Leadership Awards

Every company in the food business talks sustainability. It’s a feel-good concept, often addressed in generalities and a decades-long time frame. For Mike Noonan, vice president of operations for Bitchin’ Sauce, the time for sustainability is “now.” “Food waste is a huge problem,” says Noonan, 36. “And much of that waste occurs on the consumer level, with people throwing away products that are out-of-date. That can be addressed through consumer education but can also be controlled through the manufacturing process.”

When 30-year-old David Kemp became a partner in Les Trois Petits Cochons in 2015, he joined a historic protein company with an experienced staff and excellent product. He was embarking on a growth journey, for himself and the company. “The core products were strong and Les Trois had a great relationship with its retail and foodservice partners,” says Kemp. “I thought there was opportunity to expand the line.” And he has accomplished that and more, increasing sales by 25 percent per year since 2017.

Kathrine Gregory has seen the COVID-19 pandemic spur people to take stock, “a time to reevaluate what’s important in your life and what you want to do,” she says. The kitchen incubator she runs in Long Island City, Queens, The Entrepreneur Incubator Space, fosters startup ‘foodpreneurs,’ as she calls them, and the uptick in applications has been notable. “People were stuck at home, barely able to do anything, so they went on YouTube or recipe channels and learned new things, started cooking more,” she says.

For more the 90 years, the Hanni family has been involved in Wisconsin food production. In 1931, Gottfried Hanni, a Swiss immigrant whose heritage informed his sausage and cheese-making skills, opened the Blue Ribbon Cheese Factory. His son Harold was born that same year. Gottfried taught Harold everything he knew about the craft; in turn, Harold taught his five sons.

Dr. Tom Simmons, from the Lancashire coast in Northern England, was on an academic career track at Cambridge University when he realized it fell short of his ambitions. “I wanted to make impactful discoveries and inventions,” he says, “and starting a business was a more direct way of doing that than being a professor, making discoveries, and writing papers about it.

Through championing regenerative kelp aquaculture, introducing a new, nourishing, and sustainable food source to the U.S., and working with partner farmers to help create a more resilient and adaptive environment, Warner and her team have expanded the company to work with 24 partner farmers from Portland to Eastport, Maine, increased kelp supply by 20 times, and grown sales by 800%.

In 1992, Tan bought a failing Burmese restaurant in San Francisco and has made Burmese food one of the most popular cuisines in the Bay Area. Tan decided to take the farm to table philosophy literally and went to Burma to buy Laphet directly from the source. He partnered with micro tea farmers living in the Shan State and whose families had been growing and fermenting tea leaves for hundreds of years.