Oser Communications Group

BY ROBIN MATHER While you weren't looking, Wal- mart made a shrewd marketing move. There's a lesson there for all of us. Nearly a third of the popula- tion of Dearborn, Michigan, is Arab-American, according to the 2000 federal census. They're the descendants of immigrants who came to work in the auto indus- try in the early 20th century. Wal- mart has recognized the strength of that potential market and has taken steps to court it. In 2008, Walmart designed its Dearborn store to attract Muslim shoppers. The effort included re- organizing parts of the store to BY LORRIE BAUMANN With just three tables inside the 900 square foot store and a few more out on the sidewalk outside when weather permits, Marché has become a gathering place for local residents who make it a place to meet during lunch breaks or a stop for a glass of wine and a cheese plate while they're on their round of the nearby shops in Glen Ellyn's his- toric downtown. "We definitely have customers for whom this is their spot," says Founder Jill Foucré, who opened the store in November, 2015, as an offshoot of Marcel's Culinary Experience, A Community of Cheese and Wine in Chicago Suburbs Continued on PAGE 8 Continued on PAGE 6 Continued on PAGE 10 the kitchenware store two doors down the block that she opened in 2011. In the cheese cases that took the place of clothing racks after Foucré bought the for- mer clothing store and gutted it to make her specialty cheese shop, Marché regularly offers about 100 cheeses. About half of them are imported, but for the domestic half of the selection, General Manager Daniel Sirko emphasizes the world-class cheeses made in Illinois' neighboring states. He's made his entire career in the specialty food busi- ness, opening Pastoral, Chicago's iconic cheese and charcuterie shop, and then moving on to operating in a couple of foodservice establish- ments before he got a phone call from Foucré, who asked him to come and help her open a cheese shop in Glen Ellyn. "We seek out farm- stead artisan cheeses when we can," he says. "If there's a cheddar from California or Wisconsin, we're more likely to go with the Wisconsin cheese." About half the cheeses in the case belong to a core that Sirko keeps in stock year-round, while the remainder are more seasonal. The store's single best seller, though, does come from Califor- nia. It's Cypress Grove's Hum- boldt Fog. "It's so recognizable, and so delicious," Sirko says. The store also offers a range of Manchego cheeses, and those are very popular, as are triple cremes Organic Farm Brings Freshness to the Table Smart Retailers See Value in Caring for Muslim Shoppers' Food Needs resemble an open-air market and hiring 35 Muslim clerks, whose name tags also note that they speak Arabic. Wal- mart also hired a Dear- born Arab-American to conduct cultural sensitiv- ity training. "It's like a farmer's mar- ket," said Bill Bartell, the Store Manager, in an As- sociated Press story. The report described more than 20 produce tables featuring the squash, beans and cucumbers that Bartell's Mid- dle Eastern customers want for their recipes. The section also captivated Bartell's black and His- panic customers, he said, as quoted in that story. "Because we did all this due diligence prior to moving into this area, we came to realize our clients really kind of liked this atmosphere, and they liked the vari- ety that we can give them." Walmart realized early that one out of five of the average Muslim households has a member with a medical degree or a Ph.D. Gallup has said that the second-most highly educated woman in America is a Muslim. Because the Muslim population BY LORRIE BAUMANN The oldest members of the Mil- lennial Generation are now in their mid-30s, which means that a great many of them have be- come parents who now have school-age children. That simple calculation has the food industry scrambling to provide products that those parents will feel com- fortable about packing into their kids' lunch boxes. As one example, Creative Snacks Co., which just won a 2017 sofi award best new product in the savory snacks category for Continued on PAGE 14 Lunch Boxable Snacks for Millennial Parents its Organic Coconut Snacks with Cranberries, Cashews, Almonds, and Chia Seeds, also offers Baked Almond Clusters in five flavors that include various combina- tions of dried fruit, nuts and seeds for a snack the company is marketing as "Real Good, Feel Good Snacks." The Almond Clus- ters are made in small batches and offer a 28-day shelf life. The 4-ounce bag retails for $3.99. The company is also launching 1- ounce, 2.75-ounce and 3.5-ounce snack packs, so there's a range of sizes that will work in lunches. GoodnessKNOWS Snack Squares are a similar product that amps up the sweetness with more fruit and dark chocolate. Four bite-size snack squares are pack- aged together into a bar-sized pack with a 150 calorie count that retails for about $1.49. There are currently six flavors, with five more scheduled to launch in 2018. The current offering in- cludes top-seller Cranberry & Al- mond, Strawberry & Peanut and Mixed Berry & Almond, each of BY LORRIE BAUMANN Bradley Stroll's childhood dreams for his future were born with the seeds he bought in his elementary school classrooms for a nickel a packet. He'd buy the seeds every year to start the summertime gar- dens those seeds were intended to encourage, and with his seeds in the ground, he'd dream that he'd grow up to be a farmer. Life didn't turn out that way – at least, not at first. Today, though, he's up at 4:30 in the morning, every morning of the year, because that's what it takes to be a successful organic farmer about 90 miles from Man- hattan Island in New York. Stroll, his wife, Cathy, and an all-female crew of 11 employees now oper- ate Fresh Meadow Farm, a 56- acre organic farm where they grow vegetables that Stroll sells to New York City gourmet chefs. They also make quiches, artisan pies and desserts and cheesecakes that appear on New York menus. When the growing season is over for the year, there's equipment to be repaired and plenty of other VOLUME 82, NUMBER 7 JULY 2017 n $7.00 NEWS & NOTES n GFI Shines a Light on Commitment to Sustainability PAGE 6 RETAILER NEWS n Peapod Expands Nutrition Filters PAGE 10 SUPPLIER NEWS n Top Note Tonic Earns a sofi as Best New Product PAGE 12 NATURALLY HEALTHY n The Taste of Indiana's Whitewater Valley PAGE 14 HOT PRODUCTS n Cannoli Becomes a Snack Product PAGE 21 News ..............................................5 Ad Index .......................................22 Calendar.......................................22 www.gourmetnews.com G OURMET N EWS T H E B U S I N E S S N E W S P A P E R F O R T H E G O U R M E T I N D U S T R Y ® SUPPLEMENT: Holiday Update SEE PAGE 15 SUPPLIER NEWS: Bellucci SEE PAGE 12 HOT PRODUCTS: Red Duck SEE PAGE 21

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