| Name | Title | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|
Erin Rooney |
Vice President of Sales Canada and North American Retail Operations | Profile |
Traci Wildish |
Vice President of sales for Consumer Products Division Canada and North American Retail Operations | Profile |
Whitney Shlesinge |
Vice President, Americas Supply Chain Planning and Logistics | Profile |
Claudio Rattes |
Director of R&D | Profile |
David Ascione |
Senior Director - Human Resources - US Industrial Group and Research and Development | Profile |
The Bazooka Companies, Inc. has been a leader in non-chocolate candy around the world since 1938 with popular, high-quality lollipop brands Ring Pop®, Push Pop®, Baby Bottle Pop®, Juicy Drop® and other candy and gum products, including the iconic Bazooka® Bubble Gum. The Bazooka Companies, Inc. was originally founded as Topps Chewing Gum and in its early years produced a popular penny Topps Gum from a factory in Brooklyn, N.Y. After World War II, the company developed Bazooka Bubble Gum and in 1950, added trading cards to its product line. The company was acquired in October 2007 by Madison Dearborn Partners, a private equity group, and Michael Eisner, former CEO of Disney, and is headquartered in New York City.
Albanese Candy is a confectionery manufacturer, retailer, and distributor. For more than 30 years, they have been making the World’s Best Gummies and Chocolates in the United States. They prioritize flavor and texture, always striving to find a better ...
Bluegrass is an agile ingredient innovation company.
Kellogg Company is a leading food company in the U.S., Canada, and Caribbean. They are planning to separate their North American cereal business into two independent public companies.
In 1960, a small meat processing operation named Quaker Maid Meats was founded. Since then, this family-owned company has grown to over 100 workers in three production plants. Originally, wafer-thin-sliced beef filets (muscle steaks) were the company’s mainstay. Soon Quaker Maid added breaded veal and beef patties, primarily for the institutional and restaurant markets and began manufacturing a variety of other portion-controlled meat products. In 1968, the company acquired a parcel of land on Carroll Street in Reading, PA, where its main plant is still located. Growth continued with ""Buttered Beef Steaks"" and ""Cubed Beef Steaks,"" along with a solid muscle sandwich steak, hamburger patties and veal steaks. In the early 1970’s, rising beef prices created the need to develop a chopped and formed sandwich steak. This product became the company's largest mainstay growth item and allowed it to compete directly with national brand, Steak-umm®. Because of the sandwich steak's success, the first expansion of the Carroll Street plant also took place during this time. In late 1979, Quaker Maid formulated its version of the fully cooked Italian style meatball (later named Mama Lucia Italian Style Meatballs), adding another item to help customers fill out their orders. The company also designed a continuous meatball-forming, freezing operation that revolutionized the manufacturing process. The meatballs helped expand Quaker Maid’s market share on the Eastern seaboard and into the Chicago market. In 1985, the company purchased another production facility to accommodate the meatball growth. Within two years, additional production capacity was required to support the entire product line. In 1987 the company purchased additional land in Reading in preparation for a new facility. In 1990 ground was broken for a new 4,000-square-foot office building, additional 15,000 square feet of processing area, and 10,000 square feet of freezer and tempering room. In 2005 a third plant was built to again increase capacity, bringing Quaker Maid's total production facility size to over 110,000 square feet. Quaker Maid's product line is continuously updated and currently includes all-beef sandwich steaks and fully cooked meatballs that are quick and easy to prepare, nutritious, and packaged under a variety of brand labels. Distribution spans all the major supermarkets and many large food service establishments throughout the United States and Bermuda. Quaker Maid continually implements the newest technologies available to produce the highest quality products and enhance the plants’ safety and sanitary environment. Our quality assurance department has been certified by the United States Department of Agriculture to participate in their TQC (Total Quality Control) program. Although we are constantly monitored by the USDA, this certification shifts the major responsibility from federal meat inspectors to our own quality assurance staff. Today, Quaker Maid Meats, Inc. remains a family-operated business with an unswerving dedication to quality, value and service. Our goal remains simple: to provide superior portion-controlled frozen meat products, manufactured with the best natural ingredients available, delivered to our customers at a fair and reasonable price.