Fine Cheese & Charcuterie August 2013

It’s back-to-school time again. I don’t mean the time to run around collecting school supplies and new backpacks for the kids. Oh sure, that part is coming up, too, and for those of you who work at Target, your hands will be full.  But I’m talking about providing exposure to new tastes and experiences for your customers in the store. Our feature this month, “Back to School: Running Successful Demos, Classes and Tastings,” page 8, takes a look at some of the ways in which you can fulfill one of the most important aspects of being a specialty retailer – that of being an educator. I firmly believe that one of the primary reasons people come to an independent purveyor of gourmet foods, besides a thoughtful selection of merchandise they would be unlikely to find elsewhere, is to learn about new foods and new ways of using them. In an age of 24-hour food television networks, rock-star status for chefs on TV, and countless websites and blogs devoted to food and cooking, it’s more important than ever to establish your store as a source of information, new ideas, recipes, serving ideas, and above all, great food. I talked to some experts and threw in my own 2 cents based on years of experience, and present some ideas and suggestions for educating your shoppers about the great foods you offer.

What does it mean to be an artisan? Clearly there is a movement in our country toward more sustainable, traditionally made food, made by people who are not just punching a time clock but who have made the decision to devote their work- ing lives to making food of the highest quality using time-honored methods from responsibly raised ingredients. It’s not always easy; in fact, it rarely is, but there are many among us who are doing it, and do- ing it successfully. One such artisan is Cristiano Creminelli, owner of Creminelli Fine Meats in Salt Lake City. In “Meat Salt Time,” Chef Tony Seichrist documents the entire process of producing the extraordinary products made under Creminelli’s watchful and expert eye. By taking a critical view of the book, we also explore just exactly what it means and what it takes to be a true artisan in our industrial world.

The entire team from Gourmet Business and Fine Cheese & Charcuterie attended the Summer Fancy Food Show recently. Most people we talked to at the show are glad to be back in New York after two years in Washington, D.C. That enthusiasm showed in the attendance figures and in the aisles. The show set new records for both exhibit space and attendance, with over 24,000 buyers. It surpassed even the 2010 show when it was last in New York. From the more-than-180,000 products exhibited from around the world, we’ll be showing you many of them in this issue and in the months to come.

Here’s hoping that everyone’s summer has gone well and that the upcoming fall season will be a successful one. On to Labor Day!

James Mellgren 

Managing Editor, Fine Cheese & Charcuterie 

jmellgren@gourmetbusiness. com