Congrats to Golden Corral Gilbert and Northern!

Out of the 500 Golden Corrals nationally, two of the Arizona locations ranked in the top 10! Congratulations go out to Linda and her team at the Gilbert Golden Corral (1318 N. Cooper Rd, Gilbert, AZ) and Kristi's team at the Northern Golden Corral (5679 W Northern Phoenix, AZ).

These locations were judged to have the best customer service, quality and community service. This marks the second year in a row finishing in the top for these locations. Way to go ladies and team!

Keep up the great work!

Now Offering Aries Meat

We are excited to offer Aries meat products starting October 6th!

The Aries Prepared Beef company has been in business for more than three decades and they have many employees that have been with them for over 20 years. We were impressed by the quality, service and family atmosphere and think you will be too.

We will be offering the following items:

Pastrami Navels Premium 2/5-6# average per case

Cooked Corned Beef Flats, split – Deli Delight 2/5-6# average per case

Roast Beef Top Round Deli Delight/Half 2/5-6# average per case

Roast Turkey Breast 2/5-6# average per case

Turkey Pastrami 2/5-6# average per case

My favorite was the Turkey Pastrami, but many have been favoring the Pastrami Navels. Why not call our sales team and check them out for yourselves?

Welcome Back Chanterelle Mushrooms And Black Mission Figs!

The rebellious chantrerelle mushroom refuses to be cultivated and must be found in the wild. (I love rebels!) It's taste is slightly spicy and should be cooked instead of eaten raw. To store chanterelles, keep them in a waxed paper or brown paper bag in the refrigerator until they are cleaned. To clean, use a toothbrush or a nylon mushroom brush to remove any surface material. In general, the less water the better. Drain them on paper towels.

Dwight, our sales director, suggests sauteing chanterelles with shallots, fresh thyme, heavy cream and lots of butter. Sounds good to me!



Sweet, chewy black mission figs have found their way into our warehouse as well. Ripe figs should be kept in the refrigerator where they will stay fresh for about two days. Arrange them on a paper towel-lined plate or shallow container since they bruise easily. Make sure to cover them or keep them wrapped in order to ensure that they do not dry out, get crushed or pick up odors from neighboring foods.

Dwight likes them best in a fig relish with lots of onions and balsamic vinegar.

Give Dwight's suggestion a try and let me know what you think. We'd love to hear your thoughts!

Switch Restaurant

Happy B-Day Switch Restaurant! they have a $4 entree option every day for 10 days!to celebrate their Birthday. I had the special today, Thai Beef Tacos. Fantastic!! Visit them at 2603 N Central Ave Phoenix, AZ 85004 602-264-2295

Go Green, Go Veggie!

The Environmental Working Group has created a tool that allows people to easily see how the food choices they make affect their health and the environment. The guide takes into account all aspects from food production through food disposal.

What foods top the list of leaving the biggest carbon footprint? Lamb, beef and cheese top the list. What foods leave the smallest carbon footprint? Lentils top the list as a great source of protein with the least amount of environmental impact. Tomatoes and organic milk complete the top 3 foods leaving the smallest carbon footprint.

The report found that wasted food also contributes significantly to the emissions associated with the life cycle of the product. So only buying and serving what you need is a great way to reduce greenhouse gases.

What can all of this attention to your food consumption really save? The group is asking that we all reduce the amount of meat and cheese in our diet. According to the EWG tool, reducing the amount of meat and cheese in your diet equates to:

• If your four-person family skips meat and cheese one day a week, it’s like taking your car off the road for five weeks – or reducing everyone’s daily showers by 3 minutes. ¹¹

• If everyone in the U.S. ate no meat or cheese just one day a week, it would be like not driving 91 billion miles – or taking 7.6 million cars off the road. ¹³

The EWG is looking for 100,000 people to take the pledge to eat meat and cheese one less day a week for a year. Are you interested in taking the pledge? Check it out here!

Even as an avid cheese fan, I think I'm up to reduce my carbon footprint and eat more produce and eliminate cheese at least one day a week. What do you think?

