Oser Communications Group

GOURMET NEWS OCTOBER 2014 www.gourmetnews.com Supplier Business SUPPLIER BUSINESS 9 BRIEFS Bauli Launches Italian Baked Goods Line in U.S. Bauli, the leading creator of authentic Italian holiday cakes and pastries, recently announced its official launch in the United States. The company's products are available at a number of retailers nationwide, including Fairway, Whole Foods and Duane Reade stores. Bauli has been the confectionary leader in Italy for over 80 years, and its line of products will introduce traditional Italian desserts to the U.S. market, guaranteeing customers the highest quality natural ingredients. Bauli's core products include Il Panettone di Milano, the traditional and most famous Italian Christmas bread, loaded with candied citron, lemon zest and raisins, as well as Il Pandoro di Verona, pan d'oro or Golden bread, a traditional Christmas bread from Verona. The company also offers everyday croissant treats, which feature chocolate cream, vanilla custard and cherry jelly. Hormel Foods Closes Acquisition of CytoSport Hormel Foods Corporation recently announced the closing of its acquisition of CytoSport Holdings, Inc., the maker of Muscle Milk ® products. As a leading provider of premium protein products in the sports nutrition category, CytoSport's brands align with the company's focus on protein, while further diversifying the Hormel Foods portfolio. The acquisition will serve as a growth catalyst for the company's specialty foods segment and also expands its offerings of portable, immediate, protein-rich foods. Hormel Foods purchased CytoSport from the Pickett family and TSG Consumer Partners. CytoSport is based in Benicia, California and was founded in 1998 by the Pickett family. Muscle Milk products are the number one brand in the ready-to-drink protein beverage category. For more information on Hormel Foods, including details about the company's acquisition of Cytosport, visit www.hormelfoods.com. La Costeña Acquires Faribault Foods La Costeña group, a privately held global leader in a wide range of packaged foods categories, recently announced that it completed the acquisition of Faribault Foods, a privately held manufacturer of canned beans and vegetables based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Faribault Foods will be combined with La Costeña's U.S. affiliate, Arizona Canning, based in Tucson, Arizona. The combined companies will operate as Faribault Foods and be headquartered in Minneapolis. The new organization offers complementary leading regional brands. Faribault Foods' products include S&W canned beans, Butter Kernel, Kuner's and Kuner's Southwestern, Chilliman, Mrs. Grimes, Pride and KC Masterpiece baked beans. Faribault Foods also has strong private label and contract manufacturing business with top branded companies. Arizona Canning's products include Sun Vista, Luck's, Kerns and Totis. For more information on Faribault Foods, visit www.faribaultfoods.com. BY DAVE BERNARD Fresh off a 2014 Outstanding New Product sofi Award win for its delectable Sesame Pink Salt Lentil Rice Crispbread, East- hampton Gourmet Foods' line of four gluten-free crispbreads is no longer the best-kept snacking secret of the Hamptons' elite. Introduced a year and a half ago, the company's crispbreads, which include Cheddar Chipotle, Rosemary Parmesan and Everything (poppy, sesame and car- away seed), along with the Sesame Pink Salt, are the result of an extensive tasting tour of world cuisine. "We are immensely curious about food, its origins, historical significance, health benefits, etc.," said Kate Pratt, President and Creative Director of the 18-year-old company. Along with partner Michel Mazuret, Vice President and Head Chef, Pratt has visited some of the world's ethnic cuisine centers and incorporated a wide range of flavors into the crispbreads, as well as into the shop's always-changing menu of prepared gourmet foods. "We have studied and traveled exten- sively, accumulating extraordinary recipes from Japan, Thailand, China, France, etc.," said Pratt. "Michel is par- ticularly fixated on Japanese food, with a strong affinity for sesame seeds. After several clients requested a crispbread that was a bit more neutral [than the com- pany's Chipotle Cheddar and Rosemary Parmesan varieties] to go with cheeses, he hit upon the sesame seed and Hi- malayan pink salt combination, resulting in an incredible flavor profile." EHGF takes pride in producing highly nutritious food that incorporates many lo- cally-sourced ingredients. With a back- ground in biochemistry in addition to her experience as Managing Director of Man- hattan's premiere prepared gourmet