January 2012 Issue

It’s a new year, and I am excited. This is the time when we see months of effort and planning come together in one cohesive, logical whole. You will see that the team at Gourmet Business has been hard at work preparing for the upcoming year, and we have some exciting things to share with you.

We have made a commitment to being the most compre- hensive source of information available to our marketplace. Due to the overwhelming support for our publication, and the sheer volume of information that we want to share with you, we will be publishing a new issue every other week in 2012.

The Gourmet Business team will travel the globe and attend no fewer than 16 shows this year in a quest to uncover all of the upcoming trends and report to you on the outstanding new products coming to market. We realize that staying on top of this information is critical to your business success. We will not just show you products and leave it to you to figure out how to sell them. We will feature informative articles from industry experts exploring best practices and trends, and provide helpful hints on merchandising for selling success. We have even formed a cooperative partnership with the retail Web site www.littleindependent.com, which utilizes the Internet in an innovative way to support Main Street brick-and-mortar businesses. Littleindependent.com is providing a platform for specialty retailers to leverage a large consumer audience to turn over out-of-season or close-out inventory, providing you with more buying dollars to invest in the merchandise that will sell today.

Do you feel the need to have access to all of this informative content on your favorite mobile device? There is an app for that! We have watched with amazement as the audi- ence for the Gourmet BizTM app on the Apple App Store and on the Android Market grew rapidly this past year. I guess it should be no surprise after shattering the old record for retail e-commerce sales this past holiday season, partially attributed to our favorite network appliance, the iPad. This year, we will add a second app, Cheese BizTM, for our recently intro- duced publication Gourmet Business Fine Cheese & Charcuterie. They are free, so download them today and never miss an issue!

This month, we will also debut our weekly e-mail newsletter, Gourmet Bytes, that will bring you additional timely information from the market- place that we think will be of interest. The stories that we bring to you in Gourmet Bytes will be archived on our newly redesigned Web site that will be unveiled this month. Our goal was to make our new Web site the most comprehensive resource for news and information from our industry. In ad- dition to current news, we will have a special section where industry suppliers can post current promotions, feature supplier spotlights, and provide a library of searchable digital catalogs from the industry’s top brands. We will also un- veil our exciting social media strategy intended to allow our audience to share our content across their favorite social media platforms, and enable a continual flow of information from our editors to our connected audience.

Once again, we will bring these concepts to life at a trade show near you, including the 1,200-square-foot Gourmet Business Pavilion at the IH+HS. Our pavilion will have many exciting happenings this year, highlighted by continual cooking dem- onstrations from a well-known television personality, Chef Bob Waggoner.

Gourmet Business has formed a new part- nership with Chef Bob to utilize his popular PBS television program “U Cook With Chef Bob” to promote housewares and specialty food brands, as well as creating exciting consumer POP promotions to drive sales for our brand partners.

Planning and execution of this magnitude doesn’t happen without hard work, per- severance and teamwork. I would like to thank my dedicated team members Brad, Arnie, Frank, Ed, Jack, Rob, Penny, Michelle and James who will continue to make it all happen.

We hope you benefit from the fruits of our labor in 2012!