Specialty Food Magazine

FALL 2015

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.

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NEW Homemade in Minutes Soup Mixes! ™ 36 perfectly seasoned soup mixes made with premium wholesome ingredients: beans, lentils, peas, vegetables, herbs and spices. No salt added, preservatives or MSG and many gluten free! Drum roll, please... frontiersoups.com 800-300-SOUP Introducing...Kentucky Homestead Chicken & Rice Soup Mix (shown here) and Pacifi c Rim Gingered Carrot Soup Mix! Winter Fancy Food Show Booth 329 Winter Fancy Food Show Booth 636 producer profile what the customer wanted." Part of the growth came directly from the demands of the industry. After talking her way into the Kansas City Amigo Mart in 1984, Cook found her first rep. She asked if they'd be interested in her soup mix, and though they said yes, they told her that she'd have to have more than one product. "I don't know why, but I tried potpourri. That was the biggest f lop," she recalls. "So that's when I started doing the dip mixes and soups." As she started to attend trade shows, she realized that she had to have a new product for each show. "We did the trade show four times a year. I had to have one dip, then I had to have two dips, and then it just kept growing." Sourcing Inspiration To maintain the quality across all of her products, Cook listens to what her buy- ers and customers have to say. "I get some really good ideas from the stores and from my customers. They tell me what might sell well in certain parts of the country," she says. In fact, the company's best-selling salted caramel brownie mix was born out of a cus- tomer suggestion. Though she contends she'll always lis- ten to the customer, Cook draws much of her inspiration from trying new things and going out to eat. "Restaurants are always at the cutting edge," she says. "I love going in there and thinking, I could make a mix out of that." It was at a dinner out in 1992 that Cook encountered what would become one of Rabbit Creek 's top-selling products: f low- erpot bread. "I was at Stanford and Sons in Kansas City and they served this f lowerpot bread. I talked to the people in the back about it and they gave me the name of the company that made the pots." She quickly called the company to order her own pots and then paired them with the beer bread she'd been developing. The product was a runaway hit. "I was run- ning two shifts. We could not keep up. The 46 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE specialtyfood.com

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