southeastern food processors...

SOUTHEASTERN FOOD PROCESSORS ASSOCIATIONwww.sfpafood.org

SUMMER 2017

The 2017 SFPA Convention is Just Around the Corner

Complete your registration form. Book your room. Pack the suntan lotion. And get ready to capture some important insights and the last glimpses of a sunny oceanfront at this year’s SFPA Convention on historic St. Simons Island at the King & Prince Resort.

The return to St. Simons Island was expected after the 2014 convention because of the beauty of the resort and its sunny surroundings. Back by popular demand will be Casino Night at the resort following an on-site dinner.

“We had so many positive comments following the last time we visited the resort, we decided to bring Casino Night to our agenda as well,” said Anna Ondick, the association’s executive director. “Our lineup of speakers for our general sessions has been designed to offer members an opportunity for personal and professional growth. So much so, that our theme for 2017’s convention will be ‘The Challenge Of Change.”

Keynoting this year’s Friday morning general sessions will be Bill Sims, noted author and expert in workforce motivation. Bill will highlight key learnings from his book, Green Beans & Ice Cream. The book analyzes more than 100 years of

human behavioral science and compares it to stories from the real world, in the trenches.

Also set for presentations during the general sessions are a look at innovation in the workplace, current trends in mergers and acquisitions, the use of high-tech eye tracking to create more effective packaging targeting consumers, and private wealth management.

A “Taste of the Island” welcome reception is set for 6 p.m. on Thursday. On Friday, a continental breakfast will begin at 7:30 a.m. followed by the start of the general session at 8:15.

Spouses and guests are welcome to participate in a tour of the island at 10:15 a.m. on Friday (please notify Anna Ondick if you wish to participate). The annual golf tournament begins at 12:30 p.m. at the Hampton Golf Club Course. Dinner is set for 7 p.m., followed by Casino Night.

Associate members of the association are welcome to share their capabilities and services during breaks in morning general sessions on Friday and Saturday by purchasing a display space in the exhibit area of the convention.

Poolside at the King & Prince Resort at St. Simons Island,GA

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Visit our website and Facebook pagefor more details!www.SFPAFood.org www.facebook.com/MySFPA

The amazing resort lobby

Bill Sims is a noted workforce motivation expert and author.

Oct. 19-21, King & Prince ResortSt. Simons Island, GA

FOOD FORUM – SFPA SUMMER 2017 /

SFPA Annual Convention

Following Saturday’s general session, members will enjoy an afternoon off, returning later to the resort for the annual dinner and silent auction.

A registration form for the convention is available on the next page in this newsletter and also available for downloading at SFPAFood.org.

To reserve your room at the resort, call toll-free 800-342-0212 and mention the special rate for the convention that is also valid three days prior and after the convention based on availability just in case you want to extend your stay in one of the South’s most beautiful beach locations.

See you soon in St. Simons!

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59 Attend 2017 SFPA University at Clemson

Attendance grew significantly at the 2017 SFPA University Seminar at Clemson. According to Education Director, Dr. Scott Whiteside, “There were 11 companies represented at this year’s training event, with two being non-member companies.”

Four of the companies sent seven or more people, for a total of 44 of the 59 attendees. SFPA Board Member Tony Lahnson attended this year’s event and said, “Clemson is an excellent location for SFPA U. The ability for participants to not only learn important insights but to also enjoy a tour of the Clemson Food Science facilities is a definite plus.”

Whiteside added that a post-event survey of participants indicated high marks for content and the value of the low-cost training.

Whiteside asked SFPA members to add the dates for next year’s SFPA University to their calendars now and to begin the planning on who within their company should attend in 2018. The dates for their training will be March 19-20.

“If you have a specific topic that you would like to see your employees learn more about next year, please let me know. Also, if you have the name and content of an expert we could invite as a trainer, send it to me and we will get to work on next year’s list of topics,” said Whiteside.

