FoodBizDaily.com interviewed Gregory J. Sprout co-founder of Epicurean Foods International Inc. , a specialty food distributor and retailer based in Toronto, Canada.
FBD: How do you describe Epicurean Foods main activity?
Epicurean Foods International Inc. is a wholesale and retail online gourmet and specialty food distributor. We carry several thousand "hard-to-find" items that typically are not found in the mainstream grocery store market. These include items such as flavored oils & vinegars, pastas, sauces, cookies, teas, specialty chocolates, soup mixes, spice rubs & seasonings, drink mixes, salsas, coffees, maple syrup, chocolate truffles and sea salts, among many others.
FBD: Do you serve only the Canadian market ?
Interestingly, about 75% of our business is done in the USA, despite our warehouse location in Canada. Our wholesale customers include a wide range of independent businesses such as gourmet shops, gift stores, winery gift boutiques, florists, fund raising companies and gift basket packers. Virtually all orders are done on our password-protected wholesale website, www.epicureanfoods.com. We specialize in being able to deliver an ever-changing and ever-growing array of gourmet foods that enable our wholesale customers to compete effectively against the "big box" stores.
We also sell direct to consumers (through another section of our website). Like our wholesale customers, our retail customers are constantly searching for "new and exciting" products that are generally not available to them in their neighborhood grocery stores. They can place orders directly on our fully secure website and have them delivered by FedEx within a few days.
FBD: Do you offer a printed catalog, e-commerce website, both?
We carry a wide range of regional and imported gourmet specialties not typically found in the "mass market". One of the main advantages that we enjoy being an online gourmet company is that our catalog is online – we have no printed catalog at all. This enables us to respond very quickly to new products in the marketplace (as opposed to those companies that have a printed catalog with their offerings “set” for periods as long as one full year. We are constantly adding new items, and, depending on the response, we either keep them (if they are selling well) or quietly de-list them (if sales are not strong.) Hence, our product mix changes almost on a daily basis, depending on our customer preferences, seasonality and the wide range of new products being introduced by gourmet food producers and importers.
FBD: Talking about product lines, where do you see growth potential?
We carry products in several of the most popular categories (such as oils, vinegars, bread dippers, soup mixes, hot chocolates, crackers, cocktail mixes etc.), but we have many categories that we have identified as growth areas for us in 2010. These include such specific product types as specialty marinades, fair trade teas and coffees as well as a wide range of other items that are either organic, gluten-free or vegan.
FBD: When the company started operating?
We started our business (literally on our kitchen table!) in 1993.
FBD: How many people are involved in the business?
Due to the ongoing economic slowdown, we have reduced our staff levels dramatically from approximately 10 full-time and up to an additional 12-15 seasonal staff to less than half that currently. We anticipate increasing our personnel count when the economy improves (hopefully, later in 2010).
FBD: What is your annual turnover?
Our annual sales are between one and five million dollars.
FBD: What are the main hurdles you face in your daily activities?
Like most small business owners these days, we are faced with innumerable hurdles that must be overcome. Probably the biggest challenge is to keep our current customers fully satisfied with our product mix and the price points that we charge. As well, we have the ongoing challenge of finding new customers to replace those that, unfortunately, have gone out of business in the past 12 – 18 months.
Another huge challenge for us is keeping up with the incredibly rapid changes in technology online. The whole Web 2.0 social marketing concept has grown and evolved so quickly, it is difficult to stay abreast of how companies such as ours are marketing themselves. Writing blogs and maintaining a presence of Twitter and Facebook are an ongoing challenge and tend to be done “after hours”, which tends to make already long days even longer. In short, the exponential rate of change in e-commerce is a constant challenge.
FBD: What makes you proud as a small business owner?
There are many things that make us proud. We have spent approximately 17 years developing several hundred of our own gourmet and specialty foods that have grown to have dedicated and loyal followings. The enormous amount of time, effort and money required to develop these products was more than we could have ever imagined, but have largely been worth it. They are a source of enormous pride.
As “early adopters of the Internet” over 10 years ago, we have developed a “state-of-the art” website that features several thousand truly wonderful gourmet items that our wholesale and retail customers seem to really enjoy. Again, the investment of time, effort and money has been significant, but it has “set the table” for us to continue to grow. When we review the thousands of gourmet specialties that we currently offer on our website, each with its own unique selling story, it is hard not to sometimes marvel at the impressive collection of gourmet delicacies that we have assembled from small producers around the globe.
FBD: Where do you see your business in 5 years?
We see our business growing very quickly in the years ahead. We intend to significantly reduce the number of items that we produce in-house. Our focus on being both a gourmet food manufacturer and distributor will continue to shift to be more of exclusively being a gourmet food distributor. We plan to replace some of our own older, slower-moving items with exciting new items that we identify as being “truly outstanding”.
It is often said that “One of the blessings of the gourmet food business is that your customers are always looking for something new”. This is certainly true and provides an unlimited opportunity for continued growth. We plan to utilize the experience and insight that we have gained over the past 17 years to forge an aggressive expansion plan. As the Internet grows in popularity by the day, it can only be a huge positive for our company. Within 5 years, we fully expect to have expanded our current offerings of gourmet and specialty foods several-fold. Our plan is to be the leading online gourmet and specialty food distributor to both the wholesale and retail channels. We believe that our unique sales and distribution strategy of being able to profitably service thousands of small, geographically dispersed specialty retailers and independent consumers online is an excellent and scalable business model.
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Epicurean Foods International Inc.
Address: 300 Mill Street Unit # 9 Kitchener, ON N2M 5G8 Canada
Telephone: 1-800-267-0805
Fax: n/a
About Epicurean Foods International Inc.
Since 1993, we have developed our own exclusive lines of gourmet and specialty foods that are very well packaged, but also represent excellent value. We have always strived to develop only those products that even the most discriminating gourmands will appreciate, yet are priced to enjoy every day, either as a gift or at their own table. Ours has always been a "labor of love", as we create unique gourmet foods that we use in our own cooking and at our own family table...