About the Market Founders

As a trailblazer and entrepreneur, Mitch Berliner’s endeavors over the past thirty five years have put him in the forefront of Washingtonians who have been instrumental in making this area a world-class food market.

Today seasonal farm markets and freshly made food to go are familiar to most people, but Mitch did both and started the gourmet-to-go concept fresh out of college in 1971. Expanding into natural and super premium ice creams in 1974, Mitch founded Berliner Foods introducing people in the mid-Atlantic to some of their favorite treats: Haagen Dazs, Ben & Jerry's, the luscious Dove Bars, and numerous other high quality and organic frozen products. After Edy’s acquired the business in 1985, Mitch opened Berliner Specialty Distributors and introduced an array of organic and specialty foods to the area. Always the trendsetter and innovator, Mitch helped develop products for American Café, was a founding partner of Louisiana Express restaurant in Bethesda, and has consulted for other restaurants in Washington. He also worked with Costco to develop a mail order fulfillment program for specialty ice creams.

Among the many philanthropic organizations that Mitch is involved with, he has served on the Board of Directors of the Jean-Louis Palladin Foundation and the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science to name a few, and he served on the fundraising committees of Share Our Strength, The Washington Capital Area Food Bank in addition to numerous other organizations. In 2007, Mitch was inducted into the Maryland Food Industry Hall of Fame for his foresight and contribution to the food industry and his longstanding involvement with numerous charitable and civic organizations. Mitch was recently appointed to the Jean-Louis Palladin Foundation Advisory Board for the James Beard Foundation. He has now gone back to his roots of bringing the best fresh foods to the area as he opens a new farm market this summer, with co-founder Ann Brody; Bethesda Central Market in Bethesda, Maryland.

But keeping true to his mission of bringing great foods to the area, Mitch is also turning his talents to producing food. Partnering with Debra Moser,Eric Zander and Peter Smith of PS7 they have opened MeatCrafters, a new food company that brings to Washington the finest in all natural cooked, smoked, and cured meats and creative delicious products crafted with meat.

Ann Brody Cove started her 32 year career in the Washington area’s food and hospitality industry as Director of Catering at Loews L’Enfant Plaza Hotel. She went on to open Zeltner’s, a critically acclaimed gourmet deli on upper Connecticut Ave. She then became the founding Food Coordinator of Giant Food’s “Someplace Special,” a new concept store that was the model of quality and creativity for the gourmet departments of today’s supermarkets.

After three years of leading and inspiring her team of in-store chefs, bakers, butchers, caterers, and wine merchants, Ann decided to share her expertise more widely. She founded Ann Brody Enterprises, a specialty food consulting company, and for the next five years traveled the country teaching the specialty food business to upscale grocers. During this time, she conceptualized and supervised the creation by Bruno’s Supermarkets of Vincent’s Market in Birmingham, Alabama. Ann was asked in 1990 by the new owners of Sutton Place Gourmet to serve as the company’s Senior Vice President and spent the next five years establishing high standards of product quality and service at its multiple locations.

Ann resumed working as an independent consultant in 1996. Clients who have benefited since then from her marketing, teaching, and management consultation services include: Whole Foods Markets; the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade; StarChefs.com; the Golden Triangle BID; the Rogers Collection; the Washington Food and Wine Festival; and store owners and aspiring specialty food producers from coast to coast.

From 2002 until 2009, Ann served as Executive Director of the Jean-Louis Palladin Foundation and is now on the Advisory Board of the James Beard Foundation’s Jean-Louis Palladin Work/Study Grant program. Ann has been a member of Les Dames d’ Escoffier; Women Chefs and Restaurateurs; the American Institute of Wine and Food; Slow Food; and other professional and trade organizations. Her volunteer work is devoted to organizations that feed the hungry and care for children and animals.