Join us for a webinar on July’s Trend- Global Pantry! Our experts from Savor Imports discuss the challenges and triumphs of sourcing foods form every corner of the globe.
[Music] good afternoon everyone welcome to the ACF chess Forum I’m thrilled to have you all here with us today for the highly anticipated webinar on July Trend the global Pantry I’m Chef Christopher Tanner the executive director of the American culinary Federation today we’ll delve into the fascinating world of sourcing food from around the globe a topic that’s incredibly relevant and vital to our industry at the ACF we are committed to bringing you The Cutting Edge information and insights from the best in the business and today is no exception we have an exceptional lineup of experts who will share their knowledge and experiences with you are valued leaders in the food service industry before we dive in a few housekeeping notes we’ll be answering as many of your questions as possible during the presentation please use the chat function to collaborate with other viewers and utilize the Q&A May function at any time during the session to pose your questions to our speakers we want this to be an interactive and engaging session so don’t hesitate to get involved to kick things off let’s get the chat buzzing by sharing where you’re tuning in from today we’d love to hear the see see what diverse locations and backgrounds of our ACF Community now let’s talk about the global Pantry Trend the trend is all about exploring and integrating diverse ingredients and culinary techniques from around the world into our kitchens it’s about broadening our culinary Horizons sourcing unique products and creating Innovative dishes that excite and expire the global Pantry Trend encourages chefs to look Beyond traditional boundaries and incorporate exotic ingredients that can reinvent dishes or enhance flavors in new and unique ways think about the omami rich depth of Japanese miso and a classic French ber Blanc or the vibrant citrusy kick of Yuzu added to adding a Twist or tra traditional lemon tart imagine the Smoky lure of Spanish pimenton elevating a simple roasted chicken or earthy fragrant notes of Ethiopian Berber transforming a familiar beef stew into something extraordinary by embracing these Global ingredients we are not only expanding our culinary repertoire but also offering a guests a dining experience that’s truly unique and memorable this trend is about celebrating diversity in our food and it’s a fantastic way to keep our menus fresh exciting and relevant all right let’s meet our today’s presenters our first presenter is Jim McCain Jim joined the Savior team in 2022 bringing with him impressive 30 years of experience in the food service industry his extensive background in culinary arts sales and training makes him a valuable asset to the team Jim and his wife Kathy reside in Omaha Nebraska and have two adult daughters out outside of work they enjoy Nebraska athletic events various art organizations and above all traveling Jim’s favorite destinations include Rome Paris and Barcelona as a chef Jim is passionate about creating and enjoying foods from various ethnic backgrounds with Woodfire Pizza being his specialty next up we have Steve uh I’m going to screw up your name Steve I’m sorry di marinas Steve has been in the food service industry for 28 years and join joined the S uh saver team in 2019 a Boston native Steve is proud father of two young men and enjoys spending time at the beach with his wife his favorite food to cook at home is perfectly grilled New York’s STP steak and he has a deep appreciation for Italian cuisine Steve operates remotely from his home in Hamstead North Carolina our third presenter is along Ling along is uh responsible for managing a significant portion of Savers product offering she tirelessly searches the globe from the right for the right items to add to the sa Pantry Works closely with vendors throughout the buying process and oversees inventory sales growth along along brings a decade of food service industry experience to the team she has a love for Taiwanese Cuisine and a n heritage and techmech a favorite from our time in Texas she works remotely from her home in Dallas Texas lastly we have Joe forner Joe recently joined the sver team and is focused on managing products from South America and Europe he spent the previous 10 years at Dot Foods and Business Development working with supplier partners and handling domestic commodity offerings Joe and his wife Amanda live in St Louis area with their twins Reed and Kinley most of Joe’s free time is spent at various sport sport venues coaching or watching his kids play he has a broad culinary palet with a particular fondness for seafood Joe operates on of saers corporate office in Chesterfield Missouri at this time I excited to pass a presentation over to Jim Jim please take it away hello everyone U we at saber Imports are very happy to join you today to to talk about uh what it is we do and especially how that how that um ties into your your theme today of global sourcing that is at the root of what we do so I want to make sure that my presentation is sharing here let me get this PowerPoint up can uh I’m going to assume you can all see my screen very good so sa Imports this may seem a little uh we’re going to take this a little backwards we were actually formed to be a solution of how to get these World sourced foods to the American table so we at saber Imports are a wholly owned subsidiary of Dot foods and for those of you that may or may not know who Dot Foods is uh dot is the nation’s largest redistributor of foods to the American Food Service environment so what that means is if a distributor be that a large corporate distributor or a small independent distributor needs to buy product from a manufacturer there are times where it doesn’t make sense for them to order that product directly from the manufacturer because the minimums can be proh hibiting uh often those minimums that used to be 2500 lb direct are now 10,000 lb direct or more so what Dot Foods does as a redistributor is bundles all those products together so Dot Foods has over a thousand suppliers in their warehouse every day and they distribute to over 