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Celebrating Innovation and Great Taste since 1972

The Specialty Food Association’s sofi™ Awards have been honoring the best in specialty food for over 50 years. sofi™ Award honorees are selected through a blind tasting process and are true innovators in their categories. The sofi Award brings with it exposure to food buyers from top names in supermarkets, specialty retailers, foodservice, distributors, as well as the press. Winning a sofi Award isn’t just another trophy for your bookshelf – it’s a doorway to invaluable business opportunities and global recognition.

Your products. Today’s tastemakers. One epic competition.

What Winners say about the sofi Awards

Since we won, our retail store footprint increased 740% in major markets with a 1200% increase in online sales.

 - Reuben Canada, Jin+Ja, 2013 Winner

We had many companies seek us out specifically because of the Sofi award. It also put us on Oprah's radar and this product was chosen for the November O-List and published in O, The Oprah magazine.

- Chris White, Mount Mansfield Maple Products, 2017 Winner

Recognition of our creativity, dedication to the industry and hard work to keep the consumer engaged. Winning a sofi is the highest reward you can receive and it validates everything you do every day.

- Paolo Volpati-Kedra, BC Gourmet USA, Inc., 2017 Winner

The sofi opened up a number of leads for us at the show. We had retailers, distributors, and buyers contacting us before the show started and seeking out our booth throughout the weekend. As we follow up on those leads, the importance of the sofi is shining through. It gave us legitimacy in the industry as a new company.

- Kevin Bratcher, Supreme Specialty Foods, 2018 Winner

It has been a tremendous honor to have won a SOFI award. We've met some potential buyers that would not have been available to us without the exposure and the SOFI team has been extraordinary.

– Debra Every, Me-Oh-My Foods, Inc., 2018 Winner

What Buyers say about the sofi Awards

The sofi logo always grabs my attention. It means that a product has not only won over a slew of discerning palates, but that there's likely to be a great story behind it as well.

– Meredith Ochs, Sirius XM Radio, NPR

We look to sofi Winners and Finalists because we know that they represent only the highest caliber of products.

– Alison Kunetka, Food Development, Williams-Sonoma

When evaluating new specialty foods to add to our tasting rooms, sofi Winners start at the top of the list—they are consistently in the top 10% of our bestselling specialty food items.

– Eric Larson, Director of Retail Strategy, Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurants

A sofi Award is a solid endorsement of a product’s excellence. Our sales team is able to present these products to our customers with confidence that they are of superior quality and on trend.

– Beth Haley, VP, Vendor Relations, DPI Specialty Food
 

The sofi Awards are a great resource to find the newest & most innovative products in the industry.

– Laura Granston, Research and Development Manager, Kings Food Markets, Inc.
 

Timeline

When & How to Enter

Applications for the 2024 sofi Awards open on February 8, 2024.

 
 

Online Entries Open – February 8, 2024 - March 31, 2024

 

Product Samples (Both Shelf Stable and Perishable) Accepted - March 1 - April 5, 2024

 

Blind Judging - April 8, 2024 - May 9, 2024

 

sofi Winners Notified – May 10, 2024

 

sofi Winners Announced – May 15, 2024

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