The National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association (NFRA) elected its association officers and members of the board of directors for 2013-2014 at its membership meeting held last month in San Diego, CA during its annual convention.
Scott Haws, VP of retail/deli sales for Land O’Lakes, Inc. was elected chairman of the board. Haws has served on the board since 2005, including as vice chairman-refrigerated from 2010-2011, as secretary from 2011-2012, and as chairman-elect from 2012-2013. He is also a member of the Distinguished Order of Zerocrats and Honorable Order of Golden Penguins.
Other officers sworn in at the Association’s 69th annual meeting were: David Welch, Winn-Dixie Stores, chairman-elect; Scott Rouse, Tyson Foods, secretary; Ray Tarnowski, Philadelphia Warehouse & Cold Storage, treasurer; Dave Jones, Kellogg Company, vice chairman-frozen; and John Farmer, Dairy Farmers of America, vice chairman-refrigerated.
Newly elected to the board were: Shawn Buckner, Meijer; Ken Cassara, Wegmans; Dave Cichocki, Kraft Foods; Richard Gillis, Lactalis Retail Dairy; Ken Lahey, ConAgra Foods; Philip Payment, HAC; Kevin Schwab, Pictsweet; and Mike Witt, Supervalu. Elected for a second term were: Bob Cronin, Wells Enterprises; Ken Messick, Boulder Brands; Moe Mrozek, Pinnacle Foods Group; Dan Nolan, Stremick’s Heritage Foods; Michael O’Keefe, Advantage Sales & Marketing; Trenton Potts, Daisy Brand; and Angela Rosenquist, Boboli International.
Congratulations and best wish to Nestle/Carnation’s Anthony McPhail on his retirement from Nestle after 34 years with the company. Anthony was a credit to the company, as he lived and breathed Nestle from every pore of his body. When you were with Anthony, he could never stop talking about Nestle and his job. We wish him well in retirement and I’m sure he will be an Ambassador for Nestle no matter where he goes.
Bradmer Foods, LLC, a Baltimore-based natural and specialty food focused venture capital firm, recently announced the appointment of Dan Krause as managing director. Krause will assume the day-to-day responsibilities of Bradmer Foods and spearhead the firm’s efforts to consult in the natural and specialty industry. Dan is a former General Mills and McCormick executive with over 20 years of experience in both traditional grocery and specialty items.
Bradmer Foods is a consulting and investing firm that partners exclusively with natural and specialty food and beverage businesses to help them grow their brands. Bradmer Foods works with food and beverage entrepreneurs through management and best practice consulting, delivering years of industry experience in ways that enhance a company’s existing
processes. Bradmer has previously consulted to numerous manufacturers, importers and distributors and also invested in six brands. Learn more about Bradmer Foods at www.bradmerfoods.com
The William J. Grize Hall of Fame Award was presented to Regenia Stein, former president for business development, industry development and communications at Foods Group Inc., at the Network of Executive Women Leadership Summit’s Celebrating Excellence Awards last
month in Los Angeles. More than 1,000 NEW members were present as president and CEO Joan Toth presented award, which is named after the late Ahold USA CEO Bill Grize, an early advocate of industry diversity. It honors industry leaders who have demonstrated “an enduring commitment to the advancement of women and to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace.”
Stein has been a member of the NEW board since 2006. As sponsorship chair, she was instrumental in launching a partnership program that doubled sponsor support. She served on the NEW Diversity and Inclusion Council and has played significant roles in the Network’s succession planning project, the NEW Multicultural Workforce Conference and the NEW LeadershipAcademy and has represented NEW at industry events and inside Kraft Foods Group as a NEW Ambassador.
The Network also presented board service awards to outgoing NEW Treasurer Rosa Stroh, vice president and treasurer of The Hershey Company, and outgoing board members Linda Johnson, former chief diversity officer and vice president of talent management and diversity at Supervalu, and Christy Consler, senior vice president for human resources and corporate sustainability at Jamba Juice.
Wegman’s Food Markets is a standout among Baltimore-Washington area stores, with comparatively low prices and high quality, according to a 152-item basket analysis by
Consumers’ Checkbook magazine.
According to the magazine’s article, compared to average prices at Giant and Safeway stores in the region, prices are 20 percent lower at WalmartSupercenter stores, 19 percent lower at SuperTarget, 14 percent at Food Lion, 14 percent at Target and 13 percent at Wegmans, according to the report.
Wegman’s ranked highest in overall quality with the vast majority of Wegmans consumers—93 percent–rating it “superior” vs. 34 percent of Safeway shoppers and 39 percent of Giant shoppers. Area price leaders also got relative low marks for quality with just 27 percent of Walmart shoppers rating it “superior,” 23 percent of Food Lion shoppers and 21 percent of Target shoppers.
Wegmans likewise received high ratings for “quality of fresh produce,” “quality of meats” and “helpfulness of staff.”
The number of people utilizing digital devices for holiday shopping is expected to rise this year, according to the 28th annual holiday survey by Deloitte of New York. More than one-third of respondents said they still prefer to shop in a physical store rather than on line.
Edward “Eddie” Dopkin, popular Baltimore Restaurateur who founded and owned Miss Shirley’s and co-owned the Classic Catering People, died last month at age 61. Dopkin’s dining successes and relationships within the community earned praise from Baltimoreans who patronized his establishments and who, like the Baltimore Ravens organization, relied on his family’s Owings Mills-based catering company.
In addition to launching the original Miss Shirley’s on East Cold Spring Lane in 2005, Dopkin formerly owned several other restaurants in the Keswick and Evergreen neighborhoods along Cold Spring Lane in North Baltimore, including Alonso’s, Loco Hombre, S’ghetti Eddies and the Roland Park Bagel Co.
As the caterer for the Baltimore Ravens, Dopkin was a recognizable figure throughout the organization, and was even asked on occasion by players to provide catering for private parties.
Dopkin’s efforts within the restaurant and catering industry included a term as board president of the Restaurant Association of Maryland (RAM).
We also recently learned of the passing of Alvin R. Mindel, former director of sales and merchandising of Gian/Landover. Al retired from Giant in the early 1990s. He leaves his wife Estelle Mindel and was the brother of Rochelle Nezin and Wilma Mindel. Memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society.
Our condolences to the family of Herb Whiteside, long time A&P vice president, who passed away last month.
As this is the last issue of Food World in 2013…from all of us at Best-Met Publishing a very happy and healthy holiday season to all the beautiful people who work in the food industry! We will see you in 2014!