Gourmet News

Point Reyes Cheese Collection Lands on Oprah’s List

Published November 1, 2024

Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company’s Cheese & Thank You gift collection is included in 2024 Oprah’s Favorite Things holiday gifts list featured on OprahDaily.com and in Oprah Daily’s special print 2024 Holiday Edition, on newsstands nationwide on Nov. 12. This is the second year in a row that Point Reyes’ award-winning artisan cheese has made the prestigious list.

This year, most gifts were selected from inspiring small businesses, including women-owned, Black-owned and other minority-owned businesses from around the country. To shop the full list of items please visit: https://www.oprahdaily.com/oprahs-favorite-things-2024.

The Cheese & Thank You gift collection is available for purchase at www.pointreyescheese.com and in the Oprah’s Favorite Things gift guide exclusively in Amazon’s store at amazon.com/oprah, as well as via the Amazon shopping app.

As Oprah says on OprahDaily.com, Cheese lovers, hostesses, in-laws…these are just some of the folks who will fall for these artisanal cheeses. The TomaRashi, Gouda, Bay Blue, and Truffle Brie come along with sweet olive-oil crackers and a sour-cherry spread. They’ll put the enclosed cheese knife to use immediately.”

The Cheese & Thank You gift collection brings together a delicious selection of handcrafted cheeses with delicious accompaniments that together create a ready-to-serve appetizer or delectable after-dinner cheese course. This pack includes: TomaRashi, featuring a togarashi spice blend with gentle heat, umami, and nutty flavors; Bay Blue, a rustic-style blue cheese with mellow flavor and sweet salted caramel finish; Gouda, with notes of hazelnuts, butterscotch, and cooked cream; Truffle Brie, luxuriously silky-smooth and studded with black summer truffles; Divina Sour Cherry Spread; Ines Rosales Cocoa Cayenne Pepper Sweet Olive Oil Crackers; and a handy Point Reyes cheese knife.

Co-Founder of the women-owned Point Reyes Farmstead Lynn Giacomini Stray explains, Cheese & Thank You is perfect for any holiday occasion where a simple gift just isn’t enough – because sometimes the best way to show appreciation is through the universal language of cheese!” Oprah’s Favorite Things list is a must-have holiday shopping guide that features the most ingenious gadgets, fashionable sustainable goods, decadent desserts and the finest finds in home, fashion, and beauty, with 51 gifts under $50. For more than 25 years, the brand has showcased must-give gifts for the holidays, often serving as a launch pad for small businesses and highlighting the inspiring stories of the owners behind the products.

As Oprah’s Favorite Things celebrates the 10th anniversary of Amazon’s partnership, The Cheese & Thank You gift collection is available for purchase at www.pointreyescheese.com and exclusively in Amazon’s store at amazon.com/oprah, as well as the Amazon shopping app. More than 60% of sales on Amazon’s store come from independent sellers – most of which are small and medium sized businesses. To shop the full list of items please visit: https://www.oprahdaily.com/oprahs-favorite-things-2024.

Twelve lucky readers will have the chance to win all of the items on Oprah’s Favorite Things List in the 12-Day Give-O-Way Sweepstakes (https://oprahdaily.com/favoritethings) which runs from November 12 through Nov. 23. Oprah Daily’s special print 2024 Holiday Edition featuring the The Cheese & Thank You gift collection on the 2024 Oprah’s Favorite Things List hits newsstands nationwide on Nov. 12.

In 1959 Bob and Dean Giacomini established their sustainable dairy farm along Highway 1, just north of Point Reyes Station. In 2000, together with their daughters, the family began making cheese on the farm with milk from their own herd of Holsteins. In 2010, the family opened The Fork, a culinary and educational center, offering farm-to-table educational experiences for both consumers and the trade.

Three of the Giacomini sisters, Diana, Lynn and Jill now own and run the WBENC-certified, 100 percent women-owned company that is recognized internationally as an award-winning producer of best-in-class, hand-crafted, artisan cheese. With production locations on the farm and in nearby Petaluma, the Point Reyes Farmstead product line contains Original Blue, Bay Blue, Toma, TomaProvence, TomaTruffle, TomaRashi, Gouda, Quinta, Truffle Brie and Fennel Blue. The product line is available nationally at independent cheese shops and specialty grocers and online at pointreyescheese.com

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Epicure Adds Ballard as VP of Field Development

Published October 30, 2024

Epicure, the company whose core value is that good food is the foundation of healthy living, offering customers easy, healthy meal solutions, announces a new executive is joining its team, Samantha Toomey Ballard as vice president of field development.

