Publisher/Advertising
David Spencer
dspencer@gourmetbusiness.com
877-438-4932 ext. 1
Executive Editor
Michelle Moran
mmoran@gourmetbusiness.com
239-992-2404
Managing Editor
James Mellgren
jmellgren@gourmetbusiness.com
510-517-9569
Creative Director
Penelope Korff
penny@korffdesign.com
Director of Custom Media
Jack Wrigley
jwrigley@gourmetbusiness.com
214-783-2525
Subscriber Services
info@gourmetbusiness.com
Vice President of Sales
Brad Simon
bsimon@gourmetbusiness.com
800-765-9797
Director of Business Development
Ed Loeb
eloeb@gourmetbusiness.com
877-438-4932 ext. 7
Advertising Sales – Midwest
Arnie Bennett
abennett@gourmetbusiness.com
847-590-1332
Advertising Sales – West Coast
Frank Prokos
fprokos@gourmetbusiness.com
312-343-3253
Gourmet Business LLC is a division of
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I am excited this month because we are going to turn our
attention to another category
of product that we are equally
passionate about, charcuterie.
Some may say I could live on
cheese alone, but truth be told
I have a love for the specialty
meats of the world, and they
do often make the perfect
companion for a plate of your
favorite cheese. I am actually
quite proud that my youngest
daughter insists on bringing a
salami sandwich every day to
school for lunch, and there will be no negotiation or tempta-
tion from the occasional offer for PB&J. Of course, not just
any salami will do. She has already acquired the fine taste
to insist on finocchiona from Molinari. What can I say, it’s
my own fault. Thankfully, we have an American company
that can produce a salami as good as that which comes from
Italy. To think I had to live with a standard “Americanized”
version of Genoa salami when I was growing up, but I hadn’t
known better I guess. I am pleased to see the charcuterie
business has, like cheese, come so far in terms of the quality
and specialization of products available at your local market.
I would like to personally thank all of the companies who
have endured the USDA procedures to make these products
available to Americans to enjoy.
The Gourmet Business team recently returned from Anuga
in Frankfurt where we were introduced to food nirvana. We
would like to thank the organizers of Anuga for sponsoring
the journey for our editor James Mellgren who has brought
back some great information that we will share with our
readers this month. It was a tough job but we managed to
taste our way through hall after hall of fantastic foods from
every category imaginable originating from all corners of the
world. It’s a real eye-opener, a great deal of fun, and should
The Publisher’s View
not be missed. What I learned while
attending this incredible gathering is
that there are still many food treasures
that have yet to make it to our shores
because of the large investment necessary to meet the USDA guidelines to
qualify the product for import into the
United States. My only hope is that the
market for specialized charcuterie continues to grow because as the potential
rewards of doing business increase, we
will continue to tempt other European
companies to invest the necessary
capital to make their products available
to the U.S. market.
We are big fans of merchandising and
creating appealing displays at point of
sale. This month, we will explore some
of the products that we think are just
right for merchandising around cheese
and charcuterie which will be a regular
feature in this publication. We hope to
bring our ample exposure to the myriad
of products that are introduced in all of
the vertical channels we cover to help
our readers uncover interesting cross-merchandising opportunities that relate
to this business.
We would like to thank everyone for
their support of our publication thus far.
The response has been encouraging,
and we have received a lot of valuable
insight that will help us continue to
improve the value of each issue to
your business. The positive response
has been so overwhelming that we are
pleased to announce that Fine Cheese
