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Chain Drugstore Daily 2 3 Sunday, April 22, 2018 EPD is Latest Proof of Excel Dryer's Industry Leadership Excel Dryer has earned a reputation as a true original within the hand dryer indus- try. Offering the XLERATOR ® Hand Dryer, the only to be Made In USA Certified ® and the first to be GreenBuilding Approved ® , Excel Dryer has singlehandedly pushed the industry forward with its innovative, sustainable technology. Recently though, Excel Dryer solid- ified its place atop the industry with the publication of the first Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for its patented, high-speed, energy-efficient XLERATOR, XLERATOReco ® and ThinAir ® Hand Dryers. EPDs are impor- tant for any manufacturer because they certify a company's commitment to sus- tainability and product performance. The publication of EPDs for each of its three hand dryers meant that Excel Dryer's products set yet another industry first. Published by UL Environment, a business division of Underwriters' Laboratories, Excel Dryer's EPDs were a groundbreaking development for the manufacturer and for the industry as a whole. This achievement effectively ush- ered in a new era of transparency among leading hand dryer manufacturers. On the road to its EPDs, Excel Dryer played a key role in leading the hand dryer industry toward a mandatory prerequisite: the cre- ation of Product Category Rules (PCR). These stan- dardize industry testing and reporting methods and are helpful for consumers, allowing them to compare and explore all sustainability aspects of competing products and make more informed product selections. Publication of the hand dryer PCR repre- sented not only an industry first, but the first global standard for any industry. To gain EPD certification, a manu- facturer's products also must go through cradle-to-grave testing with a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) conducted by an independent third party. For this endeav- or, Excel Dryer worked with world-renowned sustain- ability consulting firm Quantis International to test its products and substantiate its environmental claims within ISO 14040 stan- dards. Certainly, with the pub- lication of EPDs for its products, Excel Dryer established new standards of trans- parency and sustainability. However, from a broader perspective, the EPDs ensure that Excel Dryer will continue to set the tone among leading hand dryer manufacturers by encouraging them to follow suit – a positive development for any industry. For more information, go to www.exceldryer.com. Unique Energy Drink: Not What You Expect Unique was created after its Founder, Chris Cook, experienced heart palpita- tions at work after consuming half a can of a well-known energy drink. As an ex- professional athlete working in the finance business, Chris was still very active with daily workouts and eating habits, but consumed energy drinks for a much-needed boost after a 4:30am start. This experience compelled Chris to begin asking questions. What are the ingredients in energy drinks that can put an extremely healthy person into the hospital? Why do energy drinks make people jittery, have heart palpitations or send them into cardiac arrest? Can an energy drink be created that provides cognitive boost rather than physical overdose? These questions were the foundation of the research that ultimately developed Unique Energy. The objective became to create an energy beverage that provides a safe, sustainable feel good experience through cognitive enhancement without a crash. It begins with eliminating the five ingredients that are so prominently utilized in virtually every energy drink or supplement on the market (taurine, guarana, nicine, yohimbe and ginseng) combined with caffeine which have in many cases created physiolog- ical effects similar to an overdose. After experimenting with many products in his kitchen, Chris came across Red Reishi mushroom, which has been used in Asia for more than 3,000 years as a medicinal supplement. It's considered a fountain of youth throughout Asia due to many potential benefits. Lastly, but maybe best of all, is Unique Energy Drink's flavor. Unique is a fruit-based flavor like nothing else on the market – amaz- ing function and a beautifully flavored, enjoyable beverage – a drink that is built with health and happiness in mind. For more information, go to www.unique energy.com or call 818.280.6327. Lake Champlain Chocolates: Inspiration from Belgium, Ingredients from Vermont By Lorrie Baumann Lake Champlain Chocolates was built around the ideas of creativity and quality, and the company continues that family tradition today. The company won three sofi Awards in 2017; a bronze award for It's