Despite its bucolic trademark of a barefoot country girl leading a milk cow, ice cream maker Blue Bell Creameries means big business. It offers some 50 different ice cream flavors. And although Blue Bell is still considered a regional brand (with distribution in fewer than 20 US states), it is one of the US's most popular ice cream brands. In addition to ice cream, the company sells yogurt, frozen treats (ice cream sandwiches, fruit pops), sherbet, and low-fat and sugar-free ice creams. Blue Bell continues to expand from its strong regional base in Texas and surrounding areas, but no giant-corporation tactics for this company -- it retains total control over production and distribution of its products.

Bernatello's Pizza is a leading frozen-pizza maker in the US's Northeast, Midwest, and Rocky Mountain regions, marketing its pies under the Bernatello's and Roma brands. Its product line (pumping out 100,000 pizzas every day) offers a variety of different pizzas, such as pan-style, sausage and pepperoni, Mexican-style, four-cheese, half-pounder, and thin-and-crispy. The company also produces pizza-related frozen items such as garlic cheese bread, mozzarella sticks, and jalapeeo snappers (Bernie's Bites). In addition, Bernatello's provides manufacturing services for private-label customers. The family-owned company is controlled by food-industry veteran Bill Ramsay.

Fru-Veg Marketing, Inc., is one of the nation’s leading importers of fine produce from the best growers of Europe and Latin America. The company’s philosophy is founded on the principle of selecting the finest growers in each region. By representing only the top growers each region has to offer, it is able to offer unrivaled quality and volume. Fru-Veg’s success stems from surpassing the benchmarks of its competitors and working closely with its customers to meet their needs on a year-round basis. Through quality and consistency, it ensures that all customers receive the maximum shelf life of products. This, coupled with the constant flow of marketing ideas and product development, has enabled Fru-Veg to launch and maintain a variety of products, from the flourishing Petit Gourmet line of pre-packed vegetables, to organically grown green asparagus.Annual visits to each grower in Europe, Central and South America allows Fru-Veg to build new partnerships, reinforce deep-rooted ones and discover new products. Its work begins in the fields where solid relationships are forged with growers whose dedication to the quality of their product meets with the company’s expectations. Equally important are regularly scheduled personal visits to major chain stores in the U.S. and Canada, where Fru-Veg develops seasonal programs with its customers.

The family-owned David Michael & Co., Inc. was founded in 1896. David Michael & Co. has developed and manufactured flavors and flavor ingredients for use by food and beverage manufacturers. David Michael company's brands include Vanguard, Biovan, Supervan, DMChoice, Mixevan, Michtex, MichaelLite, and Michaelcap. It produces more than 40,000 flavors, stabilizers, and natural colors. With corporate headquarters in Philadelphia, the company has operations in North America, Europe, and Asia. David Michael worked with Balchem to produce microencapsulated flavorings, which were introduced in 2004 under the MichaelCap brand name.

It should be pointed out that chickens don't start out with fingers, but Brakebush Brothers produces plenty of 'em. The company manufactures processed value-added chicken products (wings, nuggets, patties, fingers, and strips) for sale through retail grocery and foodservice operators. Its subsidiary, Squawkers, is a branded, restaurant-concept family of products marketed to the foodservice industry; Brakebush Transportation distributes the company's products to destinations in the 48 contiguous US states. Brakebush Brothers, a family-owned company, was founded by William and Otto Brakebush in 1925.

Nissin founder, Momofuku Ando, has always instilled a sense of commitment and quality in Nissin products. Today, Nissin's corporate philosophy inspires this same commitment to taste, convenience, and quality. Mr. Ando began the company as part of a humble family operation back in 1948. Faced with sparse food sources after World War II, Mr. Ando realized that a quality, convenient ramen product would help to feed the masses. His goal was to create a satisfying ramen that could be eaten anywhere, anytime. In 1958, Nissin introduced "Chicken Ramen", the first instant ramen. Ironically, it was considered a luxury item, since Japanese grocery stores sold fresh Japanese noodles (udon) at one-sixth the cost of Mr. Ando's new food concept.

Southern FS has been cultivating farmers since 1931. That's when the predecessor companies to this locally-owned agricultural co-op began sowing the seeds of support for Illinois producers. It has operations in Alexander, Franklin, Hardin, Jackson, Johnson, Massac, Perry, Pope, Pulaski, Saline, Union, and Williamson counties in Illinois. Southern FS offers farmers a wide variety of products and services, from landscape planning to livestock feed and tractor fuel.

Discovery Foods was founded by chairman James Beaton in 1989. Discovery Foods aims to stamp out dull food by allowing home cooks and foodservice operators to discover the power of chilies. The UK company makes spice-rich sauces, seasonings, condiments, and meal kits based on mainly Mexican cuisine (with some Cajun, Creole, and Texan selections available as well). Its also makes tortillas, wraps, and chips. The company's Discovery-branded (consumer) and Santa Maria-branded (foodservice) products are sold in the UK and mainland Europe.

Kirin Holdings is a top beer maker in Japan through its Kirin Brewery Co. In addition to its domestic Kirin-branded beers, the firm owns brewers that serve overseas markets, such as Australia's Lion Nathan. The company makes the alcoholic fruit drink chu-hi and owns some 50% of Japanese wine producer Mercian Corporation. Expanding beyond beverages, Kirin also has operations in the health- and functional-food, and pharmaceutical-manufacturing sectors.

World Finer Foods is a full service, sales, marketing and distribution company. World Finer Foods source over 900 specialty food products from around the country and around the world. These products are sold to a comprehensive network of Specialty Food Distributors who service supermarket retailers nationwide. Many of the brands sold by World Finer Foods are company owned. These include Reese, Da Vinci, El Rio, Ty Ling, London Pub, Dominique's, Pritikin, Wellington and Candoni.For other brands, we are the exclusive distribution agent, working in close partnership with the brand's representatives for all sales and marketing functions. These brands are handled by World Finer Foods American Marketing Team division. World Finer Foods goals are to provide consumers with a wide variety of quality specialty food products at affordable prices and to offer specialty food companies cost effective access to top of the line sales, marketing and distribution expertise. World Finer guaranteed services also excel in such areas as purchasing, inventory management, freight forwarding and consolidation, FDA issues, U.S. Customs clearance, warehousing and food labeling.

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