March Golden Penguin Entries Due May 12
This is your last chance to win the prestigious Golden Penguin Award for March Frozen Food Month 2009. See the Rules Brochure and Entry Form for complete details on assembling your entry. Gold winners will be recognized at the Awards Banquet October 20, 2009 during the National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Convention. Submissions are due at NFRA by May 12.

Last Chance to Order June Dairy Month and Ice Age POS
June Dairy Month is right around the corner. Leverage the Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs characters to drive traffic and increase your sales in the refrigerated dairy department during June. A two-page FSI dropping on Sunday, May 31^st and NFRA’s Dairy…Healthy for the Whole Herd $10,000 Sweepstakes will announce the promotion to consumers and keep their interest. Decorate the aisle with June POS materials from NFRA to create excitement in-store. Enter your best merchandising effort for a chance to win the prestigious Golden Penguin Award.

Promote Ice Cream & Novelties as Summer Favorites during June and July
There is no better time to promote everyone’s favorite ice cream and novelty treats than during the top sales months of summer. Participate in the Summer Favorites Retail Display Contest to draw consumers into the aisle and to earn the coveted Golden Penguin. Get consumers excited about the promotion with NFRA’s Summer Favorites $100,000 Instant Win Game. Summer Favorites POS is also available from NFRA.

Register for the Convention by June 5 to be in the First Pre-Registration List
The National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Convention brings Monumental Value to your business by allowing you to meet with dozens of companies in just a few days. Last year, over 50 supermarket chains were represented at the Convention, and they reserved a record number of meeting rooms to hold one-on-one customer business appointments. You must register by June 5 to be included in the first pre-registration list, which is used by delegates to schedule appointments prior to the Convention. Don’t miss out on this valuable opportunity.

Start Planning for October Cool Food for Kids Promotion
In October, NFRA will conduct an educational outreach program called Cool Food for Kids that will teach children and their families about timely health topics such as portion control and a balanced diet and how frozen foods can play a part. Educational curriculum is being produced by Young Minds Inspired and will be distributed to 40,000 elementary schools. To bring the message in-store, NFRA will have Cool Food for Kids point of sale and conduct a consumer sweepstakes. Plan now to promote frozen foods this October. Look for more details coming soon!

NFRA Welcomes Our Newest Members
Please welcome the companies listed below who have met the qualifications of membership and have joined the National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association.

LOGISTICS PROVIDER

RLS Logistics
www.rlslogistics.com

MANUFACTURER

Talenti
www.talentigelato.com

REGIONAL MANUFACTURER

Tampa Farms, LLC
www.tampafarms.com

SUPPLIER

Innovative Construction & Process Design
www.innovative-cpd.com

Recent Certificate of Excellence Recipients
The Certificate of Excellence, the highest operational award in the frozen and refrigerated foods industry, signifies that a facility conforms to the highest industry and government standards, and strictly adheres to the Code of Recommended Practices for the handling and merchandising of frozen and refrigerated foods.

Ashland Cold Storage
1556 W. 43^rd St.
Chicago, IL  60609-3389

Henningsen Cold Storage
5200 11^th Avenue S.
Grand Forks, ND  58201  

Henningsen Cold Storage
4124 24^th Avenue
Forest Grove, OR  97116  

Interstate Cold Storage
4350 Roberts Rd.
Columbus, OH  43288  

Interstate Cold Storage
7725 Nelson Rd.
Ft. Wayne, IN  46803  

United States Cold Storage
2901 Kenny Biggs Rd.
Lumberton, NC  28358  

United States Cold Storage
1400 N. MacArthur Dr.
Tracy, CA  95376  

United States Cold Storage
5150 Pulaski St.
Dallas, TX  75247  

United States Cold Storage
114 Cuddy Drive
Marshville, NC  28103

Mark Tarzwell, Burris Logistics, representing the Mid Atlantic Food Trades Organization (MAFTO) recently awarded Frank Paone, Food Marketing Major at St. Joseph’s University, with the NFRA’s 2009 Jack Cofer Award and Scholarship for $1000. We wish Frank the best as he pursues a career in the food industry.

The Eastern Frosted Foods Association will hold its Blue Penguin Awards Dinner celebrating a successful March Frozen Food Month on Tuesday, June 9 beginning at 6 PM. The dinner will be held at a new location – the Hilton Hasbrouck Heights/Meadowlands in Hasbrouck Heights, NJ. For more information: www.effa.org.

Celebration Foods, manufacturer and distributor of frozen desserts, including Carvel, the original all ice cream cake, has been named the recipient of the 2009 Plant of the Year Award by Food Engineering magazine. The company’s state of the art, single-source 135,000 sq ft plant celebrated its one-year anniversary in February.  Nominees for this coveted award must be a new food or beverage plant in North America that demonstrates the best uses of food manufacturing technology. Celebration Foods’ plant, constructed by contractor Whiting Turner and engineering consultant TranSystems, was chosen as the recipient of this year’s award for several reasons: the innovative engineering demonstrated in new equipment designs, increased production output, energy savings and the reduction in transportation and supply chain costs. For more information: www.celebrationfoods.com  

Nestle USA has announced the winners of the 2009 Nestle Very Best in Youth competition. Honoring young people between the ages of 13 to 18 for achievements in local community service and academic excellence, the biennial competition is now in its twelfth year. Each winner represents a driving force for change in their local community and wins a donation of $1,000 to a charity of their choice. The 24 honorees for 2009 will receive a four-day trip to Los Angeles for an awards ceremony in July 2009. For more information: www.nestleusa.com.  

The newest and most up-to-date 400-page 2009 edition of Quick Frozen Foods Annual Processors Directory and Buyers Guide is off the press. The 2009 edition boasts 11,152 listings. The original and only source reference work of its kind in the world is often referred to as “The Bible of the Frozen Food Industry.” It is fact-filled with listings of every frozen food processor, personnel, cross-references by product, brand name, geographical listing, etc. Containing full warehouse and transportation listings and information, associations and industry advertisers, as well as brokers and an extensive section devoted to manufacturers of equipment and supplies. This directory is the most valuable tool every executive in the industry must have for every day reference. Copies can be obtained for $175.00 each in the U.S.A. by sending payment with order to: Quick Frozen Foods Directory, 271 Madison Ave., New York, NY  10016, (212) 557-8600, fax (212) 986-9868.  

Unilever has introduced I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! Cooking & Baking sticks. They taste and bake just like butter but have 50% less saturated fat. Southern chefs Jamie and Bobby Deen are challenging Americans to “Bake It To Believe It” for themselves and are offering a money-back guarantee. The offer runs March 15 – June 30, 2009. Consumers can log on to www.BakeItToBelieveIt.com for recipes, prizes and more. For more information: www.unileverusa.com.  

Keep the industry updated about news and staff promotions at your company. NFRA will publish your company highlights monthly in the NFRA Update. Send your company news to us at info@nfraweb.org; via fax to 717-657-9862; or via mail to NFRA, 4755 Linglestown Rd., Suite 300, Harrisburg, PA 17112.