from ideation to product execution. Visit Quality Candy at booth #F9223. For more information, go to www.qcandy.com.
turing, foodservice and retail. Honeys are carefully selected from specific botanical or geographical areas from around the world and blended to match customer specifications. Exotic and rare varietals such as Washington Raspberry, California Sage and Mexican Avocado honey are just a few of the honeys that can be sourced. Recent trends show that customers are looking for new and trendy honey items that will stand out from the rest. Visit Smitty Bee Honey at booth #F2241.
“Stay flexible and gear up to meet the diverse needs of a wide variety of potential customers,” is the mantra of Richard Toltzis, Chief Operating Officer of Bazzini. Toltzis is responsible for operating the Bazzini company and for the private label and contract manufacturing program.
For more information, .bazzininuts.com.
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tations throughout. Drizzle olive oil on the dough, and sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Place butternut squash rounds on top and sprinkle shredded Parmigian-Reggiano. Drizzle with olive oil before putting in the oven. Bake until the bread is browned, and baked through, approximately 20 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool. Cut and drizzle with olive oil, and pesto for service. Buon Appetito!
Visit Caputo Cheese at booth #F3912. For more information, go to www .caputocheese.com or call 708.450.0074. and delicious Yellow Tortilla Chips.
For more information, call 888.326.5678 or go to www.stonewallkitchen.com.