Specialty Food Magazine

SEP 2012

Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.

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FOOD TRENDS CheeseClock Delivers Uptick in Sales R esearch indicates that while a vast majority of gourmet cheese lovers enjoy pair- ing cheese with a fine wine or craft beer, they often lack the knowledge to make the proper choice. CheeseClock, Artisanal Premium Cheese's new 16-SKU retail pro- gram, now comes to the rescue. Through this visual program, cheeses are packaged in color-coded designs in a retail display case that correspond to a CheeseClock poster, making cheese and beverage pairing simple. "In addition to our own sales, we're seeing triple-digit increases in alcoholic beverage sales for brands who partner with us during our in-store pairing demos, but more importantly, those beverage sales continue to be above average even after our demo period," says Gary J. Allen, busi- ness development director for Artisanal Brands. Retailers including Schnucks, Spec's, H-E-B and WineStyles have already started carrying Artisanal's new CheeseClock program in their stores; all have reported increased sales. Free Trade Has New Meaning A revolutionary type of bartering has taken hold in Scottsdale, Ariz. Edible Exchange connects food purveyors—such as food trucks and farmers markets—with a pool of member businesses in a trade group. Each member banks "trade dollars" for transactions in the system, which they may trade in for any service offered by another member, such as medical, marketing or accounting. "Direct trade is limiting in that both parties would have to want each other's products and services and the dollar amounts would have to be equal," says Edible Exchange founder Lori Baker. With organized trade, "your trade dollars are banked, so the dollar amounts do not have to be equal and the trade group acts like the bank and tracks the transac- tions and prints monthly statements." For example, Superstition Farm, a large dairy farm in the East Valley and Edible Exchange member, was able to install a misting system on full trade—meaning they paid with accumulated "trade dollars" and no actual cash. With more than 450 members, Edible Exchange cur- rently is operating in the Phoenix Metro area, with expansion plans in the works. New Service for Social Media Upkeep F acebook, Pinterest, Instagram and other popular social media platforms have made visual marketing a breakout trend of 2012. With these tools—which rely almost entirely on user-generated content such as photos and comments— consumers have the power to shape a business' social identity. VenueSeen offers brick-and-mortar businesses a new way to manage this aggregated con- tent. For a monthly fee, members receive instant access to who is posting what about their business on Instagram, Foodspotting and Foursquare. Members can connect and share fans' uploads, build audience engagement, monitor photos, comments, tips and reviews—and share and repost content to Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter. "Our service brings businesses the two things they are most passionate about to their attention: their customers and their product," says Brian Zuercher, VenueSeen's CEO. He adds that this tool is especially valuable for specialty food stores, which have unique and visually appealing goods. "With VenueSeen, an establishment can identify and interact with their loyal, photo-sharing customers. Plus, what better way to show your appreciation to your customers than by using their photos to share what is new at the store." VenueSeen offers a 14-day free trial. Sweet as Pie H ere's a fun fact to share with sweets-loving consum- ers. According to a new Gettysburg College study, people exhibiting a higher preference for sweet snacks are more likely to be agreeable and helpful. Drawing from five different studies, Brian Meier, associate professor of psy- chology and the report's author, also uncovered that tasting sweet foods results in consumers being more likely to describe themselves as agreeable. The study also revealed that participants who ate sweet foods were more likely to help another person in need. Denise Shoukas is a contributing editor to Specialty Food Magazine. 16 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE ❘ specialtyfood.com PHOTOS: ARTISANAL PREMIUM CHEESE; BIGSTOCK

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