You can reach Dr. Whiteside via e-mail at [email protected] or by phone at (864) 423-0727.

Other members of the SFPA Education Committee include David Somerville of Bush Brothers, Drew Andrews of Elite Spice, and Gray Hunter of McCall Farms.

The 2017 Convention theme is “The Challenge of Change”

The King & Prince Resort served as a naval coast watching facility during WW II.

Here are the room rates +11% Tax + Georgia Hotel-Motel Fee, $5.00 per room, per night.

Standard Room $180.00Resort View Room $190.00Partial Oceanview Room $205.00Oceanfront Room $220.00Premium Oceanfront Room $245.002 Bedroom Partial Oceanview Villa $399.002 Bedroom Oceanfront Villa $449.00

Walking the beachfront at the King & Prince Resort

at St. Simons Island


The Daily Schedule forThe Challenge of Change

October 19-21, 2017

Thursday, October 191:30p.m. - 4:00p.m. Board Meeting

5:00p.m. - 7:00p.m. Registration 6:00p.m. - 8:00p.m. Welcome Reception “Taste of the Island” Friday, October 207:30 - 11:30a.m. Registration Open

7:30 - 8:00a.m. Continental Breakfast

8:15 - 8:45a.m. President’s Welcome / Business Meeting 8:45 –10:15a.m. “Green Beans & Ice Cream” Keynote Speaker, Bill Sims Jr, Bill Sims Company

10:15 - 10:45a.m. Break / Exhibits Open / Refreshments 10:15 - 2:00p.m. Spouses / Guests – St. Simons Island Outing & Lunch

11:00 – 11:45a.m. “Innovation at Work” Daniel A. Abramowicz, Ph.D. Exec. V.P., Technology & Regulatory Affairs, Crown Holdings

11:45a.m. Wrap up – Announcements – Adjourn 12:30p.m. Golf Tournament –Hampton Club Golf Course, Lunch Provided

Afternoon on your own

7:00 – 10:00p.m. Reception & Supper / Casino Night

Saturday, October 21 7:30 – 8:00a.m. Continental Breakfast

8:15 – 8:30a.m. Scholarships

8:30 – 8:45a.m. 2018 SFPA Workshop

8:45 – 9:30a.m. “Mergers and Acquisitions” H. Lee Rust, Florida Corporate Finance

9:30 – 10:00a.m. Break / Refreshments / Exhibits Open

10:15 – 11:00a.m. “Eye-Tracking” R. Andrew Hurley, PhD, Clemson University Biometric-based packaging design

11:00 – 11:45a.m. “Economy Outlook” Shawn P. Frotten, Goldman, Sachs & Co. V.P., Investment Management Division

11:45a.m. Wrap up / Announcements / Adjourn

Afternoon is Free 6:30 – 7:30p.m. Reception-Scholarship Silent Auction & Raffle

7:30 – 10:00p.m. Supper-Scholarship Silent Auction & Raffle

Work Session Attire: Business Casual

General Session Sneak Peek is available on page 8

H. Lee Rust, Trends in Mergers & AcquisitionsSaturday, Oct. 21, 8:45 a.m.


Second only to the Amazon-Whole Foods buyout in June was the opening of the first Lidl supermarkets in Virginia and the Carolinas. Much like fellow German retailer, Aldi, this European chain is targeting the likes of Walmart, Kroger, Food Lion, and yes—its comrade from Germany, Aldi.

Aldi’s U.S. footprint began in Iowa in 1976 and is now at 1,600 stores. Lidl’s first salvo of its battle is a promise of 100 stores along the East Coast by the summer of 2018.

It’s no surprise that the Lidl we found in Winston-Salem, N.C., was right across the street from a Walmart. According to market analysts, 90% of the new stores are within five miles of a Walmart and 55% are within five miles of a Kroger.

We took a peek inside a fresh, new Lidl in Winston-Salem, and here is what we found.

