One glance at the 2017 Specialty Food Association’s sofi Award winners set off a Pavlovian reaction, and deservedly so.
The Baking category alone highlighted two of my favorite artisanal food brands:
- The gooey, buttery, sugary Sticky Toffee Pudding Company of Austin, Texas won Gold.
- Callie’s Charleston Biscuits won Silver (along with another award for best new product)
Both of these amazing woman entrepreneurs crank out addictively delicious goodies that are packaged for snacking and perfect for convenient meals (dessert and appetizers, respectively).
Chocolate Candy Crushes
Long-time candy maker Christine Doerr, who started her Neo Cocoa candy company at the San Francisco incubator La Cocina, took home Gold for candy. Boo ya to her!!!
Three more women-led candy companies swept the category:
- Big Picture Farm (a couple)
- Vosges
- Fran’s Chocolates (frickin’ love those Almond Gold Bars that won)
Dudes swept bean-to-bar chocolate. Women may be in the kitchen making candy while guys are in the factory making the chocolate. Funny, that dividing line.
Because there is so much candy, the awards separate Confections from Chocolate Candy which allows for more winners. Even the chocolate category is broken into the various shades of chocolate.
Crushing Cookies
Women-owned or -involved cookie companies also made a strong showing, with Effie’s Homemade and Tate’s as repeat winners along with Greyston Bakery and Flathau’s Fine Food (new to me: must try their shortbread).
Effie’s swept Crackers too, winning 2 awards. Will their awards never end?
The List Goes On and On
Check out the many specialty food winners in every category…
(There’s one new women-owned business whose food I love, who didn’t make it, but I’m sure they will next year!)
