A Canadian Podcast, focused on Canadian brands, determined to talk about Canadian success stories. We are retail educators and experts, teaching Canadian businesses how to build, grow, and scale in retail. As industry connectors, Kenny & Phil bring decades of experience as buyers, sales strategists, and marketers into delivering practical, actionable education grounded in real-world application.
"We Dropped Out of University to Make Ice Cream" — The Shaw's Ice Cream Story
55 min
When Shaw's Ice Cream announced it was closing its doors in 2001, three sisters — Christine, Kelly, and Kim — made a decision most people would call reckless: they dropped out of university and bought the shuttered 1950s manufacturing plant. Their logic? "We know retail. How hard can manufacturing be?" Twenty-five years later, Shaw's is a Southwestern Ontario institution — and one of the best "green, naive, and figured-it-out" founder stories we've had on the show. In this episode, Phil and Kenny sit down with the sisters behind Shaw's Ice Cream (based in Tillsonburg & St. Thomas, Ontario) to unpack how they rebuilt a brand from nothing, survived on a two-week crash course and a wrench, and grew into a three-part business spanning retail, wholesale, and co-pack/private-label manufacturing for other brands. Whether you're a founder, a CPG operator, or just someone who loves a good Ontario road-trip-and-ice-cream day, this one's a treat. 🍦 check them out here: https://www.shawsicecream.com/about-us/ Thank you to CHFA for sponsoring this episode. https://www.chfanow.ca/toronto 🎧 This Commerce Life — Canada's longest-running commerce podcast. #ShawsIceCream #OntarioMade #CanadianCPG #IceCream #FoundersStory #FoodAndBeverage #ThisCommerceLife #Tillsonburg #FamilyBusiness #RetailPodcast
"I Know a Guy" Isn't a Sourcing Strategy | SURCH Foods
52 min
Phil Chang and Kenny Vannucci sit down with Sylvia Bennett, founder of SURCH Foods (that's S-U-R-C-H), a B2B search platform built to solve a problem the food industry has quietly lived with forever: there is no good way to find ingredients, packaging, co-manufacturers, or expertise. Sylvia spent her career in the industry — starting in a Sobeys bakery, then product development and private label at Sobeys and Walmart, then R&D at a cookie plant — and kept watching sourcing managers dig through old business cards because "I know a guy" was the only system available. We flipped this episode on its head. Instead of starting with Sylvia's story, we start with the platform, walk through it live, and then back into why someone with her background decided to build it. The honest takeaway: a search engine for food ingredients shouldn't be revolutionary in 2026. But it is — and it only works if the industry actually shows up and gets listed. Find Sylvia at surchfoods.com or sylvia@surchfoods.com . 🎧 This Commerce Life is Canada's longest-running commerce podcast — 450+ episodes on food, beverage, and retail. 👉 Subscribe for weekly conversations with the people building Canadian CPG. #FoodIndustry #CPG #Sourcing #FoodManufacturing #SupplyChain #CanadianFood #FoodAndBeverage #Procurement #FoodStartup #ThisCommerceLife
From Farmers Market to Retail Shelves: How Kettle & Hive Built a Lemon Honey Tea Brand
1 hr 0 min
Trish, founder of Kettle & Hive, joins This Commerce Life to share how a coworker's break-time basket of lemons, ginger, and honey sparked the idea for a fresh, spoonable lemon and honey tea — made with just two ingredients, no corn syrup, no thickeners, no shortcuts. From her first job as a day baker at Tim Hortons to quitting her job after one exhausting-but-successful farmers market season, Trish walks us through the real journey of building a small-batch food business in BC: honing recipes 20 jars at a time, using baker's math to scale batches, moving from a home kitchen to shared commercial kitchens to her own facility with a 60-gallon steam kettle — and learning the hard way what it costs to sell out and cancel a Christmas market because production couldn't keep up. Whether you're still selling at craft fairs or eyeing your first distributor conversation, this episode is a masterclass in growing a CPG food brand the right way — one honest customer conversation at a time. Find Kettle & Hive: 🍋 Shop online: https://kettleandhive.com 📍 Available at independent grocers and health food stores across Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland — full store and market list on the website Thank you to Maritime Good Food for sponsoring this podcast. https://maritimegoodfood.ca/
