Jun 1, 2012

Gourmet Du Village Turns 30

“From our Village to yours for 30 years” is the headline in their latest catalogue. They go on to say how 2012 marks the 30th anniversary of creating their very first Herb & Spice blends to sell at the local farmers market up till today bringing their gourmet tastes and matching tableware to customers all across Canada, the United States and Europe. Quite an achievement for a business which started in the kitchen of Mike and Linda Tott in 1982 as a hobby while he still worked in the advertising business in Montreal. The article goes on to say that they have loved every minute of it. 30 years of incredible memories, preparing great tasting food, making many wonderful friends.

There is another telling line in the introduction to their latest catalogue. “Brought to you by two generations of the Tott Family”. Mike one of the original founders and Ashley their daughter who is now responsible for business growth. This line says a lot for the business they have created; Linda retired a few years ago but the family continuity is continued by their daughter Ashley. She was a graduate of the ITHQ Quebec’s foremost Chef and Hotel management school, who then joined the company, worked in many areas to gain experience and is now responsible for sales.

When asked if he is considering retiring Mike Tott replied; “We started this business as a hobby, it still is. I love the creativity, searching out new tastes to share with our customers, creating new dishes, designing matching tableware and kitchen accessories, why would I retire from a hobby?”

Over the past 30 years they have won numerous awards for their products, for their delicious dips, tasty Hot Chocolates, for packaging, and for their innovation being the first to introduce such items as the Dip Chiller and the Brie Baker to the market.

So how are you celebrating your 30th anniversary? “Well to start off we have just introduced over 100 new and improved products, something which we love to do and share and something which our customers really appreciate. The biggest celebration will be the opening this spring of our flagship Gourmet du Village retail store right here in Morin Heights. It will feature all of our products along with complimentary products from the many friends in the industry whose products we admire and want to share with our local market.” In addition the store will have a café to serve meals, many of which are based on their Gourmet du Village recipes plus take out food prepared by their chef. Then, as Tott described with a smile… a full service restaurant which includes a small pub. I suspect talking to him that this definitely has something to do with his British roots.

Talking to him and his daughter Ashley it is very obvious they still love the business they created, they talk about wanting to use this new flagship store to learn more about retailers challenges, to test products, to gain more knowledge to share with their customers, “looking forward to ‘Store in Store’ programs”, as they put it.

Gourmet du Village truly is a success story, the subject of everyone’s dreams, to take a hobby, turn it into a cottage industry, to create jobs, to become a real success story, but essentially to continue to do what you love and to continue to be true to your values. It is very obvious we can all look forward to enjoying many more years of the tastes brought to us from their village a real Gourmet Village.