In Pursuit of That Gold Statue

I empathize with Susan Lucci. My version of her Emmys are the Fancy Food Show awards for best new products. I have been entering almost every year for the past fifteen years and have never won. And over the years I thought that I had created some really neat, innovative products.

The Kahlua Chocolate syrup was the first cobranded product with such a well-known company for the specialty coffee industry. The bag in box packaging that we used for a while was the most unusual ever used for chocolate syrups. And our line of hot cocoa mixes was the first all-natural, instant drinks on the market. Never even made finalist.

The awards honor innovative, unique products within the specialty food trade and are given out during the Fancy Food shows.

This year, I thought I had a sure-fire winner. Or at least a silver statue for being a category finalist. I entered Mont Blanc’s new single-origin chocolate syrup made using cocoa powder from Ghana. (See July 3 post.) Surely, I thought, a slam dunk, for the academy, who would recognize how innovative an idea this really is.

The notice from the awards committee included comments about why my product was not selected as a finalist. One of the comments was that the product contained high fructose corn syrup and that the judges did not feel that this constituted a “gourmet” product.

High fructose corn syrup in our chocolate syrups is a common ingredient and one that is hard to do without in the world of syrup.

So even though Mont Blanc will have the first single-origin chocolate syrup on the market, I will not be traveling to New York to pick up a gold or silver statue.

Through our partnership with Omanhene, Mont Blanc will continue to support the system that benefits the people of Ghana while offering coffee drinkers a truly unique experience.

As for the Fancy Food Show, I’ll have to try again next year.