Upscale food merchant Chesapeake Fine Food Group got a bit bigger on Aug. 8 when it acquired the assets of the Impromptu Gourmet catalog from M&S Foods.
Chesapeake Fine Food Group already owns the Mackenzie Ltd. and Chesapeake Bay Crab Cakes & More catalogs. Impromptu Gourmet had ceased operating last November, “so the opportunity was good for us,” says Laura McManus, who with Kate Glenn cofounded Chesapeake Fine Food Group.
McManus says Impromptu Gourmet is a “great brand that complements our existing two catalogs. It offers a type of food that is geared toward everyday meals versus Mackenzie, which is gifting/entertaining/luxury foods, and Chesapeake, which is more regional fare.”
Chesapeake Fine Food Group will mail a 24-page Impromptu Gourmet catalog in the fall, and aims to grow the business through increased circulation, McManus says. The company plans to mail about Impromptu Gourmet catalogs 300 million this year and 600 million in 2012.
Combined, the Chesapeake Fine Food Group will mail more than 2.4 million catalogs this year and about 3.2 million in 2012.
McManus says Chesapeake Fine Food will make minimal changes to the Impromptu Gourmet catalog, but it will have a slightly smaller page count and include some new products. The company will also increase the amount of food per SKU, she says.
Chesapeake will relaunch the Impromptu Gourmet website next month. “We’ll start the email campaign in conjunction with the launch in mid or late September,” McManus says. She adds that Chesapeake is exploring the acquisition of other catalog brands.