Operations officer David Mitchell shares their story. His father, Dan Mitchell, newly retired from the military, opened the first location in 2003 and David worked alongside his dad. David also served in the military for 11 years. His mother, Louise Mitchell and sister Jocelyne are involved in the business as well.
“Food quality is what we do well. We refuse to compromise on the quality of what we make our food with. It’s not an easy process to do things that way. People who work with us are very proud of what we do. Sauces are fresh, never frozen. Meats are cured on site. Smoked products smoked in Montague and packaged and sealed in Charlottetown., says Mitchell, who previously worked at chain pizzerias. “We didn’t just want the marketing to be the differentiating factor. It’s a painstaking, arduous, expensive task but that’s the way they want to do it.”
“My parents have started stepping back. My sister is in New Zealand and her husband does our marketing. I do most of the day-to-day stuff and my office is on the second floor of our Charlottetown location.”
They have developed several different brands – among them Pathfinder Foods, Crafter’s Smokehouse and BBQ and Khoaw Pon Authentic Thai.
They deliver to local schools. Last year they supplied healthy meals to eight schools in the Charlottetown and Cornwall area through the PEI School Food Program. “It’s been a really nice partnership run by a non-profit. It’s a service to the community to make sure every kid has access to healthy food.”
About the sauces: We’ve moved all of our sauces to be vegan- and vegetarian-friendly. Everything we make, we make here in our commissary. We make our own cashew-based vegan cheese from scratch using potatoes, carrots, cashews, garlic powder and nutritional yeast. Our garlic spread is made vegan.”
Meats are gluten-free and their menu items feature a simple ingredient list. “It’s something that people really appreciate.” They order in premade gluten-free crusts. “It’s hard to make them yourself,” David says, adding that the crusts are so good they’ve had to develop procedures to ensure staff distinguish between regular and gluten-free.
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