CSNews Honors Innovators in Convenience Foodservice
JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- Eleven of the convenience store industry's best-in-class foodservice retailers earned gold and silver awards in Convenience Store News' second annual Foodservice Innovators Awards program, presented in partnership with Tyson Foods.
The Foodservice Innovators Awards recognize convenience retail leaders that are raising the bar on quality, service and innovation in this fast-growing and critically important product category for convenience stores. Two winners, chosen by CSNews' 18-member panel of How To Do World-Class Foodservice experts, were named in each of the six award categories.
This year's Foodservice Innovator of the Year gold award goes to Wawa, the Pennsylvania-based chain of more than 600 convenience stores in the Mid-Atlantic states and Florida. QuickChek, the New Jersey-based chain of 135 c-stores, took home this year's silver award in the overall category.
Last year's overall gold award winner, Rutter's Farm Stores, won two more awards this year: a gold award for Best Prepared Foods Innovator and a silver award for Best Foodservice Limited-Time Offer/Promotion.
To celebrate this year's winners, CSNews and Tyson Foods have created a special microsite that features profiles of each honoree. On the site, CSNews Editorial Director Don Longo provides a video tour of each winning company and reveals the reasons behind its selection by the judges.
To browse this special microsite and learn more about the 2013 CSNews Foodservice Innovators Awards, go to www.stagnitodigitalmedia.com/innovators.
Here is the full list of the 2013 Foodservice Innovators Awards winners:
Best Prepared Foods Innovator
Gold winner: Rutter's Farm Stores
Silver winner: Sheetz
Best Hot Beverages Innovator
Gold winner: QuikTrip
Silver winner: Speedway
Best Cold & Frozen Beverages Innovator
Gold winner: RaceTrac
Silver winner: Cumberland Farms
Best New Foodservice Program (introduced in past year)
Gold winner: Tedeschi Food Shops
Silver winner: Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes
Best Foodservice Limited-Time Offer/Promotion
Gold winner: Maverik
Silver winner: Rutter's Farm Stores
Foodservice Innovator of the Year
Gold winner: Wawa
Silver winner: QuickChek
This is the second year that Tyson Foods has partnered with CSNews on the awards program. Tyson is one of the world's largest processors and marketers of chicken, beef and pork, as well as prepared foods such as appetizers, snacks, pizza toppings and tortillas.