Specialty Food Association members have been highlighted in various news outlets for their impact on the industry. Red Pony Salsa, Gateaux, and King's Cupboard are among those recently featured.
Deli Market News profiled salsa maker Red Pony Salsa, highlighting its origin story and what makes the product a unique choice for the category. Brand founder Richard Rhoades explained how the process of making the minimal-ingredient salsa also informed his product innovation journey.
“I started making salsa from my garden over 30 years ago. I grew a lot of tomatoes and around 20 different peppers, both mild and hot,” said Rhoades. “It took a few years of trial and error to come up with what I have now. In the process, the garden tomatoes contained too much liquid, so I ended up draining off some of that liquid. I hated to throw that away, so I played with the juice and came up with Red Pony's Bloody Mary mix as well.”
Local news source KOIN highlighted Oregon State University’s Food Innovation Center and its efforts to platform emerging specialty food businesses while at the recent Winter Fancy Food Show in Las Vegas.
“I think there were around 1700 exhibitors and multiple thousand buyers that came to the show,” said Sarah Masoni, the director of product and process development at Oregon State University’s Food Innovation Center. “And our goal is to get our food entrepreneurs in front of buyers. So we go there to try and sell.”
The report highlighted Gateaux, a maker of frozen, ready-to-bake cakes. Founder Lindsay Gott discussed how her company began as well as her excitement in attending the industry event.
“I did sort of feel that getting there felt like I kind of made it. It was a big goal for me. It was like, okay, I’m at the Fancy Food Show,” Gott said.
In a Yellowstone Public Radio show ‘Flavors Under the Big Sky,’ dessert sauce maker King’s Cupboard was recognized for its international impact on the dessert category. The show hosts toured the facility and spoke with employees of the company about the brand.
Sales manager Dave Beach spoke about how the brand's original cofounder Lila Randolph-Poore developed its flagship Organic Caramel Sauce.
“Lila had a recipe from her grandmother’s hot fudge sauce and her friends loved it. They said, ‘Lila, you need to make this product and sell it to your friends. You need to get it out there in the marketplace because it’s so good.' So Lila took that recipe, did a few modifications, and went off to a [Fancy] Food Show and came back with orders for the product,” he said.