90% of food service Distributors every week so any distributor in the United States can order a mixture of products they can have those products Blended together the formation of sa Imports about 12 years ago came with that distributor Partners were asking for years of dot saying you’re our last mile solution we’re how you were supposed to help us with these hard to buy items to where we can’t meet minimums Imports how can we get Imports so after what sounds like countless years of study doc came to the conclusion to form their own company so sa Imports was born and now 12 years later we’re a staff of 22 we’re bringing in products from uh around the world I think 23 sourcing countries Joe and elong can kind of chime in with that and get a little more clear on that later but we’re bringing those products and stocking them all at Dot Foods meaning that any distributor can order our products from one case to one truckload we try to make things accessible we were formed to be a solution so our portfolio uh as it says here since 2011 created to be a an answer to inefficient supply chain 23 sourcing countries we’re both Trend driven and um global environment driven elong and Joe will get into how we Source a product why we Source a product uh our products are in all temperature classes so we do frozen dry and refrigerated products and our product line has changed somewhat and we’ll get into that a little bit that now in addition to some of the pantry items you think of with an importer and we’ll get to those in a minute we also do a lot of value added items where especially in a post-pandemic world um we have some items that are just helping maybe take a knife out of their hand for a little bit of time or saving a bit of time so we think about the menu obviously we’re very data driven at sa Imports and most of the data tells us that there are three sort of culinary trends that are driving the American menu certainly not limited to these three Cuisines but these three Cuisines do take up a lot of space and so we focus our offering to meet the needs of of in not only these three Cuisines but uh Chief among these so Asian Cuisine of course with uh Chinese food leading the way way in terms of um restaurants in the United States Japanese Korean Asian fusion has become very popular um Latin Cuisine has also really taken over the American menu so we’re sourcing products to meet the needs of that those sort of fusion Cuisines are also stepping in and Mediterranean remains very strong on American menus be that pasta pizza um all the things with that so um we’re we’re very data driven so we’ll get into some you know we’ll talk about H why we bring in these products in just a moment so we like to think of it um we often hear supply and demand and I like to reverse it and think and think demand and Supply so the demand is there the pallet has changed American restaurants and American diners are eating a far more diverse uh array of foods than they have at any time in our history um and at the same time that that’s happening with an expanded pallet labor also remains a real a real issue I’m not there’s no news in that for any of you listening to this today right so Supply do Foods delivers to over 90% of the Food Service distributors in the United States every week so we can get the product from A to B um we have a full sample program that utilizes FedEx so we can sample products um we have eaches of many or cases and we’ll send them Direct directly to an operator that would like to test our products UHF Foods has a wonderful customer service team so they can be very helpful in helping to nurse a product uh through your distributor and whether you need one case or one truckload uh do foods and sa Imports can supply that to you we we kind of divide our offering specifically into in this case into like two separate areas one would be the import Pantry so these are the things that you probably think of when you think about an importer and many of these products are dry so whether that’s archo carts or a variety of Olives uh because of our Trends we do very authentic Asian sauces from Thailand um we’re doing peppers and olive oil and capers and marconas we do raw grains we do pre-cooked grains um roasted tomatoes ruffle oil for instance so we do an a variety of the import Pantry items that you probably associate when you hear the word importer in prior to and now really driven by in a post 2020 World many of our items have become uh labor saving items so for instance the number one selling item in our line is is a pre- carmalized onion that ships Frozen so it’s it’s a two ingredients right it’s onions and oil we don’t really want to we’re not ever trying to impart the final plate flavor we’re just trying to provide uh an item that saves you a little bit of time so an item like that or pickled red onions or pre- roasted brussel sprouts again these are all just base ingredients they’re not spiced they’re not we’re not adding final plate flavor that’s that’s the chef’s job we just are in those instances is where labor is so tight we can provide some speed scratch Beginnings that allow to just save a little bit of time in the kitchen and keep your quality up so those labor saving items have really been taking off for us um Global sauces we continue to um to expand our line all the time um obviously now to include things like Sriracha with the shortages that went there and sble Ole and we have excellent sesame oil for instance so you know things like that that we’re trying to find always and find the best food that we can to do that so that’s how we that’s how we’re on out on the street working with chefs working with Distributors doing what we can to get these products into American restaurants and with that this is a good time to sort of turn that over then to to the kind of core of today which is what are the factors that are importing bringing these products in from around the world and with us today we have two experts uh along those lines elong Ling and Joe forner are uh the two category managers that really are responsible for buying all of the nearly 350 items that we’re bringing in constantly and so they are both experts in their field in terms of all of the factors that