April 2016
Deli Star
QUARTERLY LOG Welcome to the Party! SLI C Grand Opeing February 26, 2016
Innovation Starts Here “We are committed to bringing products to our customers and to the market quicker than any of our competitors, and this Innovation Center, centrally located in the U.S., will allow us to best do so”, Siegel adds. “The center will provide an even greater commitment to our research and development, one of Deli Star’s core values that help us to align our purpose and vision.” January 19th, 2016—Deli Star Corporation announces the opening of its new Innovation Center in downtown St. Louis. This venture is the Illinois-based company’s first investment in Missouri in its 28-year history—demonstrating the company’s commitment to research and development which looks to fuel aggressive growth plans by nurturing and furthering Deli Star’s current and future customer partnerships. The new Innovation Center is located in downtown St. Louis’ Laclede’s Landing district at 727 North First Street, and features a state-of-the-art, restaurant-style kitchen for R&D with adjoining conference rooms, employee offices and additional meeting spaces. Customers will work sideby-side with Deli Star’s R&D team and chefs, fueling collaboration in creating innovative protein solutions for foodservice industry. The Innovation Center will celebrate its grand opening on February 26th. “Our new second home provides a custom location to help our customers grow, while giving us an arena to showcase our products, speed R&D and boost our AMVAC fresh meat division”, says Justin Siegel, President of Deli Star Corporation. “The center’s close proximity to Lambert-St. Louis International Airport and the St. Louis metro area’s business zone makes it an ideal and enticing place for us to welcome our existing partners and potential new partners”.
February 26th, 2016 - The doors of the elevator to the new Innovation center, located in Downtown St. Louis on the landing, opened to customers, friends and family of Deli Star. The mission was to showcase the new Hub for exciting new products and have a good time. The state-of-the-art industrial kitchen was the center of attention with Executive Chef Jared Case preparing savory dishes for the guests to enjoy. For the dishes, Chef Jared chose items from the three product categories that Deli Star offers: The Carver Line, Gaucho Slow-Cooked Meats, and AMVAC. Guests were welcome to explore the building and visit 6 Innovation Stations which included a sweet and spicy applewood-smoked turkey sandwich, a chicken salad sandwich with crisp apples on a croissant roll, slow-roasted pork tacos, beef and pork pub burgers and an Australian Wagyu tomahawk steak. Along with the Innovation Stations, the grand opening featured door prizes, Mastermind Vodka and an open bar managed by our special guest bartender, Drew, from Frazier’s Restaurant & Lounge. Deli Star is grateful to everyone in attendance for making the night such an outstanding success.
Fayetteville is within close proximity of the new Innovation Center and is home to Deli Star’s state-of-the-art, SQF-accredited meat processing facility; where it implements a proprietary postpasteurization process that guarantees its processed meat products are free of preservatives, harmful bacteria and foodborne pathogens. Deli Star’s processing facility also packages case ready fresh meat with a unique packaging format developed by its AMVAC division. The Innovation Center provides the facilities for the R&D needed for new product introductions and marketing strategies while its packaging operations continue to grow at the Fayetteville plant.
April 2016 - Deli Star Quarterly News
Deli Star
QL QL 1
Deli Star Corp. Supports Area Organizations by Donating 84,000 Lbs. of Cooked Meat in 2015
Deli Star FRESH MEAT
Annual giving is nearly $220,000 in donated product Deli Star Corporation is proud to announce its 2015 giving totals. Last year, Deli Star supported local organizations by donating deli meat to make approximately 336,000 sandwiches. This amounts to nearly $220,000 in donated product and demonstrates the company’s dedication to its investment in the regional community. Deli Star donated more than 84,000 lbs. of quality cooked meat such as smoked honey ham, oven-cured chicken breast, turkey breast, slow-cooked pastrami, bologna, roast beef, and Angus beef meatloaf to various organizations across the region, including: Operation Food Search; Mary, Mother of the Church in St. Louis; U.S. Marshals Service, Southern District of Illinois; Children for Christ in St. Louis; East St. Louis Grade School in
East St. Louis, Ill.; and Althoff Catholic High School in Belleville, Ill. “As stewards to the Southern Illinois and the Greater St. Louis areas, we are proud to support our local and regional churches, schools, food banks and charities as they work very hard to assemble meals and sandwiches for the hungry,” says Justin Siegel, President of Deli Star Corporation. “We see the members of our community as if they are part of our family. We recognize that it is our Purpose at Deli Star to provide the safest, highest quality, best tasting protein to the world, and that doesn’t stop with those who are fortunate enough to afford it.”
