Refrigerated & Frozen Foods' Marina Mayer Heads to White Castle

Harold and Kumar aren’t the only ones who go to White Castle. Yup, I did.

As a true Midwestern girl who grew up in Chicago and attended Indiana University, eating White Castle for breakfast was not uncommon. So, when I saw the nomination for White Castle come through my email, the inner college student inside shrieked with joy. “The universe tends to unfold as it should,” I told myself.

But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. My continuous craving for a nice, juicy Slider isn’t why White Castle received Refrigerated & Frozen Foods’ 2014 Frozen Foods Processor of the Year award.

Every year, we receive about a dozen nominations for this award, but there’s always that one company that really stands out—one that proves in 1,000 words or less how it continues to enforce food safety, energy efficiency and new product development, all while going above and beyond industry standards.

This year, White Castle was that company.

In 1921, Walt Anderson and E. W. “Billy” Ingram, Sr. borrowed $700 and opened the first White Castle restaurant in Wichita, Kan. Since then, the headquarters has moved to Columbus, Ohio, and now the still family-owned fast food king produces more than 6.7 million burgers a week, employs over 10,000 team members and operates over 400 restaurants throughout the Midwest and portions of the East coast.

White Castle is also the first fast food company to bring its products to retail outlets, thus transforming the fast food industry.

For more on its crowning achievements, flip to “King of the Retail Freezercase.” Also, check out “A Fortress of Energy Efficiency,” and take a tour of the company’s newest LEED-certified frozen food facility in Vandalia, Ohio.

Something to note about these nominations—ANYONE can submit a nomination—customers, processors, design-build firms, cold storage providers, distributors and more. Coming down the pipeline is our 2015 Sustainable Supply Chain of the Year award. Don’t hesitate to call or email me Re: nominations. These awards are great ways to showcase your company’s success stories in food safety, energy management, supply chain optimization and new product development.

Stay tuned for our January 2015 issue, featuring our 2015 Refrigerated Foods Processor of the Year—Evolution Fresh, a Starbucks brand. And, hopefully I’ll be seeing your nomination come through.

 Now, back to my Sliders, available in the frozen foods aisle of a grocery store near you.