Fine Food Factory
From classroom, to lunch box, to caterer
Melany Otis, owner of Goulds catering business Fine Food Factory, came to Newfoundland from Quebec because she fell for the province (and a person), and wanted a change from her teaching career. Operating out of the basement kitchen of her home in Goulds, Otis hopes to open a storefront in downtown St. John’s within the next few years, concentrating on making healthy, take-home meals.
Who opened Fine Food Factory, and when?
I opened it in April 2012, and at that point I wasn’t doing catering. I was doing on-site lunch. I did it for about two or three months, and I had some issues with building managers, because I was going on site. I would set up a table in a building and people would come down and buy a lunch. I thought it was a great idea, but I had some issues with some building managers, so I stopped. Then I started the pre-orders, so people had to pre-order before, and I was doing lunch boxes. But that didn’t work really well. Then in November, I really started the catering and focusing on the catering for corporate.
So tell me what Fine Food Factory does.
We do soups, salads, sandwiches and desserts, mostly for corporate (clients), so when they have luncheons or meetings. That’s the main focus. Our clients are mostly businesspeople.
How competitive is the catering business in the St. John’s area?
There’s a lot of them. There is not a lot who do just the corporate, and I’m more like healthy food, which I think is pretty good in St. John’s. Not a lot of businesses can say that they have healthy food, but there are a few caterers, for sure. That’s why at first I didn’t really want to be a caterer, because there were so many. And lunch boxes, nobody was doing it, so I was like, “Oh my God, that’s such a good idea!” (laughs)
Why are you focusing on corporate clients?
Because they need to eat, and usually, what I heard, is that they eat crap. So then I thought that would be a great opportunity to bring some healthy food, because I think many of them are concerned about health, but here in St. John’s, I’ve found there’s not a lot of options. And that’s one of my values, too; I learned that with time, my business reflects my values, my personal values.
Tell me about your background: How is it that you got started?
I was a kindergarten teacher in Montreal for 10 years before I moved here. I was ready for a change. I’d say three summers ago I came here, just for visiting, because I had my summer off, so I travelled around, and met my boyfriend, and I went back to Quebec and I was just missing here, like how it was quiet, and the ocean, and less people, and less everything. So then I moved. I said, I’m ready. I’m going to quit my job. So I moved here and said, I don’t want to teach anymore, I want to do something else, but what? I thought about it for a year, I’d say. And people around me would say, “You’re crazy about food, why don’t you do something with that?” I was like, yeah, but that’s more of a passion. I never really thought to start a business about food, but that was my dream, to have a business once. I was the kind of person (who’d say): “Oh, that would be a good business idea. And this, and that.” And then I moved here, and I was looking for healthy options, and I couldn’t really find them, and thought, maybe there’s something to do with that. I heard that St. John’s was the fattest city in Canada, and I was like, “Oh my God, I need to do something!” (laughs)
What about your business background? Any experience, or is this your first business venture?
Yep, this is my first business.
What are you finding now as a small business owner, what sort of challenges have you run into that you weren’t expecting?
There’s a lot. I’d say that here, one of the main things that I want to do is be ecofriendly, and I have trouble to find containers — I’m working hard to find a container for soup that’s green or compostable or whatever, but if the soup isn’t warm enough can be put in the microwave.
I haven’t found any, and I’m always asking my wholesalers: “I don’t have that. I’ll look, I’ll look.” I found that this is the part that’s more difficult for me. I do the compost. That’s easy for me, we have a compost box here, but to find all the containers — there are recyclables, so I have to go with, “OK, at least they’re recyclable if they’re not compostable.” I know that here, they didn’t start the recyclables — it’s been what, a year and a half, two? So I guess that’s why it’s a little bit more difficult too, it’s just the beginning of something. So that’s one of the challenges for me, because that’s important.
The other one is to learn everything. I had to learn everything: How does it work to have a business, how do you start a business, how do you find clients?
And because I moved here and didn’t know anyone, anything — I’m lucky, because I met people across my road who were just super-helpful and gave me advice, and there’s lots of resources in St. John’s. I must say I was surprised.
If you’re looking for the resources, that’s easy to find them.
Tell me about the name: Fine Food Factory. Who came up with that, and what does it mean?
I came up with that. The “Factory” is because of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” because I thought that was funny. Factory for me is a funny world — I’m always thinking about how it’s mysterious. And it goes a little bit with my life before, when I was a kindergarten teacher: everything is magical, so it goes a little bit with that. And “Fine Food” because that’s what I love. I’m crazy about food and new things, and I think I’m offering something nobody really offered, and I found that was just perfect: “Fine Food Factory.” It sounds good. (laughs) That’s also the reason why I have the apple (in the business logo), because I was a teacher before, so that’s my past, and it represents the school for me. And I work with some schools too to have healthier snacks, or at camp. And it’s also fresh and healthy. One apple a day — what is it in English? One apple a day …
An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
Yes, exactly. So it’s like my past, my present and my future.
How many meals are you making in a week now? You’ve been open almost a year. How much is the factory producing?
It’s growing, for sure, pretty quickly, but sometimes I can have one day that I don’t have any orders. That’s the thing you never know, if you’re going to have business or not. That’s one of the reasons why I want to do something else, like I want to do healthy, prepared meals, so real meals that you could bring home or have for lunch. Because I think it’s not a good idea just to have catering. I want to do more. I want to bring families together. People are so busy, they don’t have time to cook. I think people are concerned about health, but they just don’t have time. Sometimes what I hear here is, “I don’t know what to do? I don’t know what’s healthy?”
You’re coming out the other side of your first winter in Newfoundland, and I know that sometimes getting fresh ingredients can be a problem. Has that been an issue for you at all?
For the business right now, no, but for my personal life, yes, because I do a little bit more — not crazy things, but sometimes, yeah, there’s things that I cannot find. Like I was looking for celery root. They did not even know what it is. I went to four Sobey’s, three Dominions, they were like, “What’s that? What’s that?” “It looks like a brain, you know?” “Oh yeah — no, we don’t have that.” At the beginning it was a big issue, but — it’s going to be strange, what I’m going to say — I find Costco is doing much. They bring in things that you cannot really — not that you can’t really find, but I think that because it’s Costco, people trust, and eat more and discover more things. That’s strange to say, but Costco does a lot. Like my neighbour said, ‘I bought edamame hummus!” Which for me is just normal, but for her, it was, “Oh my God, it’s so good!” Just because she tasted it at Costco. When I say that to my friends in Montreal, they say, “Really?” And I say, “Yeah, Costco does a lot here for food.”
How many people work here? Is it just you?
Right now it’s me, and I also have someone who helps me with the kitchen sometimes. And I have Alexis, who is from France, and he’s doing an internship with me for marketing and communications. I also have a graduate from MUN in marketing and communications, she helps me out, too.
Where do you see the business in, say, five years? Are you still going to be operating out of your basement in the Goulds?
No, I don’t think so. I dream about having my own place. I’d say downtown, so people can come and take their supper, as I said, the healthy, prepared meals. I’d really like that, like a café at the same time. I’d like that. I still do the deliveries, because I love people and meet my clients.