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Faribault Foods Named City's 2008 Business of the Year

The Faribault Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism has named Faribault Foods its 2008 Business of the Year Award winner.  The Chamber will honor the company at its Business Awards Luncheon at the Faribault Elks Club, Faribault, Minnesota, Thursday, May 14 at 11:30 a.m.

The Chamber selected Faribault Foods because of its contributions to the city's economic vitality for over 100 years.  Recently, the company completed a major reinvestment in its Faribault production facility to make it a state of the art bean manufacturing plant.  This will ensure continued stability, growth and community focus.

Faribault Foods annually supports Toys for Tots, adopts local families during the holidays, contributes to the United Way, and to many other local charities and events.  In addition, Faribault Foods actively participates in the "Faribault's Future" program, and many of its employees volunteer at River Bend Nature Center, the community's sports association, the local government board, and more.

"We are pleased and excited to be selected for this honor, and we thank the Faribault Chamber," said Faribault Foods' President and CEO Reid MacDonald.  MacDonald is the fourth generation of his family to lead the company. "And we thank our employees.  We are a growing and successful company in large part because of our dedicated workers from the Faribault area."

Food Bank Names Faribault Foods 2008 Donor of the Year

Channel One Food Bank and Food Shelf, Rochester, Minnesota, has named Faribault Foods its 2008 donor of the year.

In an award presentation at Faribault Foods in Faribault, Minnesota, on April 20, 2009, Channel One Executive Director Cynthia Shaffer noted that Fairbault Foods has long supported the hunger relief work of Channel One regionally and Feeding America (formerly America's Second Harvest - the Nation's Food Bank Network) on the national level.

"We are very thankful for the tremendous support Faribault Foods has provided to Channel One and the state of Minnesota," said Shaffer.  "Faribault Foods is a wonderful partner in the fight to alleviate hunger."

Since 1995, Faribault Foods has donated more than 1,900,000 pounds of food to Channel One, which provides food assistance to over 40,000 people in Southeast Minnesota and in Western Wisconsin.

Faribault Foods' contributions to hunger relief include:

  • The company is a 20 year donor to the nations food banks
  • Annually, the company donates thousands of pounds of highly nutritious food from their main facility in Faribault as well as their other regional facilities
  • Faribault Foods has hosted a workshop to increase awareness of Channel One and opportunities to support hunger relief among other manufacturers
  • Company representatives have served on the Channel One Board of Directors
  • The company has taken an active role in disaster relief across the country, and in 2005 sent approximately 630,000 pounds of food for hurricane Katrina relief
  • Faribault Foods sponsors matching donations between local organizations and food banks

Butter Kernel Will Sponsor The Little Farm Hands Exhibit At The Minnesota State Fair In August

For the third consecutive year Butter Kernel will be the sponsor of the Little Farm Hands Exhibit at the Minnesota State Fair. The interactive exhibit gives kids hands on experience about how food is grown and sold. In 2008, the Little Farm Hands Exhibit had over 150,000 visitors, and previouslly the International Association of Fair and Expositions recently recognized it as the best “Newly Established Exhibit to Promote Agriculture”. Throughout the 12 days of the Fair, Butter Kernel has local high school students work at the exhibit wearing Butter Kernel t-shirts and distributing activity sheets to the kids. The activity sheets contain “fun facts”, coloring activities and other interesting information for the visitors to take home with them. Surrounding the Little Farm Hands Garden there are also Butter Kernel “Fun Fact” signs which have interesting facts about corn and Faribault Foods. We are looking forward to our participation again in 2009.

Butter Kernel And Mrs. Grimes Create Family Friendly Partnerships With Baseball Teams

Building off a successful 2008 sponsorship program, baseball will once again be a major part of the marketing program for Butter Kernel and Mrs. Grimes. At the St. Paul Saints games every game features Butter Kernel K-Kids who track the number of strikeouts recorded by Saints pitchers from their special seats in the Butter Kernel CORNer.

In Des Moines, fans of the Iowa Cubs, the top farm team of the Chicago Cubs, can enjoy a picnic and watch the game from the Butter Kernel CORNer / Mrs. Grimes picnic area, and for the third year in a row Butter Kernel and Mrs. Grimes will be sponsoring canned food drives.

Last year, the Iowa Cubs Food Drive collected over 3,000 pounds of food and Faribault Foods is looking to exceed that in 2009. The food drive dates this year are June 15th, July 20th and August 3rd. At the Royals stadium in Omaha, fans of this Triple A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals can enjoy seats in the Butter Kernel CORNer, watch the k-kids record strikeouts and participate in the Butter Kernel sponsored games and contests that take place on Friday Firework Nights.

Finally, at the Fargo Redhawks stadium fans can enjoy watching the Butter Kernel K-Kids record strikeouts on a large oversized can of Butter Kernel. All of the teams that Butter Kernel and Mrs. Grimes are working with have expressed very positive feedback on the sponsorships so far in the 2009 season!

Susan G. Komen Race For The Cure Sponsorship Continued

This coming Mother’s Day (May 14th , 2009), Faribault Foods will sponsor for the Minneapolis / St Paul Race For The Cure for the third consecutive year. One of the largest Komen events in the U.S., over 20,000 will people turn out to help support finding a cure. Faribault Foods representatives will work our tent handing out thousands of cans of S&W Black Beans and healthy recipes to race participants. The reception to the product and recipes has been very positive in previous years with a number of people promising to make the S&W Black Bean Salsa for their mothers to celebrate Mother’s Day.

Faribault Foods Wins Prestigious Colonel Award From Private Label Buyer Magazine

For 2008, grocery retailers across the U.S. selected Faribault Foods as a private label canned food Category Colonel Award winner. We are particularly proud of this award since it is voted on by our customers. To be recognized by them as “Best in Category” is quite an honor for the Faribault Foods team.