Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/165618
The Judges HOW JUDGING WORKS The sofi Awards competition judging takes place over several months and many stages, during which thousands of product submissions undergo evaluation and tasting by a panel of judges. Entries are evaluated on attributes such as taste, quality, innovation, ingredient profile, merchandisability and best in class. Here are the highlights: April: Judges spent five days sampling 1,885 submissions in 30 categories to select finalists. May: Judges spent three days selecting finalists in the remaining categories, Outstanding New Product and Outstanding Product Line. June 30–July 1: All 125 finalists undergo a final judging round, conducted by participating retail and foodservice buyers on-site at the Summer Fancy Food Show. July 1: 35 winners are announced in a red-carpet ceremony at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City as part of the Summer Fancy Food Show. The finalist judging panel consisted of retailers, journalists and foodservice professionals. The full panel, over eight days of finalist judging, included: Andy Arons and Michael Rafferty, Gourmet Garage; Sissy Biggers, "The Today Show"; David Clemens, Gateway Market; Kate Collier and Eric Gertner, feast!; Kathryn Flouton, Tina Heath-Schutternberg and Maria Roemer, Dean & DeLuca; Rachel Forillere and John Lawson, Whole Foods Market; Adam Glassman, O, The Oprah Magazine; Emiliano Lee, Farmshop; Pete Marczyk, Marczyk Fine Foods; Leyda Martinez, Gardner's Market; Steven Petrecca and Daniel Skurnick, STARR Restaurants; Regina Ragone, Family Circle; Jeanette Scarcella, Johnson & Wales University; Allison Schraf, Zingerman's; Morgan Ward, City Feed and Supply; Ryan White, New Seasons Market, and Scott Zoeller, King's Super Markets/Balducci's. Emily Crowe is a general assignment reporter for the Clovis News Journal; Colleen Curtis is a New York City–based food and lifestyle writer; Deborah Moss is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in Sports Illustrated and Shape; and Shira Nanus and Emily Piuggi are Specialty Food Association interns for communications and education, respectively. S40 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE specialtyfood.com