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GOURMET NEWS GOURMET NEWS n JANUARY 2016 n www.gourmetnews.com 1 3 5 peas. This is great as a side to any protein or can be poured over a salad. The Burgul Pilaf is one of my favorites. Hearty cracked wheat cooked in a zesty tomato sauce. It's so simple, yet delicious and satisfying. All of these pilafs are so unique and versatile. We are adding an entire recipe section to our website and will include short videos showing preparation and simple plating techniques that will make any-level home cooks look like a chef. We are so excited to introduce these flavors to satisfy the growing appetite for products with simple ingredients with bold flavors. GN: What will the SRP be? MS: $2.49-2.99 GN: How long does it take to prepare these items? MS: The pilafs take only 90 seconds in the microwave, or a few minutes in a skillet over a low flame. You can also boil the pouch in water if you don't want to use a microwave. As for the marinades, we are using the term 'quick marinade.' Our marinades are concentrated, so you can rub it on your protein and cook immedi- ately. The cooking prep is up to you; you can pan fry, roast, grill, bake or even broil thin cuts of meat or seafood. It truly is foolproof. The flavors we developed are very authentic and easy to prepare. The home cook will determine if he wants to marinade longer or add more or less mari- nade to suit his taste buds. GN: How will these items be merchan- dised in the store? MS: We have developed six pack trays as well as shipper displays that will hold 54 units (three to six packs of each flavor) of either marinade or pilaf. GN: What promotional support is planned? MS: We plan on supporting our brand with a mix of digital and traditional advertising to build brand awareness for these new products. We already drive lots of con- sumers to our website to build awareness of our hummus products and we will con- tinue to do so for the new items. We also have over 20,000 Facebook fans and intend to market to them as well as bloggers who are already familiar with our products. For more information, call 708.298.3810 or email MarkSmith@wildgarden.com. Learn more at booth #216. Wild Garden (Cont'd. from p. 1) of branded products: King Leo ® , the old- est continuously sold brand of pepper- mint candy, dating back to 1901; and Gilliam ® , a brand of colorful stick candy and high-quality hard candy dating back to 1927. The King Leo brand features a soft sugar candy in both a puff and stick for- mat. While Peppermint is the preferred flavor by consumers, they also offer the products in a variety of fruit flavors. New for 2016 will be a refreshing Soft Choco- late Mint Puff & Soft Stick. This soft for- mulation is made with cocoa and pure peppermint oil to give an excellent, re- freshing mouth feel. Unlike most choco- lates, this item is not susceptible to heat like normal chocolate bars and it is aller- gen-, gluten- and fat-free. The King Leo brand will also be offer- ing in 2016 a non-GMO Crushed Pepper- mint. As demand for organics and non-GMO ingredients grow, Quality Candy will continue to meet the demand with quality products. Also new to Quality Candy's portfolio under the Gilliam Brand is its new Or- ganic Candy line. It will offer organic candy in stick, drop, disc and lollipop formats. The organic stick product will be called Lollisticks and feature two SKUs: Organic Very Berry and Organic Tropical. In the Organic Very Berry Box, there will be three Lollisticks a piece of Blueberry Pomegranate, Strawberry Cheesecake, Berry Mango and Lemon Berry. The organic Tropical flavors are Coconut, Mango, Pineapple and Ginger Lemon. Other flavors offered in the Or- ganic portfolio include: Lemon, Cherry, Hot Cinnamon, Salted Caramel and Cherry Almond. This portfolio of Or- ganic items will be available in the first quarter of 2016. Quality Candy, based in Henderson, Nevada, is a privately held business man- aged by the President, Laurie Redmond. Recently, the manufacturing plant was expanded; now the 100,000+ square foot factory is producing over 20 million pounds of candy annually, maintaining vigilant attention to high food safety standards and quality assurance pro- grams. Quality Candy Company, founded in 1986, has always maintained its commitment to quality manufactur- ing, superior ingredients, exceptional personnel and the ability to keep costs competitive. This combination has con- tributed to its fast paced growth and suc- cess. For more information, visit booth #3412, call 702.565.4711 or visit www.qcandy. com. To email a sales inquiry, contact sales@qcandy.com. Quality Candy Co. (Cont'd. from p. 1) juice," recalls Rigoni di Asiago Chief Exec- utive Officer and President Andrea Rigoni. 