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November 22, 2002 Dear Associates: It gives me great pleasure to tell you that the United Growers Inc. has awarded Cliffstar with the Best Merchandising Support Award in Private Label for 2001. In order to take advantage of National buying programs, Regional based Canadian Retailers joined forces to become United Grocers, Inc. They are now able to maximize volumes with suppliers and they make up 20% of the Canadian retail family. Most important, Cliffstar has been able to increase business 82% in the last two years! And equally important, we are the second private label company to ever receive this Award of Excellence. Our customers are Co-op Atlantic (Co-op Gold Label) in the Maritimes, Metro Richelieu (Irresistible Label) in Quebec, Federated Co-op (Co-op Gold Label) Western Canada, Overwaitea Foods (Western Family Canada Label and Western Classics) Alberta and British Columbia and Thrifty Foods (Thrifty Label) on Vancouver Island. Two years ago we did not produce for either Overwaitea or Metro, but our reputation as a quality leader in retail brand juice lead us to be awarded their business. We also produce 100% of the retail brand program for all the retailers listed. Peter Mattson (V.P. International Sales) and I graciously accepted the award on behalf of everyone at Cliffstar. This award has brought a new focus to Cliffstar and the Private Label Juice Business in Canada. Our Customer Service levels, innovative products and customer interaction were cited as contributing factors in receiving the award. It was definitely another TEAM effort put forth to make a lot of customers happy! We were told that the member retailers in the group voted directly for Cliffstar to win! Thank you to everyone who had a hand in providing the top line service to win a top line award!
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