Kitchenware Retailers
Gourmet Chef: Local North Dakota Kitchen Store Favorite for 22 Years
For the last 22 years, Gourmet Chef in downtown Minot, North Dakota has made itself a part of the community by playing to the strengths of being a local business. The kitchenware store specializes in a full array of gourmet products, including items for making Scandinavian foods, a reflection of Minot’s population, many of whom have Scandinavian ancestry. Gourmet Chef also carries gourmet foods made locally in North Dakota and actively participates in the downtown association. Minot is a small but growing city of 46,000, and owner Denise Lindbo does what she can to ensure that the retail business remains a reflection of the fast-paced growth the city is currently experiencing.
North Dakota is home to a large population of people with Scandinavian ancestry and Minot hosts North America’s largest Scandinavian festival, the Norsk Høstfest held in the fall at the state fairgrounds in Minot over the course of five days. One of the city’s major attractions is the Scandinavian Heritage Park where visitors can tour sites like a full-size replica of the Gol Stave Church from Norway, or the Sigdal House, a 230-year-old house from Norway that was dismantled, shipped to Minot, and reassembled at the park.
“With lefse it’s not an item that is easy to do by yourself. So you get a group of people together, family, friends, and you’re all making lefse. It’s a social event,” says Lindbo, explaining the experience of making the Scandinavian flatbread. “You bring your people in and you roll it and you grill it and you have to cover it right away so it doesn’t dry out, so it’s a group project. It’s kind of fun because it’s one of those things that’s coming back into style again. Your grandma used to make lefse, well now I want to have those memories of making that with my family.”
Gourmet Chef’s specialty products for making authentic Scandinavian dishes sell the most around festival time and through the holidays. There are lefse grills, kranskake molds, rehrucken pans, krumkake bakers and aebleskiver pans. Lindbo gets the lefse grills from Bethany Housewares, krumkake irons from Chef’s Choice and additional tools from Norpro. The traditional dishes that can be made with these tools lend themselves to the holiday season as many of the dishes are intricate and require more than one set of hands, turning the making of the meal into a group activity.
The cultural heritage that customers are able to delve into with the aid of the Scandinavian specialty products offered by Gourmet Chef speaks to the general family atmosphere of the shop. Lindbo and her mother, Mary Probst, opened up Gourmet Chef together in April of 1993. Probst owned the store for the first five years, and Lindbo took over after that. Her mother is now retired from the store for the most part, but still can be found many days visiting the store. Lindbo was born and raised in North Dakota and has family in town from both her side and her husband’s side. They help her out with her two children when she is working on weekends, overseeing a cooking class at night, or possibly participating in the events regularly organized by Minot’s Downtown Business & Professionals Association.
“Minot is a fast paced city right now … We’ve got a lot of new people coming in, a lot of new faces, and new ideas as far as what they like for cooking,” says Lindbo. “A lot of people from the south are coming up, which brings us a whole new avenue of what my customers are looking for.”
Minot has experienced a population boom in the last few years due to the fact that it is located atop the Bakken Oil Formation, which has drawn in families to the area for work. North Dakota now ranks second in the country for oil production, behind Texas, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The most recent U.S. Census Bureau numbers list the population of Minot at 46,321 as of 2013, but Lindbo personally estimates that it might be closer to between 55,000 and 60,000 now. She says that the combination of the influx in population, the nearby Minot State University and Minot Air Force Base draw a diverse clientele for Gourmet Chef to serve.
As Minot grows, so too does the downtown area where Gourmet Chef is located. It spans a small area that is about three blocks by three blocks, but Lindbo says new businesses are moving in. The downtown is currently undergoing revitalization through construction that will last for at least another year and a half, but will result in new sidewalks, street lighting, curbs and streets.
In the meantime, customers are continuing to find their way to Gourmet Chef as they have for the last 22 years. The shop recently underwent remodeling to keep it fresh and updated while also adding on 1,300 square feet, bringing the total size of the space to just under 4,000 square feet of retail space. The renovations left Gourmet Chef with “a great big, huge kitchen and island” for cooking classes that can accommodate 20 participants, says Lindbo.