go into buying these products and those factors are ever increasing and they’ll touch on a few of those today of the of how weather and politics and tariffs and everything affects getting product from country a to the United States so with that I will turn things over to Joe forner Andy long Lan hey Jim thank you for that sorry long uh thanks Jim for the introduction uh Christopher thank you as well um as Christopher mentioned earlier uh a lot of my areas pertain to uh South America and Europe um anywhere items we’re talking such as artichokes Peppers um olives cooking wines balsamics uh those kind of fall into my category along with like iqf vegetables and fruit um along you can touch on kind of the areas that you’re in that gets the sexy European stuff that’s right yep I get um Canada some part I’ve get Peru um mostly Asia um just all the really hot and humid places so but we’re we’re we compliment each other on what we do absolutely so we’re gonna start with um just a little overview on what our process is Jim can we go to the next slide it’s it’s exactly as it says how do we transform an idea into a case um we have a staff of 22 um we’ve got you know we’ve we’ve got our Chef who does the culinary and Trends Jim is there another yep thank you so we we have this idea and we’ll we’ll get into how we come up with these ideas we’ll just you know have an idea uh and it can be driven from customers could be driven from what we do on a daily basis so once we get that idea we’ve got to formulate well who who can be our our nominated supplier that we work with manufacturer um there’s a extensive vetting process um on the on the legal side um and on the fsqa side food safety quality assurance and then after that we’ve got to design the packaging and we’ve got to do a number of internal things pricing seeing how the how to price it within the market that makes it fair and accessible um after that we go into we place the order we’ve got to get the product um on the water over here and then it goes into our distribution for our sales team um luckily with DOT we have an extensive network um in in country that helps us with a lot of the logistics in in country um and we’ve got this wonderful team of of sales and and sourcing support um that help us with every single step of the way it’s a very cohesive um and collaborative environment that we’ve got on this team so I’ve got to do a little shout out for our team um and it it’s not without uh bumps there are a lot of um there are lots of cooks in the kitchen constantly um we debate very passionately about whether um this is this right we even debate pack sizes um packaging we debate everything but our our whole process is it’s we’ve got to bring something in that makes sense and that’s going to be a Sol a problem solver solution for the end user and I think some of the biggest things about that is is the time frame it can take on some of these ideas and the suppliers um some can launch quicker than others other ideas take a while just in the ideation of it figuring it out so there’s different aspects to it depending on the item and then when you’re talking about importing something over the water obviously there’s a whole other time frame put into that as well um so I think that’s another aspect that we have to discuss quite a bit and then you know we’re not dealing with I would say I mean most most everybody is English speaking but then you there there are lots of these little minute details that you’re dealing with people that English is not the first language and so there’s and there’s interpretations on things as you know we we have an idea in the US on what a brown corate looks like um that is not the same interpretation around the world so it’s it’s it’s things that that you when you see that final box in your hands there’s a lot of thought that went into that it’s not just you know poof it’s done it’s it’s quite extensive J you good with that yeah absolutely okay and I to go yeah I think if you want to go to the next slide Jim you know there are many things that go into how we Source product um there are decisions that have to be made no different than the standard list that along just shared but there’s also just ideas that you have to come up with and you know we at saor air toward the size of quality um we want our product to be of the highest quality um so we try not to find ourselves too price driven we don’t we don’t play in that world a whole lot uh we want to work with strategic partners that have high quality products but at the end of the day each day I think Jim you can hit another button there have more show up but there there’s more stuff that happens in a given day more issues or items that you simply can’t control when you wake up in the morning and uh that’s kind of what makes the job unique but it also makes it stressful and uh as you guys deal with it on your end as well you know it starts with us so a lot of those issues are things that you can’t control whether it is dealing with Mother Nature like we have in the past year or two in countries like Peru dealing with El Nino um mangoes have been hard to get um Peppers red peppers suppliers have had issues constantly we’ve had shortages um anything that goes into a drought can affect anything that happens elsewhere um just because it happens in one place doesn’t mean it doesn’t affect other items um and then also you do get in like Jim mentioned earlier more into political issues War issues um you you run into issues such as uh say the Suez Canal where items are delayed through there they’re having issues and so containers are now needing to go around Africa at times which adds time which but not only does that delay the item that’s on that container but that container was expected to be somewhere else so now it just is a snow effect of where other items are going to be and now those are running behind two so one Domino can mess up a lot of things that happen logistically especially over the water and overseas where we don’t have that much control and then another decision that has to be debated constantly and figured out where are you going to Source the product from not only from quality but also what is the economic issues that are going on