Issue link: http://osercommunicationsgroup.uberflip.com/i/510109
R e s t a u r a n t D a i l y N e w s 4 7 F r i d a y, M a y 1 5 , 2 0 1 5 POLSKA FOODS SERVES UP TRADITION IN PIEROGI By Lorrie Baumann Polska Foods is bringing a traditional pre-Soviet Polish culinary staple to American grocers' freezer cases. The young California company goes to great lengths to make its Organic Potato Cheese Pierogi, Mushroom Cabbage Vegan Pierogi with Sauerkraut, Organic Spinach & Feta Pierogi and Savory Beef & Pork Pierogi from high-quality organ- ic ingredients and time- and labor-inten- sive methods to produce products that honor the culinary traditions of Chief Operations Officer Tomasz Piszczek's Polish grandmother, says Bridget McQueen-Piszczek, the company's CEO. McQueen-Piszczek discovered pierogi when her new husband, Tomasz Piszczek, took her to Poland to meet his family in 2010. "Everything we ate at his parent's farm was from the garden, the fields, or wild-picked from the neighbor- ing forest – even the meat we ate was from a neighbor," she says. "When I had their pierogi with all the fresh ingredi- ents, I thought, this is incredible." Piszczek's parents and grandmother did- n't speak any English, and McQueen- Piszczek didn't speak any Polish. "We ended up communicating through the food," she said. "Good food allowed us to share a moment of love and apprecia- tion when the language barrier prevented us from connecting." "When I came back to California, I said that we had to get some of these pierogi," she continued. "We tried every- where, even went to the East Coast, to delis where there were lines out the door." But none of those pierogi com- pared to the ones made by her grand- mother-in-law in Poland with thin deli- cate dough and stuffed with savory fill- ings. So finally, the Piszczeks decided that they were just going to have to learn how to make their own. They asked Piszczek's grandmother for her recipes. "We started out making it just for our- selves, but when you make pierogi, you make a lot and you want to share them," McQueen-Piszczek says. Dinner parties with friends turned into requests from friends and family members for a chance to buy the pierogi for their own tables, and then that turned into sales at local farmers markets and then a sale to the local Whole Foods market. "We just kept taking one step after the other, and then one day you wake up and think, Wow, we've got a whole company," McQueen- Piszczek says. It took a year after the Piszczeks decided to make the pierogi for the farm- ers market to find the right ingredients. "We visited the farms and the plants of all ingredient providers to guarantee quality and authenticity. Some of the ingredients, such as the cheese, had to be custom made to mimic the quality you find in Poland," McQueen-Piszczek says. "Today we work with one of the only local organic mills in the Bay Area. Starting with exceptional ingredients is essential to gourmet pierogi, and all our pierogi are made fresh and flash frozen to preserve the flavor, texture, and nutri- ents." The Potato Cheese and Mushroom Cabbage Sauerkraut Pierogi were the first on the market. The Savory Beef & Pork Pierogi were added later because customers were asking for it, and the Organic Spinach & Feta Pierogi were added to the line as a more Americanized version of the traditional dish. "You see Spinach Feta pierogi in Poland today, but it's not a flavor from many generations ago," McQueen-Piszczek says. The Potato Cheese Pierogi are cer- tified organic and use handcrafted farm- ers cheese. The filling includes organic potatoes, organic caramelized onions, whole grain organic millet, roasted gar- lic, and fresh herbs. McQueen-Piszczek says that she occasionally gets ques- tions about whether the inclusion of millet in the pierogi filling is quite authentic, but it's true to the traditional Old World recipes from past genera- tions. "The millet gives it more fiber and also has a nutty flavor. It's a very old, ancient grain, and a lot of pierogi just had millet in them. It was used before potatoes," she says. There's a whole-wheat version and one made with unbleached, organic wheat flour. Mushroom Cabbage Pierogi with Sauerkraut are made with a recipe that's several centuries old and is the kind of pierogi that Poles eat during the Wigilia Christmas Eve vigil, when traditionally, people didn't eat meat while they waited for Christmas Day. "It's the tradition of giving something up in order to gain. Religious tradition has changed, but this flavor is still very popular year round," McQueen-Piszczek says. "This recipe is from our family in Poland, from many generations of eating at Christmas-time. When Polish natives try this flavor for the first time, you can see in their facial expressions that this is the way their grandmother made it, and many tell us they haven't had it for 20-plus years. We get that a lot." They're vegan, and raw, fermented gourmet sauerkraut is the key ingredient, McQueen-Piszczek says. " The second key is a slow cooking process where you caramelize the onions, and slowly cook all the herbs and vegetables together for hours, creating a complex, well-balanced flavor. We make pierogi just like home – no short cuts in our processing." The Organic Spinach Feta Pierogi are award-winning and vegetarian, made from organic spinach, organic caramelized onions, portabello mush- rooms, roasted red bell peppers and feta cheese in a whole-wheat organic dough. They offer 16 grams of whole grains per serving. Savory Beef & Pork Pierogi