SOFI AWARD--From left, chef Ming Tsai, Tanya Nueske and Glenn Gazzolo at the New York awards ceremony, where Nueske’s Applewood Smoked Meats received an unprecedented third gold award for specialty outstanding food innovation from the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade. |
Nueske's celebrates another award citing outstanding food innovation Aug. 21, 2009 The Northernaires played and employees celebrated as officials from Nueske’s Applewood Smoked Meats delivered the third gold award for specialty outstanding food innovation to the company’s Wittenberg headquarters.
The formal awards presentation was made by the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade at the 55th Annual Summer Fancy Food Show held at the Javit’s Convention Center in New York.
But while that red-carpet ceremony, featuring celebrity chef Ming Tsai, was quite an affair, the real party happened earlier this month in Wittenberg when the trophy arrived home.
With a large contingent of employees on hand, Glenn Gazzolo of Nueske’s formally presented the award to Bob, Tanya and Ryan Nueske. The golden trophy will be passed around the company, spending time in each department throughout the coming months, with its first stop in the logistics department.
There was music by Antigo’s Northernaires Orchestra and employees Carrie Bohlman and Helen Selle carried a large banner heralding the achievement.
Nueske’s is the only purveyor to have won the gold sofi award three times in 10 years in the Meat, Pate or Seafood category. It previously took home the honor in 2001 and in 2006. Nueske’s Applewood Smoked Tellicherry Pepper-Coated Bacon received a 2008 silver sofi in the Meat, Pate or Seafood category.
“Wow, I’d give anything for my granddad to be here to see this,” Tanya Nueske, company spokeswoman and granddaughter of Nueske’s founder Robert Carl Nueske, said. “He started this company over 75 years ago selling his products out of the back of his automobile – everything made with the family’s secret recipes. I marvel at the fact that what we make here in little Wittenberg, Wisconsin, led us to become the first meat company to win a sofi award three times in one decade.”
Nueske credits the company’s popularity to a commitment to high-quality, hand-trimmed meats, old family recipes and their artisan smoking process. Nueske’s smokes its bacon for a minimum of 24 hours, nearly five times longer than that of many other bacon products on the market, resulting in an uncommon consistency in cooking and Nueske’s famous, unmistakably sweet, smoky flavor.
More than 250 retailers and food service buyers judged close to 2,000 entries in 33 categories.
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