Making it
Crispy Business Marcy’s gourmet bread product business is rising
“I’m very passionate about the independent businesses that helped me get my start.”
By Noelle Stapinsky
It started with a homemade caesar salad
dressing that Marcy Mihalcheon mixed for her
husband’s dinner, but evolved into a growing business manufacturing croutons, stuffing, crisps and other bread products.
—Marcy Mihalcheon
With her husband’s encouragement to market
the salad dressing—a recipe she had made
since she was a teenager—the seasoned
entrepreneur found herself researching how
products are launched.
“I didn’t focus on any particular opening in the
market for my product,” says Mihalcheon.
“Particularly since the industry is so competitive,
especially in the salad category.” But in 1999 she
launched the business anyway.
It was a profound love for food that drove her
Marcy Mihalcheon: Yes, there is a real Marcy behind the brand.
behind that every day. One of the most interest-
ing things about our company is our relationship with the consumer and that there’s a [real]
With such broad distribution, Mihalcheon
developed an online cooking show called Marcy
Cooks It Real. “It’s not just focused on my
ambition, and led her to the Guelph Food
Marcy behind the brand,” she says.
products, but about whipping up dinner in 30
five flavours of dressing.
finally, at a food festival, Mihalcheon landed
new vehicle to introduce the consumer to not
Technology Centre (GFTC) where she developed She went store-to-store with the product
trying to sell it to grocery retailers. She noticed during the in-store promotions it wasn’t the
salad dressing, but her homemade croutons
Trial, error and perseverance kept her going and
business with Longo’s, her first independent grocery retailer.
Today, Mihalcheon’s
Me Me Me Inc., a
minutes after a long day at work. This is a great only my product, but to me as well.”
Mihalcheon also added QR codes on the back
of every package that, with a quick scan of a
mobile device, shows clips of Marcy preparing
shoppers munched on, that created a buzz.
25,000-sq.-ft.
product,” she says. “Manufacturing wasn’t the
facility in Scarbor-
businesses that helped me get my start. There
consumer. The croutons started to sell them-
among other
stores, but we’re working on that and we’ve had
“At the time it was costly to market my
problem, it was more about educating the selves, so I left the dressings behind.”
The croutons were created manually with the
help of students at GFTC. The bread was sliced, diced, seasoned and tossed with big wooden
manufacturing
ough, Ont., produces,
products, Marcy’s
Gourmet Cranberry
Orange Stuffing Mix,
Cinnamon and Brown Sugar Bread Pudding
paddles in a large vat to make the crispy garnish.
and, just this fall, Gourmet Calabrese Crisps.
one pallet of product.
has doubled in size and Marcy’s products now are
ingredients and flavour profile and I stand
throughout the U.S., Argentina, the U.K. and Asia.
It took about a week of intense labour to produce “I maintain a certain standard with my
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October | November 2011
Since the facility opened in 2004, the company
distributed coast-to-coast in Canada and
various recipes.
“I’m very passionate about the independent
have been challenges getting into national
some success,” says Mihalcheon.
“I’m always in stores looking for trends, product
placement and where things are made,” says
Mihalcheon. “And when buyers ask me where I
see my product positioned in their store, I laugh and say, ‘Oh…by the cash register.’”
As for the salad dressing line, Mihalcheon says,
“Never say never.”
Noelle Stapinsky is a Toronto-based freelance writer.