With over 27 years of success in the Canadian market, the company expanded into the United States just five short years ago. With the addition of a new U.S. executive, Epicure is positioning itself for further expansion in the U.S. market and a continuation of its legacy business in Canada.

Ballard has over a decade of direct sales experience with Stella & Dot and was top in global recruitment four years in a row; her personal lifetime sales exceed half a million dollars. She has worked with several other growing food and beverage direct sales brands, including ONEHOPE Wine and oHHo Botanicals, where she grew sales by 300 percent in her first month and in six months increased its field sales business by 10x. Ballard has a background in sales, management, business development and strategic field training. A social media expert, she’ll lead the company’s social strategy, which has a combined following of nearly half a million followers across various social platforms as well as directly manage the sales and field development efforts of the business.

Amelia Warren, Epicure CEO says, “With Ballard joining our leadership team, we anticipate a strong next wave of growth in the U.S. As part of our U.S. expansion plan, we’ll also launch our Good Food. Real Results program in 2025 to make healthy cooking and staying on track easy, allowing people to meet their health and wellness goals and see real results.”

Founded in 1997 in Victoria, British Columbia by Sylvie Rochette, Epicure’s core value is that good food is the foundation of healthy living, families and community. Its goal is to change the course of the next generation’s wellness and relationship with food by making mealtime easy. It offers 100 percent gluten-free and 85 percent Non-GMO Project Verified meal prep kits for dinner, dessert, baking and drinks, as well as cookware. All products are free of high fructose corn syrup, preservatives and artificial colors.

The largest direct-selling company in Canada, Epicure’s business model supports thousands of entrepreneurs in Canada and the United States. A female-founded and female-led family business, the mission of Founder Rochette and her daughter, CEO Warren, is to bring people together and support those in need. Epicure has donated over two million meals through its partnerships with Food Banks Canada and Feeding America. Through its Epic Life Challenge, over 22,000 people have joined Epicure’s supportive community with the goal of transforming their bodies. To learn more visit www.Epicure.com and follow the company on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Pinterest.

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SpartanNash to Acquire Markham Enterprises/Oil

Published October 29, 2024

Food solutions company SpartanNash has entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement with Markham Enterprises, Markham Oil and its affiliates, a three-store chain of convenience stores and fuel distributor in mid-Michigan. Following the closing of this transaction in early December, SpartanNash will continue employment of Markham Enterprises’ 42 team members.

This deal follows the company’s acquisition of Fresh Encounter Inc., announced earlier this month.

“Markham Enterprises fits well in our current retail portfolio, as we look to expand our fuel center and convenience store footprint,” said SpartanNash Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy and Information Officer Masiar Tayebi. “We are in the process of refreshing many of our existing fuel centers, so this acquisition is another exciting milestone in our investment in this part of our business – and in our strategic growth plans overall.

“We will continue to leverage insights from our fuel centers and convenience stores to continuously innovate our products and operations across our wholesale business, unlocking new customer potential.”

“Our team is impressed with SpartanNash’s business model and the importance they place on their People First culture,” said Markham President and CEO Denise Markham. “We are excited for the ways SpartanNash will expand this business and continue to serve the Perry, Howell and Lansing communities – and our associates.”

The transaction is expected to close in December, subject to customary closing conditions. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

SpartanNash is a food solutions company that delivers the ingredients for a better life. Committed to fostering a People First culture, the SpartanNash family of Associates is 17,000 strong. SpartanNash operates two complementary business segments – food wholesale and grocery retail.

Its global supply chain network serves wholesale customers that include independent and chain grocers, national retail brands, e-commerce platforms, and U.S. military commissaries and exchanges. The company distributes products for every aisle in the grocery store, from fresh produce to household goods to its OwnBrands, which include the Our Family portfolio of products.

On the retail side, SpartanNash operates 147 brick-and-mortar grocery stores, primarily under the banners of Family Fare, Martin’s Super Markets and D&W Fresh Market, in addition to dozens of pharmacies and fuel centers. Leveraging insights and solutions across its segments, SpartanNash offers a full suite of support services for independent grocers.

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