Jeff and Mauny, ChefShop.com’s co-hosts, are also available by email to answer questions about the provenance or usage of a particular ingredient.

ChefShop.com offers an opinionated and tightly focused selection of the best international and domestic specialty food products and ingredients, sourced from around the world by Jeff Bergman. Online shoppers can choose from oils and vinegars to mustards and sauces, from spices and rubs to pastas and rice and more. ChefShop.com also has an archive of over 1,100 recipes and invaluable cooking and serving tips developed by Mauny Kaseburg who, along with Jeff and the entire ChefShop.com crew, tastes and tests each product sold by ChefShop.com. 
 
ChefShop.com is more than just e-commerce and more than just food—it is the brainchild of a group of people with an uncommon passion for cooking and eating good food and teaching others just how easy selecting and preparing great food can be. Located in a not-quite-renovated 1912 warehouse just a stone’s throw away from the shores of Puget Sound, ChefShop.com is a unique operation. Mauny and Jeff bring the entire ChefShop.com staff to the table for weekly “tastings” where everyone gets a chance to taste and critique each product—giving everyone from the President to the warehouse manager direct experience with each and every product. It’s this dedication to learning and finding the best that enables ChefShop.com to offer its customers unparalleled service and product knowledge.

Genesis

The idea for ChefShop.com started in 1995, when Mauny Kaseburg teamed up with Tim Mar, a Seattle-based film and video producer and director. Mauny, Tim, and his associates, Don Sellers and Keehn Thomsen, developed a concept for a food-related educational video based on Mauny’s philosophy: good cooking comes from fresh ingredients simply transformed into delicious, healthy food. In 1997 the team formed The Food Bunch, LLC to develop a proposal for a food-related online show which eventually became “Mauny’s Kitchen” on The Microsoft Network. The site was content driven containing daily recipes, cookbook reviews, interviews, and chats with celebrity cookbook authors, such as Marcella Hazan, Deborah Madison, and Emeril Legasse, and had tie-ins with Mauny’s daily public radio segments, “FoodBites.” “Mauny’s Kitchen” was the fastest growing site on MSN at the time, and had completed a very successful season when MSN changed strategic direction and dropped all content shows. 

In February 1998, with its large database of content and recipes, “Mauny’s Kitchen” was re-launched as “Mauny’s Kitchen Table” and continued to publish recipes, food content, a weekly email newsletter, and general food information on the web. In August 1998, the Food Bunch extended its online presence and launched ChefShop.com, a specialty food e-commerce site. Sharing content with “Mauny’s Kitchen Table,” the site was both commerce and content driven. By early 1999, the development of a new site combining the best of both sites and expanding their capabilities was in the works. To enhance the new site’s offerings, Jeff Bergman, who at the time was Director of Specialty Foods at Seattle’s pre-eminent specialty food emporium, Larry’s Market, was asked to join this new venture. The Food Bunch has since changed its name to ChefShop.com, Inc.

A World of Good Eating

ChefShop.com sells an exciting array of the highest quality, and often hard-to-find, ingredients and specialty food products. From Scharffen Berger chocolate and dark muscovado sugar to dried porcini mushrooms and Principato di Lucedio Arborio rice—and everything in-between. Shoppers are able to put together a pantry of top-of-the-line ingredients, and download recipes and entertaining tips for turning those products into delicious meals. All items are hand selected by Jeff and are sure to make great gifts for any aficionado of good eating. “ChefShop.com’s philosophy is to buy products based on their overall integrity,” said Jeff. “Maintaining that level of quality and control means carrying fewer products,” he added, emphasizing his focus on selecting only the best products and ingredients from around the world. 

A Human Side

Like all e-commerce sites, ChefShop.com offers convenient, easy, and secure online ordering 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Jeff and Mauny, ChefShop.com’s co-hosts, are also available by email to answer questions about the provenance or usage of a particular ingredient. Customers can also ask question by using the bulletin board. Fax and email ordering is available anytime. Phone ordering is available during regular business hours. ChefShop.com is also happy to assist in finding special and unique food products and ingredients that aren’t available on its web site. ChefShop.com is truly an oasis in a wasteland of faceless online warehouses.

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