there such as tariffs Duties are they a free trade country with the US what are the other aspects that we have to deal with on a daily basis to make that decision you know I always think of whether Spain has an unbelievable aroke um Peru does a good artichoke you have to draw that line between do you want $6 more for an unbelievable artichoke just due to a tariff um or a duty I mean those are things that you have to beat up and figure out so you constantly have to find a supplier you’re comfortable with and hopefully you find one in the area that is less expensive but sometimes we don’t and uh we will have to make that transition so all of those things that happen really weren’t our decision to make a change um you know some of it’s forced and there’s nothing you can really do about that um Jim I think there might even be more on this slide photos but but those are some of the issues we’ve had to deal with just throughout a given year um well if you have things to add at its core we do um we do prefer to do to to pick geographies product in its geography that’s that they’re indigenous to perfect example quinoa we we have decided sometimes painfully that you know we we prefer the Indian um region uh on raw materials because that’s where it’s indigenous to so we Source strictly out of Peru and that means we you know we go as far as to spec um certain regions um colors and and um humidity level and all of that um just because that’s what we believe presents as the best for quinoa and uh it it’s it’s it’s all it’s sometimes a painful decision because we could be facing shorts then we have to make other decisions on you know what’s depending on how long the pain is going to last we make inventory decisions and then we might consider other Origins you know we that’s we’ve always got to have backups but you know at its core we’ve got to we try to stay true to the ingredient in its history um I mean another one edamami it’s Chinese in origin but believe it or not I’ve seen edamami being grown in Romania I looked at it I looked at it I kind of tilted my head um but I mean how is the consumer going to feel about a US consumer G to feel about adami grown from Romania maybe it’s accepted in in Europe but as far as the us if they saw adami and it had the product of of Romania they’d be looking at us like do youall know what you’re doing so it’s those are those are little quirks in what we do and all the all these little details that play into decisions that we make and I think to tag along with that when you talk about countries and where items are from um I’m sure more familiar that more and more products are coming from Egypt and Egypt is they grow everything there they can grow anything there um and it’s usually pretty coste effective uh you know I think one of the debates you know we sliced ripe olives you know we were using a Morocco supplier had issues there it was going to be a long-term problem still is and for numerous reasons um but it was a debate do you go to the higher quality of which I think it would be Spanish or you know can you find an Egyptian Supply that’s suitable and at the end of the day we aired towards Spain because it was going to be a long-term move for us in our label so I think those are things you debate because even though there’s certain suppliers that can give a certain area a bad name I think that happens at times and I think there are some items that we we could pull out of a country like Egypt and we do a couple but those are things you have to monitor and be very close um whether it’s checking on the USDA reports on um you know pesticides in Egypt’s a touchy button and having issues from suppliers um hasn’t happened with anyone we’ve worked with but you never know but it’s still kind of a black eye for that area if if you think about it so those are other things that kind of go into those decisions clearcut we you know we we we think it should be we we approach things as that but we also and you know we’re prepared for things just to have contingencies and we keep our options open we may not always pull the trigger on it but we do keep keep our options open and and try and understand where the Market’s moving where the crops are moving and what options there are because you know it’s it is it’s worse to know when there’s a crop failure or you’re notified of a crop failure and what do you what’s the decision going to be are we going to choose to out customers for six months or do we scramble and and you know do we adopt a a different country of origin this just that’s that’s our life that’s how we live our every day yeah and yeah and I think that’s also important to the fact of why we vet out suppliers so like it takes a while simply because we want to be with a partner that can help us with that information um I don’t care if it’s bad news I just want the news you know so I think that’s the biggest thing is if you have suppliers that are open and uh honest about situations uh I think that’s the only way to go about this so you know there’s been times over my last you know first full year being here at saber where you just find people you become more comfortable with and you and you trust them more on the information they’re telling you with the number of items Jim said we carry you can only be an expert on so many like I’m not I’m only as good as my suppliers I work with and the information they share with me I mean they’re the ones on the ground there and in doing things so you know that’s the the part that always has to be considered long would you share I think it’s just an interesting along these lines would you just kind of briefly share what happened with an chovis last year El Nino which is uh which everybody has been blaming for droughts and too much rainfall um elino was blamed for there was either over fishing of anchovies um anchovie fish um or elino caused a disturbance and they weren’t growing um to the minimum size for processing so our product is processed out of Morocco but they use Peruvian raw materials um so basically the Peruvian put a stop to fishing their Anchovies and um our producer our our partner in Morocco had to scramble and look for other raw materials um at out of Spain out of the Mediterranean which