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GOURMET NEWS APRIL 2014 www.gourmetnews.com Supplier Business SUPPLIER BUSINESS 1 1 BRIEFS The European Candy Group Acquires Dutch Company Kraepelien & Holm The European Candy Group has reached an agreement on the acquisition of 100 percent of the shares of Kraepelien & Holm, located in Oosterwolde, the Netherlands. K&H is a specialized private label manufacturer of licorice well known for outstanding quality, high level of flexibility and a strong market approach. The European Candy Group is interested in Kraepelien & Holm's activities because the portfolio is a valuable addition to the existing private label activities of Continental Candy Industries. TECG's ambition is to obtain a leading position in production and sales of private label sugar confectionery. W. Dolman, Managing Director of Kraepelien & Holm said, "This transaction provides a secure future for the company, and we are happy to become part of TECG, especially in view of the economies of scale required in this competitive market." Choice Organic Teas Celebrates 25 Years Choice Organic Teas, a leading purveyor of exclusively organic teas has a lot to celebrate, including 25 successful years in business. Founded in Seattle in 1989, Choice Organic Teas has held purity, quality and sustainability as its tenets and has subsequently led the industry as the first tea company to be Fair Trade Certified and non-GMO-verified. In its first 25 years, Choice Organic Teas has been steadfast in its commitment to organic tea, and loyal to its roots in natural products. The company continues to win awards for taste, quality and environmental leadership. As part of its leadership role, the company is dedicated to sharing its knowledge regarding quality, organics, sustainable agriculture and environmental stewardship with a broader audience. That staunch dedication will continue to prevail as it moves forward. Windset Farms Wins "Best Tomato Grower in the World" Award At the recent HortiBiz Tomato Inspiration Event, Windset Farms® won big. Among the gathered top 50 tomato growers in the world, selected by leading horticultural suppliers, Windset Farms took the top spot winning the award for "Best Tomato Grower in the World." Headquartered at Delta, British Columbia and with greenhouses in Abbotsford, B.C., Santa Maria, Calif. and Las Vegas, Nev., Windset Farms is a family-run business that has become one of the largest growers and marketers of greenhouse produce. Windset products are sold across Western Canada, the Western United States, Mexico and Asia. Windset grows only non-GMO produce including peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, eggplant and endive. The company's facilities combine state- of-the-art technology and old-fashioned attention to detail to ensure optimal growing conditions and sustainable practices. For more information, including recipes and product information, visit www.windsetfarms.com. BY LUCAS WITMAN Thirty years ago, the idea of topping a pizza with dollops of fresh chèvre or serv- ing an herbed goat cheese log at a cocktail party was something reserved for those with European proclivities and decidedly adventurous palates. It was the efforts of a few American cheesemaking vanguards that brought goat cheese into its contem- porary era of American ubiquity, introduc- ing the product to nearly every cheese shop, grocery store and home kitchen in the country. One of these cheese industry scions was upstate New York goat cream- ery Coach Farm. Coach Farm was originally founded in 1985 in Pine Plains, N.Y. by Miles and Lil- lian Cahn, the couple responsible for Coach leather goods. When the Cahns de- cided to retire from the leather business, they were drawn back to their retreat up- state. Inspired by the French goat cheeses they enjoyed on their frequent European business trips, Miles and Lillian decided to turn their farm into an authentic French farmstead style creamery. They began building a herd of goats, hired acclaimed French cheesemaker Marie Claude to over- see the cheesemaking and set about making goat cheese an American dairy staple. "I don't think they get credited enough, but they're kind of the pioneers of goat cheese in this country," said Steve Margarites, Director of Mar- keting for Coach Farm. Miles and Lillian Cahn owned and operated Coach Farm until 2007, when the company was sold to Ameri- can cheese im- porter Best Cheese Corp. The im- porter now owns Coach Farm, but the company continues to be independ- ently run. Very little has changed about the way Coach Farm operates, the layout of the farm or its cheesemaking process. A number of things separate Coach Farm apart from other prominent American goat creameries, but perhaps the thing that the company is most proud of is the quality of the goats in its herd. Coach Farm operates a closed herd, a remarkable achievement for a creamery of this size. "The fact that we have our own herd of goats is a really big thing for us, because I'm pretty sure we're the largest farmstead goat creamery in the U.S. That's important to us," said Margarites. The animals in the Coach Farm herd are so renowned for their good breeding, that the company regularly receives requests to purchase its goat kids. In crafting a product that truly reflects the unique landscape in which it is created, Coach Farm prides itself on the fact that its goat cheeses are not completely standardized products, but rather reflect the flavors of the changing seasons. "We try to keep the milk flavors as consistent as possible by feeding them the same things, but naturally we do have changes in the seasons, and it's going to happen that way. We don't have completely strict control," said Margarites. "If we try something in the winter time, it could probably taste a little different from the summer just because of the seasonality of the goats that produce it." Another unique aspect of Coach Farm cheeses is the company's commitment to offering consumers hand- crafted, artisanal packaging. The company hand wraps and hand applies all of the labels on its products, a tremendous undertaking. Almost immediately after the company's founding, Coach Farm began to make a name for itself on the East Coast, as some of the best chefs and restaurateurs in the country began incorpo- rating the company's cheeses into their menus. In fact, Coach Farm actually has an intimate family con- nection with the New York culinary scene, as celebrity chef Mario Batali is married to Susi Cahn, the daughter of the company's founders. Today, not only does Batali use Coach Farm cheeses in his restaurants, but you will find the company's products in the famed eateries of chefs Jean-Georges Vongerichten, David Burke, Scott Conant and more. Coach Farm is most well-known for its fresh goat cheeses, but the company also makes a number of aged goat cheeses and other products. The company is developing a name for itself as its 100 percent goat milk triple cream cheese, its 60-day raw milk soft-ripened goat cheese and its hard grating cheese become more well-known. As more and more American consumers are eschewing cow milk for alternative sources of dairy, they are turning to Coach Farm to fulfill their cheese cravings. Two of the more recent additions to the Coach Farm product line and two things the company is particularly excited about are its goat milk yogurts and the Yo-Goat drinkable yogurt line. "[Coach Farm] did have a yogurt way before. It didn't do well, because yogurt wasn't that hot and goat milk yogurt wasn't that hot. That was one of the biggest reasons we brought it back," said Margarites. "When the yogurt boom started to happen, it was kind of in our genes. It was already there that we'd do it." Today Coach Farm offers five flavors of goat milk yogurt—plain, strawberry, honey, vanilla and maple brown sugar— and five flavors of drinkable yogurt— plain, strawberry, blueberry, mango peach and blackberry. When it comes to the future, the team at Coach Farm has no plans to dramati- cally grow its operation or reimagine its product portfolio. It is the company's con- tinuous commitment to its herd, to the land it farms and to the quality of the cheeses that it produces that has brought it to where it is today. And thus the com- pany has no intention of rethinking these commitments. "I think we're just contin- uously doing what we're doing. I don't think there's a large strategic growth plan for us," said Margarites. "I don't want to say we're status quo, but we're committed to staying where we are." For more information about Coach Farm, visit www.coachfarm.com. GN Coach Farm Building a Legacy of Outstanding Handcrafted American Goat Milk Products

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