2011 Summer Fancy Food Show - Oser Communications Group

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EDITORIAL www.gourmetnews.com SEPTEMBER 2011 GOURMET NEWS
WWW.GOURMETNEWS.COM
From the editor
PUBLISHER
Lee M. Oser
SENIOR Associate Publisher
Kate Seymour
520-721-1300
kate_s@oser.com
EditOrIAL DIRECTOR
Lorrie Baumann
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editor
Rocelle Aragon
520-721-1300
rocelle_a@oser.com
Associate editor
Theresa Grant
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CONTRIBUTORS
Anthony Mongiello
Jim Thaller
ART DIRECTOR
Valerie Wilson
W
hile working on this issue, a
coincidental pattern emerged:
businesses in transition. Gourmet
News often covers emerging companies,
but this issue features important
changes for companies with long histories
in specialty food: Cheeseworks, Harry
Wils, A Southern Season, Sheila Marie.
Then there was a phone conversation
with David Gremmels, President and
Cheesemaker at Rogue Creamery, which had
just won its second Best in Show ribbon at
the American Cheese Society. Mr. Gremmels
talked about how Rogue River Blue reflects
the commitment of every single person at
Rogue—but also that of the late Ig Vella,
the Creamery’s original owner, who sold the
business to the new owners on a handshake,
and challenged them to create cheeses that
were truly original and American, yet could
compete with the best in the world.
The night before we went to press,
I watched Jonathan King and Jim Stott,
founders of leading specialty food company
(and Gourmet News advertiser) Stonewall
Kitchen, on national TV, sharing the story
of their company as it celebrates 20 years
in business.
All this makes me think about what
“ownership” of a specialty food business
requires. It is much more than financial.
(In fact it may be the opposite, as all these
long-lasting businesses reflect the owners’
fierce drive to bring good food to the world,
against all prudent advice, financial or
Best in Show: Reflecting flavors and
seasonality unique to Oregon’s Rogue River
Valley, Rogue River Blue is a cheese that could
only be made in America. Its very first release in
2007 was named the World’s Best Blue Cheese
in a British competition. Aged for one year, the
2010 release reaches retailers in September.
otherwise.) A creative business like specialty
food thrives because of people who live for
and nurture it daily—regardless of who
holds the paper.
Jonathan Kaplan, a successful tech
entrepreneur and brand-new restaurateur,
expressed it in terms all too familiar to many
of our readers: “If you’re willing to eat hot
dogs, if you’re willing to take no salary, if
you’re willing to hear ‘no’ so many times that
it sounds like ‘yes,’ then you’ll probably be
successful.” Not to mention that you may go
hungry at a Fancy Food Show because you
can’t leave your booth!
Nor is this only an American phenomenon:
one of our Buyers’ Guides in this issue
is on Foods from Africa, many from businesspeople
who have overcome near-heroic
challenges to get their products to market.
I have never run a specialty food business,
retail or not. But I imagine that there
are days when baffling customer taste, time
and cash flow challenges, and various entities’
never-ending demands on business make it
all seem like a thankless task.
On behalf of an industry (and a publication)
that owes its existence to business
owners, and on behalf of all the people who
find joy in food because of your efforts at the
stove, at the bank and on the loading dock,
let me say it at least once: thanks. GN
– Rocelle Aragon, Editor
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