{"id":1897,"date":"2021-12-17T15:45:52","date_gmt":"2021-12-17T15:45:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asi2.wpenginepowered.com\/uncategorized\/asi-selects-food-gifts-as-its-2021-product-of-the-year\/"},"modified":"2025-06-26T15:28:39","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T19:28:39","slug":"asi-selects-food-gifts-as-its-2021-product-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asicentral.com\/press-releases\/asi-selects-food-gifts-as-its-2021-product-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"ASI Selects Food Gifts As Its 2021 \u201cProduct of the Year\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>322 promo products suppliers now showcasing food gifts in ASI\u2019s ESP\u00ae<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>TREVOSE, PA \u2013 December 17, 2021 \u2013 <\/strong>The Advertising Specialty Institute<sup>\u00ae<\/sup> (ASI), the largest membership organization in the $20.7 billion promotional products industry, today named food gifts as its 2021 Product of the Year.<\/p>\n<p>Already a perennial favorite in the promo industry, particularly in the fourth quarter, food gifts exploded during the pandemic. ESP data shows that food gift searches increased by 25% in 2020 compared to 2019. In November 2020 alone, searches spiked nearly 70% compared to November 2019.<\/p>\n<p>And while searches in 2021 decreased slightly compared to last year (as live events and in-person work returned, along with dormant product categories that suffered in 2020), searches for food gifts this year through 11 months were still up 22% compared to 2019.<\/p>\n<p>There are currently 322 suppliers carrying food gifts in ASI\u2019s ESP, the industry\u2019s number-one business and technology platform, averaging over 2.4 million distributor searches per month and relied upon by 35 of the Top 40 distributors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFood gifts were an incredibly important part of so many people\u2019s lives over the last two years, providing instant comfort and an \u2018experience in a box,\u2019\u201d said C.J. Mittica, Editor-in-Chief of ASI Media. \u201cI always love receiving food gifts, and there are millions of others who feel the same way. It never fails to brighten up someone\u2019s day. That\u2019s why it\u2019s our Product of the Year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- [if mso]><\/td>\n\n\n\n\n<td><![endif]--><\/p>\n<p><!-- #2 column end --><\/p>\n<p>For more on ASI Media\u2019s Product of the Year, check out a recent story by Sara Lavenduski, executive editor for digital content at ASI. The story details the many ways companies hungry to connect with clients and employees turned to food gifts, helping sales in a challenged economy.<\/p>\n<p>As ASI reports, suppliers broadened offerings and perfected shipping to deliver fresh goods like fruit, bagels, soft pretzels and even ice cream and hot sauce, along with charcuterie and cutting boards. And, as an increasing number of retail food companies and distinctive small vendors enter the industry, buyers proved willing to pay for brand recognition or a unique story.<\/p>\n<p>Another trend key to disposable items like food is packaging. As kitting and fulfillment took off in the past two years, custom packaging\/presentation became a must-have as food became a critical piece to add to bundles of promo items delivered to homes. Plus, the sheer demand of food gifts in kitting compelled major suppliers to add them to their lineup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>322 promo products suppliers now showcasing food gifts in ASI\u2019s ESP\u00ae TREVOSE, PA \u2013 December 17, 2021 \u2013 The Advertising&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":1482,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.5 (Yoast SEO v27.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>ASI Selects Food Gifts As Its 2021 \u201cProduct of the Year\u201d &#8226; ASI<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/asicentral.com\/press-releases\/asi-selects-food-gifts-as-its-2021-product-of-the-year\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ASI Selects Food Gifts As Its 2021 \u201cProduct of the Year\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"322 promo products suppliers now showcasing food gifts in ASI\u2019s ESP\u00ae TREVOSE, PA \u2013 December 17, 2021 \u2013 The Advertising...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/asicentral.com\/press-releases\/asi-selects-food-gifts-as-its-2021-product-of-the-year\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ASI\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/adspecialtyinstitute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-17T15:45:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-26T19:28:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/asicentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/asi-logo-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1218\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"663\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jim Hollis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@asicentral\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@asicentral\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jim Hollis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asicentral.com\\\/press-releases\\\/asi-selects-food-gifts-as-its-2021-product-of-the-year\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asicentral.com\\\/press-releases\\\/asi-selects-food-gifts-as-its-2021-product-of-the-year\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jim Hollis\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asicentral.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d970b883ca6c4ee22d88412b72ca6281\"},\"headline\":\"ASI Selects Food Gifts As Its 2021 \u201cProduct of the Year\u201d\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-17T15:45:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-26T19:28:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asicentral.com\\\/press-releases\\\/asi-selects-food-gifts-as-its-2021-product-of-the-year\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":401,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asicentral.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asicentral.com\\\/press-releases\\\/asi-selects-food-gifts-as-its-2021-product-of-the-year\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asicentral.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/10\\\/asi-logo-1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Press Releases\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asicentral.com\\\/press-releases\\\/asi-selects-food-gifts-as-its-2021-product-of-the-year\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/asicentral.com\\\/press-releases\\\/asi-selects-food-gifts-as-its-2021-product-of-the-year\\\/\",\"name\":\"ASI Selects Food Gifts As Its 2021 \u201cProduct of the Year\u201d &#8226; 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