is going to be a higher cost um but there was a there was a time where we flat out could not get any raw materials they just they had to because once you fish them you do have to Salt them um and that’s a several month process so it’s not like it’s you know you fish them and they go and they’ve got a f um so the you know of course that creates Panic throughout the the industry everybody’s doing an IND you know an inventory grab which is always so much fun um so we there is also there’s also some thought of the product going we’re changing the oil um we do a strictly 100% allive oil blend there you know an olives uh there was a problem Joe was Joe was living through the olive and olive oil crisis last year and that you know that’s also another decision like do we want to continue to pay um the elevated olive oil prices um but we we just you know we stay true to what we think should be the quality of a product and we were out for a few months and it was painful um but we’re back in business so it’s you you don’t think about ELO affecting little and chies and per you don’t think about that when you’re having your Caesar but that’s what happens you long and and Joe if I may I think it also is kind of helpful to this Co sort of sourcing thing about how we pick a partner could you just give a brief overview of how we brought on our mole supplier from Waka Mexico um sure uh some of that happened before I was here um our president uh director uh found them at a food show and basically walked by and thought it was a fantastic product um however uh no certifications anything like that and fast forward two years later the certification was received and we went down one of my first trips in this position was down there to see their facility um it was great products great um good people and I think that you know having that product and being able to bring it in for a supplier like that is it’s a great partnership and you know you want to see an item like that grow and you know it’s an item that has 28 plus ingredients in it that you know you talked about earlier the potential of having we want to find like labor Savers and things like that for our customers um I think that’s a great representation of kind of where the trends are on food and uh plus the trip to Waka was fantastic by the way I’ll throw that out there I recommend it to anyone um we had a great great meals everything down there the environment is very food oriented and uh it was uh but I think those items and just finding that supplier like we talk about it wasn’t necessarily a trend back there back then it was just an item that looked good at a show and you know you go to a show and you hope to find an item like that really you know and I think that was probably the biggest thing that came from that it’s one of those and we put a lot of marketing behind it and things like that so it’s it’s exciting when you have an item like that yeah I I I love how they came to be a supplier partner of ours do you have another slide yeah uh and then you can go one more to Jim I think the uh you know I think when you look at it and we can touch on this and and what kind of makes us different it’s saber we want to say you know it our competitive Advantage I mean working with DOT not only can we get product here overseas we work on that aspect like me and along just touched on but once it’s here we’re able to handle that product you know with u 2,000 trailer trucks over 2000 with 13 DCS across the country um we also have terminal throughout the country we use to get products like Jim referenced you know a customer can literally get one case within a 2 to Three Day lead time on anything stocked um you know that is an advantage that we have that I can kind of almost not worry about that aspect when it when it gets here you know uh so that’s a that’s a good feeling to have um on our end and uh along if you want to touch on safety or quality I see so we that is a huge huge advantage in in in dealing with us because we do have a extensive food safety and quality assurance program um you know we fisma uh food safety modernization act it kind of changed everything for how people bring into product into the country legally um you know without changing their LLC every two years um yes that was shade I’m sorry you might want to cut that out but um we uh so as far as our food safety we require um a a gfsi audit scheme it’s uh Global food safety initiative and we also that that is an annual audit that every facility that we deal with um needs to complete they’ve got to also submit their report their audit report as well as their certificate which our food safety quality assurance manager she verifies that she goes and she she doesn’t just accept what they turn into us she verifies that against other databases just to make sure they’re above board because there are also um forgeries of those certificates out there that’s more common than you think um in addition to that we require a the the there’s documents that have to be renewed every 3 years and that’s their food defense plan food safety plan quality manual um recall traceability program supplier management and appr pral program so we we’re very very serious about that this is you know it’s it’s legal but it’s also safe it’s a safety issue we don’t want to we don’t want to harm anyone we we want to make sure that it’s safe for you and the quality is good um in addition to the legal and safy issues we we also checked the um we regularly audit our items and also we always audit the first incoming po because what you look at as a bench sample maybe completely different than what you get as a production item so we that’s that’s a part of our process that we uh observe every time um anything that add to that Joe on the food safety no I think there’s the the point there it kind of goes back to the m there’s items that we really like or or want to work with but we simply can’t because we can’t get the right legal documents or the right safety information together and if that’s the case we have to kind of move on and um it’s just not gonna you know nobody squeaks through as you say so you that’s the way we look at it we just can’t partner with someone that that doesn’t have that information