They Turned Barley Greens Into Tea — Natural Farmworks' Wild Founder Story
1 hr 6 min
What do you do when your product is so unique that no five-second pitch can explain it? This week, Phil and Kenny sit down with Brad and Sheila, founders of Natural Farmworks — a regenerative farm in BC's Boundary Country that grows barley greens and processes them using traditional Chinese tea methods to create green, oolong, and black teas that deliver a serving of greens in every cup. No bitterness, no flavourings, no "barley shivers." Brad's journey starts with a Crohn's disease diagnosis in the 1980s, runs through buying a decommissioned Saputo spray-drying plant ("How do we even turn it on?"), and lands on two years of WhatsApp messages with a tea master in China to learn an entirely new craft. Sheila shares how they hand-cut greens in their kitchen, trained with a certified herbalist, and turned lab results from BCIT's nutraceutical program into a genuinely new product category. Whether you're a food and beverage founder, a CPG brand builder, or just love a great Canadian entrepreneur story, this one's packed with honest, practical retail advice. Check out Natural Farmworks here: https://www.naturalfarmworks.com/ If you think you fit in the Export Navigator program - check it out here: https://exportnavigator.ca/
How She Built a Thriving Farmers Market in the Middle of Nowhere | Ashley Sauve, Sauve's Country Market
56 min
Ashley Sauve was 12 years old when she started selling mini straw bales to Canadian Tire stores from her family's cash crop farm. Today, she owns Sauve's Country Market in South Woodslee, Ontario — a destination farm market in Windsor-Essex County that customers happily drive 45 minutes to visit, even though there's no gas station, grocery store, or Tim Hortons anywhere nearby. In this episode, Ashley shares how a $20 fall porch package posted on Facebook — no paid ads — sparked a business that outgrew a 400 sq ft shed built by her dad and uncles, and led to a brand-new 2,400 sq ft store with a walk-in cooler, commercial kitchen, donuts, and ice cream. Check them out here: https://sauvescountrymarket.my.canva.site/ Thank you to Haddas Lederman and Rebecca Schuetz at Ontario Made for the introduction to Ashley Check out Ontario Made here: https://supportontariomade.ca/ Thank you to Maritime Good Food for sponsoring today's podcast. If you're interested in getting connected with Dwayne: https://maritimegoodfood.ca/
Exporting to Mexico? What Canadian Food Brands Need to Know | Julie Therrien, Leclerc Group
45 min
Special thursday episode: Julie Therrien of Biscuits Leclerc is back — and this time we're picking her brain on one of the biggest opportunities for Canadian food and beverage brands right now: exporting to Mexico. Julie's export career started in Mexico in the mid-90s, and she's spent nearly 30 years navigating the market — from co-packing for Bimbo to building branded distribution across Mexican retail. Fresh off our own trip to Guadalajara and Mexico City for Expo ANTAD, we asked her the questions every Canadian brand should be asking before shipping a single pallet south. If you haven't heard her first episode - it's here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5NXPW7QMY06QeWTPeHDUnY?si=1OdnoEk1SmaUA-CkNy8gHg check out Leclerc here: https://leclercfoods.com/en/
Sisters Turned a $90 Ice Cream Cart Into a CHFA Show-Stopper | Fromage Protein Pops
51 min
What happens when a food scientist and a hairstylist-turned-entrepreneur team up to reinvent cottage cheese? You get Fromage Protein Pops — a frozen treat that started with a $90 thrifted cart, 170+ recipe iterations, and a whole lot of sister chemistry. In this episode, Phil Chang and Kenny Vannucci sit down with co-founders Nuala and Fiona to talk about: 🍦 How a trip to Japan and a "better-for-you" Coke sparked the original idea 🧀 Why cottage cheese (not protein powder) is the secret to their creamy, indulgent texture 👨👩👧 The surprising discovery that families — not just health enthusiasts — are their real target market 🚚 Self-distributing by reefer van across Metro Vancouver while juggling full-time jobs 🏆 Landing recognition at CHFA and the challenge of finding novelty pop co-manufacturing in Canada check them out at https://fromageprotein.com/ Thank you to Dwayne and Maritime Good Food for sponsoring this episode. https://maritimegoodfood.ca/
From Pasta Bar to Costco's First HMR: Andy Mollica's 35-Year Italian Food Empire
1 hr 5 min
