Philadelphia-Area Chef Wins National Creative Pizza Recipe Contest

ROSEMONT, IL--(Marketwire - Nov 17, 2011) - US Foods today announced Chef Melissa Jones of Metropolitan American Diner & Bar in North Wales, Pa., has won the first ever US Foods Creative Pizza Recipe Competition. Jones' chicken avocado pizza with chipotle aioli earned her the top spot and a check for $1,000.

The recipe contest was part of the "Find the Missing Profits Pizza Promotion" which encouraged US Foods customers to create original recipes and add pizza to their restaurant menus using US Foods' exclusive Roseli dough.

"Pizza is America's number one casual food choice and the overwhelming number of recipes we received shows there is no shortage of creative ways to prepare it," said Eric Cronert, vice president, brand marketing, US Foods. "Our customers came up with unique and delicious recipes and discovered how easy it is to add pizza to their menus."

Each week, between September 1 and October 31, participants submitted recipes based on a featured ingredient or theme, such as fresh vegetable, breakfast pizza or fresh fruit. Each recipe was judged on the inclusion of Roseli pizza dough, use of the featured ingredient/theme of the week, originality, flavor, appearance and ease of preparation. Winners were selected each week, and the grand prize winner was chosen from the pool of weekly winners.

The weekly winners include:

• Chef Bella Miller, Crown Valley Port House - Clarksville, Mo. who submitted a recipe every week and won four out of the eight weeks.
• Chef Mike Greco, Bijou Grille - Buffalo, N.Y.
• Sous Chef Andrew Fontaine, Mandarin Oriental - Washington, District of Columbia.
• Patricia Nicholson, Harriet's Catering - Marion, Mass.

All the winning pizza recipes are featured on the US Foods website at www.usfoods.com.

About US Foods
With nearly $19 billion in annual revenue, US Foods is the 10th largest private company in America, and a leading foodservice distributor. Many of the entities that make up US Foods were founded in the 19th century, including one that sold provisions to travelers heading west during the 1850s gold rush. US Foods offers more than 350,000 national brand products and its own high-quality "exclusive brand" items, ranging from fresh meats and produce to prepared and frozen foods. The company proudly employs approximately 25,000 people in more than 60 locations nationwide, and provides the finest quality food and related products to more than 250,000 customers, including independent and multi-unit restaurants, healthcare and hospitality entities, government and educational institutions. The company is headquartered in Rosemont, Ill., and jointly owned by funds managed by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice Inc. and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. Discover more at www.usfoods.com.