Founder Of Sweet Street Desserts Named 2014 Cornell Hospitality Innovator

READING, Pa., March 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration announced Sandy Solmon, Founder and CEO of Sweet Street Desserts, www.sweetstreet.com, as the 2014 recipient of its prestigious Cornell Hospitality Innovator Award. Each year the School honors an extraordinary leader who has created, built or sustained contemporary, market-leading innovation in hospitality and travel enterprises. Sandy is being recognized for her industry-leading achievements in bringing cutting edge desserts to the restaurant industry through passionate research, innovative development, and dedication to sourcing authentic ingredients from across the globe.

Sandy Solmon's early days as a photo journalist based in Berkeley were filled documenting the cultural revolution of the early seventies. She connected the movements' embrace of shared experiences with her lifelong love of things sweet and delicious.  In 1979, Sandy founded Sweet Street Cookie Co. Today, Sandy remains the President/CEO of Sweet Street Desserts, Inc. and leads a team of 9 like-minded, passionate R&D pastry chefs. She consistently challenges her team to source authentic ingredients, from hand-selected South American chocolates to locally harvested crisp apples, as part of rigorous, collaborative explorations to improve upon existing recipes and actualize ever-evolving ideas and inspirations.

In 1994 the U.S. Copyright Office awarded Sweet Street Desserts the first ever copyrights (15 of them) recognizing the design of food products, truly changing the foodservice industry. Since then, the company has received a variety of awards for innovation including the Cognito's Best Foodservice New Product Award for Xangos (pronounced chan-go – like tango with a "ch")  -- a crispy, creamy tortilla wrapped cheesecake – fried and finished with cinnamon sugar – and the Culinology Top Innovation Award by Research Chef's Association for their Chocolate Pyramid Anglaise.

Sandy will accept the award at the annual Cornell Hospitality Icon & Innovator Awards Gala, June 3, 2014 at the Cipriani in New York City. In 2013, 800 of the most influential leaders and innovators in the hospitality and travel industry from 17 countries attended the gala awards celebration, making it one of the most anticipated events on the calendar. Contributions to the gala help support the school's annual fund, which provides key funding to scholarships and programs. For more information visit, http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/industry/events/awardsdinner.html.

About Sweet Street Desserts
Sweet Street Desserts was born in 1979, when founder Sandy Solmon began baking oversized chocolate chip cookies in a 2-bay garage in Reading, Pennsylvania. Today, Sweet Street is the leading innovator in the dessert industry, baking for restaurants and cafes in over 60 countries, on every continent. Rooted in Sandy's principles that luscious and cravable foods have no bounds, the company's commitment to community, passion for artful food and dedication to quality remain the motivation behind every creation. Sweet Street offers over 400 luscious gourmet desserts from big cakes to brulee'd cheesecakes and macarons, dessert bars to loaves, and of course, Sandy's legendary cookies. Enjoyed throughout the day, across all industry segments; casual and fine dining, college campuses, hotels, healthcare, sports arenas, and in your favorite cafes. Specific questions can be directed to Jennifer Matten at 610-921-8113 or [email protected] . For more information, visit www.sweetstreet.com  or http://www.facebook.com/sweetstreetdesserts .

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SOURCE Sweet Street Desserts