Gourmet Business January 2015

Welcome to a new year of Gourmet Business.  Our editorial staff has many interesting stories
to share with you over the course of the year, with special contributions from a variety of experts who provide a unique perspective on the marketplace. I would like to take a moment to thank our GREAT (Gourmet Business Retail Advisory Team) members for taking the time to critique our story ideas, and providing some excellent suggestions on additional content offerings in 2015. We have a lot of ground to cover for you, so let’s get to it.

If you have been following our publication, you probably know by now that we are bullish on the tea business (and it is one of the reasons we created a special publication, called Quench, dedicated to specialty beverages). In this issue, we have pulled together a group of products from a variety of industries we cover that center around tea enjoyment. (See “Brewing Business: Developing a Successful Tea Merchandising Strategy” on page 6.) What’s the big deal, you may ask? Well, the specialty food industry has been enjoying many years of growth, and mainstream grocery stores are integrating more and more specialty products into their assortments that used to be only found in boutique food stores. However, there are some categories of specialty food – such as tea – that still sell primarily in a specialty store environment. In a recent Specialty Food Association report, tea enjoyed the second- highest share of specialty store sales, with more than 40 percent of total dollar sales transacted in a specialty retail environment. If your New Year’s resolution included a vow to integrate some specialty food products into your assortment, then you may want to start by taking your share of the growing $1.8 billion annual market for tea.

On behalf of Gourmet Business, we wish you a Happy New Year, and look forward to contributing to your prosperity in 2015.

David Spencer
Publisher, Gourmet Business 

President, HousewaresDirect, Inc. 

dspencer@gourmetbusiness.com