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R e s t a u r a n t D a i l y N e w s 5 5 M o n d a y, M a y 1 8 , 2 0 1 5 RELAYFOODS.COM'S NEW SERVICE ALLOWS CUSTOMERS TO SHOP BY MEALS, NOT AISLES RelayFoods.com, an online grocer, has launched Meal Planning by Relay Foods, a free service allowing customers to plan a personalized menu of healthy meals and shop for the ingredients in one quick, seamless process. The service enables customers to plan, customize and shop for a week's worth of meals in less than 15 minutes with three integrated tools: a weekly seasonal meal plan built by a reg- istered dietitian, an extensive and expanding catalog of a la carte dishes sorted by dietary preference, and the company's "Cook It!" Chrome extension, which translates recipes from around the web into ready-to-shop dishes. Most main dishes cost between $4 and $8 per serving. "We challenged ourselves to build the most flexible start-to-finish meal planning service on the market today by focusing on one key element – putting the shopper in the driver's seat," said Zach Buckner, Founder and CEO of RelayFoods.com. "By combining the inspiration of weekly plans with the flex- ibility of the Cook It! tool, we make it easy for customers to quickly build plans completely tailored to their schedules, budgets, and tastes. This combination of simplicity, personalization, and seamless delivery of ingredients is unprecedented in both online and in-store grocery shop- ping history." "To build this product, we let our customers guide us," explained Graham Evans, the company's Senior Vice President of New Products. "Their voices were perfectly clear: make it simple for me to get good food on the table, but give me total flexibility with the dishes and what I order. So we did." VILLAGE FARMS AND FLORIDA ORGANIC FARMS ENTER DISTRIBUTION AGREEMENT Village Farms International Inc., a leading North American producer and distributor of premium-quality, green- house-grown fruits and vegetables, recently announced it has entered into an exclusive distribution agreement with Florida Organic Farms International LLC, a Florida grower of USDA-certified organic produce and herbs, with field and greenhouse opera- tions. The partnership represents Village Farms' first foray into organics distribution, with distribution slated to begin this fall. Village Farms, with U.S. headquar- ters in Heathrow, Florida, manages cli- mate-controlled greenhouses, and part- ners with independent greenhouse farm- ers, throughout the United States and Canada, allowing it to deliver fresh pro- duce to local retailers over a wide distri- bution. SALMON BRANDS TAKES TOP HONORS AT SEAFOOD PRIX D'ELITE Salmon Brands of Oslo, Norway was awarded the top prize in the 15th annual Seafood Prix d'Elite new products com- petition at Seafood Expo Global. The winner was selected from a field of 37 finalists and was announced this evening at a special Seafood Prix d'Elite recep- tion. The top award for best new retail product was given to Salmon Brands for its entry, Salmaraw. This ready-to-eat sashimi kit provides 90 grams of fresh salmon sashimi with sachets of ponzu sauce and sesame seeds, and a specially designed eating utensil. The product is presented in a unique airtight and leak- proof pack that beautifully displays and preserves the high quality of the salmon. The judges particularly noted that this product was very well conceived and executed from start to finish. In addition to the grand prize, the judges also gave five special awards: Salmaraw from Salmon Brands was also presented the Seafood Prix d'Elite special award for Originality. The pres- entation of the salmon sashimi kit in a long tray is unique and elegant, yet still allows the consumer to eat the product directly from the package. This combina- tion makes it well positioned for con- sumers who are looking for healthy take- away meals. The Seafood Prix d'Elite special prize for Health & Nutrition was award- ed to Marine Harvest of Brugge, Belgium for its product, Duo Norvégien au Four. The naturally healthy combination of cod wrapped in a thin slice of salmon is packed in an oven-ready aluminum tray and gives the consumer an easy way to serve an elegant seafood preparation at home. The Big Prawn Company of Melton Constable, England in the United Kingdom was awarded the Seafood Prix d'Elite special award for Convenience for its product Seafood Rarebit. A seafood take on a classic Welsh dish, this frozen retail product offers two pastry cases filled with king prawns and topped with a sauce flavored with English ched- dar cheese, mustard and spices. The top- ping melts down over the prawns and into the pastry during cooking. Perfect for a light lunch or part of a main meal, the product offers consumers a new, easy way to enjoy seafood. The Big Prawn