March 2011 Issue

We are very excited to announce the addition of a very special individual who has had a tremendous impact on our industry over the years. His unyielding passion for the business could not keep him away from the industry for very long, though I am sure he has enjoyed his short hiatus. I have had the pleasure of working with this individual over the years, and have always admired his dedica- tion to his audience and marketing partners. We consider ourselves fortunate to welcome back our dear friend and colleague, Ed Loeb. Be sure to visit the Gourmet Business Pavilion in Chicago located at S2086 to welcome him back.

We have just returned from a twelve day trip through France, Belgium and Germany touring factories and attending Ambiente, details of which we will share with you in the coming months. I find that Americans some- times lose sight of the value and inherent quality still evident in the design, fit, and finish of European made products, and focus solely on price. If consumers were more aware of the shear amount of effort, thought and production expertise that goes into such products, they would realize that it’s hard to imagine they can be purchased for such an affordable price. Modern production methods utilizing computers and robots have replicated many of the manual processes, but the goal of these modern improvements was not to lower the cost of production, but to make a better product with exacting consistency. The end result is the consumer is the beneficiary of quality products that are produced with ingenuity and pride.

We would like to extend our thanks to our European hosts Henri Hutin, Beka, Henckels, Reisenthel and Seitenbacher for sharing their passion, creativity, and company pride with us. We appreciate them taking the time to “open the hood” of their operations, and welcoming us in to see the inner workings of these outstanding organizations so we can share it with our readers.