Amid ongoing trade tensions with the U.S., one Ottawa manufacturer is launching a food brand celebrating Canada, with products appearing this month on the shelves at Walmart Canada. About a year ago, Paul Gorman, president of North House Foods, began thinking about building a brand that was for Canadians, by Canadians and made with all-Canadian […]
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Amid ongoing trade tensions with the U.S., one Ottawa manufacturer is launching a food brand celebrating Canada, with products appearing this month on the shelves at Walmart Canada.
About a year ago, Paul Gorman, president of North House Foods, began thinking about building a brand that was for Canadians, by Canadians and made with all-Canadian ingredients.
“Over the last couple of years, we started getting a lot of requests from U.S. companies … to see if we might be interested in making some of their products. (It would be) a positive thing for us, but we were thinking about everything going on in the world today (and) how it could impact us,” Gorman recalled.
And so his team started thinking about creating a brand that celebrated Canadian identity and had a lasting appeal for customers.
“The whole idea behind it was to build a brand that was just not Canadian-made, but we really want (customers) coming back for the flavours and the quality of the product that we’ve created,” he said.
With the brand’s philosophy centered on Canada, Gorman said he didn’t want Northern Canuck products available outside of the country. And so, with all the behind-the-scenes work completed in April, Gorman and his team started pitching Northern Canuck to local and national retailers.
The first brand to show interest was Walmart Canada.
“The folks at Walmart Canada were really on the ball,” he said. “It takes a long time to get in retail. Generally, there’s a big, big lead time to get products into buyers’ hands. I’ve honestly seen it take over a year to get a product from start to finish on the shelf. With Walmart Canada, it took four months, which is phenomenal.”
Northern Canuck officially launched on Sept. 14, with a presence in Walmart Canada’s nearly 400 stores across the country.
Although Walmart is an American retailer with a presence in Canada, Gorman said he doesn’t have any qualms partnering with the company for his patriotic brand.
“Walmart saw our vision. I didn’t have a problem with it being Walmart Canada. Let’s face it, they employ a lot of Canadians and have a tremendous presence here … I don’t want to make this political, because I don’t think it should be, but we’re very proud to be Canadian. We’re proud to make a product that we can have some fun with.”
In a 32,000-square-foot facility in Ottawa, North House Foods makes products for companies such as Toronto-based vegan condiment brand Mother Raw, Toronto-based plant-based milk brand Mylko, and Ottawa-based Mountain Path Organics.
In line with its roster of brands, Gorman said North House Foods wanted to create a high-quality product made with clean ingredients. And so, earlier this year, Northern Canuck came to fruition, focusing on condiments, such as pourable and spoonable salad dressings, as well as dips.
The research and development team took the lead in understanding how Northern Canuck could appeal to its target market, Gorman said.
“North House isn’t a massive company. We’re a family-owned company that has been fortunate to do pretty well. But dealing with a lot of major retailers across Canada, as well as Whole Foods and Sprouts in the States, we are pretty heavily exposed to different trends that aid our research,” he told OBJ.
Gorman said North House differs from larger manufacturers that pump out “full truckload shipments of a specific product.”
“Our sweet spot is in that four, six or eight skids per run, which is very helpful to many of the retailers that get that quality product. We focus on the fresh side of things and try to be preservative-free.”
Aside from the taste, Gorman said the look and feel of the brand appeals to customers and keeps them coming back. “We wanted the brand to be approachable and fun. It’s going to be something that you can use basically every day.”
To achieve this, Gorman had an artist come up with a cast of Canadian critters made of vegetables to be unofficial spokes-animals for the brand, from Rory the Raccoon to Monty the Moose.
“We wanted to promote the idea that it was fresh (ingredients). And we wanted to have this sort of Canadiana look. We’ve got some other products that are coming out that have things like Inukshuks on them, but built with vegetables,” he said.
Only a week after the official launch of Northern Canuck with Walmart Canada, Gorman said North House Foods is already looking to the next phases of growth for the brand.
“We’re going to go ahead in three phases. The first phase was these (salad) dressings. There are a number more dressings that we’ve already developed, but these are the five that Walmart selected to launch with. The next phase will be coming out in January, with traditional dips, spreads and salsas with a Canadian twist. Then there’s another phase that will come out with more cook-style sauces,” he said.
He hopes the Walmart Canada launch will put Northern Canuck on the radar for other Canadian retailers.
“One of the things that is tremendous about being in Walmart is that it’s giving us the exposure that we need. Any retailer that takes on a new brand (and) being first to market can be a frightening thing,” he said. “But I think that when people start trying it, it will create demand for the product from all major retailers in Canada.”
He hopes the brand will see success with Canadians who are “paying more attention to where their food comes from and who they support with their grocery dollars.”
“All we can do is continue to try and put out quality products,” he said. “At the same time, we’re really trying to keep those products affordable. We want them to stay accessible to as many Canadians as possible.”
