Food Emporium Offers a Taste of Quebec

MATTHEW ENIS

NEW YORK — The Food Emporium here is giving its shoppers the opportunity to try a “Taste of Quebec,” featuring a variety of premium gourmet and specialty foods from the Canadian province.

Eric Claus, president and chief executive officer of A&P; Hans Heer, senior vice president and general manager for The Food Emporium; and Robert Keating, Quebec's delegate general in New York, were all on hand to celebrate the special promotion with a May 28 ribbon-cutting ceremony and tasting event at The Food Emporium's flagship Bridgemarket store.

“This is actually a very special event for me, because I am originally from Montreal,” said Claus during a brief presentation before the ribbon cutting. “We always said in Quebec that ‘food is passion,’ and in English Canada we said ‘food is fuel.’ It's actually quite true. There's such a passion for food in Quebec, and that's why you get so many small producers doing things like these cheeses, these jellies, the veal.”

“Taste of Quebec” is the most extensive retail partnership and promotion thus far facilitated by Canada's “Foods of Quebec” marketing campaign, which was launched two years ago by Quebec's Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to boost awareness of the province's culinary reputation in the markets of major trading partners.

The “Foods of Quebec” program worked with Food Emporium executives to select the 26 companies and more than 100 meats, cheeses, greenhouse produce products, breads, chocolates, yogurts, sauces, spreads, gourmet oils and other items that made the cut for this promotion.

“Each of the items featured in the ‘Taste of Quebec’ is produced by companies that combine innovation and creativity,” Heer said. “Starting today, shoppers in New York City can now explore the premium gourmet foods and specialties for which Quebec is well known.”

Thanking several members of Food Emporium's team, Keating emphasized the importance of New York as an export market for the province.

“Quebec and New York enjoy a very longstanding and diversified relationship,” said Keating. “New York is the largest single export market for Quebec's food products. And we're very happy to bring our products to The Food Emporium, which everyone knows is the neighborhood supermarket of Manhattan. It's the perfect partner for us for this promotion.”

Food Emporium will showcase these “Taste of Quebec” foods at its 16 stores in New York City from May 29 through June 11, but both Claus and Heer noted that the brands would all be under consideration for more long-term placement in Food Emporium stores. Brands that have sufficient distribution capacity may also be picked up by parent company A&P or one of its other banners after the promotion, Claus told SN.

These brands included Du Breton pork; Montpak International veal; Brome Lake duck; Atkins & Freres smoked fish; artisan and specialty cheeses from Damafro, Alexis de Portneuf, Saputo and Duhaime; maple syrup products from Mopure and Ferme Martinette; Liberte gourmet yogurts; sauces, pestos, tapenades and gourmet spreads from Maison Le Grand and Mondiv; tomatoes from Savoura; lettuce from HydroSerre; specialty fruit spreads and gourmet jellies from Vergers Duhaime; Campagne & cie and Condiments Varia; ciabatta baguettes from Boulart; fudges by Gourmet Nantel; organic chocolate bars by Vigneault Chocolatier; couscous from Zinda Products; organic teas from Trans-herb; beers from Unibroue Brewerie; gourmet oils from Maison Orphee; gourmet cranberry products by Nutra-Fruit; and spring water from Naya.

In 2008, the U.S. imported about $2.7 billion of food products from Quebec, with $300 million of those products sold to retailers and foodservice operations in neighboring New York state.