To recognize excellence in the gourmet and specialty food market, The Gourmet Retailer will present its 2010 Retailers of the Year and Industry Innovator awards at an invitation-only reception in San Francisco on Jan. 16 during the Winter Fancy Food Show.
The Retailers of the Year awards honor excellence in retailing — including, but not limited to, innovative practices, outstanding customer service, and remaining thriving and relevant in today’s ever-changing retail environment. The Retailers of the Year for 2010 are:
• Kitchenware Retailer of the Year: Draeger’s Market (Menlo Park, Calif.)
• Retailer of the Year (Multi-Store Chain): Sprouts Farmers Markets (Phoenix)
• Independent Retailer of the Year: Zingerman’s (Ann Arbor, Mich.)
The 2010 Industry Innovators, announced in the July issue of The Gourmet Retailer, are:
• Belgioioso Cheese Inc. (Denmark, Wis.)
• Bodum USA (New York)
• Companion Group (Emeryville, Calif.)
• Cypres Grove Chevre (McKinleyville, Calif.)
• Divine Chocolate USA (Washington, D.C.)
• Encore Foods (Hingham, Mass.)
• FoodMatch (New York)
• Fusion Brands (Atlanta)
• Keurig – Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (Waterbury, Vt.)
• Harold Import Co. (Lakewood, N.J.)
• Honey Ridge Farms (Brush Prairie, Wis.)
• Jasper Hill Farm, (Greensboro, Vt.)
• Lactalis USA (New York)
• Lotus Foods (San Francisco)
• Mozzarella Co. (Dallas)
• Numi Tea (Oakland, Calif.)
• Stonewall Kitchen (York, Maine
• Vermont Creamery (Websterville, Vt.)
• Vinturi Inc. (Carlsbad, Calif.)
• Zojirushi USA (Santa Monica, Calif.)
Winners were chosen through a two-step process. First, The Gourmet Retailer accepted nominations from both retailers and manufacturers in the industry. Second, each nomination was thoroughly reviewed by the editorial team at The Gourmet Retailer. For the Industry Innovator awards, a number of factors weighed largely in the results, including innovative product development, marketing, merchandising techniques and customer education.
“Innovation is the lifeblood of the gourmet kitchenware and specialty food market, and the cornerstone of sales and marketing success,” says Anna Wolfe, editor-in-chief of The Gourmet Retailer. “Our Innovator Awards profile those companies who have achieved true innovation in their market segment.”
The Gourmet Retailer’s Retailers of the Year and Industry Innovator awards are an annual feature of the magazine. For 2011, nominees will be accepted through Aug. 15.
Zingerman’s, Draeger’s Markets and Sprouts Farmers Market were among the Top 50 Retailers profiled in the October 2010 issue. Other outstanding retailers were:
• A Southern Season (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
• Art of the Table (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
• Bristol Farms (Carson, Calif.)
• Central Market (Dallas)
• Chef’s Catalog (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
• Citarella (New York)
• Cook’s Shop Here (Northampton, Mass.)
• Dean & DeLuca (New York)
• DeLaurenti’s (Seattle)
• DiPalo’s Fine Foods (New York)
• Dibruno Brothers (Philadelphia)
• Dorothy Lane Market (Dayton, Ohio)
• Earth Fare Market (Asheville, N.C.)
• Fairway Market (New York)
• Fante’s (Philadelphia)
• Feast (Charlottesville, Va.)
• Formaggio Kitchen (Cambridge, Mass.)
• Hubbell and Hudson (Houston)
• In the Kitchen (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
• Kitchen Kaboodle (Portland, Ore.)
• Kitchen Kapers (Cherry Hill, N.J.)
• Marion Street Cheese Market (Oak Park, Ill.)
• Murray’s Cheese (New York)
• Newport Avenue Market (Bend, Ore.)
• Nuggets Market (Sacramento, Calif.)
• Pastoral Artisan Bread, Cheese & Wine (Chicago)
• PCC Natural Markets (Seattle)
• Premier Gourmet (Buffalo, N.Y.)
• Rolling Pin Kitchen (Brandon, Fla. )
• Sickles Market (Little Silver, N.J.)
• Star Provisions (Atlanta)
• Straub’s (St. Louis)
• Sunflower Market (Boulder, Colo.)
• Sur La Table (Seattle)
• The Better Cheddar (Kansas City, Mo.)
• The Chopping Block (Chicago)
• The Cook’s Warehouse (Atlanta)
• The Extra Ingredient (Greensboro, N.C.)
• The Pasta Shop (Oakland, Calif.)
• The Spanish Table (Seattle)
• Trader Joe’s (Monrovia, Calif.)
• Weaver Street Market (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
• Wegmans (Rochester, N.Y.)
• West Point Market (Akron, Ohio)
• Whole Foods Market (Austin, Texas)
• Williams-Sonoma (San Francisco)
• Zabar’s (New York)
About The Gourmet Retailer
For more than 30 years, The Gourmet Retailer has been offering specialty foods and kitchenware retailers insights to better operate and manage their stores. Through its print magazine, newsletter and website, The Gourmet Retailer provides information about the people, products and companies driving gourmet retailers’ success.
The Gourmet Retailer provides marketers of foods and kitchenware products with top-level access to key decision makers in the $87 billion specialty food and kitchenware retail market.
The Gourmet Retailer’s magazine, website and newsletter are read and used by more than 51,000 retailing executives each month. The magazine is owned by Stagnito Media, a Cardinal Growth, LP portfolio company, headquartered in Deerfield, Ill. Cardinal Growth, LP is a Chicago-based Small Business Investment Company.
