Mississauga-based organic food distributor
Mike & Mike's has added three staff members to manage a new product line of organic snacks launched earlier this month. The Organic Select line of nut and berry blends is now in stores across the GTA, and the company will soon launch a web home for the brand at
www.organicselect.ca that it hopes will become a hub for information on healthy living and all things organic. The company says more hiring may happen with the site's launch.
The new brand is just the latest phase of rapid growth for the five-year-old company. Launched in 2005 out of a 2,500-square-foot Etobicoke warehouse with only three employees, the company today occupies 20,000 square feet (fully half of that refrigerated) in Mississauga and has a staff of 18. Their main business has been distributing organic produce, though they have branched out into dairy and bulk.
The line of 26 different snack foods represents the company's first time branding its own products. "We wanted to develop a product that was really superior quality, and certified organic," President Mike Fronte says. "When people take it home and try it, we want them to say, 'Wow! This is really good."
While bustling business in Toronto, where pretty much everything organic has become a lifestyle status marker, has led to steady growth for the company, Fronte says that he's always focused on expanding gradually, at a manageable pace. And that's his forecast for the future as the new line and website develop. "We're going to take growth slow and steady and ensure that our current customer base is served 100% -- we never want our existing customers to suffer for our growth."
Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Mike Fronte, President of Mike & Mike's