Oser Communications Group

GOURMET NEWS DECEMBER 2018 www.gourmetnews.com FROM THE PUBLISHER 4 WWW.GOURMETNEWS.COM PUBLISHER Kimberly Oser SENIOR ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Jules Denton-Card jules_d@oser.com EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Lorrie Baumann lorrie_b@oser.com ASSOCIATE EDITORS Jeanie Catron Greg Gonzales Amanda Helt ART DIRECTOR Yasmine Brown GRAPHIC DESIGNER Jonathan Schieffer ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Anthony Socci anthony_s@oser.com CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGERS Caitlyn McGrath Susan Stein CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Tara Neal tara_n@oser.com CIRCULATION MANAGER Jamie Green jamie_g@oser.com PUBLISHING OFFICE 1877 N. Kolb Road P.O. Box 1056 Tucson, AZ 85715 520.721.1300 Fax 520.721.6300 SUBSCRIBER SERVICES Gourmet News P.O. Box 30520 Tucson, AZ 85751 520.721.1300 G OURMET N EWS ® OSER COMMUNICATIONS GROUP FOUNDER Lee M. Oser MEMBER OF: Periodicals postage paid at Tucson, AZ, and additional mailing office. Gourmet News (ISSN 1052-4630) is published monthly by Oser Communications Group, 1877 North Kolb Road, Tucson, AZ 85715; 520.721.1300. Publisher assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material or prices quoted in newspaper. Contributors are responsible for proper release of pro- prietary classified information. ©2018 by Oser Communications Group. All rights re- served. Reproduction, in whole or in part, without writ- ten permission of the publisher, is expressly prohibited. Back issues, when available, cost $7 each within the past 12 months, $12 each prior to the past 12 months. Back orders must be paid in advance either by check or charged to American Express, Visa, or Master Card. Gourmet News is distributed without charge in North America to qualified professionals in the retail and dis- tribution channels of the specialty foods and hardgoods trade; paid subscriptions cost $65 annually to the U.S. and Canada. All foreign subscriptions cost $150 annu- ally to cover air delivery. All payments must be made in U.S. funds and drawn on a U.S. bank. For subscriber services, including subscription information, call 520.721.1300. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Gourmet News, 1877 North Kolb Road, Tucson, AZ 85715. Greetings! As we go to print with this issue of Gourmet News, I've just returned from my first visit to the Private Label Manufactur- ers Association's trade show. I'd been booked to attend in each of the last two years, but on both of those occasions, urgent necessity kept me at my desk in our Tucson office, so it was a special pleasure to be able to get up there to the show this year and see what I've been missing. You'll be able to read much of what I heard and saw there in the pages of this issue, and you'll be hearing more about it in time to come because I just couldn't fit it all into one issue. I was particularly fascinated to hear about how Chinese grocers are finding ways to take advantage of their customers' attachment to their mobile phones by mak- ing those phones a vital part of their shop- ping experience. As someone who loves to listen to the stories of people who produce the food I eat, I can hardly wait for the day that I can casually scan the tag on a bin of apples in the produce department and get a picture of the orchard where that apple was grown, and maybe a short video of the farmer telling me about his family's history on the farm. I want to be able to go to the meat counter and scan a tag on the counter and be taken right to video of hogs gambol- ing about under oak trees, rooting around for acorns and running up to the farmer when she appears to see if she's got an apple or two in her pocket. When I buy chocolate, I'd love to see the map that shows me where the cacao was grown and the photo of the school attended by the farmers' children. These possibilities seem all the more real and all the more valuable to me be- cause, as I sat in an airport departure lounge in Chicago and opened my laptop computer to write that story, I discovered that my screen had cracked. I'm sure that I can have it repaired, but it won't be done by the time I leave for a week's vacation over Thanksgiving, and that's the com- puter that travels with me. I cannot be stranded away from home and office for a week, a week, without a computer on which to write – and yes, thank you, I do use a pen and paper as well, but there are thoughts that work on paper and there are thoughts that demand a keyboard – and so I pulled out my cell phone and placed an order for a new device, to be delivered to my home in Tucson several hours after I was due to board my plane in Chicago. It seemed like a small miracle to me that such an unfortunate accident could be turned into a nonevent by the application of modern communications technology, the spectacular logistics operation of an online retailer, an unfailing credit system and the generosity of an employer who pays me well enough that I can afford the new device at a moment's notice. This brave new world has its drawbacks and its occasional invasions, and the new device still takes longer to set up than it did to get to my door, but I'm prepared to cele- brate its advent. Happy holidays, everyone, and may your family and friends deliver unto you all the gifts you most desire in this blessed season! GN — Lorrie Baumann Editorial Director FROM THE EDITOR

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