The first impression outside the 20,000-square-foot store is, “This is

different.” Highly placed windows drive sunlight inside to offer more natural lighting, which complements the first impression as you walk into the store—the smell of fresh bread and beautiful produce.

Wall graphics define Lidl’s positioning to customers, and near the employee break area the company’s mantra of “Rethink Grocery” is posted as they exit and go on stage to stock shelves and assist customers.

More than 90% of products are private label, most with heavy emphasis on some healthy aspect of packaging, but the store is devoid of any other hype, such as shelf talkers or shippers. While most every section does include a few branded products, it is evident that it is all about pricing strategies for those in search of a bargain.

For example, a 12 oz. bottle of the chain’s cayenne pepper hot sauce was priced at 85¢, and a 5 oz. bottle of its private label extra hot chili sauce was priced at $2.29. Pantry staples, such as organic tomato sauce, sold for 79¢ while a 28 oz. can of organic diced tomatoes labeled with sea salt was $1.69.

Aisles were wide, well lit, and maintained a center aisle layout for canned and packaged goods with fresh, refrigerated, or frozen items in the perimeter. Within the center of the store was a long row of bargain “new surprises” and “get ‘em while they last” products that ran the gamut from exercise rings, to dumbbells and shoes.

Despite the “every day low price” (EDLP) strategy on private label, the mood within was upscale, fresh, and healthy—kudos to the store designers or category managers.

It was also evident as I rode away from the Lidl store that its entrenched competitors have noted the new import in town. A few blocks from Lidl a digital billboard reminded motorists that Food Lion had been there for them for 60 years. A second billboard for Walmart reminded us that they offered order-ahead shopping and pick up.

I’m also sure that consumers may note sudden discount bargains on store label products as they try to maintain customer loyalty in an increasingly fragmented supermarket business.

A Peek Inside LidlSecond German Grocer Establishes East Coast Beachhead

“...it is evident that it is all about pricing strategies for those in search of a bargain.”

Lidl is out to “rethink grocery” shopping in the U.S.

By Tony TreadwayPres. Creative Energy

About 90% of Lidl products are private label.


In 1884, at age 17, Conrad Frederick Sauer began work for a retail and wholesale drug business in Richmond, Virginia. As a drug clerk, he dealt directly with customers who usually brought in their own bottles to be refilled with drugstore products. He soon noticed that flavoring extracts formed a large percentage of this business, because the housewives making the purchases were more assured of purity and strength from the drugstore products.

Mr. Sauer, a pharmacist by profession but a businessman by preference, saw an opportunity.

Why not provide these housewives with pure flavoring extracts, prepackaged, and make them available in grocery stores as well as drugstores?

On October 13, 1887, his 21st birthday, C.F. Sauer founded the company that still bears his name at 17th and Broad streets in Richmond. It was the first company in the country to provide pure flavoring

extracts in 5- and 10-gram cartoned bottles, to be sold for 15 and 25 cents, respectively.

The company grew rapidly, as Mr. Sauer made products that had once cost a king’s ransom available to homemakers for a few pennies. The company has continued to grow and thrive over the years under the leadership of the Sauer family, now led by the fourth generation! The Sauer brothers are the true heart of the company and maintain the family company culture of caring, generosity, and integrity.

Duke’s Mayonnaise turns 100!As if 130 years wasn’t enough to celebrate already, 2017 also marks the 100th anniversary of the iconic Duke’s Mayonnaise brand. Eugenia Thomas was born in Columbus, Georgia, in 1881, the youngest of 10 children. Her father, a tailor, owned his own shop and no doubt contributed to Eugenia’s knack for business in her early years.

