Oser Communications Group

2 3 April 2019 SNACKING NEWS DOVE Chocolate and CARE Partner to Build Marketplace for Women-Run Businesses DOVE ® Chocolate and CARE have an- nounced the next phase of their partnership to empower women in the cocoa growing communities of Cote d'Ivoire. The first stone was laid on a new mar- ketplace for women-led businesses in the village of Gueyo, a centrally-located commerce area nestled among the cocoa fields of Cote d'Ivoire in West Africa on March 6. The official ceremony was at- tended by 1,000 women and entrepre- neurs, some of whom will have a new space within the market. Also in atten- dance were local dignitaries including Kone Messemba, the Prefet of Nawa Re- gion and Abdoulaye Doumbia, Regional Director of the Ministry of Family, Women and Child Protection in addition to Jason Green, Mars West Africa Direc- tor and Inge Jacobs, Senior Manager, Human Rights and Income, Cocoa, Mars Wrigley Confectionery. The new marketplace will open in July and provide space for women to sell their goods daily. The reinforced structure will provide protection from the elements, a major improvement from the outdoor stalls used before. Connected to the elec- tricity grid, the marketplace will offer lighting for safety and added longevity should women choose to extend their work day. New meeting space will allow women to organize trainings, run operational meetings and be available for rent as an- other form of income. The marketplace in- frastructure will also include new latrines and handwashing stations. The DOVE Chocolate partnership with CARE, a leading humanitarian organiza- tion fighting global poverty, has operated since 2015. Since that time, DOVE Chocolate has supported the develop- ment and evolution of small female-dri- ven enterprises in cocoa farming communities using CARE Village Sav- ings & Loan Associations (VSLA) methodology. Today, the VSLAs operate in 39 communities in Cote d'Ivoire with thousands of members, 80 percent of which are women. The VSLAs have be- come essential in helping women achieve financial independence by empowering them to build micro businesses. In turn, the cocoa growing communities have benefitted, as the resources generated are re-invested in these communities by the women themselves. The continued partnership between DOVE Chocolate and CARE is part of the commitment by Mars, Incorporated, to im- prove the lives of cocoa farmers and to achieve its Sustainable in a Generation Plan ambitions. Having already pledged $1 million to CARE, Mars recognizes em- powering communities and improving livelihoods in cocoa-producing regions is the most important step in how DOVE Chocolate is made. For the third consecutive year, con- sumers can join this effort. In the coming weeks, for every online purchase of qual- ifying DOVE Chocolate PROMISES 150-piece bags on Amazon, $5.00 will be donated to CARE. See the DOVE Choco- late page on Amazon for more details. For more information about DOVE Chocolate, visit www.dove chocolate.com. n SNACKING NEWS tradeshow calendar advertiser index April 11-14 Specialty Coffee Association of American Boston, Massachusetts www.sca.coffee May 18-21 National Restaurant Show Chicago, Illinois www.show.restaurant.org May 21-23 Sweets & Snacks Expo Chicago, Illinois www.sweetsandsnacks.com June 2-5 Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting New Orleans, Louisiana www.iftevent.org June 2-4 International Dairy-Deli-Bake Seminar & Expo Orlando, Florida www.iddba.org June 23-25 Summer Fancy Food Show New York, New York www.specialtyfood.com June 27-28 SNACKEX Barcelona, Spain www.snackex.com September 12-14 Natural Products Expo East Baltimore, Maryland www.expoeast.com Candy Mountain Sweets & Treats 22 www.tootarts.com Formaggio Italian Specialties 24 www.formaggio.com Klondike Cheese Co. 3 www.odysseybrands.com Once Again Nut Butter 11 www.oanb.com SuperSeedz 2 www.superseedz.com ADVERTISER PAGE WEBSITE Freedom Foods on Nationwide Tour with Plant-Based, Allergen-Friendly Food Festival Nine cities remain in Australian Natural Foods Company Freedom Foods' national tour to showcase its line of