Last weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the Good Food Awards ceremony in San Francisco and spent time rubbing elbows with some of the culinary greats in chocolate, cheese, pickles, charcuterie, preserves, beer, spirits, and, of course, coffee. It was a double pleasure, because I was there representing Counter Culture as a winner for the second year in row, and, truth be told, I was really excited that our winning coffee was from Haru – the Ethiopian Cooperative in Yirgacheffe we started buying from last year.

 

The theme of the evening – time and time again – went back to how the specialty food movement is just getting reborn, and how important it is to have knowledgeable consumers. Personally, Steve McCarthy from Clear Creek Distillery left me with the most memorable message: our companies need to stay focused on creating great products and let them speak for themselves. Essentially saying that the brand will happen if your products are always great. It is a simple message but one, as a person with "quality" in my job title, I took to heart.

 

The event was great. San Francisco is beautiful. Here is to this coming year ... where we will work as hard as possible to put out nothing but great products! And, hopefully pull a hat trick in 2013 at the Good Food Awards.

 

-Tim

 

See more photos from Coffee Buyer & Quality Manager Tim Hill's trip to the Good Food Awards on flickr.