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Kitchenware News February 2016

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V O L U M E 1 9 , N U M B E R 1 0 News ..............................................3 Ad Index .......................................23 www.kitchenwarenews.com VOLUME 22, NUMBER 2 FEBRUARY 2016 n $7.00 BY MICAH CHEEK In an era when big box stores are driving kitchenware retailers out of the malls and onto the street, Pam Sullivan of The Kitchen Place is making the mall work for her. Sullivan currently has two The Kitchen Place locations: One in the Solomon Pond Mall in Marlboro, Massachusetts, and one in the Rockingham Park Mall in Salem, New Hampshire. Courting the Millennial Dollar In Its Natural Habitat - The Kitchen Place Continued on PAGE 4 Continued on PAGE 4 Continued on PAGE 11 Continued on PAGE 8 Even though both of these locations are at odds with the kitchenware departments of JC Penney's, Macy's and Bed Bath & Beyond, her business is still thriving. Part of the credit goes to the mall being a natural haven for Millennial buyers. These younger customers, on their way to stores like Gamestop, Torrid and The Apple Store are pulled in by a vibrant, 12-foot gadget wall that lines each of Sullivan's stores. As with many other kitchenware retailers, courting the Millennial crowd has become a necessity. "We had been [selling to] baby boomers, they were great customers," says Sullivan. Now, she notes, the Baby Boomers have acquired all the kitchenware and appliances they need, and only come in to buy gifts for others. Sullivan has responded to this by shifting her inventory to match BY MICAH CHEEK Halfway through my interview with Fabio Viviani, I had to interrupt the restaurateur, entrepreneur and Top Chef fan favorite to catch up with the quote I was typing. He jumped at the chance to interrupt me back. "You can make it so much easier on yourself if you record ever ything, get a voice recognition program," he said. "Get in the 21st century!" Viviani Fabio Viviani Talks Practical Cooking, Entertaining had just reiterated an attitude that has followed him through his restaurants, kitchenware collections and media outlets – Keep it simple. Viviani's outlook is worth listening to, especially because of the media presence he commands. His fan favorite status on his Top Chef appearance put the spotlight on the chef 's undeniable charisma, which was leveraged into a variety of appearance and endorsements along with his restaurant interests. His media savvy has been placing him on everything f rom local newscasts to The Rachael Ray Show, and the videos just keep coming. Aside f rom the celebrity factor, the appeal is clear: Viviani is feeding the desires of consumers who want to cook more, cook healthier and do it all with a gentle learning curve. BY LORRIE BAUMANN The Millennial generation that's accustomed to communicating at the speed of Snapchat has made home cooking into performance art instead of regarding it as the drudgery that propelled women out of their kitchens and into the work force in the last century. "Millennials are the 'Food Network Generation,'" according to market research firm AIMSights. "Food Network made cooking cool and took it mainstream." According to Haygarth, a British creative agency, Millennials view having the skills and knowledge to create tasty, interesting and authentic meals and snacks as a way to gain recognition f rom their peer group. In recent research, the agency found that 40 percent of the Millennials they sur veyed said that it's important to know about food and cooking, compared to just 27 percent who think it's important to have good fashion sense. Only 33 percent of their survey respondents said they'd look for knowledge about technolog y in a partner, compared to 50 percent who say they'd look for cooking knowledge. Almost a quarter of the Millennials sur veyed said that they wanted to be able to cook in order to impress their f riends. All of that helps to explain how the kitchen became the home's gathering place. Millennials' comfort with social media also helps explain how kitchenware got to be so colorful over the past few years and why we can expect to continue seeing color in the kitchen. "People are investing in kitchens. We know the kitchen is the most important room, next to the bedroom," says Philippe Trudeau, President of RETAILER PROFILE n The Kitchen Place 11 SMALL ELECTRICS n Food Preservation 17 PRODUCT REVIEW n Ninja Coffee Car 12 GOURMET GOODIES n Gluten-Free Foods 19 THE KNIFE RACK n Shun Cutlery 18 TRADESHOW CALENDAR n Upcoming Shows 23 UPDATE : KENWOOD KITCHEN MACHINE SEE PAGE 5 GADGET OF THE MONTH: DEXAS DOUGH PREP SET SEE PAGE 22 BUYERS GUIDE: COLANDERS & STRAINERS SEE PAGE 16 H o u s e w a r e s R e v i e w KITCHENWARE NEWS S E R V I N G K I T C H E N W A R E, H O M E D E C O R A N D G I F T W A R E M A R K E T S Trudeau Designs for Millennial Cooks Tidy Totes for Picnicking Pleasures at IH+HS BY LORRIE BAUMANN Kitchenware manufacturers are introducing a wealth of products designed to appeal to both Millennials and Baby Boomers who love casual entertaining but don't necessarily have the space in their kitchens or their apartments to do that. The solution they're finding: take the party outside, whether that's to a backyard patio, the beach or the stadium parking lot. Among the ideas we'll see this year at the International Home + Housewares Show is the Party Collection f rom Igloo, which is a collection of products designed to meet the needs of folks who do their entertaining either in the back yard or on the go. The company has been making products for taking food and drinks to go since 1947, which means that Igloo will be celebrating its 70th anniversary next year, and Igloo is taking that as inspiration to continue on its path to become much, much more than the company that makes the rectangular box cooler we're all familiar with and the metal jug that granddaddy used to hoist into the back of his pickup truck before heading out to the construction site. For 2017, the anniversar y year, Igloo will be introducing a fabulous collection of picnic totes and insulated backpacks that will be unveiled at this year's International Home + Housewares Show that you're going to want to make sure you stop by and see. Altogether, Igloo's new approach is coming f rom listening to consumers about what products they will need to make sure that their next backyard party, tailgate or picnic

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