allergen- friendly cereals and new Messy Monkeys kids snacks. The brand has partnered with The Nour- ished Festival, an evolution of what was once the nation's largest Gluten-Free and Allergen-Friendly Expo, to better accom- modate the market of approximately 10 percent of Americans who are limiting food allergens due to lifestyle and dietary issues. The Nourished Festival showcases a vast array of exhibitors as they target the growing consumer interest in plant-based food, food allergies, Celiac disease, and the Paleo and Keto diets. Freedom Foods has strategically part- nered with The Nourished Festival to sup- port the roll out of their Messy Monkeys Chocolate baked snacks, as well as a repo- sitioning of their core Freedom Foods breakfast cereals, both of which launched at Natural Products Expo West in March 2019. By adding chocolate to its roster of fla- vors, which already includes Pizza, Cheese, and Apple, the Messy Monkeys brand provides gluten and peanut-free snacks, with an affordable price point, to kids nationwide. Messy Monkeys Chocolate is a non- GMO whole grain snack with the hidden goodness of natural ingredients like quinoa, sorghum and functional nutrients like fiber and protein. One bag of Messy Monkeys Chocolate has only one gram of sugar and is peanut-free to meet growing numbers of allergen-friendly daycares and schools. Easily accessible snacks, such as potato chips, are often gluten-free by nature, mak- ing them an easy choice for parents, but not necessarily a healthy one. By incorporating gluten-free grains and other nutritious in- gredients, Messy Monkeys contain 14 per- cent protein, seven percent fiber and less than 100 mg of sodium per serving. Freedom Foods will celebrating with the Nourished Festival in the following cities: Salt Lake City, Utah, May 4-5; Chicago, Illinois, June 1-2; Boston, Massachusetts, July 20-21; Dallas, Texas, September 7-8; Seattle, Washington, September 21-22; and Secaucus, New Jersey, October 5-6. Freedom Foods' new look cereals and Messy Monkeys baked snacks will be available through Amazon and other retail- ers beginning May 2019. For more infor- mation visit www.freedomfoodsus.com. n Emmi Roth Acquires Great Lakes Cheese's Seymour Plant Emmi Roth ® is expanding with the acqui- sition of Great Lakes Cheese's blue cheese plant in Seymour, Wisconsin. Emmi Roth is known for award-winning Wisconsin-made blue cheeses including Roth Buttermilk Blue ® , a creamy raw milk blue cheese, Roth Buttermilk Blue Affinée, an aged version of Buttermilk Blue, and Roth Moody Blue ® , a small- batch smoky blue cheese. With the purchase of the Great Lakes Cheese plant, Emmi Roth will not only be able to expand its blue cheese production, but also increase its capabilities to develop new blue cheese products and packaging solutions. "We believe in the blue cheese category and see this as an opportunity to strengthen our position in the market," said Tim Omer, Emmi Roth President and Manag- ing Director. "This acquisition gives us ac- cess to a talented group of cheesemakers and provides us with additional resources to expand our current production and de- velop new blue cheese products for our customers." Emmi Roth will assume ownership of Great Lakes Cheese's Seymour factory, re- lated land, productions facility and equip- ment on February 28, 2019. "We know Emmi Roth to be as passion- ate about cheese and as committed to its employees as we are," said John Epprecht, Vice President, Great Lakes Cheese. "They are well positioned to guide Sey- mour's business and its dedicated work- force into the next stage of growth." Great Lakes Cheese's Seymour plant currently employs 50 people; Emmi Roth will offer continued employment to all em- ployees at the Seymour location. "We look forward to welcoming the employees at Great Lakes Cheese into our family of award-winning cheesemakers," said Omer. This acquisition will grow Emmi Roth to four locations in Wisconsin, also includ- ing Monroe, Platteville and Fitchburg, em- ploying nearly 300 people. For more information visit www .emmiroth.com. n

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