Here - Small Scale Food Processor Association

SSFPA Success:
SSFPA Success: Member
Companies Blaze Trails with Their
Entrepreneurial Spirit
By Karen Kornelsen
From salmon to salad dressing, there is no lack of diversity in the products offered by SSFPA members, but there are also many
things that those same manufacturers share in common. Their business successes are the result first of all, of a dream, followed by a lot of
hard work and a belief in their product to back it up. SSFPA producers and processors have discovered a demand for their unique products or
services, and have put their entrepreneurial spirit to work day and night and day again to fill that demand with something they believe in. None
of it, though, would be happening if each and every one didn’t share one other thing in common: a love of what they do.
Community gardens to worldwide success
It all started with a little red mailbox. Leigh Lonsdale always had a passion for gardening and it was in South Surrey, at a community
garden right by the ocean, that Edible Gardens was born. Leigh grew herbs and turned these herbs and fruits into delicious infused
vinegars. Nestled in the garden was a red mailbox and before long, this is where she started receiving orders for her products. People
couldn’t get enough.
Now, 14 years later, her husband Michael has taken Edible Gardens from a small plot to a national and international stage. Along with
their daughter Hailey, 14, the family runs their business in White Rock, B.C. And although they have customers as far away as Australia,
they believe in sticking to their roots.
“We still go to farmers markets because that’s where it all started for us. It’s our connection, our roots,” says Michael.
Edible Gardens’ products are available in over 100 retail stores across Canada. Selling their products at farmers markets in Whistler
and Ladner, B.C. got their products into the hands of people from Australia and other parts of the world. But again, they pride themselves
on supporting their local community.
“We buy local as much as possible to support local business. The majority of our fruits and ingredients are sourced to those suppliers
that are as close to our backyard as possible,”
Michael says.
The distinctive fruits and delectable flavours
of these local ingredients add up to a
variety of original and distinctive products.
Their products include savoury balsamic
vinegars—ginger-fig, apricot chipotle,
roasted garlic; artisan oils and spices—basil
grapeseed and tuscan kitchen spice and
their brand new line of Classic and Fire and
Fig Balsamic Reduction.
“That is what makes it for us; motivates
us. Every year we come out with a new
product and when people come up to us at
farmers markets or when someone tells us
they bought a certain product and made a
delicious meal with it, that’s what matters
to us the most.”
“We strive to develop unique innovative
packaging to go with the distinct and
creative flavours,” says Michael. “It’s about
being the ultra premium inside and out.”
Contact: www.ediblegardens.net
www.ssfpa.net 7