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News Release 10-27-2003 |
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WEST VIRGINIA FOODS AMONG THE BEST AT TEXAS SHOW West Virginia agribusinesses have once again brought home top prizes at a national food show. Blue Smoke Salsa of Ansted won second place “Best Hot Salsa” out of 320 entries at the International Zesty Food Show Fiery Food Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas, held Sept. 26-28. Dark Hollow Foods of Dunbar also won second in the “Best Hot Sauce” category for its spicy dark sauce. Blue Smoke took similar honors at The Americas Food and Beverage Show, held Dec. 3-5, 2002, in Miami, where the company won “Best Salsa, Sauce or Condiment in the Americas.” Blue Smoke was part of a West Virginia contingent sponsored by the West Virginia Department of Agriculture (WVDA), which will sponsor another West Virginia products booth at the “12 Days of Christmas Show” in Charlotte, N.C., Nov. 13-23. The West Virginia Division of Tourism is cosponsoring the booth. “I am so pleased for these two companies,” said Commissioner of Agriculture Gus R. Douglass. “They are examples of what West Virginia-grown businesses can achieve when they receive the right assistance and encouragement. The Department of Agriculture has worked closely with both of these companies, but in the final analysis, Robin Hildebrand and Kay Kingry deserve the credit. They both have worked long and hard, and both have excellent products.” Hildebrand, owner of Blue Smoke Salsa, was one of the featured speakers at the Zesty Food Show. Her two-hour workshop was entitled “Optimism: An Essential Ingredient,” and dealt with the challenges of starting a home-based business. “I basically told them the Blue Smoke story - the obstacles you face and how to reconcile kids and career,” said Hildebrand. The company entered agreements with two new national retailers while at the show, which featured 110 other salsa companies. “I was in heaven,” she said. “We were surrounded by all these big salsa companies and we picked up a lot of ideas for packaging and marketing. The Food Network was there covering the event, and I had the opportunity to do interviews for two local television stations. We won with our hot salsa in Texas, the heart of hot salsa country.” Hildebrand noted that her products will soon be featured on the Amazon.com food page, a development she calls an “incredible credential.” That development came as a result of contacts made at the Miami Food Show. Earlier this year, Gov. Bob Wise presented Blue Smoke with three “International Market Entry Awards” for placing products in Europe, Canada and the Philippines. Dark Hollow owner Kay Kingry also was pleased with her award at the Zesty Food Show, and noted some of the publicity her company garnered at the Fancy Food Show in Chicago in early June this year. “We were included in a nice story on ‘ten food companies to watch’ in one of the Chicago newspapers,” Kingry said. “We’ve also been on the road in West Virginia visiting some of the fairs and festivals and our products have been selling really well. We’re only doing 12 events this year, so we’ve been very happy with the response we’ve been getting.”
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©2001, 2002 West Virginia Department of Agriculture, All Rights Reserved |
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