KeHE Unveils New ‘Golden Ticket’ Recipients
KeHE Distributors LLC, one of the largest natural and organic, specialty, and fresh distributors in North America, unveiled its latest list of 21 “Golden Ticket” winners during the company’s most recent TrendFinder event.
Out of 504 applicants, 120 food suppliers received the opportunity to virtually pitch their products one-on-one to KeHE’s category management team for a chance to have their brand join KeHE’s portfolio, get significant promotional support, and gain exposure to 30,000-plus retail locations across the country. Winners of the competition were chosen based on ingredients, innovation, taste, scalability, packaging, purpose and passion.
“With such a large number of impressive applicants and presentations, it was not an easy task to narrow down the finalists,” said Rachelle Radcliffe, director of brand development at Naperville, Ill.-based KeHE, which services more than 30,000 natural food stores, chain and independent grocery stores, e-commerce retailers, and other specialty products retailers throughout North America. “That being said, we are absolutely delighted with our winners, and we are beyond eager to see these brands thrive. We are confident these winners will truly excite consumers as much as they excited us, if not more.”
Golden Ticket winners included Funky Mello marshmallow cremes; all-natural Craftmix Instant Cocktail Mix; Heirloom Coffee Roasters, which uses only coffee cultivated using 100% regenerative farming techniques; Urban Veda Natural Skincare, formulated using natural ingredients and the principles of Ayurveda; Salento Organics fair-trade chocolate-covered tropical fruits and dried fruits, featuring ingredients small-batch sourced from local farms in the Colombian mountains in South America.
Other winners were Granolust granola, Kaneyama East Asian foods, Waka Coffee and Tea, Ogre Sauce barbecue sauce; In the Kitchen with Alexandra craft condiments; Koope skincare, Balkan Bites, Tuyyo Foods aguas frescas, Bold Pickins LLC pickles, Growee Foods plant-based savory spreads, Taking Stock Foods Bone Broth, Nutritional Roots plant-powered vitamins, Cofo Provisions marine collagen, FigBrew coffee alternative, Vitamin 1 LLC sports drink; and East India Co. artisan foods.
The next TrendFinder event will be held virtually in October. Brands interested in taking part can apply to do so online.
A Certified B Corporation, KeHE has more than 6,800 employee-owners.
