Most of the questions people commonly ask about ChefsBest and our website are answered below. Take a look to learn more about how we can help you put the best food on your table everyday.
Judging Process Questions
Site Features
Contact Information
Judging Process Questions
Q: How can the ChefsBest Awards help me with my purchasing decisions?
A: Over the past twenty years, the number of products available in the average grocery store has increased from 10,000 to over 35,000. With so many choices, it can be hard to buy the products that are best for you and your family.
Whenever you see a ChefsBest Award on a product, you can be certain that expert chefs have judged that product to be one of America’s best. Putting ChefsBest Awards to good use is easy–just look up award winners on this site or keep an eye out for our awards on product packaging in the supermarket. Looking for ChefsBest Award winners will help you find the highest quality food and culinary products quickly and efficiently. The Chefs Best Award helps you save time while serving the best to your loved ones.
Q: What are the different ChefsBest Awards?
A: ChefsBest uses expert chefs to judge food, beverages and food-related products. These trained Master Tasters® also judge food and culinary products that are used by the restaurant and hospitality industries. To help you buy the best, our site features three types of ChefsBest Awards:
ChefsBest Award for Best Taste - If a food product has been judged as the highest quality among leading brands in a competitive judging session, the product may display the ChefsBest Award for Best Taste. This award is the most common ChefsBest Award. It tells consumers that a product has been judged the best among leading brands throughout America.
ChefsBest Award for Performance - If a non-food product that is used in the kitchen is judged to be the best-performing product in its category, it may display the ChefsBest Award for Performance. From paper towels to small appliances, the best-performing products are judged among the leading brands available throughout America.
ChefsBest Certified Award – This award is an endorsement of product quality by ChefsBest. The Certified Award is awarded to products in categories that have only one qualifying product. In such a case, we judge a product by itself to see if it measures up to the high standards of expert chefs on a stand-alone basis. Products that meet the expectations of our chef judges receive the ChefsBest Certified Award.
To learn more, click here.
Q: Who determines which products win the ChefsBest Award?
A: ChefsBest judging panels determine the ChefsBest Award winners. Composed exclusively of trained professional chefs that are sensory certified as Master Tasters, our panels perform rigorous and comprehensive evaluations of food, beverage and culinary products. To judge the best, our judges use the SAQA™ judging methodology (Sensory Attribute Quality Analysis) which was developed by leading industry experts and research organizations.
To learn more, click here.
Q: How long has ChefsBest been judging products?
A: We have been judging food and culinary products for years, developing a proprietary judging methodology that is accepted by the food industry. Our goal has always been the same—to ensure Americans are buying the best products.
Q: Can I trust your judging results?
A: The integrity of our judging results is a critical part of our mission. To produce reliable, unbiased results, we have implemented a number of protocols.
First, our Master Tasters® spend years refining their palates and developing their sensory assessment skills. To become a Master Taster, a chef must be a professional chef who has been sensory-certified as a Master Taster by the ChefsBest Center for Taste®. To become certified, each chef must pass a palate acuity test that measures the ability to taste subtle differences in food. Next, he or she must undergo extensive training in our SAQA™ judging methodology.
To make sure our expert judges are not influenced by brand loyalty, our judging sessions are “blind judging,” meaning that all products are presented to them in numbered containers that have no brand identification.
Once a judging session is completed, we review all of our judges’ comments and perform computerized analysis on their scores to determine if a product qualifies to be a ChefsBest Award winner. This process ensures that the judging accurately reflects the palate opinions of highly trained professionals.
To learn more about our proprietary judging process, click here.
As you can see, we go to great lengths so that you can be confident serving and enjoying meals made with ChefsBest Award-winning products.
Q: Are the manufacturers involved in the judging process?
A: No. ChefsBest is an independent judging organization, and we are committed to the credibility and integrity of our judging process. To keep the process unbiased and free from outside interference, we buy all the products we judge from grocery stores around America. Products awaiting judging are stored in secure, climate controlled facilities to make sure they are no different from the ones you eat at home.
Click here to learn more about the judging process.
Q: How does ChefsBest choose the products it judges?
