More than 150 top retailers and manufacturers in the gourmet kitchenware industry gathered in Atlanta for the fifth annual Gourmet Catalog Retail Summer School earlier this month.
Members received exclusive interactive training and in-depth education on today’s top kitchenware products during the event hosted at the International Gift & Home Furnishings Show. The gathering provided a unique shopping and learning experience for stores, and direct feedback on key products for vendors.
Gourmet Catalog’s Retail Summer School offered vendor presentations to store members to learn, network and experience educational training. On July 9, store members heard presentations from Gourmet Catalog vendors including Wüsthof, Peugeot (PSP), Emile Henry, Mauviel, Tovolo, iPinium, Creo, Revol, Picnic Time and Zwilling.
Celebrity chefs Elizabeth Karmel and Fabio Viviani also participated in the first day of summer school. Karmel presented her new line for Revol, which included 10 unique designs perfect for her two passions – cooking and entertaining. Viviani, presented his new Fabio line for Picnic Time. After the presentations, retailers enjoyed a party in the classroom, where they were able to speak with the chefs and vendors, allowing them even more time to ask questions and learn about the products.
At the traditional full day of Summer School on July 10, store members assembled into individual small-group classes led by 12 of Gourmet Catalog’s top vendors such as All-Clad, Browne, HIC, iCoffee, KitchenIQ, Le Creuset, Lekue, Messermeister, Scanpan/Global Cutlery, SodaStream, Viante and Vitamix. This smaller-scale learning environment allowed stores and vendors to directly interact. Vendors demonstrated new products and offered tips and ideas on how to best sell the products in-store.
“All-Clad was thrilled to participate in our first ever summer school. We find great value anytime we can reach out to our Gourmet Catalog members in person,” said Theron Foley, national sales manager of All-Clad. “This smaller-scale learning allowed us to be interactive and hands-on with retailers, which facilitated a mutual exchange of open learning that can’t happen over email or phone.”
Regarding the direct interaction with retailers, Wayne Ackerson from Browne said: “It’s well worth the time and effort to be able to speak directly with so many independent retailers and present positive insights on how to better sell our products. The direct feedback from the stores across the country on what we presented to them was just invaluable.”
Celebrating 33 years in 2014, Gourmet Catalog works to ensure the success of independent retailers with a variety of programs and services, including discounts provided by nearly 200 vendor members.
“This was a great event and I can’t thank the stores and vendors enough for participating,” said Janis Johnson, president and founder of Gourmet Catalog (GC). “The summer school event, more so than any other that GC hosts, really connects stores and vendors on an intimate level where learning is the most valuable. Not only do stores learn exclusive product information, but vendors learn so much from independent retailers, things that only those on the front line can grasp and convey.”
