Ferndale meadery wins Exporter Rising Star Award from state
MDARD Director Gary McDowell and Ken Schramm
FERNDALE, Mich. (FOX 2) - A Ferndale meadery was honored with an award from the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for its successes in exporting locally made products.
Schramm’s Mead received the 2021 Exporter Rising Star Award.
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The meadery was chosen to receive the award based on export growth in the past three years, job creation from exporting, and the ability to enter new markets. To be eligible for the award, a company must grow, process, or manufacture more than 50% of its product in Michigan, and exports must have contributed a substantial amount to a company’s overall growth.
The company, which started in 2012, saw more than a 200% export sales growth year-over-year from 2019 to 2020. Schramm's exports to the United Kingdom, the European Union, and Japan.
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Schramm's uses Michigan fruits in its highly popular meads. Some of the beverages experiencing such high demand that they sell out in hours.
"Two words which express our corporate philosophy are quality and fidelity," said Ken Schramm, the meadery's president and founder. "Schramm’s Mead has always used quality as its most distinct and important means of establishing brand and product differentiation. The use of Michigan Balaton cherries a good example of a practice that serves that principle."