Anderson-Berens Consulting
The Excited About Series
Four countdowns, 75 to 1, each scored against a published methodology.
Consulting
Most recognition lists in food and agriculture run on nomination, reputation, or advertising spend. The Excited About Series runs on a scoring rubric we publish before the countdown opens, applied to a candidate pool we disclose. Anyone can check the work.
Four countdowns, one per cycle: farms, institutions, brands, and products. Each has its own unit of analysis and its own instrument, drawn from a shared rubric family so a score means something comparable across them. Entries are revealed through the ABC newsletter, and each countdown closes with an event.
Sponsorship is open. Scores are not. Paid elements are additive to a free baseline, never a condition of inclusion, and never affect rank.
Live now · 2026 countdown underway
Brands We Are Excited About
Food and beverage companies scored on 127 points across nine dimensions: certification and standards, farmer and community economics, climate and environmental practices, supply chain transparency, biodiversity, and scale and impact, with nutrition engagement and women’s ownership and gender equity scored as additional dimensions, and third-party criticism scored as deductions.
Nutrition is what sets this scorecard apart from others in the field. A company can hold every environmental certification available and still sell a product that does little for the person eating it. We score that.
The methodology was developed with advisory input from Sean Cash, Bergstrom Foundation Professor in Global Nutrition at Tufts University’s Friedman School, and is being prepared for peer-review submission.
Scoring is complete: 96 companies scored against the 127 points. The countdown runs biweekly in the ABC newsletter and closes with two events in October.
Two events close the 2026 brands countdown
November to December 2026
Products We Are Excited About
Single products assessed on dimensions such as sourcing, nutrition density, processing, packaging, and taste. The one countdown where a sensory panel sits alongside the desk score. The instrument is in development.
Q1 2027
Farms We Are Excited About
Certified farms and cooperatives, assessed on dimensions such as land management, farmer and worker income, biodiversity, and traceability. The candidate pool draws on certification directories and ABC’s field networks in Oaxaca, Cauca, the Guatemalan highlands, the Dominican Republic, and elsewhere. The instrument is in development.
Q3 2027
Institutions We Are Excited About
Institutional buyers and funders, among them universities, hospitals, faith networks, foundations, development finance institutions, impact investors, research institutes, retailer sourcing programs, and public procurement bodies. Assessed on questions such as what share of spend or capital moves, on what terms, with what verification, and who benefits at origin. The instrument is in development.
Nominations are open year round
Nominations are open year round, for any of the four countdowns, and enter the candidate pool for that countdown’s next cycle.
Self-nomination is allowed and carries no weight in the score. A nomination puts a company into the candidate pool. It does not put it on the list.
Sponsorship supports the work, not the rank
Sponsorship supports the research, the newsletter, and the events. It does not buy a rank.
- Featured: no charge, earned by the score. Every company in the top 75 is included in the newsletter and the workshop, tagged on social, and offered a tasting station at the reception in exchange for product.
- Supporter: $250. Adds a dedicated LinkedIn feature post, your logo on the workshop slides and reception signage, and a credit in the recording.
- Partner: $1,000. Adds guaranteed speaking time in one of the three panels, a chef-prepared pairing built around your product, and one introduction to a buyer or investor from the participant list.
- Presenting Partner: $3,000. Adds a ten-minute presentation slot in the recorded workshop, thematic input into the panel framing, a sensory and consumer-insight read-out on your product, and top billing across all materials.
Custom and in-kind arrangements are available, as is an annual partnership across all four countdowns and all four events. Details on request.
Editorial independence is what makes the series worth sponsoring. If money moved a rank, the list would be worth nothing to a sponsor and nothing to us.
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