Saint-Félicien’s cucumber promoters, Caroline Fradet and Eric Dubé are pleased that the first deliveries have now been made to IGA stores (largest group of independent grocers in Canada). Caroline Fradet says that “We have been working on this project for three years. It has been a real adventure! And now, to see people acquiring the cucumbers, it has confirmed that our efforts were worth it.”
Marc Desbiens, owner of the supermarket, says that demand has been strong, “For a week people have been asking me when they will be in stock. People are proud that they are produced here and they can’t wait to try them. There is a huge difference in terms of freshness”. Clients were so keen to try the cucumbers that the palette holding 102 boxes of 12 vegetables went down very fast.
Sobeys is very pleased with their partnership with Serres Toundra. Marie-Josée Doyon, Management Advisor for Sobeys, says that “For us, it is very important to offer our clients very fresh cucumbers that will be on the shelves a few days after harvest. Also, they cover a lot less kilometres than those from Mexico. We received thousands of cucumbers in our warehouses on Friday. They will be distributed in all of our IGA stores in Quebec over the next few days”.
Saint-Félicien’s cucumbers could fulfill 25% of the province’s demand. Serres Toundra plans to produce 325,000 tons of English cucumbers and 520,000 tons of Lebanese cucumbers a week. In a week the Lebanese cucumbers will make their way to Quebec.