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.
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/623506
Have YOU visited the Product Marketplace on specialtyfood.com? Producers: Easily upload photos and descriptions to showcase your products to buyers 24/7, 365 days per year. Buyers: Explore hundreds of products on demand and easily contact producers. Buyers and Producers: Connect between Fancy Food Shows— visit specialtyfood.com/products. Exhibiting at the 2016 Winter Fancy Food Show? Stop by the News & Solution Center, North Hall Lower Lobby, to have your product professionally photographed and uploaded to the Product Marketplace! BROUGHT TO YOU BY Winter Fancy Food Show Booth 5207 What's your take on public food halls, like Boston's year-round covered food market that sells foods almost entirely from locally grown ingredients? Boston Public Market did a lot of exemplary things. For example, getting the business plans of their vendors, and then doing a sliding scale for rent, and providing short- term leases that are not locking them or the vendors in so they both stand a chance of surviving. They made it their priority to try to help small, local businesses and not have barriers. Mostly, public markets need to care about diversity—not just in size but in the racial diversity of vendors, too— because one of the most important things in trying to get a diverse customer base is having diverse vendors. So you want to look like the people you want to attract. Also, making sure there are a lot of entrances that are near public transporta- tion is important. What do you hope the food landscape looks like in 20 years? A place where consumers know what they want and why it will be good for them and their families. Where consumers have enough knowledge of the code words on food labels to understand which products have integrity and which producers care about the health of the environment, their workers, and their customers—and which just pretend to. Denise Shoukas is a contributing editor to Specialty Food Magazine. Corby Kummer will speak at the Winter Fancy Food Show on Monday, Jan. 18, 8-9 a.m. His session, What's in a (Sustainable) Name? The Status of Value-Based Terms, will also be filmed and available for download after the Show in the specialtyfood.com Knowledge Center. WINTER 2016 77