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Stonewall Kitchen Continued from PAGE 1 development. "In 10 stores, we generate 4 million samples a year. That's not some- thing that other food companies have the ability to do," Stiker said. Test kitchens in three of the stores have regular sampling programs in which they seek customer re- actions to products in development. "It's a neat part of the business that we think is crucial to the brand in establishing our her- itage and authenticity," Stiker said. Merchandising is also a huge part of Stonewall Kitchen's efforts to create a guest experience that will bring customers back time and again to see what's new and inter- esting in the store. "When you come in, you see something different than what you saw two months ago," Stiker said. "Five times a year, the company's merchandising team sets up four or five seasonal display tables in the smaller stores and up to 10 in the York location. Each merchandise story is designed to be a visually interesting evo- cation of a theme that's decided a season or two ahead of time. Each combines food products made by Stonewall Kitchen, food products made by other companies, soft goods such as tea towels and table linens, hard goods such as gift items and cooking tools and items that are just there as props to support the theme. That might be a model sailboat for a sailing theme or a tiki torch for a grilling-themed display. The displays give consumers ideas about items they could add to their baskets to complement the corn bread mix or dessert sauce they came in for and they encourage guests to explore the whole store rather than picking up a quick jar of jam and leav- ing with just that. The product selection varies greatly depending on the theme, the season and Stonewall Kitchen's new prod- uct introductions. For fall, it'll generally in- clude products made with apple cider flavors, for instance, while holiday displays will almost certainly include confections, and in the summer, Stonewall Kitchen bar- becue sauces will probably be featured. "For most of those seasons we have prod- ucts we launch that are specific to those sea- sons," Stiker said. Our retail stores are really the epitome of our brand. It [Our merchan- dising] brings to life the fact that we are a lifestyle brand aimed at inspir- ing, encourag- ing and exciting the at home chef. Everything we do is aimed at showing even the novice cook how easily they can impress guests with outstanding food and can entertain in style. Much of our non-Stonewall Kitchen prod- uct is selected and placed with our seasonal stories to inspire our guests on how to bring together a look or a feeling to their get together or party, added Janine Somers, Stonewall Kitchen's Director of Marketing. Summer Fancy Food Show attendees will, of course, get a sneak peek at the product introductions that are coming up next as they visit the Stonewall Kitchen booth. "We think we've got a great lineup planned for July of 2016. Some of it plays off what we started in January 2016, when we launched our first organic products. They have been just fabulously received, great blockbusters," Stiker said. They in- clude a pair of barbecue sauces, Honey Miso Barbecue and Sesame Teriyaki Sauce, and an organic Honey Orange Bal- samic Salad Dress- ing. "It's yummy," Stiker commented. For breakfast, a strength of Stonewall Kitchen's product line, there's also an Organic Pancake and Waffle Mix and an Or- ganic Stonewall Scone Mix. "Both of which are deli- cious," Stiker said. S t o n e w a l l Kitchen will also be offering more very spicy condiments to appeal to more adventurous eaters, including Spicy Chili Bacon Jam that will appeal to the many current fans of the company's savory jams, which do extremely well in the mar- ket, with Hot Pepper Jelly and Red Pepper Jelly among Stonewall Kitchen's best sellers and its Maple Bacon Onion Jam, which is popular on pizza and also as an addition to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, accord- ing to Stiker. "Spicy Chili Bacon Jam should be able to do a lot of that," he said. For the dedicated chili-heads, Stonewall Kitchen will be offering Ghost Pepper Salsa. "It's going to have a lot of heat to it," Stiker said. It's so hot that the company's usual 28-employee tasting panel couldn't really wrap their mouths around it enthu- siastically enough to approve it for produc- tion, so Stonewall Kitchen called together a volunteer group of people who already knew that they liked a really hot salsa and let them try it. "That's when we realized we had a winner," Stiker said. "It's an ab- solutely terrific but very hot salsa." To quench thirst without putting out the fire after a taste of the Ghost Pepper Salsa, Stonewall Kitchen is introducing Spicy Margarita Mixer. For home cooks who want traditional taste without the traditional time commit- ment, Stonewall Kitchen is expanding its Meal Starter line with Yankee Pot Roast Meal Starter."It's pretty much exactly what you'd expect a meal starter for a Yankee pot roast to have," Stiker says. "The home cook just adds the beef." The new product introductions include a number of other items from Farmhouse Cheesy