Andy Mollica, founder of Anducci's, joins Phil Chang and Kenny Vannucci for an unfiltered look at one of Vancouver's most legendary Italian food stories. Andy shares how he opened his first pasta bar at 19 years old, built Anducci's into a 27-year East Van institution, and accidentally pioneered Costco's Home Meal Replacement (HMR) category by selling lasagnas out of his car trunk to Costco's original Burnaby location. The conversation also breaks down trends from the BC Grocery & Specialty Food Showcase, including why small and independent food brands deserve better floor placement at trade shows, how Buy BC initiatives are changing the playing field for indie vendors, and what it really takes for a founder to scale a food business in the Canadian grocery industry. https://www.anduccis.com/
From Health Food to National Grocers: How Canadian Brands Should Think About Distribution | Matthew James
58 min
If your brand is trying to scale across Canada, this episode is essential listening. Phil and Kenny sit down with Matthew James, President & CEO of Purity Life Health Products — Canada's largest and only full-service wellness distributor covering dry, frozen, and refrigerated products across all channels, coast to coast. Matthew shares his 33-year journey in the Canadian natural health industry — from sales rep at Quest Vitamins in 1993 to leading a management buyout of Purity Life in 2012, and now completing the landmark acquisition of Horizon Limited in 2025 that added three new warehouses and unlocked national cold chain distribution. Check out Purity Life here: https://puritylife.com/ Find Matthew James here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-james-67803421/
He Closed Toronto's Most Iconic Deli and Moved to Tofino. Here's What Happened Next. | Zane Caplansky
1 hr 2 min
Zane Caplansky opened what's considered Toronto's first pop-up restaurant — a deli inside a dive bar in Little Italy — and turned it into one of the city's most beloved institutions. Along the way he appeared on Dragon's Den three times, got featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and You Gotta Eat Here, ran a food truck, a catering empire, and a College Street restaurant that had lineups for years. Then his landlord locked him out at midnight — rent paid, no warning — and it cost him $100,000 in legal fees and nearly broke him. But that gut punch turned out to be the pivot that changed everything. Zane joins Phil and Kenny to talk about the full arc: the scrappy pop-up beginnings, the Dragon's Den pitches (including Jim Treliving famously not understanding what a food truck was), the public humiliation of the lockout, closing the deli, moving to Tofino, becoming a dad at 53 — and why reviving the Caplansky's mustard brand as a CPG product might be the smartest thing he's ever done.
Epicure's Comeback: From $100M MLM Brand to Omnichannel Relaunch | Amelia Warren & Kyle Vucko
1 hr 4 min
What do you do when the brand you built to over $100 million goes bankrupt — and then you get the chance to buy it back? That's exactly what Amelia Warren and Kyle Vucko did with Epicure. In this episode, Phil and Kenny sit down with the co-managing directors of the relaunched Epicure — a Canadian spice and seasoning brand with a fiercely loyal customer base, a surprising MLM origin story, and a bold new omnichannel strategy. Amelia served as CEO of the original Epicure for 17 years. Kyle co-founded Indochino before joining Epicure as COO. Together, they acquired the brand's assets out of bankruptcy in April 2025 and relaunched it by September — rebuilding the supply chain, re-engaging customers, and moving the brand into retail for the first time. Check out Epicure here: https://epicure.com
Brand Photography, Wix vs WordPress, and Why AI Can't Replace This | ft. Bonnie Joyce
53 min
Phil and Kenny sit down with Bonnie Joyce — the photographer and web designer behind some of the best headshots This Commerce Life has ever had (which, admittedly, is a low bar). Bonnie runs Bonnie Joyce Creative Studio, a photography and Wix web design business based in Eastern Ontario, where she's built over 500 websites and shot everything from brand sessions to adoption hearings. In this episode, we get into why Bonnie chose Wix over WordPress — and why that decision actually makes more sense for small business owners than the industry gives it credit for. We talk about the real cost of being locked out of your own website, how AI is reshaping both photography and web design (and where it absolutely cannot replace a human), and what it means to intentionally not scale your business. Bonnie also shares her winding path from political science and copywriting at Zulu Alpha Kilo in Toronto to building a creative studio that she genuinely loves showing up for every day. It's a great conversation about building a business on your own terms — and ignoring everyone who tells you you should be doing more. Check out Bonnie's website and services here: https://www.bonniejoycecreativestudio.ca/ You can find Bonnie here as well: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bonnie-joyce-7215a64/ If you missed our last episode on Expo Antad - you can find it here: https://youtu.be/TnzKD1KBhtw?si=Aqlda7CAFFHmhONd
