Store Brands names 2016 Editors' Picks winners

Store Brands magazine, published by Deerfield, Ill.-based Stagnito Business Information + Edgell Communications, is pleased to announce the winners in its inaugural Editors' Picks awards program. The program, open to private label manufacturers and retailer self-manufacturers, honors the best new product concepts made available for private labeling (or available on the shelf, for retailer-manufacturers).

To be eligible for entry, the concepts must have been introduced between January 2015 and January 2016. A team of editors judged food and beverage entries based on taste/quality and innovation. Non-food products were judged on innovation and functionality.

When all was said and done, product concepts from 12 companies, representing approximately one-quarter of the entries, rose to the top of the judges' score sheets. The 2016 Editors' Picks winners include:

Food/beverage winners:

• Dark chocolate cranberry cherry juice, Lassonde Pappas & Co. Inc.
• Flavored bread bowls, Better For You Foods LLC
• Better Balanced ketchup, Red Gold
• Organic apple and honey almonds, Woodstock Farms
• PURE probiotic gum, Focus Nutrition
• Oaxaca shredded strips (cheese), Nuestro Queso
• Better-for you mini sugar cookies, Homefree LLC
• PurPod100 100 percent compostable single-serve coffee pods, Massimo Zanetti Beverage USA

Non-food winners:

• Ty-D-Bol Natural plant-based bathroom cleaning products, Willert Home Products
• Never Miss A Spot SPF 50 sunscreen with spray wand, Phd Skin Care LLC
• DayClear/NiteClear gluten-free, alcohol-free, dye-free, sugar-free, acetaminophen-free, artificial flavor free cold, flu and allergy remedies, GM Pharmaceuticals
• Freeze-dried minnow treats for dogs and cats, Carnivore Meat Company

"The winning concepts are both on-trend and highly innovative," said Kathie Canning, editorial director, Store Brands. "All of them aim to help retailers lead, not follow, with their own brands in various categories."

Editors' Picks honorees will be profiled in the April 2016 issue of Store Brands.