there are conversations that you’ll have um when you first meet some a a potential supplier and um they they’ll nod yes to everything you’re say you’re asking um but when you actually ask them to turn over the documents it is crickets and it’s like okay that’s fine if you don’t have it it’s fine but you know you’re you’re just you’re not getting in with these documents we’re pretty strict about things like that so yes it says a lot that we’re a team of 22 people and three of them are solely F fsqa right you know so we’re we’re really committed to food safety um another thing that makes us really strong is the culinary Innovations um we have corporate Chef Don Turley and he he owns this portion and we we all have input um we debate with him all of us debate with him um he’s very very particular about formulations and um and it it’s it’s been painful sometimes but he’s usually correct in his his request for revisions but it’s it’s it’s nice to have somebody he he does have the experience you he was with other National chains prior prior to this um but he’s it’s it’s good to have a culinary resource that I we can rely on and to help us make these decisions um and he’s out in front of customers a lot too so he knows what the customer is wanting it’s not just about what is the trend but it’s got to make sense you know it’s got to be usable for the end user and and anybody else and it’s also important that not only the Innovation part and the revision so work on to get an item just right but he’s also there for us when we want to change an item that’s more you know change a caper or change anything like that I mean we have quarterly cuting uh to review items to sample before we just say oh this price on slic banana pepper Rings is better um this supplier is good you know we want to check those products and Don really helps us with that and uh you know the whole team there in the culinary World there helps tremendously to have and so you’re not something you shouldn’t be chasing anyway we’re not afraid to revise something if it improves the pro the product I mean it’s it’s a painful for marketing it’s painful for us but we are not afraid to make those changes if the end result is better and then another aspect that we spend a lot of time on is sustainability uh you know more and more sustainability gets talked about and I think we’ve seen it where you know we’re trying to get people to move more or they’re wanting us to move more into pouches instead of cans we have a lot of items that we’ve moved into pouches anything from you know the quinoa there artichokes or uh we’re working on dried mushrooms now which is exciting item so there’s a lot of items we’ve used to do that with so you’re trying to get more sustainable with at the same time without losing quality of the product um because there is a big difference there and how that product might sit brine if it’s in a bag and only half of it’s covered where in a gallon it’s covered the whole time that makes for a different product after a certain amount of time um so I think that’s a lot of stuff that we’re working towards for customers uh for end users um you know it goes right along with the labor Savers and things like that if we can get you know we we realize national accounts don’t want glass in the back of their kitchen um you know we want to try to move items that direction where we’re not that way um and so far we’ve had a lot of success there but as I touched with a long earlier sometimes we have an idea and sometimes works sometimes doesn’t but you know at least you’re trying to think of different items and the way we could go about it hey one thing I just want to add is um you know quality as they said is the key thing for us but we also try we’re not uh complacent with it so fsqa looking pulling individual cases of existing items that we’ve been selling for a while make sure it meets our spec our Chef’s doing the same thing because even though we’ve developed really good Partnerships with these suppliers things happen and we got to make sure that that quality U meets meets our customers expectations so so we make a a uh strong effort to make sure we’re evaluating products cons consistently to make sure it hits that quality mark so the new items coming up I can I can touch a few of mine uh you know the uh caramelized uh peo and jalapeno pepper jams we’re also working on a chef stable caramelized onion with the same customer or same supplier um but but couple other items that we’re really excited about that we’re working on right now to bring in are Australian finger limes they’re iqf individual uh very exciting to be used on um Seafood oysters also can put them in drinks and they uh with sparkling water champagne uh very exciting items four different varieties um and then we will be the exclusive supplier of those and then we’ve also been working on finally getting clams on board whether those BC ocean clams clam juice um things like that those are all in the uh um onboarding stage now as as we speak I’ve got the duck cells the Indian and Tha SAU is the duck cell I saw um a while back and I just fell in love with it I mean it’s if um I don’t I don’t know I honestly don’t know how it’s going to do but it’s such a delicious item um it’s it’s in a retort pouch and I think it’s it’s a labor saver right you don’t have to chop anything up you don’t have to caramelize anything it is ready to use um and I hope it’s it’s successful because it is delicious um that’s that’s where this is where I get in trouble is you know we fall in love with items and we hope it works um you knows to be see um a supplier you want to work for him yeah um and Indian sauces and Indian Indian the Indian Cuisine it’s it’s getting it’s exploding I mean it’s it’s it’s getting more and more in popularity um we are going to be bringing in some sauces that are speed scratch and and quite approachable but maintains the authenticity what we hope it does um to Indian cuisine and Thai Thai sauces they you know things like curries and sweet chili Sriracha all of that Sriracha yes is a it is a Thai origin product um those are Staples but we are going to be adding slight twists to them to make them refreshed and Innovative so hopefully we