Gourmet Chef has offered cooking classes for 18 years now and the popularity of the classes contributed to the need for an expanded kitchen. Lindbo has three local instructors that regularly teach cooking classes. On top of that, other members of the community might conduct a class in their personal area of expertise. Pie classes and Scandinavian classes have been taught by ladies that won first and second place prizes for their pies at the state fair, and a home economics teachers helps teach the children’s cooking classes.
Besides the cooking classes, Gourmet Chef offers customers the chance to get their hands on any kitchenware they could think of. Lindbo cites gadgets as about 30 percent of business, with cutlery, cookware and bakeware each consistently comprising around 11 percent of business year after year. The shop moves enough WUSTHOF Trident cutlery to have earned a trip to the WUSTHOF factory in Germany for Oktoberfest as a prize for being a top WUSTHOF retailer. Gourmet Chef also carries jams, jellies, baking mixes, sauces, soups, and other gourmet food products from local North Dakota companies.
“We’re blessed with having family all over and I think that shows, as far as the customers and my employees coming in,” says Lindbo. “We treat each other like family, my employees and I. We do our best to help each other out and I think that shows to the customers when they come in.”
“I love what I do and I hope it shows to my customers and my employees,” she added. “I can’t imagine doing anything else or being anywhere else other than our downtown area and that’s what makes it fun. That’s what makes it not a job.”
This story was originally published in the June 2015 issue of Kitchenware News, a publication of Oser Communications Group.
The Cook’s Warehouse: 20 Years Strong and Nowhere Near Done
The Cook’s Warehouse in Atlanta celebrates 20 years in business this year. In those 20 years, founder and CEO Mary Moore has seen the retail kitchenware store grow from one location to four, from 2,500 square feet to 22,000 among all locations, from one and a half employees to nearly 90, from offering about eight cooking classes a month to now offering around 800 a year. Luckily, she started at the young age of 25 because Moore is not done yet. With an unresting eye on expansion, Moore continually strives to provide the ultimate kitchen supply shopping experience for professional and home cooks alike.
Since beginning Moore has made a series of moves, five years or less apart, to steadily grow her retail business. But it wasn’t a brilliant business plan that motivated her – rather it was, as Moore describes it, a mixture of passion and dedication.
“I had a passion for selling tools that worked and teaching people how to cook,” says Moore. “At 25, when I got started, I was going based on sheer passion and what I wanted to do. I wanted to change the world by helping people eat at home and be around the table together and cook more and use great tools that work. Little did I know that it was kind of a brilliant business model; it really was. I would love to say that I went into it going, ‘Hey, this is a brilliant business model, so I’m going to do it this way,’ but that really wasn’t what was driving me. It was truly my passion for helping people do better for themselves in the kitchen.”
When The Cook’s Warehouse opened in March 1995, it also happened to be when the Food Network was hitting its stride after launching in late 1993. Moore opened the store with the intention of offering cooking classes, and as prime time cooking shows on major network television and the explosion of rock star-like celebrity chefs popularized at-home meal creation, so steadily has The Cook’s Warehouse grown.
Those cooking classes have gone a long way towards growing The Cook’s Warehouse and establishing it as a premiere, award-winning kitchenware store on a national level. The shops see a steady flow of chefs from all over the country stopping by on cookbook and product launch tours or just because they happen to be in the area as well as local chefs from restaurants around Atlanta. Whether they are teaching a class or there for an event, the chefs and cooking classes create a much talked-about buzz around the store, with the cooking classes representing about 17 to 19 percent of the overall business.
“It’s not insignificant at all, and it’s our number-one marketing tool. We are written up for our cooking classes all the time in the papers, online, from bloggers,” says Moore. “People can get excited about a cookbook author with a book launch, or an interesting topic for a cooking class, a little more than they get excited about the latest gadget. So there are multiple benefits to the cooking school – inspiring people to cook for themselves and to be around the table and be more at home.”