Vancouver Chef Robert Belcham on Restaurant Survival, Pricing Truth & Why Cheap Food Costs Someone Dearly
1 hr 3 min
The survival math behind Vancouver's independent restaurant scene — and why cheap food is never actually cheap. Phil and Kenny sit down with Robert Belcham — a 35-year Vancouver chef, restaurateur behind Campanolo, Monarch Burger, and Poppina Canteen, and board member of the Chef's Table Society of BC — for one of the most candid conversations about the business of food we've ever had on This Commerce Life. Robert pulls back the curtain on what it actually takes to keep a restaurant alive in one of Canada's most expensive cities: the unforgiving margins, the perception-of-value trap that operators fall into, why independent restaurants are chronically underpricing themselves, and what it would take for the whole industry to collectively raise prices and survive. Check out: https://chefstablesociety.com/
The Queen of Cookies on 28 Years at Leclerc, Breaking Into Mexico & Why Independents Still Matter
54 min
Julie Therrien has spent 28 years selling Canadian cookies to the world — and she's got the stories to prove it. As Western Canada Sales Rep for Biscuits Leclerc (the family behind Celebration Cookies, Go Pure bars, and that iconic air travel snack you definitely know), Julie joins Kenny and Phil to talk about her unlikely path from Quebec City to Guadalajara to Vancouver, what it really takes to break into export markets, and why the Canadian food industry's tight-knit community is one of its greatest competitive advantages.
Why Retailers Want a Distributor (Not You) — Inside UNFI Canada with President Stacey Kravitz
1 hr 0 min
If you're a Canadian food or beverage brand wondering why retailers keep asking for a distributor, this episode is your answer. Phil and Kenny sit down with Stacey Kravitz, President of UNFI Canada, for one of the most important conversations we've had on the show. Stacey brings 20+ years at Kraft and Kraft Heinz — and nearly 10 years leading UNFI Canada through COVID, supply chain chaos, and a rapidly consolidating grocery landscape — to give brands a rare, unfiltered look at how distribution actually works in this country. Whether you're still selling out of your car, just hit your first retail listing, or you're scaling nationally — this episode will reshape how you think about distribution as a growth strategy, not just a middleman. 🎯 Key Takeaway: Retailers don't want more vendors. They want trusted distributor partners who can bring them curated, ready-to-sell innovation. If you don't have a distribution strategy, you're leaving listings on the table. Connect with UNFI Canada: unfi.com Follow This Commerce Life: thiscommercelife.com Mentioned in this episode: UNFI Canada's Up Next Incubator Program Canadian Grocery Sector Code of Conduct ItSo Coffee (brand shoutout from Stacey) Rob Mortenson — go-to-market strategy services If you're looking for online retail classes, we're building our first class already! contact us at podcast@thiscommercelife.com
Why Your Brand Looks Like Frankenstein (And How to Fix It) ft. Kevin Sotto
1 hr 0 min
Most small business owners think they have a brand. What they actually have is a collection of decisions made in a hurry — four shades of blue, six different fonts, and a website built room by room without a blueprint. Sound familiar? In this episode, Phil and Kenny sit down with Kevin Sotto of Sotto Digital — the digital strategist behind the This Commerce Life rebrand — to talk about what branding actually is, why so many Canadian food and CPG brands get it wrong, and what it takes to build a digital presence that earns trust. Kevin shares his journey from engineering at McMaster, to RBC, to health-tech startup life, to running his own digital marketing and branding consultancy. He also pulls back the curtain on his experience working with TCL — from cleaning up a messy website to uncovering the three core pillars of the brand and why that "editorial navy" is doing more work than anyone realized.
