Oser Communications Group

GOURMET NEWS AUGUST 2014 www.gourmetnews.com GENERAL NEWS 7 Brits Solution Continued from PAGE 1 world's good opinion, said Paterson. "The French drink more Scotch whisky in a month than the French drink French co- gnac in a year," he said. "We've got more varieties of cheese than the French have." The British dairy industry has been deregulated and is poised for growth at a time when world demand for dairy prod- ucts is growing hugely, Paterson said. "We're ideally placed to take advantage of it," he said. "I opened the world's largest fresh milk dairy in Aylesbury last week." Britain is home to the only USDA cheese producer in Europe, which introduced the Kingdom brand of cheddar cheese in the U.S. late last year. The milk in Kingdom Cheddar comes from a small group of or- ganic family farmers in southwestern Eng- land. This is where cheddar cheese making first began in the 12th century. "We use old-world artisan techniques, conducted under today's exacting organic standards, which makes for an exceptional product," said Nicola Turner, Export and Marketing Director at the Organic Milk Suppliers Co- operative, the largest organic dairy farmers' co-operative in the UK. OMSCo manages the production of Kingdom Cheddar. Paterson recommends the products from Kingdom Cheddar along with other British cheeses, which are made with a long his- tory of cheese production in very modern plants with rigorous production standards and a great deal of innovation in presenting new varieties and flavors of cheeses onto the market. "These guys are really motor- ing, and there's potentially a huge market." Along with cheese, Paterson aims to pro- vide new opportunities for British meat ex- ports into the United States. Americans are ready to eat British beef again, he said. "They love eating British beef when they come to London," he said. Britain has the landscape and the beef breeds (including the Aberdeen Angus) to export high-qual- ity grass-fed beef to an American public that will welcome it, Paterson said. And after Paterson has gotten beef com- ing to America, his next step will be to fol- low up with lamb. "There are a lot of Americans of Scottish descent who are being prevented from exercising their an- cestral right to eat haggis," he said. GN World Tea Expo 2014 Recognizes the Best in the North American Tea Marketplace at Inaugural World Tea Awards in Long Beach, Calif. Thousands of professionals celebrated tea and its evolution in the North American marketplace during the 12th annual World Tea Expo, which took place May 29-31 in Long Beach, Calif. Among the highlights of World Tea Expo 2014 was the presentation of the inaugural World Tea Awards. The awards were given out on May 30 during a dinner and ceremony held on the historic Queen Mary ship. The awards program recognized the best of the best in the global tea industry in a number of community-voted award categories. Winners at the inaugural World Tea Awards included James Norwood Pratt for Best Tea Spirit, Jane Pettigrew for Best Tea Educator, "Tea History, Terroirs, Varieties" by the Tasters of Camellia Sinensis for Best Tea Book, "TeaTime Magazine" for Best Tea Publication, Elyse Petersen for Best Social Media Reach, The St. James Tearoom in Albuquerque, N.M. for Best Tea Room Website, Samovar in San Francisco, Calif. For Best Tea Room Menu, Adagio in Clifton, N.J. for Best Tea Retail Website, World of Tea for Best Tea Blog and "The Tea Song" by Yorkshire Tea for Best Tea Short/Com- mercial. "It is humbling to be applauded by so many dear friends and colleagues in the tea community," said industry expert and author James Norwood Pratt, who re- ceived the World Tea Award for Tea Spirit. "The spirit all of us share is a love of tea, and our tea industry exists to share that love widely. It's plain and simple: Tea wants to be loved. We know that." "Education and awareness-raising is fundamental to growing the tea market. Tea is a complicated and complex sub- ject, and many people are very confused about what is tea, what are the different categories of tea, and why they are all so different," said author and tea expert Jane Pettigrew, who won the World Tea Award for Tea Education. "What we aim to do in training is to help tea lovers un- derstand the basics so that they can then head off on their own tea journey with- out making mistakes and without all the misunderstandings that can cloud our appreciation of tea." Devan Shah, the creator and owner of International Tea Importers and Chado Tea Rooms, was presented with the Cha Jing Lifetime Achievement Award during the World Tea Awards. The Cha Jing Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes and celebrates individuals who have made considerable contributions to the growth, innovation and education of the specialty tea industry throughout their lifetime. "Tea, the most romantic of all bever- ages, has certainly come a long way in the United States," said Shah. "It has seen steady growth year-over-year for the last 15 years, and I am proud to be a part of that growth, and I am very grateful for this honor." World