As is the case in past years, things seem to quiet down in the food industry in the Mid-Atlantic during the summer season. It’s still a very lively industry but because of vacations and summer travel, things seem to go a bit slower.
The Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association and Pennsylvania Dairy Promotion Program board of directors recently elected officers for the 2013 term, welcomed new members, and recognized members for years of service. Vernon Horst of Chambersburg, PA was re-elected chairman of Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association, and Harold Shaulis of Somerset, PA was re-elected chairman of Pennsylvania Dairy Promotion Program. Also re-elected as Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association officers were: Joyce Bupp, Seven Valleys, PA, vice chair; Jeff Moore, Centerville, MD, secretary; and Jerrel HeatwoleGreenwood, DE, treasurer.
Several Pennsylvania Dairy Promotion Program board members received service awards.
Recognized for 20 years of service were Harold Shaulis, Somerset; Bertha Ackerson, Marion Center; Harold Bailey, Roaring Spring; and Randall Meabon, Wattsburg. Rita Kennedy, Valencia, and Richard Waybright, Gettysburg, were recognized for 15 years of service to the board. Also receiving recognition from Pennsylvania Dairy Promotion Program were Christine Cooney of Spartansburg and Lolly Lesher of Bernville, who have served on the board of directors for 10 years. Bruce Bartley of Cogan Station and James Warburton of New Albany were recognized for 5]five years of service.
Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association board of directors recognized Jeff Moore of Centerville, MD for 10 years of service.
Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association and Pennsylvania Dairy Promotion Program are the local planning and management organizations funded by dairy farmer check-off dollars. They work closely with Dairy Management Inc. and are responsible for increasing demand for dairy products on behalf of Mid-Atlantic dairy farmers through consumer education and food service partnerships. For more information, visit www.dairyspot.com.
Safeway is one of 15 companies – and the only retailer – selected to receive the 2013 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award, given to employers for exceptional support of National Guard and Reserve employees.
Safeway is one of six large companies to receive the Freedom Award. Nine other award recipients are small to mid-sized businesses or public-sector employers. The recipients, who came from a pool of nearly 3,000 nominated private and public sector employers, were selected for having programs and policies aimed at hiring members of the National Guard and Reserve.
Wal-Mart is the first national grocery chain to require suppliers to comply with Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) standards. GFSI requires food suppliers to complete factory audit certifications against internationally recognized benchmarks. The result to Wal-Mart has been a 34 percent reduction in the number of recalls, which in turn reduces risk and increases consumer confidence.
Ed Sherwin of Sherwin Food Safety has many new clients. The latest to sign up with Ed are: Hill Country Barbecue Market, Washington, DC; Pure Chocolate by Jinji, Baltimore, MD; Roti Mediterranean Grill, Chicago, IL; Embassy Suites Tremont Plaza, Baltimore, MD; Stuggy’s Old Fashioned Hot Dogs, Fells Point, MD; Dooby’s Coffee, Baltimore, MD; and Conrad’s Crabs of Jacksonville, MD.
Congratulations to Weis Markets on receiving the Silver Award in the 25th DuPont Awards for Packaging Innovation, for developing the industry’s first closed-loop 100 percent recyclable modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) meat trays made from recycled plastics. The trays were developed in partnership with Clearly Clean Products, which specializes in custom thermoformed packaging solutions.
Outback Steakhouse and Panera Bread are tops among U.S. restaurant/food service brands when it comes to responding to the needs of their customers, according to a new Customer Centricity Index (CCI) from Dunnhumby, which analyzes and distills insights from more than 400 million customers world wide for retailer clients.
Dunnhumby’s new CCI weighs U.S. customers’ perceptions of retailers against seven “pillars” or primary business areas most critical to achieving long-term customer-centricity (experience, loyalty, communications, assortment, promotions, price and feedback), to help retailers understand where and how they can improve.
The results of Dunnhumby’s first CCI report, focused on the restaurant/food service sector, confirm the companies with higher CCI scores also tend to have higher long-term comparable sales growth over a two-year period.
Sincere sympathy is extended to the family of Joseph Unanue, former president of Goya Foods who passed away last month at his home in Alpine, NJ.
“Supermarket Superstar,” Lifetime’s all-new competition series, gives everyday Americans the chance to prove they have the next great product consumers will love.
Hosted by Stacy Keibler, Supermarket Superstar gives undiscovered food entrepreneurs their chance to shine among the big brands in the highly competitive food industry. This is the first food competition show that provides a platform for individuals that can change the way millions of Americans shop and eat, according to a news release.
Each one-hour episode of Supermarket Superstar follows three home chefs as they pitch their product concepts to titans of the food world for the opportunity to have their creation launched nationally in a major grocery chain.
Chef, vintner, TV host and specialty foods pioneer Michael Chiarello, cookie mogul Debbi Fields of Mrs. Fields Cookies and branding expert and food product visionary Chris Cronyn serve as the series’ mentors to share their expertise with the contestants as they prepare their products for mass production. With the help of Chiarello and research and development chef Andrew Hunter, the hopefuls must refine and perfect their recipes to impress targeted focus groups of real-life consumers to make it to the checkout line.
(This writer feels that without the aid of a good food broker, they’ll never make it to a supermarket shelf.)
On a personal note, all of us at Best-Met Publishing, Food World and Food Trade News, were saddened to learn of the death of Lou Rosenthal. Lou had been a very important part of the sales team at Best-Met Publishing and all of us truly enjoyed working with him. He had spent his entire working career in some sort of sales – mostly door to door or company to company. His last job, before joining Food World and Food Trade News was with Entenmann’s Bakery where he retired from. Of course, retirement was not for Lou, and we persuaded him to come to work – whenever he felt like it – at Best-Met Publishing selling space in Food World and Food Trade News.
He loved it. And he was a part of our company up until it was no longer possible for him to come in to the office. He was a wonderful man who was full of stories of “the good old days” when he would drive from house to house selling the wares of whatever company he represented at the time. He was very successful, but his stories of those house to house calls were hilarious. He loved to be kidded and he loved to kid. Lou was 91. He will be missed.
I’m closing on a very personal note, Kathy and I are very proud of our two grandsons, Richard John Bestany III and Samuel James Bestany, who attend TrinitySchool in Illchester, MD. Both received end of the year recognition awards .
If any of our readers would like to have their children or grand children recognized in Food World, please send me an e-mail with all the details to: [email protected] or drop me a line at: Food World, 5537 Twin Knolls Rd. Columbia, MD 21045. We will be happy to include them in future issues.