A: In each category, ChefsBest judges leading brands that are available throughout America. To serve you in the best way possible, we judge products in the categories that are most important to consumers according to grocery store and supermarket sales data.
For more information about how we judge products, click here.
Q: How often are products displaying the ChefsBest Award rejudged?
A: All product categories are judged every one to three years to make sure that you are always buying the best products.
Q: Why isn’t one of my favorite product categories mentioned on your site?
A: While we endeavor to judge every category that is important to consumers, we haven’t gotten to all of them yet. Check back often to see if your favorite category has been judged.
If your favorite product was not included in a category judging, it is likely that its sales were not sufficient for it to be considered as a qualifying brand (according to industry data) or it was not readily available in most stores across America. We are as inclusive as we can be, but we feel that everyone in America should be able to buy the products that are judged the best.
Q: One of my favorite products is a ChefsBest Award winner, so why isn't the ChefsBest Award displayed on its packaging?
A: If a ChefsBest Award winner does not display our ChefsBest Award on its packaging, it means that its manufacturer has not entered into an agreement with ChefsBest. However, all the ChefsBest Award winners are always available on our website. Visit our website often for new winners before you go to the store.
Site Features
Q: When will your site launch?
A: Our complete site should be available this summer. Sign up for our newsletter to keep up on all the exciting changes here at ChefsBest.
Q: How do I register for a free email newsletter?
A: It’s easy. Just go to our newsletter registration page to stay up to date on our launch date and the continued development of the site.
Or click here to sign up.
Q: When your site is fully launched, what features will it include?
A: The site will provide ongoing access to all the information you need to eat well every day. Following our experts’ advice, you will be able to identify the best foods when you shop, use the best techniques in the kitchen, and stay abreast of the latest developments in the world of food.
To make it easy to get the most out of our site, we will provide you the following features:
ChefsBest Award Winners: After judging the best food and food-related products, we make our results available to enable you to take the best home. All products are judged under unbiased conditions by expert chefs who have been sensory-certified as Master Tasters®. In this section of the site, you will learn how our judges evaluate different products, as well as which products were judged the best. You’ll discover fun facts about each food category and convenient one-step recipes that make it easy to enjoy each product.
ChefsBest Fresh: Have you ever wondered how long you can store spices, how to choose the perfect steak, or when margarine can be substituted for butter? The ChefsBest Fresh section will take you inside our chefs’ kitchens to learn how to select, store and prepare all the most popular fresh foods and ingredients.
Chef Recipes: Written exclusively by trained chefs, our extensive recipe section will include new takes on all of the old favorites, creative seasonal recipes, and both healthy and exotic fare. Our recipes have all been perfected by expert chefs, and they will help you take your cooking to the next level. Each recipe also provides easy reference to ChefsBest Award winners, helping you know which products to use to make your recipes turn out the best.
Feature Articles: The feature articles will cover all aspects of the world of food and how to enjoy the food we eat everyday. Written by chefs and food experts, their wide range of topics will enable you to put the best food on your table every day.
Tasting Terminology: You will be able to use the terminology section to better understand the language of food; it is similar to the language used when talking about the characteristics of wine. With a better understanding of the characteristics that make up taste, you will learn to think like a Master Taster, learning both how to choose the best and how to tweak your recipes to get the perfect dish every time.
Email Newsletter: Our periodic newsletter will keep you filled in on everything that’s happening on our website and in the world of food. From seasonal topics to everyday advice, it will help you enjoy all the aspects of our site and assure that you are always enjoying America’s best.
My Favorites: You will be able to manage your account and keep track of all your favorite recipes and articles with your own personalized Favorites page.
Soon, you will also be able to enjoy discussion forums and blogs by experts on a wide range of topics. We’re are also developing mobile capabilities for your phone so that you will be able to look up America’s best products while you are shopping.
Contact Information
We’d love to hear any questions or comments you have about our site or what we do. You can contact us using the methods below.
ChefsBest
Levi’s Plaza
1255 Battery Street
San Francisco, CA 94111
Email: info@chefsbest.org
Or click here to submit your question or comment via form.