By Nicole Denis, Susan Segrest and Denise Shoukas

THE 33 SOFI™ GOLD WINNERS SHARE HOW THEY GOT STARTED, WHAT SPARKED THEM TO CREATE THEIR INNOVATIVE PRODUCTS, KEY MERCHANDISING STRATEGIES AND MORE. ALSO FEATURED ARE THE 117 FINALISTS, WINNERS OF THE 2008 SOFI™ SILVER AWARD.

Although there wasn’t a red carpet, the 33 winners of the 2008 sofi™ Gold Awards received their trophies from Chef Jacques Pépin with pride and panache during a special ceremony at the 54th Summer Fancy Food Show in New York City. Established specialty food manufacturers were recognized, such as Outstanding Product Line winner, Vermont Butter and Cheese Company. Allison Hooper, one of the founders of the company, explains, “We’ve won for other products in the past but winning Outstanding Product Line—it’s like winning an Oscar.”

Rising stars had their moment in the spotlight too. Newcomer Blackwell’s Organic won Outstanding USDA-Approved Organic Product and, says owner Marcia Blackwell, “To win an award at our first Fancy Food Show was shocking and wonderful. We couldn’t be more thrilled.”

This was the 36th year that the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade (NASFT) awarded trophies for outstanding products in the industry. The sofi Awards competition takes many months, and involves many stages. This year, a record 2,191 products were submitted for judging and tasting on key criteria such as quality, taste, innovation, packaging, ingredients and pricing. Evaluating the products were judges: Kara Rubin, Whole Foods Market; Brian D. Caplan, Bacchus Wine & Spirits; Shirley Cheng, Culinary Institute of America; Robert Sickles, Sickles Market; Stephanie Cook, Raley’s; Michelle Cosmo, Crate & Barrel; Liz Neumark, Great Performances; Fran Carpentier, Parade Magazine; Marge Perry, magazine and newspaper columnist; and Christina Pirello, host of “Christina Cooks.” This distinguished group chose the 150 sofi Silver finalists.

At the Summer Fancy Food Show, more than 250 retailers and foodservice buyers evaluated the products to choose the 33 sofi Gold winners in 32 categories. (There was a tie in the Outstanding Cooking Sauce or Flavor Enhancer category.)

Turn to the following pages to learn the stories behind these established and rising brands, as well as see a listing of all of the sofi Silver finalists in each category.

Photography by Mark Ferri
Food styled by Amy Marcus; Props by Fran Matalon-Degni

(Click on the category or picture for more information and the complete list of finalists.)

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outstanding new product

Transatlantic Foods
Aux Délices des Bois
Black Truffle Butter

Melt a pad of Aux Délices des Bois Black Truffle Butter on top of a steak or lather it on an ear of sweet summer corn, and you will be gently moved by the earthy, chocolaty aroma. “We mix truffle oil, truffle juice and truffle bits with the butter, so we get a three-dimensional effect, much like when you add stock to a sauce,” says François Baumont, vice president, Transatlantic Foods, New York City.

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outstanding product line

Vermont Butter & Cheese Company
Vermont Butter & Cheese

In 1984, the Vermont Butter
& Cheese Company, Webster-ville, Vt., was founded after a serendipitous series of events put Allison Hooper and Bob Reese together. Reese was the marketing director of the Vermont Department of Agriculture and was organizing a special state dinner where he needed Vermont goat cheese—but couldn’t find any. He had heard that Hooper had trained in artisanal cheesemaking in France, and asked her to make some for him. She agreed. The dinner was a big hit, so was the cheese, and by the time the plates were cleared, Hooper and Reese had decided to go into business together. “We started out with no money and no experience. We were not only making goat cheese but we also had to develop a milk supply for it,” says Hooper.

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outstanding appetizer, antipasto, salsa or dip

Robert Lambert
Dark Cherries Preserved in Merlot Syrup

Six years ago, friends of Robert Lambert, an award-winning cook-book author and chef, grew tired of waiting to receive gifts of his condiments and convinced him instead to sell them. Now, his Dark Cherries Preserved in Merlot Syrup have won top sofi™ honors.
The condiment is made of dark cherries—with the pits still intact—paired with fruity merlot and complex hints of raspberry, scented geranium, galangal root, bergamot, black pepper, cinnamon, vanilla and bay. “I try to create a matrix that evokes and accentuates the cherries in the flavor notes of the wine, herbs, spices and my own syrups,” says Lambert.

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outstanding cooking sauce or flavor enhancer

Delicaé Gourmet
Strawberry Zinfandel Balsamic Glaze

Launched in January 2008, Strawberry Zinfandel Balsamic Glaze has a flavor profile that surprises people. Barbara Macaluso, who along with her husband Lenny founded Delicaé Gourmet, Tarpon Springs, Fla., explains that, “People expect a primarily balsamic taste, but the first thing you get is the sweet, the fruit and the wine, and then at the end you hit the balsamic. The flavor just explodes into your mouth.”




Sukhi’s Quick - N - Ezee Gourmet Indian Foods
Tikka Masala Sauce
Restaurant-quality Indian food is easier to make with the introduction of Sukhi’s Quick - N - Ezee Gourmet Indian Foods’ Tikka Masala Sauce (formerly Tikka Masala Paste), a blend of tomatoes and exotic spices, which are sourced locally. Just add heavy cream and water to reproduce Tikka Masala, a popular dish of North India.

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outstanding chocolate

Brandini Toffee
Brandini Toffee®

When La Quinta, Calif., schoolmates Leah Post and Brandon “Brandini” Weimer approached their parents for money for a class trip to Italy two years ago, they were handed a business lesson instead.

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outstanding cheese or dairy product

Coach Farm
Triple Cream Goat Cheese

For more than 20 years, Coach Farm of Pine Plains, N.Y., (recently sold to Best Cheese of Mount Kisco, N.Y.) has been selling hand-ladled fresh and artisanal cheeses. To make its line of more than 20 cheese varieties, the company uses milk from the nearly 900 French Alpine goats that range on the farm’s 600 acres.

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outstanding condiment

Rolls Enterprises, inc.
Kerala Curry Tomato Chutney

Born and educated in Kerala, the southern state in India, Ann Varkey, founder and CEO of Rolls Enterprises, Inc., Pittsboro, N.C., lets her expertise show in every jar of her authentic Indian sauces and condiments, including award-winning Kerala Curry Tomato Chutney.

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outstanding pasta sauce

Nuovo Pasta Productions, ltd.
Roasted Portabella and
Truffle Gourmet Sauce

What began 20 years ago in a small kitchen with a wooden rolling pin and an imported tabletop pasta machine has turned into a line of award-winning pastas and sauces. The products are especially popular with professional chefs nationwide, who make up the majority of Nuovo Pasta Production’s customer base, and who are used to test each product. “Once the products are chef-tested, we roll them out in retail,” says Carl Zuanelli, president of Stratford, Ct.-based Nuovo Pasta.

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outstanding confection

Bissinger’s® Handcrafted Chocolatier
Blueberry Acai Gummy Pandas

When Bissinger’s began creating its hand-crafted chocolates back in 17th-century Paris, they were enjoyed by European nobility, heads of state and historic figures. Today, the company not only continues its chocolate legacy, but has expanded into other confections that are sought by children and adults looking for a healthful snack.

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