As I write this, less than three weeks remain for operators to submit their entries to the third annual Goldies Awards. The awards, which celebrate best practices in non-commercial foodservice, will be presented Monday, March 4, during the 2013 MenuDirections conference in Tampa, Fla.
Although few of our readers need reminding about this prestigious award, I thought I would take this opportunity to remind you about the change in the categories, and also alert you to mailing issues that have arisen as a result of Hurricane Sandy.
First, the mailing alert. When the superstorm hit New York on Oct. 29, the resulting storm surge inundated lower Manhattan, where our editorial offices are located. The flooding that occurred left our building uninhabitable for more than a month. Even now that the all clear has been given, significant issues still remain—specifically, no land-based phone lines or Internet service are available.
This has meant that we editors have been professionally homeless since the storm. We have managed quite well from our homes and apartments, and most likely will continue to do that as often, if not more often, than we will be in our office at 90 Broad Street. Our mail has been held at the local Post Office branch, but United Parcel Service and Federal Express have been returning our packages to the senders.
Now that the building has reopened, our deliveries have begun anew. But there could still be glitches, since we can’t guarantee that someone will be in the office every day to accept parcels. So, I would advise readers submitting entries for The Goldies to send their entries via regular mail. If you prefer to use UPS or FedEx, please email me and I will send you my home address so you may send entries there. If your entry has been returned to you, please call me at 646-708-7320—my office calls are being forwarded to my cell phone—or send me an email. This way we will know that you’ve made an attempt and we can be on the lookout for your next try. We don’t want anyone to miss out on an opportunity to compete for The Goldies because of an act of nature.
Now, if you’re still on the fence about whether to submit an entry, I’d like to remind you that our awards have changed slightly. No longer will we be honoring best practices in categories such as sustainability, health and wellness or focusing on the guest. Instead, we will be judging best practices for each market sector. In other words, we will have an award for business and industry, colleges, schools and healthcare. So you won’t be competing against other markets, but only against your specific peer organizations.
So, it’s not too late to tell us about the programs you’ve developed that you believe are the best in the business. The deadline is Dec. 20. We look forward to reviewing your submissions.