CMB at the 2012 Summer Fancy Food Show

Yet another Fancy Food Show has come to an end, and they do go by quickly! Our three days in Washington DC were filled with catching up with old friends, meeting new vendors and finding new products for the store and mailorder (more on this later), but mostly getting back into the wholesale business showing fantastic foods and baskets that are the core of Chelsea Market Baskets and introducing brand new products that we think are just the greatest! Some of the highlights from our booth (#5532 began to feel like home!) at the Summer Fancy Food Show 2012 include:

The ever popular Prestat Chocolates brand was well represented with the Diamond Jubilee Truffle Box recently featured in the New York Times and their delicious line of chocolate bars. Prestat owner Nick Crean joined us at the show to introduce their new Bear Box (with enormous eyes) and fun holiday- and birthday-friendly “Baubles” which are filled with Truffles. Both of these items will be available in late September. One note about the Baubles: these are so new that they are still just prototypes, so when they are produced, the coating will be bright and shiny like the rest of the Prestat line!

After a trip to France earlier this year, we’ve been growing our relationship with Traou Mad de Pont-Aven, and were beyond excited to unveil the updated packaging and new flavors (like Bacon or Goat Cheese and Herbes de Provence) that have made the crispy Crêperolles Mill Crepes cheese aperitif snacks even better! You know that they will be featured in several of our gift baskets this fall and holiday season, and will be available for wholesale or in-store purchase in early July.

We woudn’t be living up to our name if we didn’t include some fresh, exclusive baskets and decorative picks at our booth, and after a very special delivery from Asia with our samples, we showed several new styles. Favorites from the show were the Metal Collection “Bent Metal” lidded basket that has a handmade, rustic and artful look to it (as well as a very functional neutral burlap lining), the bright orange lining option for our classic French Honeycomb wire basket, and the addition to our Linen Antique Willow line of a shallow, oval tray (in three sizes) that have very practical handles! The new picks continue variations on the themes of rusticity- a favorite for the natural category are the felt and wooden “flower” pieces (we’re getting a garland!). Classic florals also showed up in a new hydrangea pick to go with our signature fruit-patterened boxes. All the samples, as I mentioned, arrived days before the show, and actual baskets and picks will be available in October.

We’ve been carrying them in the store for a month or so, but Grown Up Chocolate Bars are still very, very newly arrived from England, and the product is just perfect for CMB (and stores of our ilk) because they are old fashion candy bars updated for today’s palate with top quality ingredients and a little more sophistication (without losing the sweet indulgence that chocolate-lovers are looking for). Because it’s summertime, we’re shipping limited supplies now, but you can always find them in the store!

We also celebrated a return of Elements Spice Grinders, private label CMB salt-and-pepper duos, and spice gifts from South Africa. We have noticed a growing interest in seasonings and salt as a true food trend, so we’ve scoured to the globe to find the finest product to put our name on, and it will available in mid- August.

In this heat, our chilled drink of choice are Luscombe Organic sparkling flavors to keep you refreshed. The Elderflower Bubbly is not too sweet and Sicilian Lemonade will have a home at any picnic! Because it is made in small-batches and with the best ingredients, CMB is happy to offer Luscombe Organics as a wholesale item and in the store. This brand is a summertime must, and it is available now!

It was a busy weekend- and we had so much to share (did I mention I lost my voice on the last day of the show?). We’re putting together a blog about all the new things that we found too- since it was my first Summer Fancy Food show, I was just amazed by the constant stream of interactions and information, putting faces to names and trying the unbelievable variety of foods! If you want to learn more about the show, you can search on Twitter for #SFFS12 to see what happened in real time, and of course, if you have any questions about the products mentioned here, you can check our websites (cmb-imports.com and cmb-gifts.com) for more details! See you soon at the store!