Company was also presented the Seafood Prix d'Elite spe- cial award for Retail Packaging for its product, 2 Crayfish Thermidor Bakes. Designed for special holiday occasions, this product features twin ramekins filled with crayfish tails in a creamy thermidor sauce flavored with white wine, shallots and mustard, then topped with a ciabatta Grand Padano cheese breadcrumb. The package is elegantly designed with full- color photos of the prepared dish and a clear window to see the ramekins, which are covered with clear plastic domes. The package provides complete information for the consumer on nutrition, ingredi- ents, product origin, preparation, and package disposal. Rockabill Shellfish Limited of Balbriggan, Ireland was presented with the Seafood Prix d'Elite special award for Seafood Product Line for its "Something Fishy" line of seafood infused butters. Offered in Sweet Onion, Dulse and Asian Infusion flavors, the products combine Irish butter with freeze-dried and milled seafood protein, dried seaweed and seasonings. The result is a culinary butter that provides the savory deliciousness of umami to both enhance and complete the flavors of pre- pared dishes. The products can be used to flavor sauces, finish risottos, pastas and rice dishes, or to spread over seafood before or after cooking. At the discretion of the judges an award was not given this year for best new foodservice product. Although the judges noted some positive aspects of the products entered in the category, they felt that in many cases the information pro- vided by entrants was incomplete, and therefore it was not possible to choose an overall winner in the category. The winners of the 2015 Seafood Prix d'Elite were chosen from a field of 37 finalists representing 11 countries. The winners and finalists were on display at Seafood Expo Global and Seafood Processing Global, which ran through April 23. The judges for the 2015 Seafood Prix d'Elite new products competition were Debby Verheyen, Seafood Product Expert for Delhaize Supermarkets in Belgium; Thibault Faucon, Supply Chain Manager for Sodexo in Luxemburg; Filip Keersmaekers, Seafood Category Manager for Makro & Metro Cash & carry in Belgium; Ian Nottage, Chef Director with Reynold's Catering Supply in the UK; and Dominique Fenech, National Director of Seafood Purchasing for Monoprix in France. Ms. Verheyen served as chair- person of the jury. The Seafood Prix d'Elite finalists were judged on taste and overall eating experience, packaging, marketability, convenience, nutritional value and origi- nality. The judges' scores were verified by the accounting firm of Ernst & Young. MONDELEZ INTERNATIONAL NAMES ROBIN HARGROVE AS EVP, RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND QUALITY Robin Hargrove, 49, has been named Executive Vice President, Research, Development and Quality for Mondelez International, effective April 1. In this role, he will report to Chief Growth Officer Mark Clouse and be responsible for all product and packaging develop- ment, research, nutrition, quality, food safety and scientific affairs activities worldwide. "Rob is an outstanding leader and business partner with passion, technical savvy and extensive experience in both developed and emerging markets. He will bring the voice of our consumers into the successful development of global innovation platforms," said Clouse. "In addition, Rob is highly experienced in category-led operating models and in navigating through large global organizations. I'm confident he will have an immediate impact as we continue to innovate and drive produc- tivity improvements in support of our growth journey." Hargrove succeeds Jean Spence, who is retiring after nearly 35 years of exemplary service. "Jean is a renowned scientist and terrific busi- ness leader who constantly raised the bar on food safety, quality and innova- tion," Clouse said. "Jean leaves behind an impressive legacy of techni- cal achievement, but more important- ly, she's always been a great role model and advocate for her people. We wish her the very best." Hargrove has served as Senior Vice President, RD&Q for Mondelez Europe since 2013. Prior to joining the compa- ny, he had worked at PepsiCo in vari- ous senior roles since 1994. He led Frito-Lay's research and development activities in emerging Asian markets and Australia (2000-2002), its North America health and wellness snacks portfolio (2002-2006) and PepsiCo Europe's R&D portfolio, with a heavy emphasis on the developing Eastern European region, including Russia (2006-2013). He began his career with Procter & Gamble in the UK as a prod- uct developer in the laundry detergent category. A native of Belfast, Northern Ireland, Hargrove holds a master's degree in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College, University of London.