sofi™ Awards

sofi Award Judging Process

2,300 Products Tasted, Evaluated &
Narrowed Down to 125+ Finalists

NASFT members enter some 2,300 products into the competition. There are 32 awards categories, which reflect the breadth and diversity of the specialty food industry. Products are judged on these characteristics:

  • Taste
  • Quality
  • Innovativeness
  • Ingredient Profile
  • Merchandisability
  • Best in its Class

The judges are top professionals in the specialty food industry and include specialty food retailers, supermarket buyers, natural food merchants, mass marketers, chefs, caterers, journalists and culinary educators. In the past five years, the judges have come from:

  • Whole Foods Markets
  • The Fresh Market
  • Raley's
  • New Seasons Market
  • Meijer
  • Fresh Direct
  • Crate & Barrel
  • West Point Market
  • Bi-Rite Market
  • Di Bruno Brothers
  • Pier 1 Imports
  • Sickles Market
  • Giant Eagle
  • The Culinary Institute of America
  • Myriad Restaurant Group
  • Good Morning America
  • O, the Oprah Magazine



The judges spend nine full days tasting and evaluating all entries to come up with a list of Silver Finalists across all categories. The Gold Winners are selected from the sofi Silver Finalists by about 300 retailers and foodservice buyers attending the Fancy Food Show. The judges at the Show taste the products and vote on the best using the same criteria as in Round 1. The judging takes place over two days, supervised by an independent auditor.