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Tony’s Fine Foods
We had our annual meeting to go over food show support (reduced by $5k this year).
Tony’s position is intriguing, since as a CA based company, they stock more CA cheese
brands than any other distributor in the US. They have access to 33 UNFI distribution
centers across the US and theoretically can reach any retailer in the US by inter-company
transfer. The best news from this meeting was our discussion encouraging Tony’s to take
their Gold Rush cheese brand into new markets. This is a complete program for commodity
items including chunks, shreds and slices, as well as organic offerings, most which have
the Seal. The first major presentation is to Ahold/Giant and we have offered to provide
IRC’s behind new, out of state placement.
Scott Brothers
At the Fancy Food Show we learned the great news of their partnership with Tapatio to
produce three retail sizes of sour cream dip (Tapatio, Chipotle and Jalapeno). The launch
will be at the IDDBA. Initial retail targets for July/August first ship are Costco, Price
Smart, Smart & Final and Hispanic retailers like Cardenas, Mi Pueblo, El Super (all in
California). We will probably offer some support with IRC’s as the distribution starts.
Harris Teeter
Bob Constantino met with Leo Begens, Sr VP of Perishables, in late 2016. Teeter is a
major cheese retailer. They have no California cheese in distribution. Leo’s response was
“I really don’t know that much about CA cheeses.” They discussed an important California
trip to visit our processor plants and Bob will set this up in early 2017.