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GOURMET NEWS AUGUST 2019 www.gourmetnews.com NEWS & NOTES 8 Nancy Johnston Joins Renaissance Food Group Renaissance Food Group (RFG) has an- nounced that Nancy Johnston has joined the company as Vice President, Produce Pro- curement. In this role, Johnston will con- tinue to drive the company's procurement initatives and lead all aspects of the corporate sourcing and regional procurement teams. Johnston brings to RFG a wealth of expe- rience and knowledge from her past 30 years in the produce industry. She received her bachelor of arts degree in business adminis- tration from Wichita State University, and her background includes: sales manage- ment, purchasing, team building and men- toring, budgeting, relationship building, new product development, marketing and brand development. Prior to RFG, Johnston served as senior sales manager for Sysco Corporation, where she launched and man- aged the new Sysco/FreshPoint brand revi- talization. She also held various other roles within Sysco Corporation, The Richard Kaiser Company, and TKO Farms Inc. In addition, Johnston is committed to making a positive impact on the industry through Produce Marketing Association programs such as Center for Growing Tal- ent Women's Fresh Perspectives. She men- tors students each year at PMA Fresh Connections: Retail and PMA Foodservice Expo, taking care to maintain relationships with students after their graduation. She also actively participates with Produce for Better Health Foundation and Southeast Produce Council. "RFG is excited to have Nancy join our team," said Raina Nelson, Senior Vice Pres- ident, Supply Chain. "She is a well-re- spected industry professional, and we look forward to her contributions in leadership, expertise and knowledge. We also express our gratitude to Debbie Vest for her years of service to RFG and celebrate her devo- tion to this industry. We wish her a won- derful retirement." Johnston's role with RFG began effective June 3, 2019, replacing Debbie Vest, who retired effective June 30, 2019. GN Illinois Farmers Educate on Soil Health A group of 15 Illinois dietitians recently stepped away from their day-to-day roles to learn more about soil health and its impact on food security and the environment. Illi- nois Farm Families ® (IFF), a group of farmer volunteers committed to answering questions about what happens on today's farms, along with experts from Soil Health Partnership, hosted the dietitians on a tour of Paul Taylor's farm in Esmond, Illinois. Taylor, who grows peas and sweet corn for canning, field corn and soybeans, ex- plained why farmers invest in soil health and conservation practices. "Farmland and topsoil are our most im- portant assets," Taylor said. "Illinois has some of the most productive farmland in the world, and we're doing everything we can to not only maintain it, but restore it." He shared soil conservation practices that have been most successful. For Tay- lor, these practices include: rotating crops, which means changing what is grown in each field each year, to keep soil fertile and protect against weeds and pests building up; and planting cover crops that aren't harvested, but keep soil in place over the winter and also help to reduce runoff. The dietitians discovered that these methods are used on both organic and con- ventional farms, which surprised some in the group. Thanks to a rainfall simulator, they also learned how different agronomic practices (tilling the soil, leaving plant residue on the ground after harvest, plant- ing cover crops) impact soil erosion and water runoff. After the tour, the dietitians said they felt more knowledgeable about soil health, crop production and farmers' role in a sus- tainable food system. Future tours on ad- ditional food and farm topics will be offered by IFF. GN JSL Foods Reconnects with Family Legacy Cheese – It's What's for Dinner BY LORRIE BAUMANN With its Cheeseboards for Dinner cam- paign, Cypress Grove is making goat cheese, and its iconic Humboldt Fog in particular, accessible for busy consumers. At the same time, the program gives shoppers who haven't made up their mind what they're going to have for din- ner tonight a reason to come into your store and shop produce, deli and bakery departments in addition to the cheese case. During the campaign, launched in Jan- uary 2019 and continuing through this year and into 2020, Cypress Grove offers shoppers easy-to-follow plans for how they can make a cheeseboard as an every- day dinner affair, neither labor intensive, time intensive nor unaffordable. "We're taking something familiar—cheese- boards—and teaching consumers that cheese doesn't have to be fussy or only for special occasions," said Christy Khattab, Cypress Grove's Deputy Managing Director. "Paired with veggies, extra protein and a carb for easy eating, cheese can be your main course." Colorful hand-out cards offer a photo that acts as a kind of cheeseboard planogram for the consumer. The shopping list for the board is on the card's reverse side. The shopping lists don't include any ingredients that are exotic, particularly ex- pensive or otherwise inaccessible to your shoppers – they're going to find all the in- gredients they need to build a beautiful board right there in your store. Cypress Grove offers pairing tips, recipes and more on its website for shoppers who want to stretch themselves a little more. Additional inspiration is also posted on Cy- press Grove's Facebook and Instagram sites, and the company has in-store collat- eral that includes tin signs to post, buttons and the shopping list cards. "This cam- paign is also a great tool for retailers," Khat- tab said. "Cheeseboards for Dinner has fantastic cross-merchandising opportuni- ties and allows retailers to spotlight other products that make for the perfect cheese- board dinner." GN ownership in the early 1970s, and although Lucas was still involved in the same indus- try, she had been working for one of JSL Foods' competitors. "The owner reached out to me. We started talking, and he gave me an opportunity to move over to this company," she said. "At first, I was very hesitant going to the competition, but with the Twin Dragon brand it held a legacy to me personally." In her new position, she calls on national restaurant accounts all over the country representing JSL Foods and showcasing its Asian noodles, pasta and wraps, which are non-GMO verified, certified vegan and cholesterol free. "One thing I really love about this job is the ability to make an im- pact in growing the business. The owners give me an ability to grow this business with a lot of sup- port. With prod- uct that is innovative, that meets customer needs with por- tion control, with clean label – these are some of the new demands that our industry asks for," she said. "We have the ability to have a noodle with protein added, the ability to incorporate green pea or spinach noodles or black bean noodle. These are added features for the noodle that gives added value to the noodle for the consumer. Asian noodles are as different as pastas, ramen, yakisoba, udon. What we do here at JSL Foods is that we do a lot of cus- tomization for our customers' needs and preferences." For more information, visit www.jslfoods.com or email Lucas at jlucas@jslfoods.com. GN BY LORRIE BAUMANN JSL Foods has re-established a relationship with the company's founding family by naming Jade Wong Lucas as National Ac- counts Sales Manager. As National Ac- counts Manager of Foodservice, Lucas is now promoting the Twin Dragon brand her grandfather created 65 years ago. Her grandfather, Hailey On Wong opened Main On Company in 1954, producing authentic Asian won-ton wrappers, egg rolls, pot- sticker wraps, tofu and bean sprouts, which he sold to local restaurants and bodegas in and around the Los Angeles area. "The company started with my grandfather as Main On. We then created the Twin Dragon brand. Under that brand, we sold almond cookies, Asian noodles," Lucas said. The company passed out of the family's

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