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Home Meal Solution Kits from Stouffer's Eighty-four percent of consumers are in- terested in purchasing supermarket deli "meals at home" at least one day per week. New Stouffer's Home Meal Solution Kits cater to today's busy lifestyles with simple, delicious take-and-bake meals. Operators can maximize margins by repur- posing extra protein to cut down waste and create familiar, restaurant-quality fa- vorites. Home Meal Solution Kits include: Chipotle Macaroni and Cheese, Stroganoff and Tuscan Style Cavatappi. To cater to all customers, operators can choose to por- tion into single or family size meals. Stouffer's 800.288.8682 www.nestleprofessional.us/food/stouffers GOURMET NEWS DECEMBER 2016 www.gourmetnews.com SUPPLIER NEWS 1 3 Murray's Cheese Debuts Annelies BY LORRIE BAUMANN Murray's Cheese has introduced a brand new cheese into the American market. An- nelies starts with an Appenzeller-type cheese made in Switzerland by Walter Räss of Kaserie Tufertschwil. Räss makes the cheese, ages it in Switzerland for a couple of months and then ships the wheels to Murray's Cheese in New York, where it's aged on wood, its rind washed weekly with purified water, for a mini- mum of nine more months. "The cheese is very pliable early, without a whole lot of depth of flavor. As it ages, around the 13- month mark, we're getting a lot of the tropical fruit [flavor notes], the salt is more concentrated, and you get more depth from the savory flavors," said Steve Millard, Murray's Cheese Vice President of Merchandising and Foodservice. Murray's will be the only shop selling the cheese outside the Räss' village of St. Gallen in Switzerland. The Annelies name comes from Räss' wife, who shares the name. It'll be available at Murray's New York stores and online throughout the year, as supplies allow. "It's a good amount of cheese, but I fully anticipate us selling through it pretty quickly," Mil- lard said. The collaboration responsible for the cheese started with a visit. "The cheese- maker came and visited the [Murray's] caves a couple of years ago and had a con- versation with our cave master," Millard said. "The two of them really hit it off and got into a discussion about taking some of Walter's cheeses at a young stage. He went back to Switzerland, and two months later, we got a couple of wheels of cheese wrapped in paper." "We had room in our cave, and we knew from aging Tarentaise that we get from Springbrook that our Alpine cave was developing some re- ally good flavors," he added. "We wanted to do it, in general, because we didn't really have any Alpine cheeses that we were aging from a green stage.... We've always oper- ated an Alpine cave, but we had previ- ously been taking existing cheeses and aging them further." Murray's cave master set the two wheels from Räss on a wood shelf and washed the rind every week for a year. "Walter came back in July, 2015 and tasted the cheese that had been in the cave for a year. He was totally blown away," Mil- lard said. "He instantly agreed to send us 30 wheels a month." The cheese is now part of Murray's Cheese's ex- clusive Cave Master line, which also includes Greensward. Greensward, a collaboration between Murray's Cheese and Jasper Hill, shared third place honors with Jeffs' Select Gouda in the best of show category at this year's American Cheese Society Annual Judging & Competition. Greensward starts with Jasper Hill's Harbison and is then washed with cider as it ages in Mur- ray's Affinage Caves. GN Sally Williams Fine Foods Comes to USA Sally Williams Fine Foods of South Africa, a premium purveyor of gourmet, hand- made soft textured nougat and related con- fections has opened offices in the U.S. in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with plans to in- troduce and distribute to American con- sumers. Trevor P. Shevil has been named Chief Executive Officer, Sally Williams – U.S. Sally Williams, and will run the Amer- ican operations. In business for more than 20 years, the South African company currently sells its award-winning products at some of the most prestigious retailers throughout Eu- rope, including Harrods and Selfridges in the U.K. Its product lineup includes al- mond, macadamia, cranberry and almond nougat combinations, Decadent Belgian Dark Chocolate Enrobed Almond Nougat and Belgian chocolate bars with roasted nougat. According to Trevor P. Shevil, "We chose Fort Lauderdale for the site of our U.S. headquarters because of the area's easy ac- cess to the eastern corridor. Since we plan to launch Sally Williams on the East Coast first, the Florida area seemed a logical choice. We have also secured warehousing and distribution, outsourced to industry experts in strategic locations throughout the U.S." Globally, Sally Williams is recognized as one of the most prestigious confectionery brands, particularly recognized as a pur- veyor of the finest honey nougat and chocolate offerings available today. It is a recipient of the International Great Taste Awards, acknowledged as the benchmark for fine food and drink and described as the 'Oscars' of the food world in the United Kingdom. Currently, Sally Williams is dis- tributed widely in more than 20 countries. Sally Williams Fine Foods products are manufactured using only the finest all nat- ural ingredients,free of preservatives, col- orants and gluten, and are certified kosher by the Orthodox Union. They are available in both non-dairy and dairy varieties. Sally Williams Fine Foods is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, with offices in London, United Kingdom and Fort Laud- erdale, Florida. GN Calavo Growers Acquires SoCal Production Facility Calavo Growers, Inc., a global avocado industry producer and expanding provider of value-added fresh food, has completed the purchase of a production facility in Riverside, California, in a transaction valued at $19.4 million. The newly acquired production facility will further enhance the national footprint for the company's Renaissance Food Group, LLC business segment and posi- tion the segment to serve its growing customer base across the southwestern United States. The acquired facility, which totals approximately 128,000 square feet situated on about 11 acres, was previously owned and operated by affiliates of the former Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets. The company described the new facil- ity as nearly turnkey, which will allow RFG to quickly expand capacity and meet growing demand among current and new customers for its fresh, value- added packaged fruit and vegetables, ready-to-eat salads and prepared foods offerings. The facility's state-of-the-art design allows for an efficient start up, optimal food-safety measures and quality production flow. Its physical location in southern California is highly sought after for its prime interstate highway and rail access. Calavo Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Lee E. Cole stated: "This best-in- class facility aligns with and extends our company's strategic growth initiatives to build a leading market position in the refrigerated fresh packaged foods cate- gory. The new facility enables us to sat- isfy demand from several key accounts in southern California, while providing the platform for deeper market penetra- tion across the Southwest, including southern Nevada, Arizona and Utah. Quick-turn, just-in-time order fulfill- ment is a cornerstone of RFG's operating success, along with the outstanding depth and breadth of its product portfo- lio." The new Riverside facility follows the recent addition of a 209,000 square foot production and distribution center near Jacksonville, Florida, and the new reno- vation and expansion of the 89,000 square foot production facility in Hous- ton, Texas. GN Italian Foods Corp. Introduces La Piana Romantica Happy Apple Condiment Italian Foods Corporation is introduc- ing La Piana ® Romantica Happy Apple Condiment, a versatile apple cider vinegar-based product imported from the Emilia-Romagna region near Mod- ena, Italy, for the 2017 Winter Fancy Food Show, where it will be available for tasting in the Italian Foods Corp. booth. The new Happy Apple Condiment melds sweet and tart notes with a combination of apple cider vinegar and concentrated apple juice for a range of culinary applica- tions, according to General Manager Francesca Lapi- ana-Krause. Packaged in tall, slender 8.4-ounce glass bottles, Happy Apple Condiment has a sug- gested retail price of $14.99. Italian Foods Corporation 888.516.7262 www.ItalianFoods.com

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