SAN FRANCISCO—From blood orange chili juice to broccoli tea, or all-natural dietary-specific organic homemade treats, specialty foods are on the rise.
What’s special about specialty food, which can range from uncommon flavors to ethnic cuisine, or even just things of a “better than mass market quality,” is that it is nearly always a personal endeavor.
“In a little piece of chocolate, you can put so much flavor, but you can also be artistic with it. I take chocolate and make sculptures ... and it’s just pure art,” said Shawn Williams of Feve Artisan Chocolatier. “I love that.”
Feve, which recently won the 2013 Good Food Award, was rebranded last year by Williams with new packaging and “things I’ve been wanting to do for years.”
Specialty food is personal. With the increasing ease of accessibility of foods due to farmer’s markets, food trucks, and pop-up restaurants, loving food is reason enough to start a brand.
Since specialty food producers are putting their own twists on their products, the combinations are endless—and consumers are responding.
Nearly two-thirds of American consumers buy specialty food products, and specialty products now make up 13 percent of the entire food industry, according to Nielsen.
The Specialty Food Experience
Ron Tanner, spokesman for the National Association of Specialty Food Trade (NASFT), said, “I think people like to treat themselves, and treating themselves with a nice spice mixture, or a coffee or cheese, is a really kind of easy and inexpensive way to do that.”
Nearly 18,000 buyers flooded the Moscone Center in San Francisco from Sunday to Tuesday for NASFT’s 38th Annual Winter Fancy Food Show, to see over 80,000 products from 1,300 exhibitors from over 35 different countries.
“I see things from around the country and from around the world that I will never get to see unless I come to this show, and I bring that back to my customers,” said Kay Timm, who owns an upscale specialty food shop in Wisconsin.
Timm had only gone through one of the rooms, and she said already “I’ve seen a lot of things I love here, I’ve probably got about 20 new products that I'll be bringing in,” she said.
