Chef Efrén Ríos, better known as Ziggy, has been ambassador of Real California Milk since 2018 and has been a spokesperson at many gastronomic events and product workshops. His most recent project comes under the name of Coma Pizza, an innovative pizzeria concept that offers an experience in every slice. In December 2020, Real California Milk visited the restaurant to record videos in collaboration with Chef Ziggy.
The videos have the main objective of communicating the different varieties of cheeses with the Real California seal, in addition to awakening palates in anyone who views the video through digital channels.
“When we talk about pizza, we don’t just talk about toppings or ingredients, we talk about a history, the technique, times for fresh product ripening, dough fermentation, and a selection of products with the highest quality.”
Efrén Ríos Ríos, winner of the 2019 Mexican Pizza Championship with the title of “Best Pizza Maker in Mexico 2019”. He has represented Mexico twice at the World Pizza Championship in Italy.
Watch video on our Youtube channel:
During the month of December, Imalinx coordinated a program with 5 renowned chefs from mexico who had the opportunity to cook with dried fruits, dairy and fresh products.
With the aim of promoting the consumption of products such as yellow onions, raisins, California cheese and butter during the holiday season, Imalinx with the support of Beto Lanz coordinatedthis program with 5 renowned chefs across Mexico.
Participating Chefs: Pablo Salas, Bianca Castro, Andrea Martínez, Juan Emilio Villaseñor and Christian González, who developed easy-to-replicate recipes using the previously mentioned ingredients as the star ingredient.
Each of the recipes were published on the Chef’s own digital channels and replicated on the social networks of the brand in order to amplify the reach.
Pablo Salas, from the Amaranta Restaurant, developed a recipe of NY Sliders with yellow onion.
Bianca Castro. Biscottis Pastry baked a total of 3 recipes with California raisin butter, as well as a yellow onion crumble.
Andrea Martinez, from Casa Liebre prepared 2 recipes with California cheese and butter and a pork rind in Raisin Adobo. Also a Pasta made by yellow onion
Juan Emilio Villaseñor, from La Cocinoteca presents us with a recipe for mole with raisins, a butter with garlic and yellow onion stuffed with Cod.
Christian González from Boulangerie Amasijo, innovated by creating a raisin chamoy and a crisp shortbread based on California butter.
Luis Serdio from Corazón de Pollo, with a unique concept of gourmet rotisserie offered a limited edition Buffalo Chicken Sandwich and Mac&Cheese box with California cheeses.
Costco and the California Milk Advisory Board created alliances to promote two pizzas in Service Deli area, cheese and pepperoni, where he origin of the cheese was promoted accompanied with retail publications in Facebook and Contacto magazine, as well as in the Real California Milk social media.
The promotion was executed in a month, from October 28th to November 22nd, where California Milk supported for the first time Costco Service Deli during their annual special promotion with pizzas. During this month Costco sold around 64,493 units nationwide. This is 135% of sales increase vs the same promotion in 2019. With Costco’s Facebook post 135,606 people was reached, and a total of 350,000 magazines printed.
The month of August began with two online seminars in collaboration with the Mexican Bakers Guild (COMEPAN), a project created by Chefs and Bakers: Irving Quiroz, Bernardo Flores, Kenny Kuri and Carlos Ramírez Roure. The event was sponsored by Real California Milk, California Raisins, and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Monterrey Office.
The invitation was open to the general public with the aim of captivating enthusiasts for the bakery that could later be part of the guild itself. The Seminar was carried out on two dates; August 12 for Mexico City and August 13 for Monterrey, achieving a total record of 3,081 people who connected from Mexico, the United States, Spain and Colombia.
The first date was covered with the participation of Kenny Kuri and Carlos Ramírez Roure who produce Cocoa Bread with pasitas, Vienna Bread, Rye Bread and Peasant Bread. On the other hand, Bernardo Flores and Irving Quiroz showed the techniques For achieving a low fermentation Ciabatta, Marbling Box Bread, Sourdough with Oat Atole and Dark Chocolate Babka.
View stream:
Results.
The Mexican Bakers Guild is a meeting point for all bakery enthusiasts, professionals and entrepreneurs in general who share the philosophy of the goodness of bread. A survey was conducted to explore the opinion and segments of attendees:
| Type of Industry | % |
| Consumer | 22% |
| Distributor | 1% |
| Foodservice | 5% |
| Other | 32% |
| Bakery | 40% |
———————————————————————————————————-
| What type of content would you like for future seminars? | % |
| Interviews | 0% |
| Explanation of ingredients | 7% |
| Recipes | 18% |
| Baking techniques | 70% |
| Tips | 5% |
On June 17, an online seminar was held for more than 1,000 registered participants taught by Chef Irving Quiroz where he spoke about the importance of butter as a key ingredient in baking.