Moore, who worked as a chef and kitchen manager in restaurants around Atlanta before opening The Cook’s Warehouse, teaches classes herself and recalls that the very first class held was just two weeks after the original location opened to the public. At that time, she had put out a single page flyer listing the upcoming classes on its front and back. Now, she puts out a 32-page newsletter quarterly to list and detail the upcoming events.
The classes vary by location with basic skill-building classes held regularly throughout the year and the chef-driven classes being one-time events. Knife Skills 101 is the best-selling class, while others that focus on handmade pasta, cake decorating series, or cooking fundamentals are also popular and held regularly. For the specialty classes, at which chefs might showcase their signature dishes, the event is tailored to the location and the neighborhood it serves.
And the neighborhoods of the four locations are, indeed, all different. The flagship store in midtown Atlanta started out as a 2,500 square-foot space before incorporating the space next door and doubling in size to 5,000 square feet in 2000. It moved in 2009 to the Ansley Mall, three-quarters of a mile away, where it now resides in a 6,500 square-foot space, the largest footprint of the locations with the largest kitchen as well. The move increased business by 40 percent in the first year and then another 40 percent on top of that the next year. Moore credits the success in part to the mall location, which is anchored by a Publix grocery store.
The Brookhaven location came about after Moore met Doug Bryant, owner of Sherlock’s Wine Merchant, and the two discussed collaborating to have The Cook’s Warehouse carry some of Sherlock’s wine. Due to Georgia laws and regulations around alcohol, such a crossover was not possible, so instead Moore and Bryant decided to co-lease a space in 2002 and have the two businesses together under one roof.
The combination of a gourmet store with a wine and beer store was a first for Atlanta and the partnership worked out well. Moore went on to open up a third location with Bryant in 2005 in the city of Decatur after the city planners called her up to personally request a Cook’s Warehouse in the area. Moore describes the business relationship with Bryant as dating before getting married, because while the first partnership was purely co-leasing, the second was a true business partnership.
“We opened Cook’s and Sherlock’s in Decatur, and we actually partnered on that store, so we own that store together instead of co-leasing under one roof … because we knew that we could work well together,” says Moore. “The Decatur store’s only five miles from my Ansley Mall store, but it’s a different area, it’s a different city and a different county. Our traffic’s so bad in Atlanta – it feels like a completely different place, and the neighborhoods are quite different. The neighborhood of Ansley Mall has a completely different feel from downtown Decatur.”
While the partnership has been successful, the Brookhaven store has experienced difficulty due to the location and closed its door for business this April.
“I started looking for a better location for my Brookhaven store probably six years ago,” Moore says. “It just doesn’t have that right combination of great co-tenancy, great ingress/egress, plentiful parking and opportunity for growth. That’s why I’m closing that location and continuing to look in the area for another great location. The timing, unfortunately, is such that, with the lease being up, I don’t have anything that I can immediately move into, but it’s not worth continuing to wait it out.”
In the course of searching for a new Brookhaven location, Moore found herself in East Cobb, 21 miles away. The space was in a brand new shopping centered to be anchored by a Whole Foods. From her success with the Ansley Mall location near a Publix, Moore knew the opportunity was one not to be missed and jumped at it even though it was too far to be a new Brookhaven store. The store opened in 2011 and has since become Moore’s number two store, after the flagship location. The East Cobb store is solely Cook’s Warehouse and has 4,800 square feet of space.
Although the locations vary in size – since the Decatur store is combined with Sherlock’s it occupies about 3,000 square feet of the 5,000 square foot space – the format of each store is the same. A focus on quality products that work well ultimately serves as the product selection guideline.
“There is so much in the housewares industry – it is insane how many different opportunities there are to bring products in your store. I feel like our job and our responsibility is to be the curators. So it is ultimately the most important to me that we sell great tools that work, and that skews us to the higher end,” says Moore. “My filter, or my lens, is definitely on great tools and great cookware that will stand the test of time and that people are going to have a lot of success with.”
