Ayeshah Abuelhiga, CEO of Mason Dixie Foods, joins us to discuss her clean-label, ready-to-bake line of frozen biscuits and breakfast sandwiches. The daughter of two immigrants from countries with very big food cultures, Ayeshah turned a love of soul food into a booming biscuit business, recently raising over $6 million in a Series A funding round. Mason Dixie products can be found in over 8,000 locations nationwide, including Whole Foods, Target and Publix.

Led by CEO Theresa Motter, Van’s Kitchen is a certified women-owned and minority-owned egg roll manufacturer supplying over 10,000 supermarkets and convenience stores across the U.S., with $45 million in annual sales. The Dallas-based company weathered the COVID pandemic, signing over 10 new distributor, supermarket and grocery accounts for a 40% increase in sales year-over-year. Read the full story here. 

Helena Lumme, founder and president of Hälsa Dairy-Free Scandinavian-Style Oatgurt, and Mika Manninen, founder and CEO, join the Cold Corner to discuss winning the 2021 R&FF Best New Refrigerated Products Contest. They also talk about how the rapidly-growing company is addressing sustainability, innovation, and plans for 2022 and beyond.

Crepini’s President, Ann Daw, and CMO, Lisa Shkolnik, join the Cold Corner to discuss the company’s zero-carb, Paleo- and Keto-friendly egg wraps—a cross between a crêpe and a blini—and how those refrigerated products help consumers meet modern dietary preferences. They also discuss overcoming challenges with growing the company, a recent packaging redesign, and how they’re addressing current supply chain and labor issues at the company. 

SideDrive is the only company in the world focused solely on providing side-drive, edge-driven conveyors for food-safe production lines. USDA-approved plastic-belted SideDrive conveyors keep refrigerated and frozen foods safe with their smooth motion that prevents breakage. Increase uptime while reducing chemical and water use thanks to SideDrive’s open-frame construction and drumless design that make cleaning and high-pressure washdown simple by reducing bacterial harborage points. Whether you want to elevate or lowerate, optimize your space or need an instance of ‘time’ in your process to cool or cure, SideDrive’s flexible conveyor configurations allow for endless solutions that keep refrigerated or frozen food products food-safe.

Sponsored by:

With a focus on finding creative freezing & chilling solutions, Tony provides Commercial Cryogenic Technology support to Air Products’ food customers in the Northeastern US Region. In addition to coordinating equipment installations and updates, Tony collaborates with food manufacturers to understand their operation and identify opportunities to improve process safety and efficiency and reduce cost to grow their business.

Sponsored by: 

Louis Armstrong, Founder and CEO of Killer Creamery, sits down with R&FF's Layan Dahhan to talk about the origins of his healthy, sugar-free ice cream company. They discuss the difficulties of transporting frozen products, the growth of the business since its start back in 2016 and the recent addition of a frozen novelty, Killer Sammies, to their lineup of ice cream pints.