Tea Expo 2014 also honored a number of companies as winners of Best New Product Awards. Sri Lankan Lumbini Tea Factory won the Tea as an Ingredient award for its Lumbini Ladalu Chakra, a handmade tea with a light, sweet taste. Pacific Bag Inc. won the In- novation award for its Biotre film degradable packaging material. Nuwati Herbals won in the Open Class category for Tea Pee prostate support tea. And Takeya USA won best Tea Ware for its Deluxe Iced Tea Beverage System. For more information on World Tea Award winners or to keep up to date on details for the upcoming World Tea Expo 2015, visit www.worldteaexpo.com. GN Grocers Continued from PAGE 1 different roles and exercise their creativity and energy. These shifts have enabled the company's leadership team to better pro- vide a stable, creative, aggressive and cost- effective source of supply and services to retailers so they can focus on their own re- tail operations. "In this day and age, with the world changing so quickly, we have to be current, and we have to be aggressive and respon- sive to the needs of our owners," Ling says. "We want to have a company and a work- force that is willing to take some chances and to adjust to customers instead of ask- ing customers to adjust themselves." GN SaltWorks CEO Mark Zoske Named EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2014 Pacific NW Mark Zoske, CEO of SaltWorks ® was named EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 2014 Pacific Northwest in the dis- tribution and manufacturing category. The award recognizes outstanding entrepre- neurs who demonstrate excellence and ex- traordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and per- sonal commitment to their businesses and communities. SaltWorks was the first and remains the largest gourmet salt company in the world. Mark Zoske has worked for 13 years to alter the public perception of salt from basic commodity to 2-cent luxury per pinch. Zoske's inherent commitment to perfection and his perseverance differ- entiate SaltWorks salt from any other salts on the market. Beyond making all-natural gourmet salts more accessible to con- sumers, he has completely revolutionized the way the masses approach everyday salt use. At the company's inception, salt was enemy number one, low-sodium diets were the doctor's orders, and few people made any distinction between refined and unre- fined salt. Rather than being intimidated by the misinformed public, Zoske seized the opportunity to promote change. SaltWorks has always been about the in- tegrity of the product and appreciating the nuances of all-natural salt. Mark Zoske earned the trust of his customers since day one based on this simple premise: a better option at a competitive price. For this reason, Mark Zoske spends countless hours dreaming up innovative ways to ensure an unmatched quality and variety of the unadulterated salts that SaltWorks both imports and manu- factures, while also promoting the bene- fits of using these unrefined salts over refined options. "I'm genuinely honored by the accolade. I've just always believed in our product and our ability to manufacture and distribute it at a standard that speaks for itself," Zoske explains. Currently, SaltWorks has more than 60 employees and operates out of a 130,000 square foot manufacturing facility. It has been honored on the Inc. 5000 list every consecutive year since 2007 and has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau. As a Pacific Northwest award winner, Zoske is now eligible for consideration for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2014 na- tional program. Award winners in several national categories, as well as the Entrepre- neur Of The Year National Overall Award winner, will be announced at the annual awards gala in Palm Springs, California on November 15, 2014. GN The Companion Group Adopts Employee Stock Options Program Founded in 1984 in a small garage in Berkeley, Calif., The Companion Group began with just two people making chimney starters one at a time by hand. Today TCG has evolved into a family of brands with more than 50 employees providing design and manufacturing services for retail customers worldwide. The company was founded on innova- tion and now offers thousands of active products and has over 60 patents, with more pending. This growth was made possible by loyal employees, and that is the motivation for the company's recent adoption of an Em- ployee Stock Ownership Plan effective July 1, 2014. With more than half of TCG em- ployees serving with the company for 10 years or more, the company's leadership be- lieves that this move to align their actions and attitudes with the principles of owner- ship is the best way to ensure the future success of the company. TCG CEO Chuck Adams says, "Our in- tention is to provide an additional source of retirement in combination with our stan- dard employee benefits. We chose an ESOP program to diversify holdings and to share the success of the company with the em- ployees. I want to extend a special thanks to all of our employees and customers, past and present." GN

• Cover