Epicurean Foods International Inc. was founded in 1993 by Phyllis and Greg Sprout, of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Borne out of the couple.s love of fine wines and foods, the company specializes in producing its own exclusive lines of high-quality, excellent value, Canadian gourmet and specialty foods.

"Our biggest attraction to this industry was definitely our love of fine foods and fine wines" says Phyllis. "We.ve always enjoyed entertaining with foods that aren.t generally available at most grocery stores. Invariably, we.ve found that our guests enjoy these new and unusual foods as much as we do. Going into the specialty food industry was a natural extension of our love of creating interesting meals. Basically, we.ve turned our part-time hobby into our full-time business!"

"Market-Driven" Venture

While Phyllis and Greg definitely have a passion for fine foods and wines, it was dispassionate planning that shaped their business. Only after completing an exhaustive market research survey did the couple ultimately write their business plan. The couple, (who both have M.B.A..s), spent almost one full year formulating their entry strategy into the gourmet and specialty food industry.

"Quite often, you have an inkling or a .gut feeling. that your idea might work," Greg states and, ultimately, .you have to go with what your tummy tells you. so to speak. But we.ve always believed that what we must do is quantify, as well as we can, if there is sufficient demand to make our products and our business viable. Before we started the business, we were never really sure if our concept would work, but we believed then (and still do) that if we spoke to enough people and got enough honest feedback, we had a much better chance of success. To this day, we've continued this concept of "staying close to our customer" and developing only those products for which there is a proven demand".

Strong Demand For High Quality, Reasonably Priced Canadian Gourmet Foods

Initially, the Sprouts contemplated importing goods from Europe and America into Canada. But they ultimately leaned towards Canadian products based on the market research that they conducted with more than 100 managers and owners of specialty food stores.

Some of the most interesting insights gained from the survey came from a question which asked the respondents to "Pick the country (or countries) from which you would most like to see new products" and a choice of over 20 countries was given.

"The runaway favourite was Canada and Canadian products" recalls Greg. "When we analyzed the results of our survey, the proverbial 'light went on'. We concluded that we should give people what they wanted, rather than trying to guess what they might want from other countries. We decided to develop some of our own Canadian products that our earliest customers were telling us that they wanted". To this day, this simple philosophy has guided the development of all of their product lines.

Adds Phyllis, "We.ve always approached it from the perspective of, "Don.t try to sell what you can make, make what you can sell". That has always been our guide in new product introductions, and so far, it seems to be working quite well. It.s extremely expensive and discouraging to invest your time, effort and money into a new product or product line and have it fail."

Long Days and Long Nights

When they first started their fledgling venture, the couple concentrated their selling efforts primarily on gourmet food shops, gift shops and gift basket packers in the cities and towns in and around Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It often made for long days, as Greg concentrated on sales calls during the day and then focused on producing the foods at night. All of the administration, including payables, receivables and ordering inventory often kept Phyllis busy until late into the evening as well.

"There.s no doubt that while we continue to work long hours, I have to look back and wonder how we did it for so long" marvels Greg. "At first, it really was a seven-day-a-week thing. During the first few years, I remember, there were times when we both worked twelve to sixteen hour days, six days a week. On Sundays, when technically, we weren.t actually doing production or sales calls, the business was on our minds. Often, we were thinking about the feedback, both good and bad, that we were getting from our earliest customers. While our start-up phase was, I.m sure, no worse than it is for most small food producers, it sure made for long days. It.s funny though - we worked through it and somehow survived - fear can be a wonderful motivator!

Steady Growth in Canada

By continuing to "listen to their customers", Epicurean Foods International Inc. has grown from its home-based business status to become a "small and personal", but rapidly expanding gourmet food producer. New accounts from across Canada an America continue to be opened and a loyal customer following of Epicurean Foods. products continues to develop. Gourmet shops, upscale supermarkets, gift stores, department stores, gift basket packers and catalogue companies are now among the company.s clientele. An ever-growing number of diversified Canadian gourmet and specialty foods have been introduced since 1993, including their current lines of flavoured pastas and sauces, flavoured oils and vinegars, specialty olives, gourmet teas, seasonings and dip mixes. In addition, several product line extensions and other completely new and exciting whole product lines are always being developed for introduction in the months ahead.

"Coming to America"

In 1997, Epicurean Foods embarked on an ambitious plan to market its products in America. They attended the largest Trade Show of its kind in the world, The 43rd Annual Summer International Fancy Food and Confection Show in New York City.

Unquestionably, the decision to expand to The United States was a big one for them. "It was certainly a little bit intimidating doing "The Fancy Food Show" the first time" recalls Greg. "Everything about the Show was much bigger than we were used to. We had done a few Trade Shows in Canada, but you could practically drop one of them into The Fancy Food Show and not find them! It certainly was an .eye-opening. event, but unquestionably, one that we are now very grateful that we experienced."

The Show proved to be the proverbial "break" that Phyllis and Greg were hoping for, as they were approached by several gourmet food distributors and many shop owners who were impressed by their products. superior taste profiles, excellent prices and upscale packaging. Their expansion into America had begun and continued steadily throughout the balance of 1997.

In July, 1998, the company marked a spectacular return to the 44th Annual Summer International Fancy Food and Confection Show. Building upon the success that they had experienced a year earlier, they continued to build their distribution to specialty foods sellers across America.

In 1999, Epicurean Foods exhibited at both the 1st Annual Spring Fancy Food and Confection Show in Chicago and the 45th Annual Summer Fancy Food and Confection Show in New York. Both proved to be excellent venues for expanding their distribution to both small independent shops and larger corporate accounts and distributors within America.

Distribution into the United States continues to grow to both small and large retailers.

Bright Future

With both the Canadian and American gourmet food markets continuing to expand at double-digit growth rates, the future looks exceptionally bright for Epicurean Foods International Inc.

Adds Phyllis, "We.re very pleased by the reception of our products in the key markets on both sides of the border. Now it.s up to us to maintain our strategy of continuous improvement in every aspect of our company. We plan to continue our focused, customer-driven marketing approach as we grow our business in the years ahead. We're really quite excited by the potential!"

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