The National Restaurant Association (NRA) announced the recipients of the FABI Awards, which recognizes progressive food and beverage innovations that will make a significant impact in the restaurant industry.

An independent panel of experts, representing a variety of both commercial and non-commercial industry segments, selected the FABI award recipients based on their exciting benefits to restaurant operators.

The innovations selected represent high-marketability products designed to satisfy consumer trends, including lifestyles such as gluten-free, allergen-free, low-sodium, vegetarian, vegan, or raw diets.

The award recipients will be showcased at the 2013 National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show on May 18–21 at Chicago’s McCormick Place.


“Food and beverage innovation helps drive customer satisfaction and profitability for restaurant operators,” says Jeffrey W. Davis, convention chair for NRA Show 2013 and CEO of the United States Beef Corporation.

“This year’s FABI Awards recipients embody bold imagination with great potential to advance menu development and attract new customers,” he adds. “The NRA Show offers the perfect forum to explore trends and see new products that will shape the foodservice future today.”

The 2013 FABI Awards recipients are: 

• Dawn Foods: TasteFills—Tastefills are freezer-to-fryer bakery bites that come in 6 different filling flavors, with a miniature application that gives restaurants a flexible and convenient, high-quality dessert option to expand their menus.
• Edison Grainery: Organic Quinoa Pasta—An organic quinoa and rice flour blend that is gluten free and high in protein, and helps restaurants satisfy dietary needs and keep pace with culinary trends without sacrificing quality or taste.
• Hail Merry Snacks: Merry’s Chocolate Miracle Mini Tart—Consciously prepared to protect the integrity of the pure GMO-free ingredients, including a natural almond crust and organic virgin coconut oil, this mini tart provides operators a way meet special diet restrictions, including gluten free, vegan, and Kosher.
• Kiki’s Gluten Free Foods, LLC: Kiki’s SpinachFeta Pockets—A gluten-free product that delivers excellent flavor and texture, and utilizes special packaging to help eliminate the risk of cross contamination during preparation.
• Nu-Tek Food Science: Salt for Life Sea Salt Blend—Using a patented, single-crystal technology, Salt for Life Sea Salt Blend delivers the true taste of salt with 70 percent less sodium than table salt, and can be used by operators like regular salt as a one-to-one replacement in recipes.
• Sinco Inc.: Italcrust Ancient Grain Handstretched Woodfired Frozen Pizza Crust—A premium, all-natural pizza crust made with ancient grains that is proofed for 24 hours, hand-stretched, and wood fired, allowing operators to tap into the popular ancient grains trend and capitalize on the crust’s bold flavor.
• Waghal’s Imports: Fermin Ibérico de Bellota Smoked Panceta—A high-end, artisanal pork product made from the one-of-a-kind Ibérico de Bellota breed from Spain, traditionally cured and hickory smoked in the United States for some of the most flavorful, high-quality panceta on the market.