'Drawing inspiration from our cultural, his- torical and food heritage, from a passion for good and healthy food, and through a process of continuous research and innova- tion, we developed Fiordifrutta." Rigoni di Asiago Fiordifrutta is certified USDA organic, non-GMO, STAR-KOSHER and vegan. It is gluten-free and is available in stores nationwide and online in 250g (8.82- ounce) and 270g (9.17-ounce) glass jars. About Rigoni di Asiago Founded in 1923, Rigoni di Asiago is a family-owned and operated business based in the Altopiano di Asiago, a mountain plateau in Northern Italy (90 miles north of Venice). Committed to sourcing the finest ingredients, its certified organic and non-GMO products include Fiordifrutta fruit preserves (the lead- ing jam in Italy), Nocciolata hazelnut and chocolate spread, Dolcedì natural sweetener and Mielbio honey from the best production areas of Italy. The company was one of the first in Europe to turn to organic farming in the early 1990s and merit the Certified Or- ganic label. Rigoni di Asiago has been own- ing its own supply chain for over 15 years, thus controlling all the production processes, from raw materials to finished jars, guaran- teeing safe, genuine and delicious products suitable for the whole family. To learn more about Fiordifrutta, visit booth #4408. For more information, visit www.rigo- nidiasiago-usa.com or like on Facebook at Rigoni di Asiago USA, follow on Twitter @RigoniAsiagoUSA and Instagram @rigo- nidiasiagousa. Learn more by emailing info@rigonidiasiago-usa.com or calling 305.470.7583. Fiordifrutta (Cont'd. from p. 4) JF: The company was founded in 1949 by my father-in-law Henry Kaye and his brother-in-law Jack Gold. We are a manufac- turer of foiled seasonal and everyday choco- lates. We use the highest quality chocolate, innovative molding technology and the finest foils from Italy. The product line consists of bulk packs, gift packaging, semi-solid and solid three-dimensional figures, as well as a full line of panned products. Over the last 65 plus years our business has certainly evolved but our product and quality remain consis- tently the same. GN: What was the most significant event or series of events affecting your company in the past year? JF: This July marks two years that we are back in business since the devastating effects of Hurricane Sandy. More importantly, the last year we have doubled our efforts in not only bringing back the items that our cus- tomers were still missing, but we are intro- ducing a whole bunch of new and exciting items as well. GN: What new products are you introduc- ing? JF: We are introducing a brand new Holiday Gift Bag line as well as a Christmas Holiday Hunt, which is an extension of our Chocolate Hunt™ game line. GN: What distinguishes your products from the competition? JF: We take a lot of pride in the quality of our chocolate and our foils and we take extra steps conveying the quality to the consumer. We are also extremely hands on with our customers and try to give them personal at- tention at every stage. We are continuously upgrading our manufacturing capabilities and expanding our capacities. Likewise, we are investing in innovative processes (such as Frozen Cone technology). GN: What is the nature of your distribution? JF: We currently sell our products to whole- sale distributors and direct to retailers through our network of in-house sales repre- sentatives and our brokers throughout the country. We have some distribution interna- tionally as well. We have quite a diverse cus- tomer base and we try to target their needs correctly. GN: Who are your target end users? JF: Essentially we have something for everyone. We have products for every holi- day, but we also have products for every oc- casion and cause for celebration such as baby births, birthdays, graduations, etc. GN: To what do you attribute your com- pany's success? JF: Our commitment to quality both with our products and our customer service, our wonderful and loyal customers, our hard- working staff and employees and the caring industry that we are so proud to be a part of. GN: How can our readers find out more about your company? JF: The best place they can go to is our website at www.madelainechocolate.com. They can sign up for our newsletter and they will receive emails with updates, pro- motional offers and new product informa- tion. For more information, visit booth #979 at the Winter Fancy Food Show, go online to www.madelainechocolate.com or call 718.945.1500. Madelaine Chocolate (Cont'd. from p. 1) elegance of the product inside. That's inten- tional, says Jonathan Bassett, Co-founder of The Olive Fruit, which makes the Kiklos product. "A lot of olive oils, and particularly specialty olive oils, say a lot on the label, and then when you purchase them and taste them, you're asking, "What did I just buy?'' he says. "We wanted to show in the brand image that we're taste perfectionists." The Kiklos brand was started by Bassett after he grew frustrated in his search for the authentic tastes he remembered from when he traveled to Greece on family visits when he was young. "I fell in love with the country and the food," he says now. One of the fla- vors he missed most was the characteristic taste of Greek olive oil. "It's such a staple taste that influences the taste of the food that's made with it." He finally decided that the best way to get that flavor in the United States was to start a company with a Greek colleague and import high-quality extra virgin olive oil from the Peloponnese region made from just one va- riety of olives—the Koroneiki. The Ko- roneiki olive, known as the "queen of olives" for its fine taste, also produces oil with high antioxidant levels, which are responsible for the health benefits for which extra virgin olive oil is lauded. "It's a Greek taste," Bas- sett says. Kiklos Greek Extra Virgin Olive Oil retails for around $29 for a 500 ml bottle. For more in- formation, visit www.theolivefruit.com. Kiklos (Cont'd. from p. 1)