Compost Happens......

According to Wikipedia, compost is 'organic matter that has been decomposed and recycled as a fertilizer and soil amendment. Compost is a key ingredient in organic farming.'

Peddler's Son has been working with Norman Wellington, farmer on the Gila River Indian Reservation, for over 3 months now. Any produce that is not suitable for donation to the St. Mary's Food Bank is donated to Norman's effort to create compost as well as feed the animals on his farm.

Norman is in the process of developing 150 acres on the Gila River Indian Reservation. The produce donated by Peddler's Son is used as a soil amendment to create a rich soil for farming. While some of the land does not have the compost material, Norman sees a big difference in the product that is grown in the land he has mixed with the compost.

The horses, pigs, lambs and sheep receive special produce treats to help supplement their diet. According to Norman, the animals know the produce container and come running when they see it coming.

One of the pigs coming over to say hello!

Composting has become another product of our sustainability program. We've been thankful of our partnership with Norman and his farm and look forward to finding additional ways we can help find ways to help our people, partners and planet!

If you have any other suggestions or thoughts regarding our sustainability program, we'd love to hear them!

Mt Vesuvius, Wood, San Marzano Tomatoes and Fresh Mozzarella

What do they have in common? They are all part of the VPN process. Verace Pizza Napoletana (VPN), is a certification process that follows the strict rules in making a true Neapolitan pizza. The VPN Association Statute states: "The Association aims to protect and promote the “VERACE PIZZA NAPOLETANA” (ORIGINAL NEAPOLITAN PIZZA) as well as its restaurant-members that commit themselves to supply a service complying with manufacturing features established in the protocol and regulating the pizza production." In other words, they take their pizza making very seriously. The certification is so specific, it details instructions on specific containers for the olive oil (copper), oven and of course, ingredients.

To learn more about this, I talked with Justin Piazza, owner of La Piazza Al Forno, recently certified as a VPN restaurant.

Why did you decide to get certified? I met the VPN cerfication guys at the Las Vegas show. I was hesitant about getting certified because I felt like I had a great product and I'd need to make changes. It's a big commitment to become certified and I didn't know if I would want to have people telling me what to do. It is very humbling, but I'm really excited. The process actually isn't too far off of what I have been doing. I don't want to be like the other guys. I want true, authentic pizza. Plus, my family is from Naples.

How did you train? I trained on my own. Many people travel to Italy to train for 6 weeks, but I did it on my own and I'm very proud of that.

How has this changed things for you? Well, I've bought an oven from Naples, made by a 3rd generation builder. The material is from Mount Vesuvius. It was about the same price as my old oven, but it is much more efficient and I've actually saved about $500 a month on wood. I'm now using a new mixer from Italy as well. It doesn't heat the dough like a traditional Hobart machine. It infuses air into the dough.


It's important for me to also be extremely strict about the ingredients I use. My flour costs about 50%- more than many of the other pizza places. I only use San Marzano tomatoes. Everything is fresh, all-natural and not processed.




What has surprised you the most about this whole process? All of the openness and willingness to share. The gentleman that certified La Piazza Al Forno, Giulio Adriani, shared his dough recipe and showed me how he makes it. That's an amazing thing in this industry. People just don't share recipes like that. He's promoting a tradition though. The difference is the passion. They want to preserve the process and keep the authenticity.

How have customers reacted? We've been on the Food Network and that drew a crowd. The word is getting out that we are VPN certified and customers are curious. It's an education process though. People ask us what kinds of crusts we have. This is true Neapolitan pizza. That's it.

Why do you use Peddler's Son? The sales team has been very nice and easy to work with. You have a good reputation and high quality products. That's important to me.

How would you convince a customer to try this style pizza? Try the margharita pizza. It is the truest of any pizza. You can't get any simpler than cheese, basil and sauce. The flavors pop. Just ask my wife. She said that once you try something so good, you just can't go back.

Well Justin, that sounds like an offer I can't refuse.