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Garner Foods Appoints Plumb as Senior EVP of Sales

Garner Foods has appointed Marion Plumb as senior executive VP of sales. Plumb will be responsible for overseeing the company’s foodservice sales, retail sales and customer support teams.

“I and the executive team at Garner Foods are very excited to add Marion to our company leadership,” said Ann Garner Riddle, CEO and president of Garner Foods. “I enjoyed getting to know him through the hiring process, and look forward to Marion leveraging his substantial experience to our Texas Pete and Green Mountain Gringo brands.”

Plumb brings over 32 years of leadership and sales experience to the role of leading sales over multiple trade channels. He most recently served as VP of sales in North America for the Champion brand, which saw significant growth under his tenure.

“I’m thrilled to join the team at Garner Foods,” said Plumb. “The company’s heritage, its loyalty to its people and community, as well as a deep passion for products, customers, and consumers were very attractive to me and made this an easy decision. If I could have drawn up my dream job, this would have been it.”

Plumb, a self-professed foodie and passionate cook of Creole, Cajun and soul Food cuisines, has personal ties to the company as well. He has been using Texas Pete Original Hot Sauce since he was a kid and is excited to contribute to such a beloved brand.

Plumb plans to protect and extend the brand’s heartland business while also growing and expanding into other markets. He believes brand investment and driving innovation in new categories, and product extensions will elevate the brand and delight its loyal consumers and attract new consumers within each market.

To learn more about Garner Foods, and their extensive products, visit their website at www.garnerfoods.com.

Milkboy Alpine Milk Lemon/Ginger Bar Flavor to Debut at NPEW

Milkboy Swiss Chocolates will introduce its new Alpine Milk with Refreshing Lemon and Ginger Bar at Natural Products Expo West, from March 8-10 at the Anaheim Convention Center. From their Swiss Chalet-themed booth (#N1448 in the North Hall), Milkboy will give chocolate lovers a taste of the smooth milk chocolate bar with essential lemon oil and candied ginger.

The bar joins a product line that includes other flavors like Finest Alpine Milk, Alpine Milk with Roasted Almonds, Alpine Milk with Crunchy Caramel and Sea Salt, White Chocolate with Bourbon Vanilla, Extra Dark 85 percent cocoa, finest 72 percent cocoa with Fresh Roasted Coffee, and Finest 72 percent cocoa with Crispy Mint.  The 3.5 oz bar has a suggested retail price of $4.99.

“We’re excited to introduce customers to our Alpine Milk with Refreshing Lemon and Ginger bar at Expo West and think people will love this unique flavor combination,” said Milkboy founder Emanuel Schmerling.  “We use milk sourced from the Swiss Alps and Rainforest Alliance-certified cocoa to make some of the finest milk chocolate bars in the world.  We invite chocolate lovers to visit our Swiss Chalet booth at Expo West and try all our flavors.”

Milkboy Swiss Chocolates are sold at many specialty food retailers, including all United States Whole Foods Market locations.  Chocolates are also available online at https://milkboy.com/ and on Amazon.

Milkboy Swiss Chocolates is on a mission to source the finest quality, natural and sustainable ingredients in order to create extraordinary chocolate and practice traditional Swiss chocolate manufacturing without compromise or shortcuts.  Chocolates are produced in Switzerland from milk sourced from the Swiss Alpine region.

Milkboy Swiss Chocolates is a five-time sofi Award winner for Best Chocolates, including a 2021 sofi Gold Award for the Best Milk Chocolate, and 5-time Great Taste Award winner.  The chocolates are gluten-free, non-GMO, soy-free and certified Kosher.  Milkboy chocolate uses only Rainforest Alliance-certified cocoa in its chocolate products and Forest Stewardship Council certified paper for its packaging.  Follow Milkboy on Instagram or Facebook @milkboychocolate.

For more news of interest to the specialty food industry, subscribe to Gourmet News.

Snickers, WWE 2K23 to Present WrestleMania 39

Snickers and WWE 2K23 will return as joint presenting partners of WrestleMania 39which takes place April 1-2 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.

Following a successful co-promotion at last year’s WrestleMania, which marked the first time two brands served as presenting partners for WWE’s pop culture extravaganza, the partnership continues at WrestleMania 39.

Ahead of the biggest matches of the year at WrestleMania, Snickers and WWE 2K23will continue their multi-platform campaign from last year on the Road to WrestleMania.

“The Snickers brand is thrilled to be back as one of the presenting sponsors of WrestleMania 39,” said Ray Amati, director of media, Mars Wrigley. “Over the years we have seen the passion of WWE fans and know they are always hungry for high quality entertainment, which we look forward to delivering alongside our partners. Snickers will continue to be a solution for fans when they feel out of sorts before, during or after WrestleMania.”

“We’re excited to come back even stronger and co-present WrestleMania 39 with Snickers as we tag team for WWE’s biggest event of the year,” said Alfie Brody, vice president of global marketing strategy at 2K. “Like our WWE 2K23 cover Superstar, John Cena, we’ll ‘Never Give Up’ as we take on Snickers head-to-head and provide fans with engaging content leading up to the main event matches.”

“Last year we brought together two of our most-tenured brand partners for WrestleMania and it’s exciting to continue the partnership as WrestleMania goes Hollywood in April,” said Craig Stimmel, WWE senior vice president of global sales and partnerships.

Both brands will be showcased during WWE’s flagship TV programs Monday Night Raw on USA Network and Friday Night SmackDown on FOX leading up to WrestleMania, as well as during the WrestleMania Kickoff Show and WrestleMania each day on Peacock. The partnership also includes custom digital and social content on WWE.com and WWE’s YouTube channel.

For more information on WWE 2K23, visit the game’s official website for a full breakdown of the pre-order details, become a fan on Facebook, follow the game on Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #WWE2K23 or subscribe on YouTube.

WrestleMania 39 takes place April 1-2 live from SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. Limited tickets are still available via ticketmaster.com

For more news of interest to the snacks and sweets industry (we can’t guarantee wrestling will be mentioned), please subscribe to Gourmet News.