A food processing company recently acquired the former restaurant building located at the intersection of route 267 and Chemin Craig in Saint-Jean-de-Brébeuf. The Manizales Food Group will offer a variety of Latin-inspired frozen and ready-to-eat products. The project will require investments of $ 250,000 for renovations and the purchase of equipment.
“Our goal is to introduce this type of product to grocery stores. Currently, there are very few. We want to offer them to supermarkets and wholesalers, so there will be no short-term retail. Eventually, we would like to have a take-out counter in Saint-Jean-de-Brébeuf, ”explained one of the shareholders Antoine Lacerte-Lepage. Her husband, Sebastian Galeano, and his mother, Patricia Galeano, both from Colombia, are also partners in this project.
Samples have been sold to grocery stores for testing over the past few months and it has been conclusive. “Our market studies have shown that there is a need. There has been very little news in frozen food in recent years. People are looking for this type of product, both Quebecers and people from Latin America, ”said Mr. Lacerte-Lepage.
Work will be carried out on the premises to transform the restaurant into a food processing plant. Several pieces of equipment will be recovered and others will be sold. Shareholders hope to be able to start operating in the middle of April and be 100% functional by early May.
The company plans to hire three full-time people for production from the start and estimates that in the first year around ten jobs should be created, including sanitation and delivery positions.
The trio is also optimistic that this project will grow rapidly. This is why the choice of its location was important. “We didn’t need a storefront location. What we wanted was a place where the business opportunity and the availability of the workforce would be there. We know that in the Thetford region, there are people looking for a job. In addition, when we approached the Municipality of Saint-Jean-de-Brébeuf, we really liked the contact we had with Mayor Ghislain Hamel. We received a warm welcome and felt the support from the start, which we haven’t necessarily had elsewhere. We really appreciated it and that had an impact on our decision, ”said Antoine Lacerte-Lepage, who also wished to underline the support of the Société de développement économique.
Finally, the land where the building is located will also allow them to expand without having to move. “We have already had discussions with the Municipality on this subject and the response has been positive. We have a great vision for this project and we are convinced that its growth will be rapid, ”he concluded.
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