Specialty Foods Lifetime Achievement Awards

Prior to the announcement of the sofi Awards winners at this year’s Summer Fancy Food Show in New York, Ann Daw, Specialty Food Association president; Ron Tanner, vice president of philanthropy, government, and industry relations; and Mike Silver, board chairman, presented the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Awards to five specialty food pioneers:

Russ Vernon, West Point Market, Akron, Ohio

Russ Vernon demonstrated that specialty foods were in demand beyond the East Coast. From 1960 on, the storied West Point Market in Akron, Ohio, was regarded as one of the outstanding specialty food retailers in the U.S.

Vernon’s accomplishments:

•  Building a retail business that drew from beyond a 50-mile radius and attracted astronauts, movie stars and even a Russian major general

•  Pioneering international delicacies from Great Britain, France and other European countries, earning honors such as the Compagnons De Fromages from the French Consulate

•  Receiving the NASFT’s Silver Spoon Award in 1985, which had also been given to Julia Child, Craig Claiborne and other food luminaries

•  Serving as a delegate to the White House Conference on Small Business

•  Mentoring small businesses, including food startups, as a member of SCORE

•  Passing the business along to his son, Rick, and Larry Uhl, who helped West Point Market celebrate 75 years as an independent grocer in 2011

Harold T. Anderson (posthumous), Haddon House Food Products Inc., Medford, N.J.

Harold T. Anderson was an inspiring visionary who became one of the most respected and successful men in the specialty food industry due to his fair, kind and gentle nature, and his exceptionally ethical business approach.

Anderson’s accomplishments:

•  Invading the beach at Normandy and fighting in the Battle of the Bulge as a sergeant in the Army’s Combat Engineers

•  Establishing Haddon House Food Products in 1959, in Medford, N.J.

•  Developing the Haddon House label, which became synonymous with high-end specialty foods

•  Being among the first distributors to expand beyond regional boundaries and make scheduled deliveries on company-owned trucks along the East Coast

•  Successfully navigating one of the most monumental shifts in the specialty food industry – the transition from small independent stores to major supermarket chains, including Wegmans Food Markets, Ukrop’s, and Harris Teeter

•  Serving the industry as president of the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade (NASFT)

•  Building a distribution company that occupies more than 1 million square feet of warehouse space and employs 1,200

Mario Foah, Foah International, Atlanta

Mario L. Foah pioneered the introduction of Italian specialty foods into the U.S., beginning in 1952. The popularity of balsamic vinegar, sun-dried tomatoes, and even espresso machines are the result of Foah’s commitment to Italian tradition and his understanding that these traditions had a place in the U.S.

Foah’s accomplishments:

• Being among the original group that founded the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade (NASFT) in 1952

• Successfully building leading import companies, including Ramsey Imports Inc., and industry giants such as Universal Foods and Liberty Imports

• Serving as president of the NASFT and negotiating rights to the Fancy Food Show to the NASFT from the Cahners Exposition Group, which has funded the association and benefitted members for the past 34 years

• Teaming with his son, Lou, to start Foah International

• Served as President of the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce based in New York city

• Being knighted by the Italian government with the title of “Cavaliere” for his many years of successful trade promotions between Italy and the U.S.

• Being inducted into the Foods of Italy Hall of Fame by the Italian Trade Commission

• At the age of 93, still goes to the office daily and attends the Fancy Food Shows

Anthony R. “Tony” Matthews, Food From Britain, Atlanta

As president of Food From Britain, Tony Matthews built the presence of imported British foods throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico through tireless promotion and the creation of partnerships between British manufacturers and North American retailers.

Matthews’ accomplishments:

• Appointment by Her Majesty the Queen to be a Member of the Order of the British Empire (M.B.E) for his military service in which he served as a combat engineer officer in the 1944-1957 wars in India, Burma, Malaysia and Indonesia

• Executing a retail promotional program in some 1,500 retail outlets each year

• Advising British manufacturers on how to enter the market, making introductions to importers and retailers, and encouraging and arranging for their participation in the Fancy Food Show

• Touring U.S. specialty food stores with dignitaries, including Prince Charles and Margaret Thatcher

• Overseeing in partnership with Patricia Matthews, his wife and Food From Britain vice president, imports of British groceries and beer into the U.S. increase by 400 percent and the number of brands grow to more than 300, an increase of 33 percent

• In 1990, he was again honored by Her Majesty by being promoted to the rank of “Officer” of the aforesaid order for his services to trade (O.B.E.)

Max Ries (posthumous), Reese Finer Foods, Chicago

Max Ries was a showman who created a market for specialty foods through the introduction of innovative products and marketing acumen, which caught the fancy of the American consumer.

Ries’ accomplishments:

• Starting a business in Chicago by selling imported cheeses from the back of his station wagon that grew into one of the largest specialty food companies in the U.S.

• Embracing the exotic, by packing ants and grasshoppers from Venezuela and Japan – and covering them with chocolate

• Growing and packing previously unknown products at his Wisconsin farm and Chicago packing plant, including baby corn, martini peppers and miniature watermelon

• Bringing glamour to the specialty food industry by hiring Hollywood film stars to endorse the Reese brand and celebrating success at a dinner in Chicago with the executive chef from Maxim’s in Paris and cancan dancers from the Moulin Rouge

• Pioneering specialty foods in supermarkets with the Reese Finer Foods line

• Giving back to his community in Chicago and in war-torn Europe by rebuilding synagogues, funding a hospital, founding a group home in Chicago for victims of WWII, and giving people jobs that allowed them to live with hope and dignity