Fine Cheese & Charcuterie January / February 2018

Cheese & Charcuterie – The Perfect Prepared Foods

There has been a lot of attention paid to the prepared foods area of the grocery store lately because it’s becoming an important destination, especially for millennial shoppers.  I even noticed that Whole Foods Supermarket recently released a new television commercial to promote their prepared foods as being the freshest and incorporating the best natural ingredients.  This is going to be a hotly contested area for the supermarket trade.

As I assembled the twelve varieties of cheeses and Bayonne ham (a little research as you will soon notice) for my Christmas Eve family gathering, freshly cut by my cheese elves at Formaggio Kitchen earlier in the day, I realized this was my perfect definition of natural prepared food.  If you want a quick and easy meal in minutes, you can’t do much better than cheese, charcuterie, and a fresh baguette.  It checks all the boxes.  It’s natural, nutritious, has loads of flavor variety, looks appetizing, and is sure to make any meal gathering seem special.  If your business is considering adding to your prepared food offerings, perhaps a cheese department overhaul is an easy place to start.

At the same time consumers are eager for plentiful prepared food options, we are also becoming a snacking nation.  Many of the statistics surrounding the preferred snack foods lead us to the cheese category as well.  In this issue, you can read about a cheese supplier that is taking the lead in portable, snack-sized cheese bites to satisfy the craving for wholesome snacks.

With these strong trends aligning with the product attributes of the offerings in the cheese and charcuterie business, I am sure it’s going to be another great year for the trade.