CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Charlotte-headquartered Tropical Foods – snack food manufacturer and distributor – was honored by Sodexo as their 2019 Strategic Diverse Vendor Partner of the Year. Sodexo is a major supporter of minority- and diversity-owned companies including women-owned businesses. Tropical Foods has been a certified WBENC business since 2002 when sisters Angela Bauer and Carolyn Bennett became majority owners.
“We work hard to be a valued supplier to Sodexo and we are incredibly honored to receive this award,” said Angela Bauer, owner of Tropical Foods. “We are proud to have a partnership with a company that is also committed to diversity development.”
This year, Sodexo acknowledged partners in eight categories. The awards finalists and winners were selected based on their overall outstanding contributions and their alignment with Sodexo’s Six Dimensions of Quality of Life – physical environment, health and wellness, social interaction, recognition, ease and personal growth as the ultimate drivers of human performance – as well as the Sodexo Better Tomorrow 2025 Corporate Responsibility Roadmap.
“Tropical Foods is extremely dedicated to meeting Sodexo needs at both operational and strategic levels, said Darlene Fuller, Sodexo director of supplier diversity. “Tropical Foods is more than a supplier but rather an extension to the Sodexo team.”
Tropical Foods also received Sodexo’s Strategic Diverse Vendor Partner award in 2016.
About Tropical Foods
Tropical Foods specializes in premium snack mixes, freshly roasted nuts and seeds, dried fruit, and hundreds of bulk and packaged candies, and specialty foods. Tropical Foods has an extensive line of retail branded products, including Grabeez®, Buffalo Nuts® and trEAT4u®. The company was founded in 1977 with an original product line of 100 items which has grown to include more than 3,000 today. Second-generation, women-owned Tropical is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, with additional operating centers in Orlando, Atlanta, Memphis, Washington, D.C., and Dallas.