can thrill you with our coming items Jim and I think these go back to you Jim okay so on when we’re talking about bringing in products we talk about you know so elong and Joe were uh very eloquently talking about all the factors that go into play about you know how we can pick a partner how we can pick region what we can do with that but we also have to be very aware of trend so we’re all con there are uh many culinary backgrounds on our team we’re all spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of foods uh all the time so we’re we’re trying to tap into all the data sources we’re we’re all kind of plugged into all of the data sources that are available in the industry as well as um the travel and trade shows and everything to go out and see what’s next what what the next thing is um we’re we’re with everyone that uh Chef’s Don’s three top trends this year are complex spicy flavors so things like calabrians Global spice Blends our mole those are all driven you know those are all purposeful to that we think complex spicy flavors are where the customer lives right now the second Trend we’re sort of that we’re uh sort of ideating to this year is Nostalgia you know new spins on old classics so be that something as simple as loaded fries with you know Global ingredients like a lote or queso um swapping out an expected ingredient with a new take like a roasted pablano in place of a bell pepper um and then the complexity of flavor and Tender Crisp texture of roasted vegetables so we end up doing quite a bit of some fire roasted vegetables um that are iqf many of them are ready to eat and anything in our line that carries that RTE Banner means that it’s gone through a third party bacteria kill so that you can literally thaw it and and serve it so like a roasted corn like a roasted pablano so those are those are trends that that our product offering right now is is geared toward we’re putting products where our ideation is right so um those are trends that we’re chasing it’s it’s an interesting thing that so for us to bring in a product obviously you know like so this we’ll take a gamble on okay we believe in these Trends so we’re going to bring in products to support the trend but in some of the ideation things that we do um we’re always looking you know there’s always questions about well we think this is really cool but could we do this there is it viable so we’re often asking a viability question and to that end I’ll share something with you that we call the flavor Vault and um in the flavor Vault it’s we put some of the items that were on the previous screen like Duck cells or uh like a pikio jam or things like that and we’re asking chefs their opinion right so we’ll provide a sample and we’re asking what do you think is this a viable item so we can certainly get flavor Vault information to you if any of you um like to be guinea pigs on on some new items we can we can certainly travel down that path so that sort of ends the the formal presentation that we have for you today we we hope that we’ve been able to provide you with information that you find valuable about how these products are sourced all the details that it takes the the legal the weather the political the relation relationship you know the our industry thank goodness remains an industry of relationships right and that’s while that’s true of um me with the chefs that I work with every day me with the Distributors that I work with every day it’s also true for uh roles like Joe and El Longs with the suppliers that they deal with every day who can they trust who says what who who does what they say they’re going to do who can who has the paperwork who has the legality all of those factors um are in play every day behind the scenes of bringing that box on a DOT truck to a distributor to take it to a restaurant so it’s a fascinating um it’s a fascinating Rodeo that’s happening every day right so that’s our day today and it I think it’s fairly safe to say that we all really like doing it so um with that we’re happy to open things you know back up if Christopher’s uh been I think maybe Fielding some questions we’d be happy to answer any questions about you know what we do or how we get a product or uh we’ll take your suggestions if there’s something new that you’re dying for that we need to do right mute uh Jim there weren’t any questions but there are a lot of comments on how amazing the content was and how much people love it and uh I think people really want to get some of your ingredients into their hands to cook with um so of of of the ingredients that you have tell me when you you were what what’s the biggest item right now that you have people calling and asking for but not using in a traditional format so we’re talking about global pantry and really it’s U you know people one of you mentioned Sriracha earlier I believe was along and uh Sriracha is you know so much different now as that red rooster that we see that’s out of California it’s used as ketchup in so many dishes or using esoteric dishes what’s the what’s the next one that that you find chefs are taking that you would never think that would be the normal uh normal use for an ingredient address who who’s that addressed to any anybody any of you we start Jim he’s in the front line gonna throw him at there as I’m uh I’m I’m struck lately with um one of our one of our biggest selling C I mentioned that the car that the pre- caramelized onions are our number one selling item and they get used a lot of that is because Cheeseburger still rule the menu but those that item gets used in soup that item gets used in dip that item gets used in a lot of different ways as many different ways as there are customers using it we a a real Trend that I see right now is that I get a lot of demand for I have a lot of people asking me for uh is precooked iqf grains we have we have a pretty broad offering of grains that have been pre-cooked many of you know ready to eat again right so that can it’s gone through a kill step where it could be served cold and it’s purely about operational consistency and they are blank pallet products right so that you know we do one that’s a blend that’s Pharaoh brown rice and quinoa that we cleverly call farq and I’ve