This year’s NRA Show will feature something new: a frozen yogurt taste-test competition. The competition will take place between the various frozen yogurt vendors attending the show, and the results will be announced Tuesday, May 20th at 11am, at booth 4181. In addition to being named Revel's “swirl of excellence,” the winner will receive an engraved plaque and bragging rights for being “best in show.”
Four industry experts have been chosen to judge the event. The judges will taste and rate the vanilla and original tart flavors from each vendor. Flavors will be judged in a blind taste-test and rated in succession to allow for easier comparison. The best vanilla and tart flavors will be announced Tuesday, May 20th as noted above. The vendor with the highest overall score for those two flavors will receive the honor of best frozen yogurt at NRA.
Frozen yogurt flavors will be rated on a scale between 1 and 5. Flavors will be rated on the following qualities:
- Overall taste: 1-5 points
- Aftertaste: 1-5 points
- Texture: 1-5 points
- Naturalness/true to flavor: 1-5 points
- Flavorful: 1-5 points
Each flavor has the potential to earn 25 points maximum. Samples will be judged in one sitting giving the judges ample ability to judge all samples fairly.
The judges are as follows:
- Susan Linton: Susan, aka Fro-yo Girl, is the president and founder of The International Frozen Yogurt Association (IFYA). She is the world’s leading frozen yogurt blogger and frozen yogurt enthusiast. Back in 2008, she started her blog, Fro-yo Girl Speaks, with the goal of visiting every frozen yogurt shop in the Bay Area and tracking news and trends in the frozen yogurt industry. She was inspired to create the International Frozen Yogurt Association to promote the growth and success of the frozen yogurt industry and to bring together frozen yogurt store owners, suppliers and fans.
- Jeff Resnick: Jeff is the founder and CEO of Forte Supply, the master distributor and exclusive US-distributor for Spaceman USA, a line of high quality soft serve machines. He has visited frozen yogurt shops in over 35 states and 7 countries. Jeff has used over 30 models of soft serve machines, and sampled yogurt from every known powder and liquid mix supplier. “When I started the [frozen yogurt business], I knew I had to know it , and my goal was to target the self-serve model primarily.” He did his research, and essentially “did everything you would need to do to open a new shop.”
- Chris Ciabarra: Chris is the CTO and co-founder of Revel Systems, the leading iPad POS platform. An expert in data and payment security, Chris founded Revel Systems with his co-founder with the goal of empowering business everywhere. He is a member of IFYA’s distinguished panel of frozen yogurt industry experts, and offers his expertise in POS systems, inventory management, payroll, real time sales data, integrated scales and modifiers.
- QSR Magazine: A representative from QSR Magazine will also be on the panel of industry expert judges. QSR Magazine is the leading media outlet covering limited-service format restaurants and food service operations.
Attendees of NRA are also invited to partake: frozen yogurt aficionados are invited to cast their vote, picking up and depositing their ballots at booth 4181 by Monday, May 19th at 4:30pm. The popular ballot will be slightly simpler than the judges’ rating sheets and will not be a blind taste-test. Voters will be given a ballot listing all the participating vendor and can rate flavors on a scale from 1 (poor) to 10 (excellent). Those turning in their ballots will receive special International Frozen Yogurt Association swag as a “thank you” for voting. The results of the popular vote will be announced at the same time as the expert judges’ results, and the winner of this vote will be announced on The International Frozen Yogurt Association’s website.
Client Login