John Roberts

John Roberts led the Specialty Food Association, then known as the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade, for 17 years, joining in 1989 as executive director/general manager and being promoted to president in 1996. The organization’s revenues climbed from $4 million to over $22 million under his watch. His wealth of experience in the food industry informed his successful reign.

Foray into Food. In Summit, New Jersey, when he was 16, Roberts got a job at the local A&P store and while an undergraduate at Seton Hall University switched to Shop-Rite. After graduation, General Foods offered more money, a company car, paid tuition, and a chance to wear a suit.  While a sales rep for General Foods, he earned an MBA, was promoted and later climbed the ladder at Hunt-Wesson and Buitoni. His first venture into specialty food was as Marketing Vice President for Romanoff Caviar, where he later served as President. 

Breaking Boundaries. “When I came to the NASFT in 1989, it was thought to be a mature operation,” Roberts says, “We soon found growth opportunities for both members and the organization.” He brought management of Fancy Food Shows under the Association’s direct control in 1997, allowing the organization to better serve its members, adding education programs and building attendance by inviting bakery, bookstore, and gift-shop owners as well as supermarket buyers. He also put the “show” in trade shows, adding pizzazz by inviting culinary celebrities like Julia Child, Craig Claiborne, Wolfgang Puck, Jacques Pepin, and Alice Waters to the Fancy Food Shows.

In the 1990s, supermarkets stocked very few specialty food products, often relegating them to a dusty corner, Roberts recalls. He made presentations at major chain headquarters and at FMI (supermarket trade show), explaining why specialty food was so important.

“Our specialty food consumers are the golden customers for supermarkets,” he notes. “Our studies showed that consumers who bought specialty items spent more annually on food than the average customer. They had larger disposable incomes, entertained more, shopped higher margin departments, and were very loyal to a store that matched their needs."

Supermarket executives responded, integrating specialty mustard on the mustard shelf, specialty pasta displayed with mass-market pastas, up-market sauces right beside the low price brands. By 2000, almost all retail chains had discovered it was good business to include specialty items within the same shelving section as mass-produced products.

Industry Impact. Roberts authored a workbook, “The Basics: The Business of Specialty Food,” an indispensable guide for getting started in the industry with a corresponding education program. He is a frequent speaker at the Fancy Food Show seminars and other industry events.

While heading up the Specialty Food Association, Roberts championed the small business. In 1990, he saw the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Nutrition Labeling and Education Act as harmful to small companies. He succeeded in getting Congress to grant specialty food producers an exemption. “We were not trying to avoid nutritional labeling,” he explains, “we wanted it phased in slowly. The exemption allowed our members to spread the cost of label conversation over multiple years.

Roberts generated publicity for the Fancy Food Show by expanding the annual Product Awards competition (today known as the sofi Awards). More categories, more winners lead to greater media coverage. Food and life style reporters helped consumers see more year round serving opportunities for specialty foods.

Roberts brought the National Food Distributors Association (NFDA), the Kosher Food Distributors Association (KFDA) and the Specialty Food Brokers Association (SFBA) into the Specialty Food Association. He also expanded the SFA’s Retailers Council.