In 1900, 19-year-old Eugenia married Harry Duke, and their daughter Martha was born a year later. Nearly a decade later, the family relocated to Greenville, South Carolina, for Harry’s new job at Southern Power Company. During the early 1900s,

Greenville thrived as a central point of the Southern textile industry. The city’s booming economy laid the foundation for Eugenia Duke’s future business to take off. When

the United States joined the Allies in 1917, an influx of soldiers arrived

in Greenville to train at Camp Sevier, a National Guard Training Camp that operated from

1917 until early in 1919. It was at Camp Sevier that the Duke’s Mayonnaise legacy began. Noting the hardworking, hungry soldiers-in-training, Eugenia Duke began selling sandwiches slathered with her homemade mayonnaise starting in 1917.

Popular favorites like chicken salad, pimento cheese, and egg salad cost a dime each, and Duke made a profit of 2 cents per sandwich—about 40 cents in today’s dollars. On the day that Eugenia sold her 11,000th sandwich, she invested in a delivery truck that enabled her to distribute her increasingly popular sandwiches to more people than ever before.

Eugenia’s sandwiches and the mayonnaise that gave them their special flavor were so unforgettably delicious that years after they’d left the camp, soldiers wrote to Eugenia begging for her sandwich recipes and jars of her delectable spread. Greenville locals noticed how famous Eugenia’s sandwiches were becoming at the camp and began asking where they could buy Duke’s sandwiches in town.

After the war ended, Eugenia began selling her sandwiches at local drugstores, including Carpenter Brothers, Community Drug Store, and Greenville Pharmacy. Then she converted the first floor of Greenville’s historic Ottaray Hotel into Duke’s Tea Room, where she sold her sandwiches and a variety of side dishes. By the early 1920s, word of Eugenia’s delicious sandwiches was spreading rapidly. The kitchen in Eugenia’s Manly Street home was too small to keep up with all the orders she received, so she built a separate kitchen building on her property to keep up with the sandwich requests that flooded in every week.

In 1923, Eugenia’s top salesman, C.B. Boyd, noticed something important. Eugenia’sclassic and simple sandwiches were delicious, but it was her tangy spread that wastruly distinctive and kept people wanting more. Though her sandwich enterprise was still flourishing, Boyd urged Duke to shift her efforts to the mayonnaise that made her sandwiches so flavorful. As a result, Duke began selling her mayonnaise as a separate product. Together with

Celebrating 130 Years With C.F. Sauer Company

Pictured left to right:Tyler Sauer, Mark Sauer, Brad Sauer, and Conrad Sauer IV

C.F. Sauer has twospice/flavoring plants (Richmond, Virginia, and San Luis Obispo, California) and two dressing/sauce plants (Mauldin, South Carolina, and New Century, Kansas).

Eugenia Duke

By Cecilia Brock, C.F. Sauer

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Every SFPA member is encouraged to submit news releases from their company, their own written article, or blog post related to food processing to me, Tony Treadway, at [email protected].

I will be happy to share it with our members via Food Forum or on our Facebook site, Facebook.com/MySFPA.

A special thanks in this issue goes to Cecilia Brock of the C.F. Sauer company on this Richmond-based company’s 130th anniversary. You don’t have to wait 130 years to help us generate interesting content for our members. Feel free to send us your ideas or articles any time.

Help Us Create Content for Our Members

her accountant J. Allen Hart, Duke opened an office on South Main Street in Greenville’s West End and began producing her original mayonnaise in an old Coach Factory building next to the Reedy River. Sure enough, Duke’s Mayonnaise took off and Eugenia sold her sandwich business to Hart in order to focus her attention solely on the spread. The sandwich operation, named Duke Sandwich Company, still operates in Greenville today.

By 1929, Eugenia was struggling to keep up with the ever-increasing demand for her famous mayonnaise. C.B. Boyd advised Duke to sell her business, and The C.F. Sauer Company—another family-owned and -operated business—was happy to take over and continue spreading Duke’s across the United States. Eugenia served as C.F. Sauer’s mayonnaise spokeswoman, but eventually left South Carolina for California to be closer to her daughter. Always the businesswoman, Duke revived her sandwich-selling enterprise in California and sold her homemade sandwiches to

local drugstores and cafes. She operated under the name Duchess Sandwich Company.