Hot, Honey Chocolate, a spicy organic 57 percent dark chocolate bar that features a rich caramel center infused with Vermont honey and habanero chile pepper, and a bronze award and best new product award for Moka Fleck Chocolate, a tantalizing blend of organic 43 percent dark-milk chocolate, fine- ground Dominican coffee, and crunchy flecks of house-roasted cacao nibs. Lake Champlain Chocolates was founded in 1983 by Jim and Anne Lampman, who owned the Icehouse restaurant in Burlington, Vermont, at the time. "They decided to get out of the restaurant business and dived into chocolate with hand-rolled chocolate truffles and the Chocolates of Vermont line that's still made today," said their son Eric Lampman, who is the current President of Lake Champlain Chocolates. He runs the company along with his sister, Ellen Reed, who is Vice President. Together, they're keeping alive their father's dream of using Vermont-sourced ingredients to make chocolates so good that they could compete with Belgian chocolates, and they're updating that dream to empha- size fair trade and organic ingredi- ents that appeal to an evolving mar- ketplace. "We've always liked to do things in balance. We certainly are not turning our backs on the tradi- tion of European flavors, tradition and technique, the evolution of consumer demands and the market," said Eric Lampman. "The world isn't the same. Truffles used to be sold in department stores in cases behind glass, but it's not done that way much any more. Chocolate bars have taken over. We're trying to move with that evolution and not be stuck in the past." As the company moves forward, it's also not turning its back on the Vermont values of quality and craftsmanship, Lampman said. "Vermonters appreciate quality, simplicity, things done well," he said. "Vermont is a strong area for craft makers, whether it's cheese, beer, or our- selves with chocolate. Those are the peo- ple we're surrounded by, who value that type of craftsmanship and quality. Lake Champlain Chocolates' product range now includes chocolate bars, including the best- selling Five Star Bars – a chunky filled bar – as well as the Chocolates of Vermont line inaugu- rated by his parents. That's a suite of four pieces of chocolate: Evergreen Mint, Honey Caramel, Maple Crunch and Green Mountain, which is a melange of fruit and nuts in a mountain shape. The four confection pieces were designed by a Vermont jeweler and intended to express the various moods of the state. The overall product range also includes truffles, caramels, gift assortments and gourmet hot chocolate. They're available online, nationwide at specialty food stores, and at three company-owned stores in Vermont: one at the factory in Burlington, Vermont, where factory tours are offered to visiting tourists; one in downtown Burlington and the third near Stowe. "We have always really prided our- selves on our sourcing," Eric Lampman said. Maple syrup, honey and heavy cream used in the chocolates are all local products. Butter comes from Vermont Creamery. Lake Champlain Chocolates worked with a local hard cider brand to use apples from their orchard in an apple syrup that's intrinsic to its Milk Chocolate Apple Cider Caramel, which was a 2016 sofi Award finalist and a finalist for a Good Food Award in 2015. The company was awarded its SQF certification two years ago, and L a m p m a n ' s focus today is on continuing to improve produc- tion practices in the factory as well as continu- ing to adapt many of its recipes to fair trade and organic ingredients to make confections for what has been a growth area for the business. Lampman expects that growth to continue as con- sumers gain understanding and apprecia- tion for the practices that go into the products they use and continue to support products that align with their values around environmental sustainability, social justice and fair trade. New for 2018, the company is intro- ducing a brand-new line of organic bar in a bigger size, with a new wrapper design and more than 20 different flavors. Adapting the company's recipes to the new organic and fair trade ingredients has taken a fair bit of creativity, since those ingredients don't always share the properties of their conventional counter- parts, but creativity is an ingredient that's never been in short supply at Lake Champlain Chocolates, Lampman said. "We feel very strong in our positioning as a creative maker of confections that are fully traceable, fair trade and organic," he said. "The creativity has definitely always been there. That's what started the business – trying to bring European tastes and flavors to Vermont by making them utilizing local ingredients. We con- tinue today, in pursuit of extraordinary chocolate moments."