Cathysue Smick Director of Quality Senior Food Scientist
Andrew Dahle Assistant Marketing Manager
Nicholas Coleman Production Assistant
Deli Star Set Sea for the RFA Conference From left to right: Joel Ennigenburg - Director of National Accounts, Kevin Schwartz - Director of Sales, Sara Dietrich - Sales & Marketing Manager, Jay Janicke - Mr. Chips & friend to Deli Star Team, Justin Siegel - President of Deli Star The Refrigerated Foods Association (RFA) is an organization of manufacturers and suppliers of refrigerated prepared foods united by a common interest: to advance and safeguard the industry. With innovation on their minds, Deli Star’s Sales team attended the RFA’s 36th annual conference and exhibit to showcase their new Carver Line. This line includes proteins that use nothing but premium restaurant quality whole muscles. Deli Star
2
Deli Star
QL QL
utilizes their post-pasteurization process to achieve an extended shelf-life and capture the natural flavors and smoke of the Carver Line items. The line consists of a Golden Carver Turkey Breast, Applewood-Smoked Ham and Rotisserie-Style Chicken Breast. The conference offered a lot of exposure for the new products and may open the door for potential customers.
Sara Seib Production Assistant
Mike King Production Assistant April 2016 - Deli Star Quarterly News
AGILE THE INNOVATION BLUE-FOOTED BOOBY Deli Star St. Louis
CENTER
The Newest Face and Bluest Feet
Meet Agile the Innovation Blue-Footed Booby Evolution is a theory that explains that “change is the essence of life.” In order for life to continue to exist, species must adapt to their environments. The idea is that individuals with an advantage will survive to pass on the desired trait. This is an idea that Deli Star knows all too well and embraces change and improvement to allow the company to remain on the edge of innovation. Agile is a Blue-Footed Booby, a bird native to the Galápagos Islands. The Blue-Footed Booby has become a symbol of evolution because of its lack of change throughout its history. Charles Darwin, who developed the theory of evolution observed that other birds on the island have adapted to better swim and catch fish while the BlueFooted Booby has remained pretty much the same over thousands of years. Agile has become the mascot of the Innovation center to remind everyone that change and evolution are necessary to maintain the status as leaders in the industry. Everyday at the SLIC the R&D team researches industry trends and strives to develop innovative products for their customers. They have dedicated themselves to the continual improvement of Deli Star and the products they create.
Each quarter employees nominate each other to be the Star Guest of the Quarter. This person has gone above and beyond their normal job duties and is a great example of being a leader! This past quarter not only did Mitch Collins earn the award, he took it to the next level! Earning the most nominations anyone has ever had, he earned them in all five categories: 1. Positive Attitude 2. Professionalism 3. Proper and Effective Communication 4. Pride in Facility Maintenance and Appearance 5. Product and Industry Knowledge. Mitch was promoted to Roll Stock Production Specialist in December of 2015. “Mitch kept the Roll Stock room running in the midst of change and accepted his new role with pride”, said one of his coworkers. The Star Guest Service Standards are the backbone of StarGuest™. They are practical steps that provide a road map on which we build and deliver the StarGuest™ level of service. A guest’s experience begins with each guest we face each day across all of our business lines. Thanks Mitch for all of your hard work and dedication you have shown to Deli Star. And a thanks to all of you who nominated! Keep up the good work!
AMVAC’S FRESH NEW LOOK
R&D Corner
AMVAC Packaging has spent the past few months refocusing their strategy and business plan. The original focus was to market the AMVAC 20 vacuum skin packaging (VSP) machine to enable medium size packers to enter the case ready fresh meat market without the significant expense required for existing VSP equipment. While the machine has generated lots of interest, the manufacture and support of equipment took AMVAC further away from the core strengths of Deli Star. They began to analyze existing Deli Star resources, existing capacity and the strategic fit of using their case ready expertise to produce a line of retail fresh meat products. They gathered input from all departments to consider the pros and cons of such a venture and after careful consideration the decision was made to move forward.
With the addition of the Innovation Kitchen in St. Louis, the Research and Development team has their hands full with customer visits and opportunities knocking at the door. The new office space and kitchen allows customers, scientists, and chefs to come together to collaborate ideas. Most recent product launches include a savory Peppered Pork Belly, Korean Short Rib, and not to mention a brand new product line, The Carver Line. The all new Peppered Pork Belly can be used in an array of applications. It can be sliced thin or thick, diced or chunked. The Pork Belly’s versatility and flavor profile make it highly sought after to chefs and restaurant chains. The carver line presents itself as the highest quality slicing log, including turkey, ham, chicken, and beef. Each slice is as juicy as the next with flavors that are sure to make your taste buds pop. One bite of the Golden Carver Turkey Breast will remind you of making a sandwich the day after thanksgiving.
