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ARLINGTON, Va. — The FMI Foundation is celebrating companies across the food industry for their efforts to promote family meals with its prestigious 2024 Gold Plate Awards. This year’s winners, including Skogen’s Festival Foods, Coborn’s, Hy-Vee, Campbell Soup Company, The Foundation for Fresh Produce, and Ahold Delhaize USA, were recognized for their innovative programs encouraging family mealtime and supporting community well-being.
“It’s encouraging to see that 31% of Americans are aware of National Family Meals Month, and even more inspiring to learn that 95% of those individuals have made positive changes to their food habits,” said David Fikes, executive director of the FMI Foundation. “This national effort reflects a growing recognition of the contributions shared meals bring to human connections, communication, and overall well-being.”
Award Highlights by Category
- Skogen’s Festival Foods (Retailer 1-49 Stores): Through its “Making Meals Easier” campaign, Skogen’s Festival Foods engaged customers through cooking tips, recipes, and multi-channel promotions. An incentive program raised over $50,000 for local food pantries, a 22% increase from 2023 and benefiting 40 local food banks.
- Coborn’s, Inc. (Retailer 50-199 Stores): Focusing on shared mealtime and addressing meal-prep barriers, Coborn’s promoted meal kits and pork recipes across 66 stores, earning a 22% sales boost in pork products. The campaign’s social media efforts engaged over 5,000 shoppers and reached 114,000 e-commerce viewers.
- Hy-Vee, Inc. (Retailer 200+ Stores): In a campaign to promote family meals and fight food insecurity, Hy-Vee’s “Great Grocery Race” event donated food to local food banks. Partnering with WK Kellogg Co., Hy-Vee helped provide 400,000 meals to Feeding America. Reaching over 435 million people, the campaign generated $12.1 million in media value.
- Campbell Soup Company (Manufacturer): Campbell’s “Making Dinners a Win” program emphasizes affordability, utilizing in-store displays, digital recipes, and strategic partnerships. A LinkedIn blog and consumer newsletter, with 17% engagement from 20,000 subscribers, spread the word about accessible family meals.
- The Foundation for Fresh Produce (Community Collaborator): Promoting healthful eating, the foundation's “Have a Plant with Family” initiative reached 49,000 subscribers through newsletters, social media, and online toolkits, drawing 3,400 website impressions and emphasizing the benefits of fruits and vegetables.
- Ahold Delhaize USA (Family Meals Movement): Ahold Delhaize’s “Family Meals Movement—Back to Basics” distributed over 860,000 copies of Savory Magazine, which includes meal-planning guides and recipes. Social media posts attracted more than 25,500 impressions, encouraging affordable, nutritious family meals.
Honorable Mentions
Additional recognitions went to K-VA-T Food Stores, Southeastern Grocers, and Merchants Distributors, LLC, whose campaigns promoted family mealtime and addressed food insecurity through donations, community meals, and outreach programs.
With the Gold Plate Awards, the FMI Foundation honors the industry’s commitment to strengthening family connections and enhancing public health through shared meals. For more details, visit FMI.org/GoldPlateAwards.
