Issue link: http://osercommunicationsgroup.uberflip.com/i/250936
RETAILER NEWS GOURMET NEWS FEBRUARY 2014 www.gourmetnews.com 13 Highly Anticipated Gotham West Market Opens In NYC's Hell's Kitchen Gotham West Market, a first-of-its-kind day-to-night market recently opened in Hell's Kitchen in New York City. The market offers a well-curated list of artisan vendors and restaurants who are open early and stay open late to appease discerning palates and satisfy demanding appetites. Located at 600 11th Ave. between West 44th and 45th Streets, Gotham West Market is housed on the ground floor of Gotham West, a new residential building from Gotham Organization, Inc. The market stretches a full city block. The spacious interior includes The Brooklyn Kitchen's demo kitchen and artisanal market stocked with fresh produce and cooking equip- ment, Genuine Roadside's retro diner and a number of other additional counters. Steps away from the 550-acre Hudson River Park and the paths of the West Side Highway, Gotham West Market's wide array of food options provides park strollers and bikers with a spot to rest and re-fuel. Perhaps the flagship space within the larger Gotham West Market belongs to The Brooklyn Kitchen. The Brooklyn Kitchen manages a demo kitchen at the market, complete with guest chef demos, culinary classes and a specialty food retail shop. The 2014 winter class schedule includes courses like "Homemade Pizza with Roberta's," "Pickling with McClures" and "French Macarons" The accompanying specialty food retail shop will be the ideal place to shop for all the necessities for the perfect dinner party, including fresh local meats, serving platters and dishes. The market design features indoor and outdoor dining areas, floor-to-ceiling glass windows, concrete floors, reclaimed wood furniture, blackened steel finishes and more. For over eight decades and four generations, Gotham Organization, Inc. has made a diversified and powerful impact on the New York City real estate landscape. As a privately owned, family-run business, Gotham develops, builds, owns and operates distinctive real estate properties and provides third party development, construction and consulting real estate services. For more information on Gotham West Market, visit www.gothamwestmarket.com. For more information on Gotham West, visit www.gothamwestnyc.com. GN San Francisco-based Lasso Launches Same-Day Delivery Service for Wine, Spirits and Specialty Foods In December, Lasso launched an online service in San Francisco, Calif., offering ondemand, same day delivery of wine, spirits, specialty foods and more from the best local merchants. A lifeline for anyone who needs to put together a memorable last minute event or gift, with Lasso you can order a bottle of champagne, fresh cheese and charcuterie and have it delivered in less than two hours or up to 30 days in advance. Available on desktop and through an iPhone app, Lasso currently serves San Francisco, but more markets are coming soon. Lasso is the first online service to provide same day delivery of spirits in San Francisco. "Lasso's mission is to help reconnect people with the best local stores in their community, starting with artisan beverage and food purveyors," said Adam Zbar, cofounder and CEO of Lasso. "During our pre-launch trial, we were excited to see unexpectedly fast sales growth and large order sizes validating the strong latent demand and product market fit for our service." "We built Lasso to make shopping lo- cally as easy and convenient as shopping online," said co-founder and CTO Braxton Woodham. Lasso supports small businesses and plays a pivotal role in extending their distribution and providing an important new revenue channel. "Our bandwidth to acquire new customers and distribution channels is limited," said Ray Bair, owner of Cheese Plus in San Francisco's Russian Hill neighborhood, one of Lasso's merchant partners. Michael Priolo, owner of The Jug Shop, added, "Since working with Lasso, we're pleased to say we've seen an increase in our wine and spirit sales, generating thousands of dollars a week in additional revenue for our store." To order same day wine, cheese and more, or for more information, visit www.lassoit.com, or download the iPhone app at http://bit.ly/12rqRqw. To inquire about joining Lasso's online marketplace, contact stores@lassoit.com. To follow Lasso on Facebook and Twitter, go to www.facebook.com/lassoit.com and @lassolocal. GN TASTE Unlimited Opens New Bayville Farms Store and Café Virginia gourmet food company TASTE Unlimited recently completed construction of a new building for its Bayville Farms store and café at the corner of Shore Drive and First Court Road in Virginia Beach. The company has operated a location there since 1983 in an older building. This past summer the company began construction on a new building to replace the smaller, outdated structure, which has since been demolished. The newly built store welcomed customers on November 26. The space features exposed rafters, two contemporary, two-story window walls and wood and steel design elements throughout. A mezzanine area seats 50 guests and features a communal table and additional dining tables made of wood that dates back prior to the American Revolution. Two rotating art galleries, initially featuring local artists Jeanne Goodman and Mandy Copley Wade, grace the walls. In addition, new space for an improved fresh produce stand will open next spring. The iconic picnic tables on the lawn remain, and new exte- rior patio seating has been added. New store offerings include handscooped gelato, wines by the glass, draft beer and growlers, fountain drinks, coffee, hot tea and a refill station for TASTE Greek Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Next summer, customers will be able to enjoy a walk-up gelato window on the outside of the building. Since the company's founding as a single wine and cheese shop in 1973, TASTE has grown to six family-owned locations in the Hampton Roads region. A popular destination for visitors and a locals' favorite year-round, TASTE offers gourmet foods, an upscale café menu, business lunches, and catering for both large and small events. The company also ships distinctive food gifts throughout the United States, with ordering online or through store locations. TASTE hosts events all year long to celebrate food and wine through cooking classes, wine and food pairing classes and more. For more information, or to shop online, visit www.tasteunlimited.com. GN Tops Friendly Markets Returns to Local Ownership Tops Friendly Markets, a leading full-service grocery retailer in upstate New York, northern Pennsylvania and western Vermont, recently announced that the previously announced acquisition of Tops Holding II by a group of senior managers of the company led by Tops President and CEO, Frank Curci, closed on December 1. During the past six years under Curci's leadership, Tops has more than doubled its number of stores, added new jobs and expanded its geographic reach into eastern and northern New York, Vermont and northern Pennsylvania. In April 2013, Tops also opened Orchard Fresh a specialty and gourmet food store in Orchard Park, N.Y. "The management team at Tops truly has a passion for the business and dedication to the core values of the organization, and has led the company's tremendous growth over the past six years," said Curci. "This transaction represents the next step in the natural evolution of Tops that began six years ago when we returned operations and decision making to our local markets. Now with local owner- ship as well, we will be able to build on our successes of the recent past, deepen our commitment to the markets we serve and further expand to better serve our associates and customers." The senior managers in the acquisition group consists of Curci, Chief Operating Officer Kevin Darrington, Chief Financial Officer Rick Mills, Senior Vice President of Operations John Persons, Senior Vice President of Human Resources Jack Barrett and Senior Vice President and General Counsel Lynne Burgess. Financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed. Tops Markets, LLC, is headquartered in Williamsville, N.Y. The company operates 159 full-service supermarkets, 154 company-owned and five franchise locations under the Tops banner. With more than 15,000 associates, Tops is a leading full-service grocery retailer in upstate New York, northern Pennsylvania and western Vermont. For more information about Tops Markets, visit the company's website at www.topsmarkets.com. GN