Manitoba butter firm claims world gold

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This article was published 23/10/2024 (414 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Manitoba butter company melted judges’ hearts and took home gold at the recent World Dairy Expo. Von Slick’s Finishing Touch came first in the creative and innovative products category.

The Middlebro entrepreneurs trekked to Wisconsin for the event earlier this month. Its flavoured butter sticks were among some 1,300 competition entries.

Companies vie for recognition in cheese, butter, milk, yogurt and ice cream categories. The expo drew more than 55,000 people from 96 countries.

“It’s a pretty good feeling,” said Rob Sengotta, co-founder of Von Slick’s. “We turned a lot of heads.”

Von Slick’s also placed second in the flavoured butter category; a Minnesota company was crowned champion.

Sengotta and business partner Landon Kroeker were the only Canadians to claim gold at the expo this year. They said they’re the only Canadian butter company to achieve such status at the 57-year-old competition.

The duo began Von Slick’s in 2021; the company has since expanded throughout Western Canada. Next, the entrepreneurs want to sell their butter in the United States — something made complicated by international dairy regulations.

But the Middlebro production site is near the Minnesota border, and a midwestern U.S. market is much bigger than the likes of Manitoba. Sengotta and Kroeker have deemed an American expansion their new year’s goal. They made connections at the World Dairy Expo, Sengotta said.

The company received honours at the Canadian Grand Prix New Product Awards in Toronto two years ago.

— Free Press staff