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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The general sentiment about shrink-wrap: avoid it in favor of hand-wrapping. smaller items such as individually wrapped chocolate-dipped cookies, grahams, fudge pieces, from the Big Chocolate Dipper and Nancy's Candy," she says. Suppliers can offer beneficial sizing or features to entice the gift basket channel. For example, Shapiro says, some suppliers design products with two display-worthy sides, allowing the package to be displayed horizontally or vertically. "The sizing of the package does play in the overall design," she adds. "I usually begin with the largest prod- uct in the middle as my anchor and then build around it." Great Products Deserve the Best Labels. Catering to the Customer Learning a shopper's needs will make a custom order feel truly personal. When the Talk of the Town team gets a call, they're ready with a bevy of questions, from favorite colors to hobbies. "The personalized [touch] helps make us successful," Shapiro says. With food gifts, Spector notes, dietary restrictions should be part of the Q-and-A. Beyond that, she doesn't get hung up on specific questions. "You just talk to people," she says. "I don't have a checklist." Understanding the local market can help in selecting food products and sup- plies. "I know that my market, being outside of D.C., is very conservative," Shapiro says. She often seeks out muted colors and tends to avoid eccentrically packaged products that require a large order. "I need to be able to use the product more than once," she says. Watch new product videos at www.primeralabel.com/videos Primera has everything you need to print and apply gorgeous, full-color labels for your products. Our LX-Series Label Printers, an industry standard, are now complemented by the new AP-Series Label Applicators and DX-Series Label Dispensers. Better looking labels, applied straight and without wrinkles, helps you sell more of your products! Call us at 1-800-797-2772 for more information and a FREE sample label package. Visit us at www.primeralabel.com or email to sales@primera.com. Packaging: It's All in the Details Gift baskets have another stigma the experts are working to extinguish: the basket itself. "You go to someone's garage sale and you see 18 million baskets sitting out there from gifts that they've gotten," Shapiro says. "I try to find containers that are cute and reusable and offer a gift within a gift." Porat echoes this sentiment. Chelsea Two Carlson Parkway North Plymouth, MN 55447-4446 USA 800-797-2772 (U.S.A and Canada only) Phone: 763-475-6676 Fax: 763-475-6677 www.primeralabel.com ©2011 Primera Technology, Inc. Primera is a registered trademark of Primera Technology, Inc. All data and company names used in sample outputs are fictitious. Market Baskets is known for its lidded bas- ket collection, which omits the ubiquitous arcing handle of typical baskets—a style that, he notes, is not only cumbersome and impractical but also expensive to ship. As an importer of specialty foods from England, on trips Porat took notice of the gift "hampers" typical of the country's gift- ing industry. The lidded basket is rife with reuse options for the recipient and resolves 24 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE ❘ specialtyfood.com