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Two cheese shops and a specialty supermarket chain with more than 100 locations are among the Outstanding Specialty Food Retailers of 2011.

The National Association for the Specialty Food Trade Inc. (NASFT) announced the six winners:

• Central Market
• Fromagination
• Olives Gourmet Grocer
• The Cheese Iron
• The Fresh Market, and
• ZZest Market & Café

“Each honoree exemplifies the hallmarks of specialty food retailing in a unique way,” says Ann Daw, president of the NASFT. “They all bring a passion for food, the customer, and the community to their work every day.”

About the winners:

Central Market
Since opening in 1994, this Austin,Texas-based merchant has expanded to eight stores offering more than 50,000 items, including produce, specialty foods, bakery and deli. The company prides itself on providing customers with unique items in unexpected ways, such as allowing samples of anything in the store and offering year-round cooking classes. centralmarket.com

Fromagination
Founded by a former footwear buyer whose international travels exposed him to the great food markets of Europe, Fromagination presents a carefully edited selection of 400 items. The cheeses include dozens from local food artisans. The store, on Capitol Square in Madison, Wis., is across for one of the nation’s largest farmers markets. fromagination.com

Olives Gourmet Grocer
Two veterans of Whole Foods Markets started their own specialty store in 2004 to fill a niche in Long Beach, Calif., with high-quality foods from lesser-known producers. Their specialty food savvy has helped them expand to a second, larger, location, and soon a third. Customer loyalty is a key to success, but Olives also is a popular tourist draw. olivesgourmetgrocer.com

The Cheese Iron
This European-style specialty shop, housed in an antique farmhouse in Scarborough, Maine, offers more than 200 domestic and international cheeses. Opened in 2006, the store sells cheesemaking supplies an olive bar, wine, pâté and freshly baked bread. It also offers cheese classes, and there’s an on-site cheese cave. thecheeseiron.com

The Fresh Market
This Greensboro, N.C.-based retailer blends the variety and vastness of a large chain with the expertise and quality of a smaller-scale specialty food store. The key is continual innovation, close ties to food producers, and a commitment to community involvement. The family-owned business has 100 locations in 21 states. Features include 200 cheeses, 30 varieties of fresh-baked breads and 400 produce items. thefreshmarket.com

ZZest Market & Café
Founded in 2009 by two food professionals, this Rochester, Minn., specialty retailer is a market by day and restaurant by night. ZZest offers a welcome addition to an area that was lacking in options for food lovers. The shelves are stocked with products from small-scale, local producers and vendors from other states with items like charcuterie from Iowa and chutneys from California. The café fare features ingredients from ZZest shelves. zzestmarket.com

The six retailers are featured in the June issue of the NASFT’s Specialty Food Magazine.The awards will be presented July 11 at the Summer Fancy Food Show in Washington, D.C., in a red-carpet ceremony hosted by celebrity chef Cat Cora. 

To determine the winners, a panel of specialty food experts assembled by the NASFT evaluated the nominated retail stores. Nominations were made by members of the not-for-profit trade association, and retailers with the most nominations were asked to submit information including menus, newsletters, training manuals, promotional materials and customer comments, to support their nominations.

Honorable mentions went to: Carlino’s Market, West Chester, Pa.; City Olive, Chicago; Farm Fresh to You, San Francisco; Gerrards Market, Redlands, Calif.; Mollie Stone’s Markets, San Rafael, Calif.; Papa Joe’s Gourmet Market & Catering, Rochester, Minn.; Parkview Gourmet, Libertyville, Ill.; Peppers of Key West, Key West, Fla.; Savor the Flavor, Sierra Madre, Calif.; Southport Grocery & Café, Chicago; Star Provisions, Atlanta; The Andersons, Maumee, Ohio; The Cheese Shop of Virginia, Williamsburg, Va.; Urban Harvest, Arlington Heights, Ill.; Vicente Foods, Los Angeles; and Zingerman’s Bakehouse, Ann Arbor, Mich.

Source: NASFT