are made with organic white flour, hormone- and antibiotic-free minimally processed beef round and pork along with caramelized onions, whole-grain organic buckwheat, crimini mushrooms, roasted garlic, smoky paprika, spicy peppers and herbs in a tomato base. "You almost don't need a topping on the beef and pork ones," McQueen-Piszczek says. "We used the best-sourced meats and ingredi- ents that you can get." GNP COMPANY EXPANDS POULTRY PLANT GNP Company™, the Midwest's leading producer of premium natural chicken under the Just BARE ® and Gold'n Plump ® brand labels, has started the first phase of a two-phase expansion plan for its Cold Spring and St. Cloud, Minnesota, area operations. "This marks the next stage of a new future and growth plan for GNP Company," said President Steve Jurek. "These changes underscore our continued commitment—as well as that of our new owner, Maschhoff Family Foods—to investing in the growth of GNP Company's business and people. It's truly an exciting time for us." The first phase of expansion, which began in March, is expected to cost $35 million. It includes a building addition and the installation of new equipment to add capacity in the Cold Spring plant's first processing area as well as build-up of the company's hatchery. Plans for the second phase, which may include a building addition and the installation of new technology and equipment to further automate processes, are still in develop- ment. Approval is contingent upon the company's future business plans, busi- ness expectations, and customer needs. If both phases of the expansion are completed, annual plant production capacity will increase by an estimated 33 percent, which equates to about 88 mil- lion more processed pounds of chicken or 352 million more meals per year (based on the recommended serving size of 3 ounces of cooked chicken). Furthermore, the full expansion is expected to make the Cold Spring facility one of the most automated meat processing plants in North America. "This expansion will increase GNP Company's ability to satisfy the expected increase in customer and consumer demand for our products and brands, while advancing our safety processes by reducing physical job demands and improving ergonomics," Jurek said. The Cold Spring processing plant makes Just BARE and Gold'n Plump chicken products for the premium brand- ed retail business segment and supports new product innovation. Both of these are critical to the company's ability to effectively compete in the marketplace and meet current and future customer expectations. Company sales grew to about $452 million in 2014 (January through December)—an increase of 13 percent over 2013. The company does not expect the expansion to significantly change the total number of jobs at the Cold Spring plant. Production capacity will be increased primarily through new technol- ogy and equipment to automate process- es. New growth opportunities for team members will be determined as the expansion plan progresses and new equipment and processes come online. GLUTEN-FREE FOODS SURGE 63 PERCENT IN LAST TWO YEARS It seems these days, grocery shelves are exploding with gluten-free choices. This is due in large part to greater awareness of a gluten-free diet and as a result of increasing diagnoses of celiac disease and other gluten sensitivities. According to market research firm Mintel, sales of gluten-free foods reached $8.8 billion in 2014, representing an increase of 63 per- cent from 2012. "Overall, the gluten-free food mar- ket continues to thrive off those who must maintain a gluten-free diet for med- ical reasons, as well as those who per- ceive gluten-free foods to be healthier or more natural," said Amanda Topper, food analyst at Mintel. "The category will continue to grow in the near term, espe- cially as FDA regulations make it easier for consumers to purchase gluten-free products and trust the manufacturers who make them. Despite strong growth over the last few years, there is still innovation opportunity, especially in food segments that typically contain gluten." All gluten-free food segments increased in the past year, although the snacks segment increased the most. Gluten-free snacks increased 163 percent from 2012, reaching sales of $2.8 billion. Sales increases were mainly due to a 456 percent increase in potato chip sales. Meanwhile, the meats/meat alternatives segment is the second-largest gluten-free food segment in terms of sales, reaching $1.6 billion in 2014, a 14 percent increase from 2012. What is more, the bread products and cereals segment saw gains of 43 percent during that same time period and is set to reach $1.3 billion this year. Bread and cereal are ripe for gluten- free growth with only 1 percent of the overall segment gluten-free. "Gluten-free products appeal to a wide audience. Forty-one percent of U.S. adults agree they are beneficial for everyone, not only those with a gluten allergy, intolerance, or sensitivity," said Topper. "In response, food manufacturers offering either gluten- free alternatives or existing products with a gluten-free label have increased dramatical- ly over the last several years." Still, it seems not everyone is con- vinced of the health benefits of eating gluten free. While 33 percent of survey respondents in 2013 agreed that "gluten- free diets are a fad," the number increased to 44 percent in 2014. That has not slowed gluten free's growing popu- larity, however. Twenty-two percent of Americans currently follow a gluten-free diet, compared to 15 percent in 2013.