As one of three brothers raised in Mexico by missionary parents, Phil Calhoun has a deep understanding of Hispanic culture. Calhoun is a partner in La Tortilleria, a North Carolina-based Mexican food product distributor along with his older brothers Nate and Dan. The three spent 15 years of their childhood in Veracruz, Mexico, with their parents before returning to North Carolina to finish their education, he says.
One of the nation’s largest family-owned producers of Mexican foods continues to expand and improve on its already extensive and comprehensive product line. Chicago-based La Preferida offers a complete line of about 300 authentic Mexican food products including canned and dry beans, rice, salsa, tamales, spices, pork rinds, tortillas, and chorizo, a Mexican sausage.
Hill & Valley Inc. is dedicated to making delicious sugar-free desserts and snacks. For CEO Scott Florence, this focus is more than just a way to tap into a large consumer market. “Diabetes has run in my family for generations,” Florence says. “My father has Type 2 adult onset diabetes, and my uncle died in his 30s of Type 1 juvenile diabetes.” Although Florence himself does not suffer from diabetes, his family’s struggles with it were enough to motivate him to change the company’s initial focus on a wide variety of traditional treats to sugar-free items, he says.
Guyana’s name is derived from a term that means “the land of many waters,” due to the many rivers that crisscross the country, as well as its location on the Atlantic Ocean. As a result, the country has one of the largest unspoiled rainforests in all of South America, but only five percent of its land is suitable for crop cultivation. Even so, the Guyana Marketing Corp. (GMC) is dedicated to making Guyanese produce and agricultural products more accessible to consumers – throughout the country and outside of the Caribbean region.
This year, Grenada Breweries Ltd. of Grenada, West Indies, has more to celebrate than its 50th anniversary, Managing Director Ron Antoine says. Its flagship beer, Carib Lager, is making waves worldwide, and its other beer and soft drink brands – already beverage staples among Caribbean consumers – are expected to follow suit.
When it comes to meals, people like to have a say in what they eat, and not settle for options forced on them by a limited menu. FAME Food Management Inc. believes in giving customers those choices, President Terry Tehrany says. Based in Wakefield, Mass., the company provides foodservice and food management services to businesses, government agencies, and schools and colleges. A longtime veteran of the food industry, Tehrany founded the company in 1991. He got his start in the industry by getting his degree in food and nutrition at the same time that he worked as a night chef to pay for tuition and books.
When people go into restaurants, they often don’t look behind the scenes and see the little things that help keep things running smoothly, like plumbing. But that is one of the areas where Canplas Industries focuses its work. Based in Barrie, Ontario, the company manufactures injection-molded plumbing, ventilation and central vacuum products for the construction industry. Its plumbing products, specifically, are often sold via distributors to clients in foodservice.
Although the company has been around for nearly 70 years, Spring Glen Fresh Foods has flown under the radar in the fresh refrigerated foods industry. However, General Manager Joe Ward says that is going to change. As the company continues to bring in big-name customers like Trader Joe’s through its private-label and co-pack operations, Ward says he expects Spring Glen to become a much bigger name in the industry in the coming years.
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