Gourmet News

Williams Sonoma Celebrates 25th Anniversary of Peppermint Bark

Published December 6, 2023

Williams Sonoma, a portfolio brand of Williams-Sonoma, Inc., the world’s largest digital-first, design-led and sustainable home retailer, has released the 25^th Anniversary of The Original Peppermint Bark. After 20 rounds of recipe testing, in 1998, Williams Sonoma founder Chuck Williams and the Williams Sonoma Test Kitchen team developed the signature recipe for The Original Peppermint Bark that sparked a food trend that is celebrated by chocolate enthusiasts around the world during the holiday season.

The signature recipe for Williams Sonoma’s iconic Peppermint Bark combines a custom blend of light and dark Guittard chocolate layered with triple-distilled peppermint oil, to create a seasonal confection that is often replicated, but never matched in quality or flavor to the Williams Sonoma standard.

Those who eagerly await the annual arrival of the candy contribute to the consumption of over one million pounds of Guittard chocolate and 65,000 pounds of peppermint candy pieces. From start to finish, each batch of Williams Sonoma Peppermint Bark takes more than 24 hours to make, and it takes Williams Sonoma’s chocolatiers over 12 weeks to produce enough Peppermint Bark to satiate the demand from customers.

The popularity of Peppermint Bark has prompted Williams Sonoma to also carry 35 different flavored products this year ranging from pretzels and cookies to an Espresso Martini Mix.

To celebrate the 25^th anniversary , Williams Sonoma, together with Visa, has launched “A Chance To Win With Every Tin” campaign. There are over 1,500 gift cards hidden inside select tins with one tin containing a grand prize of a $1,000 Williams Sonoma gift card.

“We are proud to be the originators of the Peppermint Bark trend having developed a flavor profile that has become as synonymous with the holidays as pumpkin spice is to Fall,” said Williams Sonoma President Felix Carbullido. “For 25 years, our customers have celebrated the start of the holiday season with our signature Peppermint Bark, and we are excited to offer a commemorative tin this year in recognition of this anniversary.”

The complete collection is now available at all Williams Sonoma stores and on the Williams Sonoma website.

For more information on the collection, please visit:
www.williams-sonoma.com/peppermintbark.

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California Table Grape Growers Offer Scholarships

Published December 5, 2023

Three categories of scholarships, offered by California table grape growers, are available to graduating high school seniors from the table grape growing regions of California.

Of the three categories of scholarships, two are available to field workers and their families.

The first category is a Bridge Scholarship for $14,500 and is available to graduating seniors who will attend two years of a community college and transfer to a four-year university.

The second category is a $25,000 scholarship for graduating seniors who will attend a four-year university.

The third category of scholarship is a $25,000 Agricultural Scholarship available to students residing in the Coachella or San Joaquin valleys who will attend a four-year university and are interested in a field of study applicable to the table grape industry.

Three scholarships from each category are available. Applicants for all scholarships must plan to attend a California college or university. The deadline to apply for all scholarships is Friday, Feb. 9, 2024 at 5 p.m.

Since 1985, California table grape growers have aided nearly 200 students in attending college.

To hear recent scholarship recipients in their own words, please visit: https://www.grapesfromcalifornia.com/community-outreach/scholarship-recipients/

For more information on the scholarship program, please visit: https://www.grapesfromcalifornia.com/community-outreach/ or email: Scholarships@grapesfromcalifornia.com.

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Darigold CEO Coote Steps Down, Huttema Named Interim CEO

Published December 5, 2023

Darigold, Inc., one of the nation’s largest dairy producers, announced that Chief Executive Officer Joe Coote is leaving the company and that Board Chairman Allan Huttema has been named interim CEO. The change comes as Coote, who was named to the CEO role in January 2022, plans to return to his native Australia.

“I take over as Interim CEO with the benefit of having an extremely capable leadership team in place, including a number of Darigold veterans and newer leaders with proven track records across the dairy and consumer packaged goods sectors,” said Huttema. “Our business is structured to run around two divisions – business to business and business to consumer – each with experienced, proven leaders running them.

“I have full confidence that the team and the structure we have in place will help ensure that we continue serving our customers in the way they have come to expect from us.”

One of the nation’s largest dairy producers, Darigold is deep into a multi-year transformational journey that has the company modernizing and globalizing its business. Its transformation is focused on expanding production capacity with a new facility currently under construction in Pasco, Wash., modernizing systems, reinvesting in its iconic, 100-year-old brand, and refocusing its culture on excellence in execution.

Coote joined Darigold three years ago as president of its International Ingredients division before being promoted to CEO in 2022. He’d spent 12 years prior working globally in the dairy sector.

“Joe took over as CEO at a time when we were early into a transformation to grow and modernize our business,” said Huttema. “Under his leadership, we took significant steps forward on that effort, beginning construction of our new facility in Pasco, launching a migration of our business management systems, and beginning to develop a culture rooted in excellence in operations.

“We are grateful for Joe’s time with Darigold and appreciate all of his contributions. On behalf of our full Board, I wish him well in his future endeavors.”

Huttema is one of Darigold’s 300 farmer-owners and has served on its board of directors for nine years. He has held the role of chairman of the board for the last three years. His experience on Darigold’s board, coupled with his work as an active dairyman in Idaho, give Huttema well-rounded experience with Darigold and a deep understanding of its complex operations.

Darigold has taken recent steps to strengthen its already capable leadership team, naming presidents for its Business to Consumer and Business to Business divisions, hiring consumer packaged goods leader Dan Hofmeister and dairy sector veteran Chris Rowe to fill those roles, respectively. The company also named a new senior vice president of sales, Dan Bukowski, to support its growth efforts.

“Serving as CEO of Darigold the last two years was a great privilege,” said Coote. “I have enormous respect and admiration for our farmer-owners and the teams across our business that work so hard to keep our customers stocked with great, high-quality dairy products. Having been away from my home country for many years now, my family and I are ready to return to Australia to begin new adventures back home.”

Huttema assumes the role of interim CEO effective immediately.

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