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Kitchenware News October 2017

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News ..............................................5 Ad Index .......................................22 www.kitchenwarenews.com Making Customer Service a Cottage Industry Continued on PAGE 20 Continued on PAGE 7 Continued on PAGE 14 Continued on PAGE 6 BY MICAH CHEEK W hen I met Kristine McCutcheon f rom Larch Wood Enterprises, I spoke without thinking. I asked, "Can you talk to me a little bit about these cutting boards?" McCutcheon was quick with the response. " These aren't cutting boards, they're butcher blocks." Lots of consumers treat butcher blocks and cutting boards as synonyms, but differences in grain, thickness and structure can inform what a board can handle. " They have different structures for different purposes. Boards are for serving and blocks are for cutting," McCutcheon added. She went Lemon Poppy Looks Delicious on the Shelf on to explain how different types of boards are designed for different tasks. Traditionally, butcher blocks are made with end grains. An end grain faces towards the top of the board rather than along its length. Wood is made of individual fibers, and when the end grain is facing up, all of those fibers are standing vertically. On the molecular level, the knife's edge cuts between these filaments rather than across them. This can be demonstrated with spaghetti. If you have some dry spaghetti standing vertically, and some lying down horizontally, it's easier to put a knife through the vertical strands, because the knife moves BY GREG GONZALES These days, sustainability is a selling point, and your store can gain the loyalty of conscious consumers by offering sturdy, lasting products that tell a story that both you and your customers can be proud of. "Retailers need to be aware that the consumer is much more aware than before," said Merijn Everaarts, Founder of Dopper, a company that campaigns against the single-use lifestyle with its "water bottle on a mission. " The conscious consumer has been rising up over the last 10 years, and people now refuse brands that aren't any good, f rom stores where you can buy stuff that you throw away after a few weeks. ….W hen the consumer buys a product, they also send out a message to their f riends about it. That 's why a retailer should be very aware of this change in the market: No more of 'the cheaper the better,' it 's now 'the more quality, the better.'" W hile you're telling your sustainability story, though, you GENERAL NEWS n Crowdfunding 5 SMALL ELECTRICS n Mills and Grinders 21 PRODUCT REVIEW n O'Plancha Griddle 13 THE KNIFE RACK n Furtif 20 BUYER'S GUIDE n Baking Essentials 17 TRADESHOW CALENDAR n Upcoming Shows 22 SPECIAL EDITORIAL FEATURE n Sustainability 15 H o u s e w a r e s R e v i e w KITCHENWARE NEWS Authenticity Sells to Today's Consumers Between Blocks and Boards BY MICAH CHEEK Linda Kunz-Bayens, Owner of Cooking At The Cottage in Louisville, Kentucky, has made a name for her store by cultivating a kitchen class that is worth traveling for. The shop is best known for its cooking school, which draws students and date- night guests f rom hours away. "There are some other cooking classes in the area, and just recently we've had two new schools open up. Maybe when people are traveling for business, instead of sitting in a restaurant, they'll seek out the classes that are going on around town," says Kunz-Bayens. " They ' ll learn something and maybe feel less alone or awkward getting dinner alone. It's something they can feel like they fit right in doing." The school offers culinary education on everything from the cuisine of Sardegna to classics f rom Uzbekistan. Kunz-Bayens brings in local chefs who specialize in these cuisines. "We're lucky we have a very diverse VOLUME 23, NUMBER 10 OCTOBER 2017 n $7.00 BY LORRIE BAUMANN Lemon Poppy offers a line of bright, giftable cookbooks and colorful gadgets that appeal to those who are looking to have a little fun in their kitchens. The Lemon Poppy line is designed to display in a small footprint, and the cookbook collection offers seasonal titles that give the display a year-round appeal. Lemon Poppy started in 2008 as a project between two partners, one a woman, Ali Eisenach, who had a collection of her grandmother's recipes to work with, and Christine Bowman, who had the skills she needed to publish and distribute a cookbook. "Her husband lost his job in the Recession, and she wanted to find a way she could help the family," Bowman says. "I had the business background, and we decided to come together and work on it." Their first cookbook was titled "When Life Gives You Lemons," and it featured recipes for those days when life seems a little sour, including a recipe for a Lemon THE PANTRY: COCKTAIL MIXERS SEE PAGE 18 GADGET OF THE MONTH: KILNER DISPENSER SEE PAGE 22 SMALL ELECTRICS: OVENTE GRINDER SEE PAGE 21

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