During the 90-minute session, Chef Irving Quiroz shared his knowledge and experiences with butter, highlighting the importance of quality butter, the optimum temperature for different types of baking, and the process of sifting the flour and fermenting the dough. Also, he explained the differences between a margarine and butter, an important characteristic at the end of the baking.
Chef Irving Quiroz baked: Conchas Gourmet, Chocolate Chip Cookies and a little-known bread in Mexico called Kouign Amann, a typical bread from the French region of Bretagne that means “Butter tart” and which has a special cold-rolling process. The digital recipe book was available to download at www.lechedecalifornia.com
The event was moderated by Beto Lanz, author and journalist about travel and gastronomy in Mexico and the world. Beto emphasized the origin, the process and the flavor of California Butter in addition to answering the participants’ questions.
Webinar record: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=358uKQGoLEw
In January, representatives of the California Milk Advisory Board met in Koh Samui, Thailand where the global strategy was reviewed. For two days, the representatives were in meetings so that together they could give feedback from past years to continue improving. This year in Mexico the following objectives were set:
In October 2019, Real California Milk held the second edition of the California Dairy Products Contest where 8 teams competed for a trip to Napa, California. The Food & Wine team showed by Chef Antonio Garrido and Chef Mariana Rojas surprised the jury with their dishes and became winners of the Training in Trends and handling of dairy products, based at the CIA, Copia in Napa, California.
In January 2020, the chefs of Food & Wine Table and Chef Abraham Alanis of Laben Foodservice travel to California to receive the training. During the trip, the chefs visited Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese where they participated in a Culinary Trends Workshop 2020 presented by CIA executive chefs, Brad Barnes & Barbara Alexander who also offered a culinary and tasting experience with their own recipes made with California dairy products.
They had a tour in the Farmstead Cheese, to learn about the quality processes of Real California Milk and the animal care, one of the main characteristics of Real California Milk dairy products. The last day the chefs had the experience of cooking at the CIA facilities, Copy being part of multiculturalism reflected in the dishes of chefs from different parts of the world.
Antonio Garrido, Mariana Rojas, and Abraham Lanis went back home with the knowledge and dairy training to be implemented in their kitchens and processes in order to offer quality and flavor in their recipes.
Imalix supported the process of insertion into the Mexican market of products with the seal of the California Dairy Commission. Negotiations were worked out from 2018, until this year we were able to find cheeses and Ice Cream in supermarket chains at Mexico.
In Walmart we can find 12 new flavors of Crystal Creamery Ice Cream that were supported with point of sale activities and a digital communication program for the launch. The 4 months after sales was increased by 400 %.
Soriana Chain Price Club, City Club, introduced two desserts with ice cream and, one specialty lychee flavor. Sales have grown steadily by 93 % compared to normal and sampling days. It also opened the doors of its catalogue to some specialty cheeses such as Monterey Jack, Cheddar and Provolone. Promotional activities were created for the sliced product and, sales increased by 500 % on samplings days against normal.
Calimax, a regional chain with 98 stores, introduced 21 new products into 20% of its stores. Sierra Nevada, Point Reyes and Fiscalini are part of the catalogue and presented in the “Rincón del Sabor” island with deli products in the shops.
Laben in Monterrey will make its third cheese import under the DiStefano brand in six different presentations between the products of Fiore di Latte, Artisanal Burrata and, Fresh Mozzarella.
On the other hand, Ochoa Dairy Products in May began importing cream cheese under the Smithfield brand of the Savencia processor. This product is a second choice of California Cream Cheese at the state of Baja California.
As part of the strategy, Real California Milk achieved the implementation of four different promotions in Local Pizza Chains located in three regions of Mexico, such as the Northwest (Tijuana, Jhon’s Pizza), Northeast (Monterrey, I Like Pizza and Pizza Deprizza) and, at the Center of the Country (Mexico City, Pizza Amore).
In addition, the promotions include marketing support for the development of point-of-sale printed materials, uniforms, digital communication and the use of the Real California Milk Seal on pizza boxes.
Pizza promotions with Real California Milk have represented an increase in cheese volume sales of 17 tons per month.
Imalinx developed a promotional strategy at the Amusement Park Six Flags Mexico in conjunction with Real California Milk Mexico and Johnny Rockets Restaurant, as the cheese used in its burgers is California Cheddar Cheese.
Activities were carried out for consumers at point of sale, social media and printed materials such as tablecloths and banners placed in different points at the park.
There was a 26 % increase in sales compared to 2017 vs. 2018.