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2009 sofi™ Awards Wrap Up

Nicole Potenza Denis, Deborah Moss and Alexandra Menglide

128 Outstanding Foods and Beverages

and the sofi™
goes to…..

The 34 recipients of the 2009 sofi™ Gold Awards share the stories behind their winning products—how they got started, what sparked their innovations, their key merchandising strategies and more. Also featured are the 94 sofi Silver Finalists.

Photography by Mark Ferri
Food styled by Leslie Orlandini; Props by Fran Matalon-Degni

The red carpet was literally rolled out for all of the participants in the 2009 sofi™ Awards at this year’s revamped, more celebratory event, held on June 29 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City as part of the 55th Summer Fancy Food Show. “sofi is the big event at the Show and an important honor for companies and we wanted to create a ceremony that reflected that,” says Louise Kramer, NASFT communications director. Read on to learn about the voting process, the judges and the event’s glamorous new look.

sofi™ Style

The sofi Awards ceremony took a glamorous turn this year with a newly redesigned look and feel. “We wanted to give the awards the treatment they deserve,” explains NASFT Creative Director Betsy Schwartz. “The goals of the new design were to wow people visually, increase sofi’s name recognition and give the industry the sense of how important the awards are.”

NASFT enlisted an architectural firm, TPG, New York City, which specializes in retail displays, to achieve the look it was seeking in both the ceremony and the new sofi pavilion area that was set up near the main Show entrance in the Javits Center’s Crystal Palace. “They looked at the whole picture and worked to link the two areas together in appearance as well as suggested we tell the story of sofi in panels in the pavilion to educate people,” says Schwartz.

The awards presentation incorporated an 18-foot sofi statue on a 5-foot pedestal, in addition to a red carpet and golden center staircase for winners to ascend. “We also wanted to make all Finalists feel like winners by seating them up front in a special section, and having all of them walk down the red carpet to their seats,”adds Schwartz.

To add a further air of celebrity to the event, 2009’s sofi keynote speaker was acclaimed chef Ming Tsai, who spoke of his love of cooking since childhood and his appreciation for innovation in the food industry. “His theme was about persuing a dream, which really resonated with many of the winners,” notes NASFT Communications Director Louise Kramer.

To view parts of the sofi Awards ceremony as well as interviews with Finalists and judges, please visit NASFT’s video at specialtyfood.com/sofiawards.

The evening began with a pre-ceremony reception where all Finalists, key industry buyers and members of the press sampled products from the Outstanding New Product and Outstanding Classic categories. Then the 128 sofi Finalists of 2009 marched into the awards ceremony amid applause from their peers. “We felt it was important to recognize all of the Finalists, both the products and the people behind them that help make the industry so vibrant,” notes Kramer, who adds that feedback from the participants revealed that even before the big event, the Finalists had received much attention. “People had pages scribbled with all of the Finalists that they were going around to meet,” says Mari Tuttle, whose Caramel Sea Salt Brownie went on to win the Gold in the Outstanding Baked Goods, Baking Ingredient or Cereal category. “[The award] definitely helped us at the Show. Our booth was busier because of it.”

One of the highlights of the evening was keynote speaker Chef Ming Tsai, who has a line of specialty foods available at Target. Chef Tsai honored the sofi participants for their commitment to innovation in products such as Pink Grapefruit Super Sprint, a powdered frozen dessert base, which took top honors in the Outstanding Dessert or Dessert Topping product category, and Outstanding Pasta Sauce winner Butternut Squash pasta sauce from Dave’s Gourmet, which adds creativity to a mature category. “His connection to the products was wonderful,” says Kramer of Chef Tsai. “We held a special tasting for him because he was interested in each product and the stories behind them.”

Chef Tsai, alongside NASFT President Ann Daw and Ron Tanner, vice president, communications, education, government and industry relations, presented the coveted 2009 Gold Awards to 34 companies (there was a tie in the Outstanding Soup, Stew, Bean or Chili category). “This puts us on the map,” says Jeffrey Garstka, Appledore Cove, winner for Outstanding Cooking Sauce or Flavor Enhancer for Seaside Barbecue Sauce. “It says you are one of the best at what you do and that is what we strive for.”

This is the 37th year that the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade (NASFT) awarded trophies for outstanding products in the industry. The sofi Awards competition takes many months, and involves several stages. This year, 1,997 products were submitted to be judged and tasted on key criteria such as quality, taste, innovation, packaging, ingredients and pricing. Evaluating the products were judges Linda Sikorski, The Pasta Shop, Oakland, Calif.; Maren Ammerman and Tara Lenington, The Fresh Market, Greensboro, N.C.; Tim Calderone, Meijer, Grand Rapids, Mich.; Anna Zoitas, West Side Market, New York City; Charlotte Lyons, Ebony magazine, Chicago; Tim Von Hollweg and Jason Colucci, Tribeca Grill/Myriad Restaurant Group, New York; Julie Wyrick, Pier 1 Imports, Fort Worth, Texas; Erik Murnighan and Phil Gutensohn, The French Culinary Institute, New York City; and Brian Hilla and John Hilla, Joe Leone’s, Point Pleasant, N.J. This distinguished group chose the 128 Finalists during five days of judging at the NASFT offices in New York. “The judges came from various disciplines from large supermarkets to small merchants,” says Kramer, “but they all have a sense of mission in selecting quality products to bring to consumers.”

In the final step, at the Summer Fancy Food Show, 268 retailers and foodservice buyers evaluated the Finalist products and cast their votes to select the Gold Winners. (To read more about the sofi judging process, visit NASFT’s blog, Under the Lid, at nasft.wordpress.com).

Turn to the following pages to learn the stories behind these established and rising brands, as well as see a listing of all the sofi Silver Finalists in each category. |SFM|

Dennis Marrero, Susan Segrest, Denise Shoukas and Nicole Potenza Denis are associate and contributing editors, respectively, of Specialty Food Magazine; Deborah Moss is a freelance writer for Fortune Small Business; and Alexandra Menglide, a graduate of University of Virginia, is interning with Specialty Food Magazine for the summer.