seen that recipe as many way I mean I’ve seen it done asan I’ve seen it done Mediterranean I’ve seen it done people use it as many ways as there are just as there is creativity in the kitchen so our our food philosophy if we have one is to provide the the highest quality ingredient that we can that a chef can then make his own her own and that’s really what we do so we don’t do anything that’s like fully flavored you know like we don’t do pre-seasoned grains our grains are our raw pallet so like that one so like we we often talk about that one plus one take your quinoa blend and add a different flavoring Blend or different seasoning to make it the chef’s own right exactly or we often refer to that as speed scratch where we’re not trying to we’re not trying to um we love good food right we are restaurant we are restaurant people so we don’t we want to just provide a a solution that maybe speeds things up a little bit but the chef is going to do that so our roasted Tomatoes might end up in that uh faru grain blend and then maybe it gets protein or maybe it doesn’t and maybe it gets zatar and maybe it does you know whatever flavorings and Seasonings and all that is still very much with the chef and I’m also shocked at the um at the requests that we get and how they get used for pre-roasted vegetables like our roasted pablanos and roasted sweet corn um those those items get a lot of play well I’m sure again that that roasted sweet corn probably going into a lot of people’s uh aote corn salad or is it exactly like that yeah right we do that product ready to cook we also do it ready to eat so an account can just take that add lime cotilla cilantro mayonnaise and there’s your otate you know it’s even even a quicker steps I I you know my background a little bit too prior to coming here I was in commercial food manufacturing so Griffith Foods we actually came with a blend that actually did the elote flavor so all we had to do is take that seasoning blend put with your corn and put some from um uh ktia cheese in there and you’re all set so I love the approach of being able to take the speed scratch and and bringing it to our different chefs across the country cuz not everyone has the opportunity to make everything from scratch and but they still want to have delicious stuff so uh i’ had one last question and then we’re going to close out but the question is uh so they want to know how they can become a guinea pig how how do uh how do how do uh obviously you got dot food but um what are some other ways for uh for chefs and restaurant tours to reach out to you to get some uh some of the products if you if you go to our website which I’ll I’ll share it into the chat here in a moment but it’s www.sports.com and on that website you there’s a link for our team and our contact information email addresses and our territories are listed there so like for instance my role primarily is in the kind of Upper Midwest the Rust Belt and the PLS but I have counterparts on the west coast on the East Coast we have national account managers uh that handle the whole country so we have sales team that are kind of assigned to Regions we all help each other and do everything but our email addresses our contact information is all in the website so if if you’re if you’d like a sample of a product if you’d like to try anything of ours or whatever we’re in we’ll we’ll send it to you um and we’re a young enough company that we really believe in our we have to right Joe and elong aren’t kidding about trying to Source the best stuff we can get and we’re very willing to kind of put that to the test right so um I’ll put the website in the chat so that it’s saved into the presentation and then if you go to our team there you can you’ll be able to reach the contact information of our entire Salesforce that would be happily answer any question for you also all of our products are on that website um everything that we do if you go to our products you can see it’s a public facing website and you can see all roughly 350 items that we’re doing right now fantastic Britney’s posted to the uh the website for all of you uh so you’re able to see that and uh Jim I I greatly appreciate you and and along Steve and Joe as well thank you for all the time in the enlightening presentation truly awesome love all these ingredients and I know the chef’s uh you know for Global sourcing when many of us started off in the industry we didn’t have a lot of these available to us and I think the chefs here uh you know being able to get that directly from you is going to really change a lot of the plates for uh as we continue to go forward so uh as we wrap up I’d like to remind everyone to keep an eye out for the survey you’ll receive in the next day or so completing a survey is essential to earn your continued education hours from uh being part of this video uh I want to thank Jim along Steve and Joe for the enlightened presentation truly it was a joy to be part of uh have you part of our our webinar program we’re e eagerly looking forward to seeing all of you at the ACF National Convention in Phoenix from July 14th to 17th this is set to be the premier culinary educ ation and event of the year I will tell you I’ve milk into my calendar 6 days till I get to check in for my flight so some of you have a little bit more I’m going to be there before you so we can get ready for the convention you’re going have some great learning opportunities networking inspiration this is going to be one of the first conventions in a long time where all of our member all of our presentations are done by our members you’re really going to want to be there you’re going to really enjoy it for more information on upcoming webinars and details about the convention I just mentioned please visit acfchefs.org click on the events Tab and on behalf of the ACF national office I want to thank you again to the presenters for the contributions today and thank you all you members for joining us have a wonderful day and we look forward to seeing you at the next event thanks so much have a great day bye- bye thank you all happy Fourth of July happy Fourth of July 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1 Comment
I'm willing to taste the products .