More than 400 pies were entered by 31 commercial bakeries in 130 categories at the APC championships held in ChampionsGate, Florida. The APC is the only organization committed to preserving America's pie heritage and promoting American's love affair with pies. Commercial bakers competed in flavor categories that included Apple, Blueberry, Fruit/Berry, Open Cream, Citrus, Nut and Chocolate and Raisin, sponsored by the California Raisin Marketing Board. Only one pie from each category was awarded a blue ribbon.
2010 award-winning pies included fruit pies such as Fruitabulous Strawberry Rhubarb and Fruitabulous Wild Blueberry; elite cream pies such as European Chocolate Truffle, White Chocolate Cherry Silk and Triple Berry Supreme and innovative, layered creations such as Fresh Hawaiian Strawberry, Chocolate Mint Brownie Blast and Cool and Creamy Dreamy Orange. In the Raisin category, Legendary Baking’s Chocolate Brownie Raisinette took home top honors.
“We could not be more thrilled and honored to have been awarded 55 blue ribbons on behalf of our restaurants and customers,” said Hazem Ouf, president and chief executive officer of American Blue Ribbon Holdings, LLC. “One of our core values as an organization is relentless improvement. Winning two more blue ribbons than we did last year certainly shows that we are living our vision, values and culture as a company,” he added.
Legendary Baking produces over 18 million pies per year for Bakers Square and Village Inn Restaurants and its retail and foodservice customers at its two bakeries in Oak Forest, Illinois and Chaska, Minnesota. The J. Horner’s label is sold to foodservice and retail customers across the U.S. Bakers Square and Village Inn have been serving award winning pies to its guests since 1969 and 1958 respectively, including dozens of varieties of premium, multi-layer specialty pies such as Lemon Supreme, French Silk and Caramel Pecan Silk Supreme and new Fruitabulous pies including Apple, Triple Berry, Cherry, Peach, Raspberry and Strawberry Rhubarb.
