January 2013 Issue

Welcome to a new year, and thank you for following along with us as we reveal our exciting three-step plan to grow your business this year. Step one will be to continue to build your product knowledge and help you keep pace with trends in the marketplace by reading Gourmet Business.

In 2013, we will be expanding our coverage of the gourmet marketplace with the introduction of Quench,a publication devoted to thegrowing specialty beverage marketplace. Our new title will be published five times a year beginning in February. It will provide regular coverage of three major categories within the beverage industry: Tea, Coffee and Specialty Beverages, such as water, energy drinks, and craft sodas. The new publication will be headed by our esteemed colleague and beverage expert Laura Everage, and assisted by our existing editorial team. We look forward to bringing you the latest information related to the category as well as the housewares and tabletop products that should be merchandised right alongside. Please join us in welcoming Laura to our team, and we hope you appreciate her knowledge and insight as much as we do.

The second initiative is a strategic partnership with a company that has created a revolutionary app developed by our team member Jack Wrigley that is designed to help small businesses utilize social media. QWIQQ is a new app that can be down- loaded for free from the Apple App Store (along with our app, Gourmet Biz). It allows users to post a product promotion using the iPhone camera, adding some promotional copy, geo-tagging it and then simultaneously publishing their message to their followers on Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, SMS and email (complete with Constant Contact integration). This will enable you to continually communicate with your local customer base and drive traffic to your store. We will provide support to anyone wishing to learn how to use this great tool; just get in touch with us and we will help you get started.

This year, we also hope to have an impact on your business by helping create consumer awareness and excitement for the brands that you sell, helping pull the product through the distribution channel. Our vehicle for achieving this lofty goal is a new publication that we will introduce this quarter, called Mu*lange, where music, food and lifestyle come home. Our new consumer publication has been two years in the making and will be an interesting mix of music, food and lifestyle ... a mélange of engaging content that will feature our brand ambassador, Chef Bernard Guillas, cooking in the kitchen of a musical artist. Many of the great brands in the gourmet space will be showcased in the stunning photography and video presentation that will accompany the feature in each issue. We hope you get a chance to visit the Gourmet Business pavilion at the IH+HS, where you will have a chance to meet Chef Bernard in person, and enjoy his cooking demonstration on the GOHO stage.

We look forward to sharing our passion for the industry with you and helping you grow your business in 2013!

David Spencer

Publisher, Gourmet Business

 President, HousewaresDirect, Inc.

dspencer@gourmetbusiness.com