Sunny Fresh Foods-Remarks by Jerry R. Rose, President

Mr. President, Mr. Secretary, stakeholders of Sunny Fresh Foods and Cargill, customers and suppliers, members of the Baldrige family, staff and examiners, and fellow Baldrige award recipients.

We are honored to be here today to accept this award on behalf of the 380 stakeholders of Sunny Fresh Foods. Being the first food company to receive this award is an accomplishment those of us at Sunny Fresh will cherish forever.

We began our quality journey in 1990. We believed we could turn quality into competitive advantage within the food industry. Our quality journey has been evolutionary. Early on we viewed the criteria as a means of reducing customer complaints; then our focus shifted to reducing the cost of doing things wrong; and finally to improving customer satisfaction and business processes. We were pleased with the results, but we greatly misjudged the far-reaching positive impact that the process would have on our total business systems and customer solution focus.

Employing Baldrige-based criteria has enhanced our business performance by using a systematic approach that engages all our stakeholders. It has created a common language that we use across all levels of our organization. The process has unified our organization and focused our energy and enthusiasm on a common set of goals. We have improved measurement systems and increased operational performance enabling us to deliver better value to our customers. The criteria have provided solid and continuous guidance in business systems development and strategy deployment. Our business systems have continued to evolve as Sunny Fresh has continued to grow.

Sunny Fresh has developed a strong culture based on our core values of Customer Focus, Food Safety, Quality, Employee Safety and Development, and Ethics. A culture where everyone is a salesperson; a culture where open doors, honesty, trust, teamwork, and mutual respect are the foundations for our growth; a culture where we do not takes risks when it comes to our employees’ personal safety or our customers’ food safety; and a culture where debate and directness are encouraged . . . all driving us forward in continuous improvement.

Since President Clinton’s announcement, we at Sunny Fresh Foods have recognized that we have a new challenge. Receiving this award bears a great responsibility . . . responsibility to share our customer solutions focus within Cargill, and best practices with other companies to prepare for the challenges that our industry will face in this new millennium.

We are indebted to our strategic customers and our dedicated suppliers. Without you, we would not be here today. We are grateful for your trust, guidance, and support.

My closing message is to the 380 stakeholders of Sunny Fresh Foods and the employees of Cargill worldwide. Sunny Fresh’s success is not the result of a few superstars. Instead, we are a group of ordinary people working together to achieve extraordinary results. Our pride makes us do things well, but it is our passion that leads us to performance excellence. It has been said that the true measure of one’s success is to build something that outlast us . . . all of you are making this a reality at Sunny Fresh.

By receiving this award, some may think we have reached our goal and finished our journey. We haven’t . . . our journey has never been about winning awards. We have a solid foundation . . . we can improve . . . and I promise we will.

Thank you