The Judging Process
Upholding the integrity of our judging process is our first priority. To be sure all products are judged under highly controlled conditions, ChefsBest has many standards that apply to all of our judging sessions:
- All products are judged at the ChefsBest Center for Taste™ in San Francisco.
- The ChefsBest Center For Taste™ utilizes ChefsBest’s proprietary Sensory Attribute Quality Analysis (SAQA™) judging methodology in all of its judging sessions. SAQA is also offered as a service to other companies in the evaluation of food and food related products for product development and special projects. It has been developed using the expertise of leading food industry and sensory experts. It is based on the sensory and flavor evaluation practices widely utilized by the food industry.
- All judges are professional chefs that have been sensory certified as Master Tasters™.
- Judging sessions are lead by professional certified panel moderators who guide the judges through the SAQA™ judging process to determine the best products in each category.
Once the judging is complete, a winner is declared only if a product receives the highest overall score by a statistically significant margin. If such a margin is not achieved, no winner is declared. In our quest to find America’s best, there is no second place.
The judging process can be divided into five distinct steps:
The judging process can be divided into 5 distinct steps:
Step 1 - Product Identification
First, the ChefsBest Research Department identifies the food, beverage and culinary product categories that are important to consumers. Then the products in each category are researched. To qualify, products must be leading brands that are broadly available to consumers throughout America. We determine which products meet these standards by using leading national grocery store sales data and other industry research sources.
Step 2 — Product Procurement
To ensure that we judge the same product you buy in the store, the ChefsBest Procurement Department buys products from retail stores across America. Once products are procured, they are kept in secure, climate-controlled storage facilities until judging day. Products are always stored in accordance with manufacturer instructions and judged prior to their expiration or “best by” dates.
Step 3 — Preparing Products for Judging
On judging day, each product is prepared in the ChefsBest kitchens with strict adherence to the instructions on its packaging. The products are then placed in number-coded containers to prevent the judges from identifying the manufacturer or brand name of any products being judged. This process is referred to as “blind judging”.
Products are served to the judging panels both by themselves and in ways they would commonly be used by consumers. For example, cereal is tasted plain and with milk.
Step 4 — The Judging Session
Using ChefsBest’s SAQA™ judging methodology, the judges determine the key quality attributes of each food category being judged. All products in a given category are judged at the same time by evaluating these individual quality attributes. From the judges’ scores and tasting notes in each attribute, a significant amount of data is created and entered into proprietary software.
Step 5 — Data Processing and Winner Certification
Once the judging session is completed, a winner is determined by statistical analysis. A winner is declared only if a particular product receives the highest overall score by a statistically significant margin. If such a margin is not achieved, no winner is declared. We do not award second or third place because only one product per category can be America’s best.