Oct 1, 2013

AmericasMart Names Best of Atlanta and Best of Show Winners

Their tastes are outstanding, their packaging is creative, they impressed both buyers and experts, and now they are the BEST OF ATLANTA.

AmericasMart Atlanta is proud to announce the winners of its annual BEST OF ATLANTA awards celebrating the top gourmet food products in its permanent and temporary collections. The awards were adjudicated during The Atlanta Gourmet MarketÒ, September 17-19, 2013.

Winners were designated based on taste, overall appeal and packaging/presentation as selected by industry experts Melissa Libby, founder of Melissa Libby & Associates and gourmet industry public relations specialist; Hil Harper, founder of “Gentleman South” and restaurant critic; and Deborah Geering, columnist and local food expert for “Atlanta Magazine.”

The winners include:

· The Orchards Gourmet’s Glazed Pecans for Best Candy Non-Chocolate and Pecan Peanut Butter Meltaways for Best Chocolate

· Stonewall Kitchen’s Mango Lime Salsa for Best Salsa

· Captain Rodney’s Jezebel Sauce for Best Condiment and Boucan Glaze for Best Snack

· Grits Bits/Strawberry Patch’s Sweet Cream Butter Cookies for Best Dessert

· Fat Mama’s Tamales’ Fire & Ice Pickles for Best Pickled Product

· Robert Rothschild Farms’ Hot Pepper Peach Preserves for Best Jam

· Old World Gourmet’s Instant Mulling Spices for Best Beverage

· ZuZu’s Joy’s Tennessee Farm Country Gourmet Enchilada Soup Mix for Best Soup

For the first time this year, AmericasMart buyers cast their votes for the Fan Favorite Award by posting a photo of their favorite product on Twitter, on Facebook and on Instagram with the hashtag #BOAatlmkt.

Wine-A-Rita’s Peach Bellini took home the title of Fan Favorite.

In addition to top gourmet products, excellence in visual design was celebrated by the Atlanta Fall Gift & Home Furnishings Market® and The Atlanta Gourmet Market® BEST OF SHOWaward, given to Ele & Honey Co., LLC. The natural handmade bath and body products line’s booth treated buyers to a multi-sensory experience with beautiful rustic displays and wonderful scents wafting from them.

ABOUT AMERICASMART

AmericasMart Atlanta is the nation’s only global wholesale marketplace housing the world’s single-largest collection of home, gift, area rug and apparel merchandise. The largest of AmericasMart’s 14 annual Markets and shows, The Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market and The Atlanta International Area Rug Market in January and July are the ignition switch for global retailing with buyers from every U.S. state and more than 90 countries discovering product in more than 1,400 showrooms and more than 2,500 temporary exhibiting companies.

Located in downtown Atlanta, the AmericasMart complex contains more than seven million square feet of space. It’s a huge global stage on which manufacturers, designers and sales representatives unveil new lines, launch new designs and introduce new categories – all for the benefit of buyers seeking all that is fresh and first in the home, rug, gift and apparel arenas. For more information, please visitwww.AmericasMart.com. Follow us @AmericasMartATL or @AtlantaApparel.