Dawn Professional Teams With 'Top Chef' Star Spike Mendelsohn to Announce the $20,000 'Make Your Restaurant Shine' Winner

CINCINNATI, May 23, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Dawn Professional, a leading provider of foodservice cleaning solutions, today announced the winner of its "Make Your Restaurant Shine" contest at the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago. Owner of Jordan's Bar and Grill in Ridgway, Penn., Martha Bralkowski, accepted the award presented by Chef Spike Mendelsohn on the World Culinary Stage.

"I am honored and excited to have been selected by Dawn Professional.  We opened Jordan's last November by scraping together resources to follow our passion for food," said Bralkowski.  "My staff deserves the best and my kitchen desperately needs an overhaul, so this award comes at the perfect time for Jordan's."

Chef Mendelsohn presented Bralkowski with a $20,000 check for restaurant improvements, which she plans to use mainly to purchase a new walk-in freezer. Bralkowski will also receive a one-on-one expert consultation at her restaurant with Chef Mendelsohn later this year. An experienced restaurateur, he will provide expert advice on how to best use the award, share feedback on Jordan's menu and discuss how to use social media for success.  Tips from this session will be featured at www.DawnCelebrations.com.

"Dawn Professional has always been a trusted partner of the restaurant industry, providing products and resources to help restaurants succeed. 'Make Your Restaurant Shine' is a way for us to help one deserving restaurant owner - Ms. Bralkowski - in a very personal way," said Eric Hetrick, director, P&G Professional. "We hope this $20,000 award will help make Jordan's Bar & Grill an even bigger part of the Ridgway, Penn., community."

The "Make Your Restaurant Shine" program was created by Dawn Professional to support the restaurant community with both the funding and information needed to succeed today.  The contest was first launched in early 2010 after, in 2009, the restaurant industry experienced the sharpest decline in traffic since 1981.

"I have used Dawn Professional for years in my restaurant, The Good Stuff Eatery in D.C., so I know firsthand the difference top-quality products make in a professional kitchen," said Chef Mendelsohn. "It's a true pleasure to work with Dawn Professional to help a fellow restaurateur grow her business.  I'm equally excited to work with Martha to put the award money to good use and to swap burger recipes!"

As the winner of the "Make Your Restaurant Shine" contest, Bralkowski also received a paid trip for four adults to the 2010 National Restaurant Association show now underway in Chicago.  Contest applications were received online at www.DawnCelebrations.com  through April 12, 2010.

The Dawn Professional line provides comprehensive kitchen cleaning solutions to restaurants around the country.  Its concentrated formula uses the most advanced grease cutting technology to wash up to twice the number of dishes than similar products.  More information is available at www.DawnCelebrations.com or www.pgpro.com.

High-resolution photos available upon request

About P&G Professional

Procter & Gamble Professional® is the away-from-home division of Procter & Gamble, serving the foodservice, building cleaning and maintenance, hospitality and convenience stores industries. P&G Professional offers complete solutions utilizing its parent company's scale, trusted brands and strengths in market and consumer understanding. P&G Professional features such brands as Tide®, Dawn®, Mr. Clean®, Febreze®, Swiffer®, and its own brand, P&G Pro Line®. Please visit www.pgpro.com for the latest information about P&G Professional's solutions.

About Procter & Gamble

Four billion times a day, P&G brands touch the lives of people around the world.  The company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Pampers®, Tide®, Ariel®, Always®, Whisper®, Pantene®, Mach3®, Bounty®, Dawn®, Gain®, Pringles®, Charmin®, Downy®, Lenor®, Iams®, Crest®, Oral-B®, Actonel®, Duracell®, Olay®, Head & Shoulders®, Wella®, Gillette®, Braun® and Fusion®. The P&G community includes approximately 135,000 employees working in about 80 countries worldwide. Please visit www.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G and its brands.

About Chef Spike Mendelsohn

Chef Spike Mendelsohn owns and operates Good Stuff Eatery in Washington D.C. and is currently working on a number of new projects, including opening a second restaurant concept. Recently, he was a contestant on Bravo's "Top Chef".  Chef Mendelsohn contends, "Becoming a 'Top Chef' cannot be accomplished on a reality show, because it takes a lifetime ..."

Upon graduating from the Culinary Institute of America in 2005, Chef Mendelsohn received the highest award, The Francis Roth Leadership Award, and later secured a position with Chef Gerard Boyer at the famous Restaurant Les Crayeres in Reims, France. More recently, he landed a job working for Thomas Keller at Bouchon Restaurant in Napa Valley.

Currently in the kitchen at Good Stuff Eatery, Chef Mendelsohn also participates in cooking demonstrations and speaking engagements around the country and can be seen on the "Top Chef" Tour Bus. He also participates in special events, most recently with The White House as well as with the culinary iconoclast Paul Liebrandt at the James Beard Foundation.

SOURCE Procter & Gamble Professional