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GourmET nEWS oCTobEr 2016 www.gourmetnews.com SuPPliEr nEWS 1 5 Perez-Krieb Named Chairman of Chosen Foods Gabriel Perez-Krieb has been named the new Chairman of the Board for Chosen Foods. Based in San Diego, Chosen Foods is a con- sumer packaged goods company focused on non-GMO and organic superfoods. Chosen Foods is the #1 global market leader in the avocado oil category and is a trusted supplier of nutritious grains and healthy plant-based snacks. Chosen Foods is one of the fastest growing brands in the U.S., recently achiev- ing #47 on the INC 500 list of fastest grow- ing private companies in America, and #5 in the food and beverage category. Gabriel Perez-Krieb succeeds Chosen Foods founder and previous Chairman, Carsten Hagen. Hagen will remain active on the board, especially as an inspiration to the product development team and in the area of clean ingredient sourcing from around the world. "Gabriel is a well-rounded leader and has brought a winning culture and exponential growth wherever he has been," said Steve Gallo, CEO of Chosen Foods. "He is the perfect facilitator for our board at this time, he is a true visionary and an expert at gain- ing consensus with diverse groups. We are focused on increased investment in the Chosen Foods brand and commercial ex- pansion and his close working relation- ships with every member of the board and leadership team at Chosen Foods will be a tremendous asset," said Gallo. Perez-Krieb most recently served as a chief revenue officer of Sesajal, and CEO of PIA Ingredients, a subsidiary of Sesajal. His previous experience includes serving as a board member and president of Sesajal, chairman of Kuantum Brands, trade com- missioner of Mexico for the U.S., CEO of Intelogik and CEO of Image Technology Company. Perez-Krieb earned a bachelor's degree in computer science from the Mon- terrey Institute of Technology and his mas- ter's in business administration from IPADE Business School. "I have been working closely with Cho- sen Foods for the past several years as a member of the board, and I am extremely honored to be the new Chairman," said Perez-Krieb. "I'm excited to help guide their record-breaking growth, while main- taining focus on our mission to be one of the most trusted brands in the world offer- ing innovative and healthy products to our consumers." GN by lorriE bAumAnn Cheese has always been a very convenient, very versatile food, but CHEVOO is upping the convenience factor with a product that offers both trendy flavors and enough ver- satility to make it an attractive option through the entire day. CHEVOO is cubed fresh goat cheese marinated in an infused olive oil and packed in a 7.1-ounce glass jar. Service as a snack can be as easy as dipping a tooth- pick into the jar and spearing out a cube of the cheese, but CHEVOO is also useful as a convenient ingredient to toss over a salad or into an omelet pan. "When I was im- porting and distributing artisan cheese in Australia, 50 percent of our customers were chefs. They'd buy a lot of different cheeses for their menus, but they would typically not use any one cheese on breakfast, lunch and dinner menus. Marinated cheeses, be- cause they're flavorful, crumble, spread and melt well, could be stirred through a dish or crumbled on top of a dish, so chefs were using them throughout the day on all three menus. Foodies saw that trend and fol- lowed suit," said Gerard Tuck, who founded CHEVOO together with his wife Susan. The Tucks were living in Australia, with Gerard working with an importer and dis- tributor of artisan cheese, when they de- cided that they'd like to strike out for themselves in the United States. "We just decided to pack our bags and move to Cal- ifornia and start the process of seeing whether it was something we could do," Gerard said. "Having worked for the largest importer and distributor of artisan cheese in Australia, with marinated cheeses being our biggest category, it was a telling sign that this category had potential in the U.S." Gerard spent the first year in the U.S. at- tending Stanford's graduate business school, living on campus with his wife and three children. "As an international person wanting to move to the U.S. and start a business, it's a bit tricky to get a visa," Ger- ard said. "Going to school was a shortcut to getting the visa; you get a 12-month honeymoon after graduating to get estab- lished." After 15 months devel- oping the recipes for CHEVOO, which is now offered in three varieties: Aleppo-Urfa Chili & Lemon, California Dill Pollen & Garlic and Smoked Sea Salt & Rose- mary, the product was launched onto grocery store shelves in September 2015. CHEVOO is made from goat curd sourced from local goat dairies in northern California. Then, a flavoring is blended through the goat curd. Olive oil is infused with a botan- ical that's crushed and steeped into the olive oil over four to eight weeks. "It's a very slow and natural process to get the fla- vor into the olive oil," Gerard said. "Our most popular blend has smoked sea salt and cracked pepper blended through the goat curd. We then pair that with a rose- mary-infused olive oil. It works nicely in that you get one flavor that pops out from the goat curd and one that pops out from the oil." The product, selling for $9.99 for the 7.1-ounce jar, has been in stores up and down the West Coast for about 12 months now, and it's been enough of a hit that the Tucks are moving their oper- ation out of a shared space in southern Oregon and into a new facility in Healdsburg, California, that's currently under construc- tion. "We're absolutely planning to stay in the U.S. We love it here. It has a mix of cultural elements that are very fa- miliar to us, and some that are quite differ- ent, quite exciting," Gerard said. "The depth to which the U.S. culture embraces entrepreneurship and innovation is unique and really attractive." For more information, visit www.chevoo.com. GN CHEVOO: Convenience and Flavor in a Cube Jelly Belly Candy Company brought its rep- utation for delicious flavors and high qual- ity to the organic snack category with the January launch of Organic Jelly Beans, in 10 assorted and five sour flavors, and Organic Fruit Fla- vored Snacks. The success of the company's first organic line led to its newest introduc- tion: the 10-Flavor Assorted Gift Box. The Gift Box features an assortment of 10 fruit flavors: Berry, Blueberry, Cherry, Coconut, Lemon, Orange, Peach, Pear, Red Apple and Strawberry. Each flavor is beau- tifully displayed in its own compartment, letting consumers enjoy them one at a time. The new Gift Box ships in 12-count cases. All ingredients in the Jelly Belly Organic Line are USDA certified organic, and made with non-GMO ingredients with flavors and colors from natural sources. The Or- Jelly Belly Candy Company Expands Organic Line with New Gift Box ganic 10-Flavor Assorted Gift Box will join a 1.9-ounce Grab & Go ® bag, 5.5-ounce pouch bag and bulk offerings in the Or- ganic Assorted Jelly Bean Collection. In ad- dition to Organic Jelly Beans in assorted flavors, Jelly Belly offers Organic Jelly Beans in sour flavors: Apple, Berry, Cherry, Lemon and Orange. Organic Fruit Fla- vored Snacks are also available in an as- sortment of six favorite fruit flavors: Strawberry, Berry, Lemon, Apple, Orange and Cherry. GN

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