food chain, Mangia, Pratt was prepared to tackle both the nutrition and gourmet angles of food production. "We were becoming more aware of the growing trend toward gluten-free prod- ucts," she said. "We thought, why not in- troduce something that is wholesome, gluten-free, has a high protein and fiber content and is low in fat com- bining the best of the best things into a crispbread that we possibly could, and make it addictively de- licious, with irre- sistible flavors, and a few sea- sonal limited edi- tions thrown in." In addition to being delicious and healthy, EHGF's Crisp- breads are also especially versa- tile. The crisp- breads work great in hors d'oeuvres, as a snack, for sandwiches or as a pre-dinner bread substitute in restaurants or at home. Throw in the unique self-designed packaging for its crispbreads, and inter- esting ideas like presenting the sofi win- ner as a bar snack in boxes atop nearly invisible plexiglass stands, and you see why this eight-employee company is on the rise. Pratt notes the company will be hiring several additional workers to meet the demand of an expanding wholesale business. In addition to its crispbreads, the com- pany produces two varieties of packaged organic vegan chocolate-coconut maca- roons. Essentially a higher end version of Almond Joy, these come in almond and espresso bean varieties. So what is next for the sofi Award-win- ning company that creates exquisite gour- met products while keeping up a bustling prepared food takeout business? "We're always looking for new flavor combinations – we are currently working on a white truffle with black salt crispbread which we're very excited about, and a Mediterranean olive, tomato, oregano combination is showing great promise," said Pratt. "Michel came up with a brilliant hostess/host tower of four crispbread pack- ages bound together with an eye-catching elastic band, and they sell out as soon as we put them on the shelf." EHGF may also be setting out to sea in January, as the National Geographic Soci- ety/Lindblad Expeditions has contacted Pratt and Mazuret to stock its worldwide fleet of exploratory vessels with EHGF crispbreads. It would only be fitting, then, if sometime next year, the 2014 sofi-win- ning Sesame Pink Salt Lentil Rice Crisp- bread found its way back to the shores of Japan that inspired this delicious product that has wowed the Hamptons and contin- ues to expand its reach. GN Easthampton Gourmet Foods Sets a Crisp, Award-Winning Example Rustic Crust, a leading manufacturer of or- ganic and all-natural pizza crust and sauce, recently broke ground on a new Rustic Crust and American Flatbread frozen pizza facility soon to be erected on the site of its former factory in Pittsfield, New Hamp- shire. The original facility burned to the ground earlier this year. The new two-story 27,000 square-foot facility, 30 percent larger than the original structure, will be in operation this fall. After the fire, Rustic Crust's President and CEO Brad Sterl kept more than 100 workers on payroll while he began to rebuild the company. As part of the groundbreaking ceremony, Sterl and New Hampshire Governor Mag- gie Hassan recognized the state's firefight- ers, police officers and emergency medical service personnel as unsung heroes who risk their lives daily to protect the commu- nities they serve, just as they did during the company's fire. The event marks the start of a national campaign, The Rustic Crust First Responders Recognition program, to support and acknowledge these service workers across the nation. In New Hamp- shire and in states across the country, Rus- tic Crust and American Flatbread frozen pizzas will donate product to state first re- sponder organizations assisting with fundraisers and other events. The company will also continue to send its mobile pizza truck to natural disaster sites to feed fa- tigued workers. "As a result of the fire at our production facility, we know firsthand the courage and sacrifice displayed by first responders," said Brad Sterl, CEO of Rustic Crust. "We are launching this national program to honor the extraordinary work of these brave men and women – fire, police, and emergency rescue people – in their times of need." Rustic Crust was founded in 1996 and is the number one U.S. national brand of natural prepared, ready-made pizza crusts. American Flatbread is a market leader in natural frozen flatbread pizzas which are available in supermarkets, health and gourmet stores nationwide. The company is Pittsfield, New Hampshire's second largest employer. GN U.S. Manufacturer Rustic Crust Comes Back From the Ashes; Breaks Ground on New Facility after Devastating Fire

• Cover