2024 Hall of Fame Inductee: Ron Tanner, Tanner Food Group
Ron Tanner has long been one of the guiding forces of the SFA, and his influence is evident throughout the Association’s operations.
Among the most significant of his accomplishments in his 33 years at SFA was his elevation of the sofi Awards, which he helped achieve through the implementation of a weighted scoring system, changes in the promotional strategies surrounding the awards, and other initiatives.
“I think the big change that happened during my time managing the sofi Awards was that we realized that the awards were really for the buyers as much as, or even more than, for the press,” said Tanner. “For members of the Association, getting their product sold in Whole Foods Market or ShopRite was more important than getting mentioned in The New York Times.”
Tanner focused the promotion of the sofi Awards toward retail buyers and took steps to make the awards an important part of the Fancy Food Show.
“We helped build those awards through different activities that we did at the Fancy Food Shows into a prestigious award program in the industry,” he said.
Tanner left SFA in 2020 but remains involved in various capacities through his own company, Tanner Food Group.
In addition to managing the sofi Awards, Tanner has played key roles in several aspects of SFA's operations, from communications to industry and government relations. He also oversaw the development of SFA’s educational programming and managed its various organizational committees.
Working with retailers and leveraging their insights to help guide the development of the Association was one of the most enjoyable aspects of his time with the SFA, Tanner said.
“Bringing the voice of the retailer to the management of the association was very, very important,” he said.
Another key aspect of Tanner’s responsibility was overseeing efforts around helping members export their products to other countries. In the nearly 20 years he oversaw the export operations of the SFA, from 2002 to 2020, the Association was able to encourage about 600 SFA members to export products and build up that area of their businesses, he said.