Von Slick’s makes history with awards

A Middlebro company has made history with a pair of awards at the World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Product Contest.

Creators of a finishing butter available in an easy-to-use push-tube, owners Landon Kroeker and Rob Sengotta were rewarded for their quality product.

Von Slick’s won first place in innovation and creativity and came in second place in the flavoured butter category.

Von Slick’s was up against some tough competition, with over 1,300 entries in 94 classes of dairy products this year at the show that is attended by 60,000 people from 100 countries.

Not only were they the only Canadian winner in the 2024 competition, but they were the only Canadian butter company to ever win a first-place award in the World Dairy Expo’s 57-year history.

Kroeker said they were very happy to make history at the event in Madison, Wisconsin.

“To be the first winner in that category in 57 years was pretty crazy,” he said.

He said much of the credit should go to his partner Rob Sengotta, a French trained chef.

“Our flavours are pretty fantastic,” he said. “It’s not your run of the mill product that you’re just going to get made by a big box company.”

Since the company launched in January of 2021, they’ve developed and marketed six flavours, with three available in stores and the other three at markets they attend.

Available in stores is mushroom duxelles, garlic confit and roasted red pepper.

Pasta, beef wellington, steak, garlic cheese toast, chicken, pork, corn on the cob, potatoes and other vegetables can all benefit from the tasty treat.

Three additional flavours include olive tapenade, wild blueberry and salted caramel.

But it’s the delivery mechanism that Kroeker said also attracts attention.

Kroeker said in fine dining, chefs would create a butter like theirs, roll them into tubes and freeze them. They would then cut medallions to place on their offerings.

“That circular shape was iconic, and we wanted to keep that,” he said.

Still a newer product in Canada, Kroeker said they are on more store shelves in the U.S.

“Finishing butters are more common there,” he said. “If you go to a grocery store, you’re going to find probably three to four in each grocery store. If you go to Europe, they’re way more common.”

While the awards, which were presented on Oct. 1, were the highlight, Kroeker said the experience was also amazing.

Kroeker and Sengotta met while working at Buffalo Point Resort, striking up a friendship before starting their business.

Growth is something they’ve seen constantly.

“For the first year, almost two years, we were only available in Manitoba,” he said. “So, we just pushed really hard to grow the product here locally and that worked great. We got amazing support from the local community.”

Since then, they began working with a distributor based out of Surrey, B.C. called Direct Plus Food Group.

“We are available from Vancouver Island to Thunder Bay in store,” he said.

But finishing butter isn’t the easiest sell.

“Our biggest challenge is the uniqueness of the product,” he said. “When people walk by in the store, they very seldom know what to do with it, (or) what it’s for. It’s doesn’t pique their interest unless we’ve explained it to them.”

That’s why they’re working hard to demonstrate their product and make connections. Kroeker was in Calgary at the time of the interview while Sengotta was in Toronto. A third person was in Saskatoon on their behalf.

“We’re just promoting the product as fast as we can, just to really support the stores and get people advice on how it works,” he said. “Once they understand it, they’re all over it.”

A second award announced later in October saw Von Slick’s named as one of the top 50 small businesses in the world by Square, as part of their Square 50 awards program.

Square offers purpose-built software to run restaurant, retail and professional services operations, e-commerce tools, embedded financial services and more, doing over $200 billion in transactions annually.

Nine Canadian businesses were among the 50 chosen from thousands of entrants from across the globe including Australia, France, Ireland, Japan, Spain the U.K. and the U.S.

Von Slick’s was recognized in the innovation category which recognizes “businesses that innovate within their industry, from diversifying their offerings to revolutionizing their operations to stand out from the competition,” according to a press release issued by Square on Oct. 16.

They praised Von Slick’s for creating “delectable, original taste experiences”.

“The pair has taken a kitchen staple and turned it into a gourmet condiment sold across Canada, innovating an everyday product into a culinary experience,” a Square spokesperson said of the Von Slick’s founders.

Kroeker said it was exciting to see another Manitoba company win an award. Sharecuterie won in the sustainability category and is a company that Von Slick’s provides their product to.

Being recognized for their innovative product isn’t new to Von Slick’s. In 2022, they won the Canadian Grand Prix New Product Awards in the innovation, originality and dairy categories.

As they look to expand their reach, Kroeker said they remain happy with their Middlebro operation.

“We’ve got more room to grow, we’ve got more equipment that we can get and more staff that we can have,” he said.

The company is also focusing on a new delivery mechanism specifically for food services.

Beginning in the new year they will cover their butter in a 12-inch casing, that Kroeker said looks almost like a sausage link. The link is marked every seven millimetres for cutting.

“A restaurant would just take that full link and slice it into those pre-portioned pucks and have the same presentation, the same portion control and the same consistency of the product,” he said. “We hope the food service side will do that product awareness for us, for the retail side.”

Von Slick’s product is available in hundreds of stores across Canada, including six Steinbach locations, St Malo, Oakbank, Niverville, New Bothwell, Mitchell, Lorette, and Kleefeld.

For more information go to vonslicks.ca.