Vermont's Woodstock Farmers' Market selected Retailer of the Year by national trade group

The Woodstock (Vermont) Farmers Market has been selected Retailer of the Year by the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade, a major trade association of the food industry. The honorees include 4 other markets nationwide and range from a major specialty supermarket chain in St. Louis to a family owned six-store specialty food chain in Eastern Virginia. The Woodstock Farmers Market has been serving fresh meats, seafood, produce and specialty groceries, along with take-away breakfast lunch and dinner at its single store location for over 17 years.
The award a golden chef statue was presented on June 29th at a special red carpet ceremony during NASFT s 55th Annual Summer Fancy Food Show at New York City s Javits Center. The ceremony was hosted by noted Chef Ming Tsai, owner of Blue Ginger, the much-honored Boston-area restaurant and host of public television s Simply Ming. Nominations for Outstanding Specialty Food Retailer were made by members of NASFT, a not-for-profit trade association with more than 3,000 members in the U.S. and abroad. Retailers with the most nominations were asked to submit applications including photographs, promotional material, press kits, menus, letters from customers, training manuals and newsletters. The judges, including previous Outstanding Retailer winners, food manufacturers, distributors and journalists met at NAFST offices in New York to select the winners. This is the first NASFT award for a Vermont retailer.
The Farmers Market as it s called locally with 2,000 square feet of retail space and 2008 sales of $4 million, specializes in sourcing artisanal foods from all over the world but focuses on regional and local foods such as Vermont meats and poultry, farm fresh produce and cheeses and uses many local ingredients in its lunch and dinner selections. The market stocks a wide array of cooking ingredients from everyday milk and eggs to fancy olive oils plus an eclectic line of wine and beer. Its bakery is known throughout the region for its cookies, tarts, cakes and pies. And its seasonal garden center focuses almost entirely on locally and regionally grown annual and perennial plants.
We are humbled to be in the company of such past winners like Fairway Market in NYC and DeLaurenti s in Seattle s Pike Place Market, says owner Patrick Crowl who helped start the market with his father Jack Crowl back in 1992. Our staff is amazing we literally wake up everyday living and breathing food plus everyone genuinely loves to help our customers make choices. To actually know where your food comes from is so important these days and to guide our guests toward something new and cool is nothing short of a blast.
The Farmers Market employs over 35 full and part time staff and is located 1 mile west of the Village of Woodstock at 468 Woodstock Road US Route 4. It recently added Woodstock Farmers Market Mail Order on-line to supplement its in-store shipping business. The site, woodstockfarmersmarket.com features a wide array of sauces, marinades, baked goods and gifts available to ship anywhere in the country.
Pictured left to right in photo: Lisa Battliana, Executive Chef, partner; Chef Ming Sai; Amelia Rappaport, Grocery Buyer, partner; Patrick Crowl, founder, Chairman of Fun.