Bangkok--9 Jul--Thai Union Frozen
Thai Union Frozen Products, PCL (TUF), a major producer and exporter of canned and frozen seafood products, announced that it has recently won the William B. Darden Distinguished Supplier Award of 2009 from Darden Restaurants for consistently providing Red Lobster chain with high-quality and value-added shrimp, while maintaining focus on service, innovation, cost and sustainability. This year, only 11 out of over 1,500 global suppliers won the award. Among this handful of winners, only two were seafood suppliers. This award reflects the confidence Darden places in TUF and confirms the high standard of quality of food products from Thailand.
Based in Orlando, USA, Darden Restaurants is the world’s largest full-service restaurant company that owns and operates more 1,700 restaurants, including Red Lobster, Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, The Capital Grille, Bahama Breeze, and Seasons 52. It employs 180,000 people and generates US$ 7 billion in annual sales.
TUF President Thiraphong Chansiri, revealed, “TUF is immensely proud of this recognition. The Bill Darden Distinguished Supplier Award is only given to a supplier that has consistently maintained the high quality of its products. This is a very important honor for us as a Thai company. Throughout the past 14 years of cooperation with Darden, we have already received 9 awards from Darden in various categories, but this year’s award is truly special and the most prestigious. It serves as a reward as well as motivation for us to continue working hard in collaboration with our customers.”
Mr. Thiraphong further stated that this award illustrated the continual improvement of the quality of food products from Thailand to its trading partners around the world and gave them more confidence in doing business with Thai suppliers.
The Bill Darden Distinguished Supplier of the Year Award is the highest level of honor awarded to the suppliers of the restaurant company. It is also one of the most prestigious awards for suppliers in the US food service industry. Over 1,500 suppliers across the globe were considered for the award. The criteria for selecting the winners include: being a creative business partner and readiness to work together with Darden to address any issue that may arise, dedication to research and development and product innovation, ability to maintain high product quality consistently, comprehensive customer service capability, ability to produce creative cost-saving ideas, and ability to provide business insights to help Darden grow and improve its business, ranging from culinary techniques, to administrative practices, to marketing and supply chain management.
Lastly, Mr. Thiraphong added, “This top honor from a world-renowned restaurant operator confirms that TUF and our products have earned the confidence from our customers worldwide. However, we will continue to strive for the consistency of our product quality, as well as for improvement in all areas, including new product development, the quality of our services, new business ideas and innovative solutions to help our customers cope with the ever-shifting market conditions and consumers’ tastes.”
For more information please contact:
Corporate Communications Department
Tel. 0-2298-0024 ext. 675-678