We celebrated the two historic anniversaries on April 28th, 2017. C.F. Sauer employees, celebrity chefs, and the Sauer family gathered in the Wyche Pavilion in downtown Greenville to celebrate the Duke’s brand and honor its many years in the industry. As the original Duke’s plant in Greenville, the Wyche Pavilion (old Coach Factory) was the perfect setting for the festivities. Not only did the pavilion lend a beautiful backdrop, but it also served as an impressive reminder of how the Duke’s brand and processing facilities have grown. The event was a huge success.

C.F. Sauer has been a long-time member of the SFPA. We celebrate the company’s success.

The Wyche Pavilion in Greenville

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www.sfpafood.org(407) 354-4155

for more information, e-mail Anna Ondick at

[email protected]

H. Lee RustTrends in Mergers & Acquisitions

Lee Rust has had a varied career of more than 50 years in business with experience in general management, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, succession planning, investment banking, financial analysis, and sales. More recently, as an independent corporate finance consultant, he has analyzed, structured, negotiated, and financed numerous acquisitions; sold almost as many companies; and arranged public offerings for several relatively small ventures.

Let’s Buy a CompanyHow to Accelerate Growth Through Acquisitions

About 95% or more of all companies in the U.S. are run for only one reason: to produce personal compensation for their owners. Good examples are a convenience store owned and operated by a husband and wife team or a small fabrication job shop managed by its owner. I call these “lifestyle” companies. If the earnings that accrue to the owners can provide them with what they consider a comfortable lifestyle, that’s all they ask.

Five percent or less, perhaps substantially less, of all companies in the U.S. are run to build value for their owners, to generate net worth. Those 5%, as they execute their growth plans, end up acquiring many of the other 95%. The seminar will tell you how to graduate from the 95% category and join the 5% of rapidly growing, profitable companies that are building value as well as increasing the personal compensation for their owners and executives.

Most company owners don’t understand that the operating objectives and methods for maximizing personal compensation and for building net worth are not mutually exclusive. Managing a company to increase its book value can also result in significant increases in personal compensation, but the management techniques and the corporate goals used to reach those objectives are usually quite different.

This seminar will describe many facets of one particularly effective method of building value by accelerating corporate growth through the acquisition of other related companies or through mergers with such companies.

OFFICERSPresident

Norman Brown Jr. – McCall Farms

1st Vice President Tony Lahnston - Tropical Nut & Fruit

2nd Vice President Larry Garrett – Vietti Foods

TreasurerMatt McCollum – T.W. Garner

Past PresidentJoe Rutzinski – Bush Brothers

EXECUTIVE DIRECTORAnna Ondick

EDUCATIONAL DIRECTORDr. Scott Whiteside – Clemson University

TECHNICAL COMMITTEEScott Whiteside, Clemson University

Committee: David Somerville-Bush Bros.,

Drew Andrews-Elite Spice, Gray Hunter-McCall Farms,

Dr. Faith Critzer-UT, Dr. Scott Whiteside-Clemson

SCHOLARSHIP COMMITTEETo Be Selected

2016 Chairman-Norman Brown Jr. Ellen Clark & Scott Whiteside

BOARD OF DIRECTORSMike Chumley – Georgia Pacific

2018 2nd term endsEllen Clark-Crown Cork

2017 1st term endsMarion Swink-McCall Farms

2017 term endsCecilia Brock, C.F. Sauer

2018 1st term endsBob Cloney, Elite Spice

2018 1st term endsBrad Holmes, Custom Packaging

2018 1st term ends

COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETINGTony Treadway - Creative Energy

MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORMike Chumley - Georgia Pacific

By H. Lee Rust

General Session Sneak Peek, Saturday, Oct. 21, 8:45 a.m.

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