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McDonald’s Visits Sunny Fresh in Mason City to Present Supplier Award
MASON CITY, Iowa – Representatives of McDonald’s USA and senior managers from Cargill visited Sunny Fresh today, to acknowledge Cargill as McDonald’s USA’s first-ever “U.S. Supplier of the Year Award.”
Sunny Fresh Foods is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cargill and supplies egg products to McDonald’s. Other Cargill businesses provide McDonald’s with cooking oil and beef trim used for ground beef patties, salt, sauces, and risk management services. In selecting Cargill for the award, McDonald’s cited Cargill’s “expertise and insight” along with its “energy and willingness to collaborate” with McDonald’s.
“Cargill has been a great supplier partner for many years and continues to bring tremendous benefit to the McDonald’s system,” said J.C. Gonzales-Mendez, vice president of McDonald’s North American Supply Chain.
Visiting Sunny Fresh in Mason City from McDonald’s with Gonzales-Mendez were Don Thompson, U.S. executive vice president and COO; Kevin Cook, U.S. senior vice president of U.S. Restaurant Systems; and Dan Gorsky, vice president of U.S. Supply Chain Management.
From Cargill’s Minneapolis headquarters were Greg Page, president and COO; Dave Larson, executive vice president; and Jerry Rose, corporate vice president.
“Receiving this award is a big honor for Cargill businesses, including Sunny Fresh, and we will continue to exceed McDonald’s expectations,” Mike Luker, president of Sunny Fresh Foods, said. “Sunny Fresh and other Cargill businesses have collaborated to help McDonald’s win.”
Daryl Berg, general manager of Sunny Fresh in Mason City, added, “Sunny Fresh has worked with McDonald’s for many years, and the Mason City team has had that privilege since we opened in 2001.”
The Mason City facility employs 124 stakeholders. In addition to Mason City, Sunny Fresh has facilities in Panora, Iowa, Monticello and Big Lake, Minn., and Lake Odessa, Mich. The business has more than 620 stakeholders.
In 2005, Sunny Fresh received the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the highest level of national recognition for performance excellence that a U.S. organization can receive. Sunny Fresh also received the Award in 1999, making it the only company to receive the Award in two different categories and only one of four companies to ever receive the Award twice. In 1999 Sunny Fresh received the Award in the Small Business category, this time, in the Manufacturing category. Congress established the Baldrige award program in 1987 to recognize U.S. companies for achievements in quality and business performance excellence.
Cargill is an international provider of food, agricultural and risk management products and services. With 142,000 employees in 61 countries, the company is committed to using its knowledge and experience to collaborate with customers to help them succeed.