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/769179
"To my surprise, they tasted good," Powell says, "because they were fresh and didn't come boiled from a package" as opposed to the kind of vegetables he grew up trying to get down. Despite this discovery, he remained more of a junk-food guy, an entrepreneur who dreamed of building a business on cupcakes and f lavored but- ter. Ketchup sweetened with vegetables (True Made Foods' f lagship sauce) was not immediately on his radar. Powell, who's from the Albany, N.Y, area, had always gravitated toward pizza and tacos and his eating habits didn't take a toll for years, he says. In high school and college he was active in football, hockey, and wrestling. When Powell was a senior at the United States Military Academy at West Point, his father died at 60. "He didn't drink or smoke, but he had a bad diet," Powell says of his father. "He got diabetes and colon cancer, and I didn't want to repeat that." And yet, with the typical, indestructible mindset of youth, he remained cavalier about his health for years. From 2004 to 2008, Powell rose to the rank of captain in the Army, with stints in El Paso, South Korea, and Japan. Death was a constant specter, though not from eating poorly. Fourteen of his classmates died in action, he says. After his discharge, he returned to the Albany area to be close to his family. He got a job as a director of military sales for a tool company and met Abbey through Match. com. Eventually, he started making his way in the food business selling f lavored butters to places like Yankee Stadium but found expanding the business to be difficult. During this time, he also began struggling with his weight and Abbey, ever resourceful in try- ing to get Kevin to eat more vegetables, began working with him to create a less sugary ketchup recipe. producer profile "I grew up in an Italian household and we always had fresh cooked food, amazing fish, and perfect pork chops. My kids want to put ketchup on everything. Kevin's idea was a parent's dream come true." Winter Fancy Food Show Booth 551 62 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE specialtyfood.com