GROWING GOURMET FOOD MARKET
IS FUELED BY SPECIALTY INTERNET WEBSITES

(East Rutherford, N.J., June 30, 2006) – There’s a hot new trend in the gourmet food business, but it isn’t cooking in the kitchen – it’s heating up on the Internet!  Gourmet food sites are proliferating online shopping.  In fact, online sales of gourmet foods are poised for rapid expansion and sales are expected to climb past $2 billion in 2006, according to a recent article in the Kiplinger Agriculture Letter.  With more than 60 million people shopping on the Internet*, interest in gourmet food is at an all time high.

Gourmet is now all around us.  With the explosion of kitchen renovations to upgrade to restaurant and gourmet-style appliances and kitchen accoutrements in the home, and the increase in specialty stores like Trader Joes and Whole Foods, gourmet food has become more attainable and an every day experience.  People are watching world-renown chefs prepare exotic food in their own homes, thanks to the Food Network and TLC, and getting more into home entertaining and D-Y-I (do-it-yourself).  With all of this exposure to food, gourmet has become a staple in people’s daily life and their need for high quality, gourmet specialty items is driving them not to the local store, but to the Internet for quick one-stop shopping.

 Options for gourmet food are abundant and the gourmet food purveyors on the internet often distinguish themselves by specializing in just one food type or offering exotic ingredients served up in award-winning recipes.  New sites are popping up online every day and offer such specialty items as appetizers, lobster, berries, pulled pork, and more.  And, shopping on the Internet for gourmet food is a piece of cake.   Looking for Lobster - try www.lobstergram.com; Pulled Pork is a favorite at www.corkysbbq.com; throwing a party and need a variety of hors d’oeuvres, then check out www.Appetizerstogo.com, which even offers free shipping on three or more boxes of appetizers; in the mood for seafood – try www.Seabear.com or www.seafood.com; Artisinal Cheese - www.artisanalcheese.com; fresh fruit and berries?  www.berries.com; even Caviar and Truffles are available online at www.caviar.com and www.Trufflezone.com.

 “We have seen our online sales increase eightfold since the inception of AppetizersToGo.com in 2003,” noted Karen Wolf, co-founder of www.Appetizerstogo.com, an online purveyor of gourmet appetizers.  Wolf went on to say, “Finding unique and delicious items has become easy and affordable for shoppers with the ease of the Internet.”  Wolf and her husband Matt Brown founded AppetizersToGo.com three years ago after running a successful foodservice business that has been serving the foodservice industry for 25 years.  Matt Brown noted, “We saw an opportunity for providing high quality, gourmet appetizers directly to consumers via the internet and were able to transition our existing foodservice business into one that offered more than 100 appetizer selections directly to consumers, shipped directly to their home or office, at affordable prices.  The response to going online was immediate and consumers were thrilled to finally have more choice when it came to food options for entertaining.”

 So, next time you are planning a party, a summer soirée, a backyard barbecue, or a holiday get-together, or just looking for that perfect gift for someone special, log on and check out what’s available online.

 www.Appetizerstogo.com is an internet-based purveyor of fine gourmet appetizers.  Each hors d’oeuvre is handmade from the freshest ingredients from award-winning, time-tested recipes, perfected by Master Chefs.  www.Appetizerstogo.com offers more than 100 hors d’oeuvres shipped directly to the consumer, ready for any occasion whether it is an elegant anniversary, engagement or wedding reception, or a casual backyard barbecue, sophisticated New Year’s Eve extravaganza, hip Halloween Party or creative children’s party. www.Appetizerstogo.com can be found on the web at www.Appetizerstogo.com or by calling 1-800-757-0058.  www.Appetizerstogo.com is a family-owned business with more than 25 years experience satisfying the discriminating palates of chefs, caterers, hoteliers and country clubs, and is managed by husband and wife team Matt Brown and Karen Wolf Brown, who have taken their years of experience in the foodservice industry and brought restaurant and cater-quality hors d’oeuvres directly to the general public via the internet.

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