Outdoor grilling gear, gadgets, cookware and cutlery are among the top product categories for The Cook’s Warehouse. Brands like Big Green Egg, Le Creuset, WUSTHOF, Harold Import Company and All-Clad are some of the top vendors.
“We test the majority of the products that we sell. If it’s food, we taste it. If it’s product, we test it. We run it through the cooking school. I have a really passionate staff; I won’t hire somebody unless they are truly passionate about food and cooking, and so we let our associates test things out,” says Moore. “We put things through the paces, particularly before we commit to a bigger line, like a line of cookware or a line of cutlery or a line of bakeware. We always test everything.”
Next up for The Cook’s Warehouse is securing a new location in the Brookhaven market. Moore’s goal is to continue growing the business and she has been looking outside of Atlanta and Georgia for potential growth. Of course, she keeps in mind that customers today have endless options, requiring continual creativity and superior customer service to stay on top.
“Because there’s so much available to our customers and our consumers are really smart and well-read and they’re passionate about the subject matter, then it just means we have to be one step ahead of them. We’re continually pushing ourselves to learn more and grow more and stay on top of trends,” says Moore. “It’s too easy for people to shop anywhere, so unless we provide an exceptional experience for them they’ve got a lot of options and we keep that in mind every day.”
This story was originally published in the May 2015 issue of Kitchenware News, a publication of Oser Communications Group.
IH+HS 2015 Indicates Positive Outlook for Housewares Industry
This year’s International Home + Housewares Show sold out booth space in record time, had 2,115 exhibitors from 46 countries with 449 new exhibitors and recorded new growth in total buyer attendance from U.S. and international markets. The overall positive outlook of the housewares industry was reflected in the mood of the show itself, says Phil Brandl, President/CEO of the International Housewares Association, which owns and operates the show.
“By really listening to our audiences, both the buyer and in this case particularly the exhibitor audience, they really tell us that there was an upbeat positive tempo to the discussions at the show, and that does vary from show to show,” says Brandl, pointing out that the process of receiving responses from both exhibitors and buyers through post-show surveys had just begun, but the early responses are very positive and survey results are expected to meet or exceed the 95 percent favorable response that buyer attendees gave the show last year.
Also, while the macro numbers for the show are in, the information has not yet been channel segmented. However, compared to previous shows, Brandl says the mood was different from the years directly after the recession. “In this year’s case, I mean overwhelmingly, what we heard was that the discussions were optimistic and looking to build business where, if you take that back to the recession a couple of years, attendance was there, but the mood of that was more regressive and more – how do we mitigate risks and not hurt ourselves? So it’s a turnabout in that regard.”
According to the IHA State of the Industry Report, consumers both in the U.S. and globally are spending on housewares at better than pre-recession levels, although, it should be pointed out that the housewares industry did not take as much of a hit during the recession as other industries did. “The recession, surprisingly and pleasantly, really did not impact the industry in total to the degree that it might have been forecast to, particularly as it relates to the show. While we anticipated that there may be a negative impact, the housewares industry has remained – as it has in past recessions – to be very resilient, so it didn’t dip all that much. The comeback that we refer to is modest in terms of getting back to where we were pre-recession,” says Brandl.
This was the third year in a row that the show has sold out, but this year was the earliest the show has ever done so by a substantial margin. Factors currently helping the industry include the growth of design as a key driver for the business. Housewares that incorporate innovative design allow for crossover into markets that are not strictly homewares, like giftwares, and thus increase new business for both suppliers and retailers. A panel of experts at the show held a presentation on this specific topic, titled “Housewares and Giftwares Converge.” The presentation detailed that, among gift stores, 54 percent carry tabletop products, 36 percent carry glassware/crystal, 33 percent carry gourmet foods and 16 percent carry gourmet tools/housewares in their merchandise mix. Moderator Warren Shoulberg, Editorial Director for Gifts & Decorative Accessories magazine, noted that these numbers are much higher than they used to be.