Grits for breakfast to Creme de Menthe Chocolate Sauce that are also ex- tensions of the kinds of products we expect from Stonewall Kitchen, and you'll be able to taste them all by visiting the Stonewall Kitchen booth at the show, but while you're there, be sure also to note new 2-ounce grab-and-go packaging for the company's Ultimate Snack Mix and Spicy Ultimate Snack Mix. The Stonewall Kitchen snack mixes represent the gourmet indulgence end of the snack food spectrum, and these new products are designed as a convenient snack solution for the American consumer who wants a quick pick-me-up on the go. They'll display well on a countertop or next to the cash register, Stiker said. For more information, visit booth #3802 at Summer Fancy Food Show. After the show, call 1.800.826.1752 or visit www.stonewallkitchen.com. GN GOURMET NEWS JULY 2016 www.gourmetnews.com RETAILER NEWS 1 3 Proper Meats + Provisions Embraces Local Meats BY ROBERT BOUMIS Proper Meats + Provisions has burst on to food scene in Flagstaff, Arizona as a whole animal butcher shop and deli. The new butcher shop is distin- guishing itself with a philosophy of sustain- ability and a connec- tion to local farms. According to Owner Paul Moir, Proper Meats + Provi- sions embraces the concept of a whole an- imal butcher shop. "It means we literally buy animals direct from the ranchers, bring them into the shop whole and push nose- to-tail utilization. We sell stock and broth, we sell bones, we sell tallow. We even make dog food out of the parts that aren't neces- sarily not fit for human consumption, but people aren't willing to buy, which has be- come quite popular--particularly with my dog," jokes Moir. In addition to using every bit of the cow that they can, Proper also works around lo- cally-sourced meats. In fact, the idea of promoting the local meat industry was a big part of the impetus behind the found- ing of Proper Meats + Provisions. Before opening Proper, Moir's company already owned several Arizona restaurants built around the local food movement. While Moir found plenty of locally-sourced veg- etables, he had a hard time finding local meat, despite a thriv- ing beef industry in the state that pro- duces hundreds of thousands of heads of beef a year. "Arizona creates an amazing amount of meat, exports it out of the state, and then imports meat back in, which doesn't make a lot of sense," explained Moir. To remedy this, Moir created Proper in order to try and promote local use of Arizona meats. Proper's nose-to-tail philosophy extends to products like pork. "We know the ranchers, the owners of the ranches, the farmers," Findach said. We know where we're getting everything from and we have a personal relationship with the farmers and ranchers." GN Junior's Cheesecake Gaining in Retail Market BY LORRIE BAUMANN Renowned New York bakery, Junior's Cheesecake and Desserts, is gaining traction in the retail marketplace after opening a 103,000 square foot baking facility in Burlington, New Jersey that gave the com- pany the capacity to expand beyond supply- ing its own restaurants with cheesecakes that have been consistently voted New York's best. "We're really excited about the progress that Junior's has made in the past year. We have successfully transitioned our business from our Brooklyn facility to a state-of-the art facility in Burlington, New Jersey," said Alan Rosen, the company's third-generation Owner. "The best part is that we have more room to make our desserts the same way we have in Brooklyn for more than 65 years. I can proudly say that the recipe has not changed one ounce." New York has voted Junior's cheesecakes the best the city has to offer every year since the early 1970s, and Junior's is still using the same cheesecake recipe developed by Rosen's grandfather, Harry Rosen, who opened his first restaurant on election day in 1950 with the idea that if Junior's was going to be a great New York restaurant, it needed to serve great cheesecake. Junior's still operates four restaurants, soon to be five, as well as the bakery. Three are in New York City – one in Brooklyn, one in Times Square and one in Grand Central Terminal. The fourth is in Foxwoods, Con- necticut, and there's one coming in Boca Raton, Florida. Junior's also has satellites in South Korea and in the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn. "Over the past year, we have found our- selves in both bakery sections and frozen sections, depending on the needs of the re- tailer. Wegmans, Kroger, Tops Friendly Mar- kets, ACME Markets, Stop & Shop – we are well represented in the New York market, in- cluding upstate," Rosen said. "We are grow- ing, but we still listen to the needs of our customers. In the past six months, we've gained retail distribution in over 1,500 stores, and we look forward to bringing to the whole country what New Yorkers have known forever – you haven't really lived until you've tasted cheesecake from Junior's." New for this year, Junior's Cheesecake is featuring its six-inch Apple Crumb Cheese- cake, seasonal specialties, and of course, tra- ditional New York cheesecakes in 10 varieties. GN

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