Company: Prosperity Organic Foods, Inc., Boise, ID, USA
Company Description: Prosperity Organics creates and markets great tasting foods featuring innovative uses of healthy organic oils. Founded by Cygnia Rapp seeking healthy alternatives to butter after digestive disorders, POF employs 10 employees and has been recognized as New Products of the Year by a variety of organizations in 2012.
Nomination Category: Product & Service Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best New Product or Service of the Year - Consumer Products

Nomination Title: Melt Organic creamy spreads - NEW Chocolate Melt

Describe for the judges the nominated product or service, including its features, functions, benefits, and performance to date (up to 525 words).

Melt Organic is a luscious butter improvement – a new form of buttery spread that is truly good for you. It’s the perfect blend of organic fruit- and plant-based oils, the “good fats” like virgin coconut and flaxseed. Each natural and pure ingredient is carefully chosen so that Melt supports healthy weight when replacing other fats in your daily diet. Together, the ingredients blend perfectly—the natural & desirable, the healthy & indulgent, the familiar & progressive—to create a whole new way to eat and live. Even better, each flavor drizzles, bakes, dips, sautés and melts just like butter but with half the saturated fat and fewer calories.

Available in three creamy varieties, Rich & Creamy Melt, Honey Melt and Chocolate Melt add delicious flavor to your meals and snacks for a whole new way to eat and live. Rich & Creamy Melt is a creamy blend of the “good fats” with a touch of sea salt and ghee for flavor. Melt is lactose free, soy free and gluten free. Honey Melt is delicately sweetened with wildflower honey and cinnamon for just 1 gram of sugar. Honey Melt is dairy free, soy free and gluten free. Rich & Creamy Melt and Honey Melt were launched in February 2012 in the US and in April 2013 in Canada. Sales are up 5 times versus year ago as of July 2013.

NEW Chocolate Melt is a velvety smooth blend of rich organic cocoa and Melt's creamy spread, delicately sweetened with wildflower honey. Chocolate Melt is dairy free, nut free, and gluten free. Even better, Chocolate Melt drizzles, dips, bakes and melts just like other chocolate spreads (Nutella) but with just 1 gram of sugar and fewer calories. Liven up your healthy lifestyle with Chocolate Melt Organic-the chocolaty ‘Butter 2.0®’ that loves you back. Chocolate was introduced to existing retail customers in the summer of 2013 and is generating strong early order activity.

All Melt products led the butter substitute market as first to feature virgin coconut oil in a soy-free perfect blend, with certified Non-GMO, Fair Trade certified status, along with being certified organic and kosher. Melt spreads are also first to market with innovative square packaging that creates a smaller carbon footprint for retail customers. Melt packaging fits easily in your refrigerator’s door for easy access, and is tamper-evident, recyclable (#5), microwaveable and dishwasher safe. Square packaging reduces greenhouse emissions when compared to traditional round tubs because it requires less space on retail grocers’ shelves, in warehouses and on trucks. Melt innovates as well in its commitment to building strong relationships with consumers with value-add educational and nutritional information, through social media (SEO 15,000 website visits/month; Facebook 26,000 followers; Twitter 5,000 followers; Pinterest), sampling with Moms & Dads (both in-store and Green Moms Meet program), advertising (Taste This TV with Chef Joe Ciminera), publicity (Sierra Magazine), and Green Product Placement (pilots, movies, Netflix series). The Melt Organic line has grown in distribution by 5 times versus year ago and is now available in nearly 4,000 natural, conventional and specialty grocery stores across North America, such as Whole Foods, Kroger, Safeway, Albertsons, Stop & Shop, Giant Carlisle.

Provide a brief biography of the person or persons who lead the team that developed the nominated new product or service (up to 125 words):

The Leadership: CEO Meg Carlson joined the Melt team in 2010, bringing an extensive background in strategic business development and general management gained through nearly 20 years of experience building healthy food brands. Her executive leadership skills were honed as a vice president and member of the management board of Ore-Ida Foods, a subsidiary of HJ Heinz. During her tenure, she successfully created a new business unit and directed its expansion from $100 million to $240 million in sales revenues over five years. As CEO, she has recruited and developed a dedicated team and directed the successful retail launch of the Melt® Organic product line, including an aggressive new product pipeline. She directs the R&D team that develops each new product to commercialization through collaboration.