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News ..............................................3 Ad Index .......................................23 www.kitchenwarenews.com BY MICAH CHEEK Gift giving is a major contender for the most stressful part of the holiday season. There are always some people on the gift list who have everything, or have inscrutable tastes. For the customer with a long Christmas list and no gift ideas, there are some great gifts available that everyone can enjoy. Manual coffee makers produce delicious coffee, look great on the countertop and can be tried right out of the box without worrying Kitchenware Gifts for the Hard to Buy For Continued on PAGE 5 Continued on PAGE 6 Continued on PAGE 7 Continued on PAGE 10 about tricky assembly or instruction booklets. The HIC Pour-Over Coffee Maker is designed to brew using the Japanese coffee brewing method, which allows complete control over coffee-to- water ratio and brew time by using a slow, precise water flow. The high- heat borosilicate glass carafe with a bamboo handle and stainless steel collar resists shock and breakage. This press can brew four cups of coffee simultaneously. The Pour-Over Coffee Maker includes the coffee maker, stainless steel filter and scoop, and has a suggested retail price of $39.99. Le Crueset makes a French press out of stoneware instead of the traditional glass, making it very efficient for retaining the heat of coffee or tea. The press is enameled inside to show off a bright paint job and make cleaning easy, and carries BY MICAH CHEEK The holiday season puts Millennials like me in a tricky position. I have worked hard to create a nice living space, and that means I have the chance to finally host Thanksgiving dinner or the family Christmas party, proving myself to the family as a successful host and adult. Unfortunately, my nice living space is a tiny apartment, and my extended family probably won't fit around my dining table, which comfortably seats three. It is also worth considering that my single sauté pan, roasting pan, mixing bowl and microwave, Your Brand Tells a Story About You and Your Customer while perfectly adequate for cooking my usual dinners for two, might not be up to the task of making a whole feast. Bibby Gignilliat, founder of Parties That Cook, a cooking class and culinar y event company, says that Millennials like me should plan a dinner that simplifies their tasks. "They want to have time to see their f riends and do other things, so it needs to be efficient," she says. My constraints on time and living space require tools that multitask and recipes that are simpler. For tiny kitchens, the fewer different tools needed, the better. Demonstration- f riendly appliances with exchangeable parts like Cuisinarts or KitchenAid Minis are great options in this category, highlighting how one workhorse appliance can help with many different parts of the meal. W hile not necessarily a time saver, slow cookers are popular in this category as well, because they take care of food BY LORRIE BAUMANN The original Virginia Diner, a roadside family diner along the main highway route across Virginia towards the beaches, Williamsburg and Jamestown, has an 87-year histor y as that place where you stop if you're making one of those road trips, and while you're waiting for your meal and letting the vibrations of the road work their way out of your bones, you get some f ree peanuts to nibble on. "In Virginia and the Mid-Atlantic, people know the restaurant. They have a fond memory of going to the beach on vacation, and we're part of that experience. It gives people a fond memory of what they've done," says Scott Stephens, Virginia Diner's Director of Sales. "People have been coming here since the Depression and all through World War II. It's the longest-running roadside diner in the state." Customers loved it. Then they started asking if they could take a piece of that experience home with them, and suddenly, Virginia Diner was in the peanut business. "The mail- order business grew f rom people coming into the restaurant, picking up peanuts while they were eating, and asking if we could send them some," Stephens says. Those peanuts were locally grown – they're a major crop for southeastern Virginia. "What we grow in this area is the Virginia- type peanut, and we only buy the super extra-large size," Stephens says. "There are a lot of peanut companies in this area, but the Diner is the most well-known of all the regional brands because of the restaurant." Today, Virginia Diner has turned a passion for peanuts, especially the super extra-large GENERAL NEWS n Swiss Diamond 5 SMALL ELECTRICS n Drip Joy 16 THE PANTRY n Bountiful Pantry 18 IMPLUSE ITEMS n Tomorrows Kitchen 12 THE KNIFE RACK n Picnic Time 22 BUYER'S GUIDE n All-Clad 20 TRADESHOW CALENDAR n Las Vegas Market 23 THE PANTRY: RABBIT CREEK SEE PAGE 18 GADGET OF THE MONTH: NEATFREAK SEE PAGE 21 SMALL ELECTRICS: SANSAIRE SEE PAGE 16 H o u s e w a r e s R e v i e w KITCHENWARE NEWS Virginia Diner: a Passion for Peanuts Breaking Into Tradition BY LORRIE BAUMANN Your store's brand, encapsulated by the stories you tell about yourself and your business, can be a powerful tool for connecting with customers, according to design and branding consultant Debbie Millman. " Take your branding seriously. People see branding as devil's work, that you're creating a false image in the market, that it 's based on lowest common denominator and lies, and that is not the case," she said during a presentation at this year's Natural Products Expo East, held September 22–24 in Baltimore, Mar yland. "You want to uncover your origins and share that in a way that is authentic and compelling.... You have to capture the imagination of your consumer in a ver y quick way." Millman is also the host of the "Design Matters" podcast, the first and longest running podcast about design. Over the past 11 years, the podcast has garnered a VOLUME 22, NUMBER 11 NOVEMBER 2016 n $7.00

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