“There’s a major convergence that’s going on. If you really kind of back away from the incredible amount of design innovation you see in the show, if you back away from that, you can see a macro convergence of continuing interest in design and innovation, but really now integrating with a need and demand for functionality,” says Brandl. “So that’s what, I think, is driving a lot of the newness that you see at the show. Also, there’s a convergence of health and consumer mindfulness of their health, their family’s health, in terms of how they prepare and serve their food.”
Indeed, healthy eating was a major trend emerging from the show, and the shift of kitchenwares to focus on this aspect of food preparation demonstrates how the industry has been able to remain innovative. Independent and specialty retailers, who make up 70 percent of buyer attendance at the show, are oftentimes the first to jump on new trends, says Brandl, and their importance to the industry is clear.
“In our experience, independent retailers are very well positioned because they have made themselves experts in product functions and overall product knowledge,” says Brandl. “They are on the front lines with their customers every day and are able to respond to their customers’ needs quickly, share that information with suppliers and satisfy their customers. Lastly, they are experimenters and risk takers and are often the first to take on new products or concepts, and because of that have grown in importance for creative suppliers.”
Most importantly, both for retailers and vendors, is the ability to remain competitive among all of the design innovation that continues to flow. This means capitalizing on their unique strengths to capture customer’s attention from the array of possibilities they have at their fingertips and the increasing amount of mass market consolidation that is taking place.
“Internally, we always speak of it in terms of where is the directional arrow pointed? And in terms of for our industry, and as a byproduct of that for our show, we think it’s a northerly direction,” says Brandl. “We think that there’s a continuous, if not enhanced, flow of innovation and design into the show and into the industry. Everybody is going to have to vie for their spot. It’s not going to get easier but those that are competent … are going to be successful.”
This story was originally published in the May 2015 issue of Kitchenware News, a publication of Oser Communications Group.
Ginger’s Kitchenware: Central Oregon Culinary Oasis
Ginger’s Kitchenware is located in Bend, Oregon, a small town in Central Oregon that has a growing population aided by tourism and outdoor enthusiasts. Maybe you’ve never heard of it. It’s an unexpected place to find international chefs making it a travel destination just to share their culinary expertise, but the husband and wife team behind the store have made it exactly that. Bend has become a tourist destination in the last 10 years, attracting outdoor enthusiasts for actives like skiing, cycling and fly fishing, as well as attracting professional athletes to the central Oregon region for training purposes. Bend boasts over 23 micro breweries and Oregon has no sales tax, further making it a draw for visitors from surrounding states to come and shop.
The store has had a presence in Bend for over 30 years, having previously been owned by another husband and wife team before the Jaime and Ginger Aguirre took it over in 2007. The couple moved to Bend after corporate careers in telecommunications and deciding that they no longer wanted to let work dictate where they lived. They changed the name to Ginger’s Kitchenware and narrowed the focus from kitchenwares and more to hone in on just kitchenwares.
“We always had kind of this nagging thought that work in the food world might actually better suit our needs,” says Jaime. “When we moved to central Oregon we found that this little kitchen store was for sale, and we realized that was an opportunity to not necessarily work in the food world, but work in a related industry as a kitchen store.”
The top selling product categories for the shop are a definite reflection of the customer base, so it’s no surprise that being located in the Northwest region of the country, coffee products are a major selling point. Ginger’s Kitchenware happens to be Oregon’s largest retailer of Jura Capresso fully automatic coffee systems, a point which Jaime is proud of considering Bend doesn’t have nearly the population of say, Portland, Oregon’s largest city with a population over 600,000. Other top selling categories in the store include cutlery, with Shun and Wusthof being popular, and cookware, with All-Clad ranking as desirable among customers seeking quality made in America products.
The store also has a demonstration kitchen that’s a fully equipped kitchen in a loft area that seats 20 and overlooks the store, is also used to test products before they are brought in as regular inventory. “I appreciate that there are a slew of people online who are willing to give you their opinions about products, but ultimately I am the one that needs to create – or our staff, needs to create – that direct relationship with the customer,” Jaime says. “Customers understand that we’re very methodical in testing products. Both Ginger and I are really involved in making sure that we’re handpicking products for the store based on our customer base.”