The Real Cost of Getting Into Stores — Umami Crave the Fifth's Retail Journey
1 hr 2 min
What does it take to turn a house-made restaurant dressing into a multi-SKU CPG brand with distributors, Power Bowl mixes, and a brand-new line of high-protein soup mixes? This week, Phil and Kenny sit down with Joanna and Stephanie, the co-founders of Umami Crave the Fifth, a Kelowna-based food brand making waves across BC and beyond. Joanna and Stephanie pull back the curtain on the full journey: starting with a beet quinoa salad dressing at BNA Brewing, surviving a pandemic launch, building their own production facility, and navigating the brutal reality that getting into a store is easy — getting off the shelf is hard . They share hard-won lessons on SKU naming disasters (50,000 pouches ordered before rebranding), sourcing Canadian pea protein, competing in a crowded condiment category, and why their vegan Worcestershire sauce accidentally became their fastest-growing product. Check out Umami Crave the Fifth here: https://www.umamicravethefifth.com/ Find out more about the Big Cheese Festival in Armstrong here: https://www.aschamber.com/thebigcheese.html Find out more about Basin Food Summit here: https://basinfood.ca/ If you want to sign up for one of our classes, email us at podcast@thiscommercelife.com
From Deloitte Partner to Canada's Only Horseradish Producer | Marc Whitmore
58 min
What does it take to leave a 30-year career at one of the world's biggest consulting firms — and bet it all on a 65-year-old condiment brand that had been sitting dormant for a year? Marc Whitmore is the CEO and owner of Dennis Horseradish , Canada's only horseradish producer. A former Senior Partner and global leader at Deloitte, Marc walked away from corporate life in his 50s to become a food entrepreneur — and ended up finding his business for sale on MLS.ca like a cottage listing. In this episode, Marc shares the full journey: the failed hops venture that came first, why he bought a brand with no active customers, how Dennis went from zero to 1,000+ stores across four countries , and what growing 25% looks like when you're still reinvesting every dollar back into the business. We also dig into the realities of Canadian food entrepreneurship — why you need to "get in the flow" to find deals, how to think about exporting before you've even figured out your own backyard, and why Marc says the best reason to build a business is for Canada itself. Check out Dennis Horseradish here: https://dennishorseradish.com/ If you're a brand and you need help to scale, or you know a brand that needs help - send them to us! www.thiscommercelife.com
Retiring Grocer Reveals the Secret to Local Brand Success: Peter Boyd on Food, Community & What Retailers Really Want
1 hr 11 min
After 37 years running the same grocery store, Peter Boyd is stepping away from the floor — but he's nowhere near done. In this episode of This Commerce Life, Phil and Kenny sit down with one of the most beloved independent grocery operators in the Okanagan to talk about what it actually takes to build a loyal customer base, why kindness isn't the enemy of profit, and what comes next for Peter as he turns his energy toward food banks, local vendors, and community infrastructure. This one hits different. If you've ever wondered what separates the retailers that champion small brands from the ones that don't — this is the conversation.
From Tinder to Acquisition to North America's First Clear Vegan Protein — Melissa L'Heureux-Hache of Vegain
52 min
What does it look like to bootstrap a CPG brand from your kitchen, survive an acquisition, and then pivot into a category that barely existed? Melissa L'Heureux-Hache, co-founder of Vegain — a Vancouver-based plant-based sports nutrition company — shares the full story with Phil and Kenny on This Commerce Life. From launching a vegan hemp skincare brand in Toronto (with zero ability to advertise on any major digital platform), to doing 40+ trade shows in a single year, to getting acquired by a public company in 2019, to co-creating Surge — North America's first clear vegan protein in a can — Melissa's entrepreneurial journey is one of the most honest and energizing stories we've told on this podcast. And if that wasn't enough? She also opened a café and retail storefront on Vancouver's Seawall. Because why not. In this episode, we get into: How Melissa and her partner Eden bootstrapped and sold their first CPG company with no science background The challenge of advertising a hemp-based product when the internet thought you were selling drugs What it actually feels like to go through an acquisition and work for the acquiring company for a year The origin story of Vegain and why they launched with one of the most niche SKUs possible — a vegan mass gainer The accidental innovation behind Surge — and why they pitched it at CHFA Launchpad before the product even existed Why they opened a café (and what it taught them about food service, staff culture, and community) The retail expansion push and what's next for Vegain Connect with Vegain: 🌐 vegain.ca 📍 Find them on the Vancouver Seawall Connect with This Commerce Life: 🌐 thiscommercelife.com 📱 Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube
