Lotus Foods

Lotus Foods is a Richmond, California, based company that focuses on importing handcrafted rice from small family farms to the United States. The company was founded in 1995 by Caryl Levine and Kenneth Lee. Their first and most popular product is a black rice called Forbidden Rice.

Lotus Foods
TypePrivate
GenreNatural foods; Heirloom rice; SRI Rice
Founded1995
FounderKen Lee; Caryl Levine
Headquarters
Richmond
,
U.S.
Websitelotusfoods.com

History

The company was founded in 1995 by Caryl Levine and Kenneth Lee, two years after they took a marketing research trip to China where they were served a bowl of black rice, something they never heard about before.[1][2]

Products

Lotus offers a variety of rice products including traditional basmati rice and jasmine rice, Black Forbidden Rice (black rice),[3] Jade Pearl Rice (short-gain rice infused with bamboo extract),[4] Bhutanese red rice,[5] Madagascar pink rice, and Volcano Rice.[6] In 2018, the company launched Rice Ramen soup cups, instant noodles made out of their rice noodles.[7]

Awards and recognition

Lotus Foods has won multiple awards for their products as well as for their involvement in SRI rice.[8][9] In 2008 they were invited as panelists to discuss Food Security and Poverty at the Clinton Global Initiative alongside Madeleine Albright and representatives for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.[10][11] In 2009 they were awarded Nutrition Business Journal's Environment and Sustainability Award for their SRI related work done in conjunction with Cornell University's SRI Global Marketing Partnership.[12] In their first year as a member of the National Association of the Specialty Food Trade (NASFT) in 1998, Forbidden Rice became a Silver Finalist in the Outstanding New Product category of the annual Sofi Awards competition. To date, the company has won nine Sofi Awards.[9]

References
  1. "Farmers/Terroir | Our Mission - Lotus Foods". www.lotusfoods.com. Archived from the original on 2010-10-18.
  2. El Cerrito Focus "For the Love of Rice".
  3. "Black Forbidden Rice". Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  4. "Jade Pearl Rice". 19 August 2014.
  5. "Red Rice Market Is Changing Drastically What If History Is Any Guide – Online News Guru". onlinenewsguru.com. Archived from the original on 2019-10-24.
  6. "The Type of Rice You Buy Matters".
  7. "Lotus Foods Introduces Rice Ramen Noodle Soup Cups with Freeze-Dried Veggie Soup Cubes". 11 July 2019.
  8. Lotus Foods "Awards & Recognition".
  9. "Lotus Foods: Changing the World One Grain of Rice at a Time | News". Specialty Food Association. Retrieved 2016-12-12.
  10. Clinton Global Initiative "Poverty Alleviation: Food Security and Poverty".
  11. Video of Clinton Global Initiative Panel "Poverty Alleviation: Food Security and Poverty". Archived from the original on 2009-09-21. Retrieved 2010-03-04.
  12. Nutrition Business Journal "2009 Environment and Sustainability Award: Lotus Foods". Archived from the original on 2012-07-16. Retrieved 2010-03-04.
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