Jaime and Ginger have made it a point to develop a culinary program that includes what Jaime describes as culinary events, cooking classes that are a mixture of dinner and a show hosted by local, regional and national chefs. International chefs from Mexico and Italy have also presented demonstrations. “The experience of watching a demonstration and learning way beyond what’s printed on the instructions or the benefits that are printed on the box of a product. And so, we’ve crafted a demonstration program that over the past seven years has helped us in terms of being identified as central Oregon’s go-to place for high-end kitchenware,” Jaime says. “After working on this for the past seven years we’ve built a reputation. Not many people know where Bend, Oregon is and it’s a pretty small network of chef instructors who travel. So they begin to share with each other that Bend, Oregon and Ginger’s Kitchenware is a place you want to go to.”
Jaime teaches hands-on knife skills classes and demonstrates meals from Mexico, incorporating other areas of Latin America along with Spanish Mediterranean elements. He recently taught at The Cook’s Warehouse in Atlanta and uses that experience to help him provide the best experience possible for chefs visiting Ginger’s Kitchenware.
Recent events taking place in the last month at Ginger’s Kitchenware have included Gilberto Morales Briseño and Jonathan Picazo Rivera, chefs at Restaurante Nomada in the Guadalupe Valley Wine Region of Baja California, Mexico; with a menu featuring Hamachi with Salsa Verde and black eye pea “soil,” Rock Fish with Lavender Butter and farro “risotto,” Duck Breast with Baja Mole, and Lamb Cutlet with pine nut/acorn crust. Joyce Jue, an an award winning cookbook author, cooking teacher, food writer, culinary tour designer, and food consultant, led an event of Pan-Asian party foods with a menu of Crisp Singaporean-style Indian Samosa Pastries stuffed with curry potatoes, cauliflower and peas, Chinese Crescent Dumplings w/ chicken, shiitake, garlic chives, water chestnuts, Chinese Crispy Shrimp on baguette, and Mom’s Midnight Lo Mein Noodles with BBQ Pork.
This story was originally published in the April 2015 issue of Kitchenware News, a publication of Oser Communications Group.
Gourmet Catalog Hosts Successful Member Meeting and Show in Chicago
Judy Phillips, of Groupe SEB, giving a presentation to Gourmet Catalog members
Gourmet Catalog & Buying Group, the original buying group in the housewares industry, experienced an eventful 2015 International Home and Housewares Show in Chicago. An outstanding attendance at the member meeting on March 7, and the addition of five new members during the show, made this year in Chicago the best yet for GC.
The well-attended pre-show member meeting and breakfast hosted over 125 people, and kicked off with group discussions. Members had the floor to share advice and suggestions or call upon other stores for their wisdom. Store owners from every experience level were in attendance to provide ideas, share their knowledge in problem solving and help to create new success stories. “There is no substitute for the networking and gathering of the Gourmet Catalog people. The camaraderie and community is priceless,” said Mary Moore, owner of The Cook’s Warehouse. “Everyone can benefit from learning something new.”
The member meeting breakfast was co-sponsored by GC and Groupe SEB. Judy Phillips, Director of Sales for specialty and independents for Groupe SEB, also introduced the new Lagostina collection to GC store members during the meeting. Phillips previewed new product introductions to ensure that all GC members were fully informed before the show.
“GC provides the venue and direction. Store members share their thoughts and ideas, making the knowledge gained at this meeting a valuable market asset,” said Janis Johnson, founder and president of Gourmet Catalog. “I’m always amazed by the power of bringing everyone together and having discussions. It’s an inspiring way to learn from other stores that have been there and experienced it all. Whether you’re talking or listening – you’re learning.”
GC also enjoyed other success at the show, leaving with five new store members. The review workbooks prepared for all members were a big hit, providing a guide and full product/vendor information during the show. GC staff visited all vendor members, walked the show to check out new and exciting products, and took advantage of time in the booth to speak with prospect members. The Gourmet Catalog booth also offered a popcorn break and the chance to catch up with store members as they stopped by to visit and share information.
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