The Icicle Community Won Big at the 2022 BCFB Awards Gala

The Icicle team was proud to once again participate in the BC Food & Beverage Association Awards Gala for food & beverages manufacturers in beautiful British Columbia alongside several members of the Icicle community. The sold-out BCFB Awards Gala took place on November 3, 2022 and, despite the rain and snowy weather, BC’s food industry made it out to Rocky Mountaineer Station to connect and get inspired by the leaders, rising stars, and innovating products and companies from the local region.

This year’s gala featured tasty delights from across the province as well as reimagined award categories, including Indigenous Business of the Year, People’s Choice award, Women Entrepreneur of the Year, and the Emerging Business award.

Icicle CEO Honoured for Leadership

Icicle founder and CEO Steven Burton was a finalist for the BCFB Leadership Award, which recognizes long-time industry leaders who inspire others to take on new initiatives to learn and grow. Steve was recognized in this category for his contributions to elevating food safety, traceability, compliance, and profitability with Icicle ERP, an advanced food safety technology based on decades of sophisticated software development expertise.

As a father to immunocompromised children, I consider it to be our responsibility at Icicle to help food companies make the safest, highest quality products they can make,” Steve emphasized after the gala. “I am very grateful to be included as a finalist for the Leadership Award alongside admirable peers in the industry, and offer my congratulations to the Leadership Award winner, CEO of Organika Health Products Aaron Chin.

Steven Burton, Founder & CEO, Icicle Technologies Inc.

In previous years, Icicle was also recognized as the winner of the BCFB Innovation Award for technology leaders in the food industry and as a Rising Star finalist, which goes to up-and-coming industry members taking a unique, one-of-a-kind approach to food and beverage.

Icicle Community Members Lead the BC Food and Beverage Industry

The 2022 gala was especially exciting for the Icicle team because of the several Icicle clients who were showcased and honoured at the event.

Big Mountain Foods Took Home Two of Three Major BCFB Awards

Big Mountain Foods’ Soy-Free Tofu took the spotlight for the evening, winning the top award for Innovation as well as the first-place prize (gold) for Product of the Year. A product six years in the making, Big Mountain’s category-disrupting soy-free tofu product is a testament to the company’s leadership position in plant-based foods. It is the first tofu product on the market to be made entirely from Canadian fava beans, sourced from a local farmer who shares Big Mountain’s commitment to sustainability.

Big Mountain Foods has been a leader in allergen-free, plant-based meat alternatives since 1987 and the company continues to enrich the lives of the millions of people who suffer from food allergies with exciting, delicious, and highly nutritious food options. The magic takes place at the company’s zero-waste facility in Delta, BC, which they have strategically designed to recycle 70% wastewater back into their production process. These methods allow Big Mountain Soy-Free Tofu to save 15,000 lbs of waste per day from the landfill, which equates to 4 million lbs saved per year.

Those reasons and more made it no surprise at all when Big Mountain’s president, Jasmine Byrne, was also honoured as a finalist for the Women Entrepreneur of the Year award as one half of the powerhouse mother-daughter duo that heads the company. The constant evolution in all aspects of their business made Jasmine and her team prime candidates for their big wins of the night. We especially appreciated how Jasmine shared the glory with her entire staff, directing applause to the employees in production and QA who work hard behind the scenes.

Yoggu! Foods Snagged Two BCFB Awards and is Going Places with Their Plant-Based Yogurt

Next, Yoggu! Foods, a newer addition to the Icicle community that makes plant-based, greek-style yogurt products, took home the award for Emerging Business in recognition of their rapid growth and potential for heading to big places, fast. Yoggu’s lean but mean team is actively expanding their market reach across Canada with newly-formed distributor partnerships, to the great excitement of their fans.

Their founder, Jade Hermann, was in good company in the BCFB Awards Woman Entrepreneur of the Year category, scoring the top prize for that as well while thanking her team for making things possible and acknowledging her fellow finalists for being true inspirations in her journey as an entrepreneur.

We are excited to support Yoggu! in bringing their clean-label coconut yogurt into national distribution and beyond. We also can’t believe that Jade started such an incredible business at just 25 years old!

Soul Bite Food Inc. is a Sustainability Leader in the BC Food Industry

Another member of the Icicle community was crowned a winner in the Sustainability category: Soul Bite Food Inc., whose director Ali Haeri led his social enterprise to new heights while donating 50% of the company’s profits to fight hunger and combat food waste around the world. Soul Bite also won the Community Impact Award in 2021; their 2022 win of the Sustainability Award further affirms their dedication and passion for sustainable food practices and industry.

Soul Bite’s unique line of award-winning vegan comfort food, designed for retail and food service, connects consumers of plant-based products with traditional flavours from Eastern Europe and the Middle East. A company led by immigrants to Canada, their charity, Immigrant Link Centre Society (ILCS), improves access to healthy foods for 3,500 immigrants and refugees in the Lower Mainland each month by gathering and distributing useable, unsold food from grocery stores to the community at no cost. In his acceptance speech, Ali dedicated his award win to all the women in his home of Iran for their bravery in the face of political oppression.

Supporting the Plant-Based Foods Revolution in BC

It was especially thrilling to see the success of plant-based food products at this year’s gala – 100% of the Product of the Year finalists were plant-based – which showcases the growing consumer taste in a more sustainable food system. We enthusiastically offer our congratulations and appreciation to Big Mountain Foods, Yoggu! Foods, and Soul Bite Food Inc. for their achievements, and to all the other incredible BC food and beverage companies and individuals nominated this year.

The Icicle team as a whole extends our thanks to BC Food & Beverage for a wonderful event and for providing a place for our local stars to shine brightly!