The Marketing Department has been busy helping to create new marketing materials, product labeling and logos to help get the message out that AMVAC is the case ready expert and have developed a new packaging format for fresh meat. It is a vacuum skin package that maintains the fresh red color that customers prefer.
AM AC A
PREMIUM
Brought to you by R&D Manager Tyler Boring
April 2016 - Deli Star Quarterly News
Deli Star
QL QL 3
Communication is the Breakfast of Champions. The following were in attendance: Justin Siegel - President, Bill Barrows - Director of Human Resources, Sarah Seib - Production Assistant Roll Stock, Flor Marler - Sanatation Assistant, Paul Gregowicz Process Refinement Technician, Nick Coleman - Production Assistant Grinding Room, Melissa Barger - Quality Manager, and Allen Eastman - IT Manager
Justin gave the group updates on our current business relationships, and new business opportunities he and the Sales and Marketing Team are working on. Justin also gave exciting updates on the AMVAC fresh meat line that Dan Siegel and Tom Wuller are working on, and on the opening of the Innovation Center on Laclede’s Landing in St. Louis. He explained how the facility features a restaurant-style kitchen that will be used for Research & Development, along with conference rooms and offices. The Innovation Center will enable current and future customers to work side-by-side with Deli Star’s R&D team and Chefs and give the opportunity to showcase Deli Star’s products. There was a good exchange of information and great questions from all who attended. Justin concluded the breakfast with thanking everyone for the open and honest communication and that his door is always open. Justin also reminded everyone to always live by our Deli Star Service Standards, they are the backbone of our culture. The 5-P’s are: Positive Attitude, Professionalism, Proper & Effective Communication, Pride in Facility Maintenance & Appearance, and Product & Industry Knowledge.
Deli Star is excited to bring back the “What’s Cooking Breakfast With The President” . On Friday, March 25th, they held another breakfast meeting with a group of employees. As you may recall, the What’s Cooking Breakfast Meeting is an opportunity to have a relaxed, and casual sit down meeting with the President of Deli Star, Justin Siegel. The intent is to create another forum for open communication of what is currently going on with the company and to have an open and honest dialogue with a cross functional group of employees, and of course, enjoy a great breakfast! Justin will continue to hold these breakfast meetings on a quarterly basis.
Behold the Transformation of C-store Sandwiches NATIONAL REPORT — The first thing that comes to mind when thinking of convenience store sandwiches is probably ham, turkey or roast beef and cheese. Or maybe egg, tuna and chicken salad. However, as consumers are exposed to a wider variety of cultures and cuisines, the options and variations for c-store sandwiches are becoming quite literally limitless. Chef Bob Derian, director of food and beverage innovation at convenience store chain RaceTrac Petroleum Inc., told Convenience Store News that he sees two trends taking place simultaneously in the sandwich category: consumers’ demand for higher quality, and the use of non-traditional breads such as pretzel buns, ciabatta, or even longtime favorites like croissants and biscuits. “People will make an initial purchase based on price, a promotion or perhaps a suggestion by an associate, but quality is what will ensure they become a return customer,” noted Derian. “For this reason, quality and food safety need to be at the top of the list when developing a sandwich program. This should be considered an industry best practice.” Indeed, high-quality breads seem to be raising the bar in the c-store sandwich category. Some larger retailers are empowering bakeries to formulate breads engineered to stay fresh longer by avoiding moisture absorption from the other materials used in making a sandwich, according to industry consultant Joe Chiovera, who has held executive foodservice positions at leading c-store companies
4
Deli Star
QL QL
such as 7-Eleven, Sheetz Inc. and Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. “We’re seeing breads being properly engineered for refrigeration. If you’re able to take care of bread’s No. 1 nemesis, refrigeration, as well as absorbing moisture from the produce or deli meat that’s on it, then you’ve got yourself a quality product,” Chiovera continued. “So, it’s important to understand the functional intent of the product — needing production plus four or five days.” Packaging advancements, too, are having a profound effect on prepackaged sandwiches. - See more at: http://www.csnews.com/node/89693
April 2016 - Deli Star Quarterly News