It all started with a "Get Fit Kick" for Colin Mcgaffin and Lisa Graham, owners of Fresh Is Best Salsa & Company. The goal was to try to eat healthier foods, without additives or preservatives, to eat fresh foods with high nutrient content and to cut over-processed fast foods from their diet. How hard could it be? It became abundantly clear to Colin and Lisa, that it was easier said than done. In search of freshness, Lisa remembered the amazing fresh salsa's they were served in Mexico. Colin, a baker for the past 10 years, took immediately to the kitchen and created his first fresh salsa. As time went on, each batch seemed to get tastier than the last, and soon friends and family were asking Colin to bring his fresh salsa wherever he went. By this time it was summer in Kamloops, an area known for growing tomatoes, the couple approached the local Farmers' Market in May of 1999 to see it they could give out some free samples, do some market research and hopefully sell a few tubs of salsa along the way.
And sell salsa they did. No matter how much was made each week it was never enough. At this point Fresh Is Best Salsa had two and a half employees, Lisa, Colin and their 2 year old son Kade. All production happened out of a sub-leased kitchen space during the wee hours of the morning and all the sales happened two days a week at the local Farmers' Market. Sales increased steadily at the market into October and Fresh Is Best customers started wondering where they would get their favourite salsa and chips over the winter months.
In December 1999 Lisa and Colin opened the first Fresh Is Best Salsa Company Inc. at 1420 B Hugh Allan Drive in Kamloops, B.C. Fresh Is Best Salsa calls 1000 square feet of a strip mall in Aberdeen home. The storefront serves up healthy snacks packaged to go, which made sense as the area surrounding the Fresh Is Best Salsa Shop is saturated with restaurants and eateries. Presently in addition to Colin, Lisa, Kade,and Maizy, Fresh Is Best employs 7 full-time and 10 part-time staff.
Granted chips and salsa have been done before, yet they say that "timing is everything". Fresh Is Best Salsa comes at a time when "health" is at the forefront of people's minds. The fast foods and over-processed packaged foods of the last decade are slowing us down and even stopping some of us. For survival sake, we must search for better alternatives. If we do not have our health, what then do we have? Fresh Is Best Salsa and Company has answered the call for fresh, natural foods without all the additives and preservatives. In our "time-poor" society Fresh Is Best is poised for success with fresh, nutritious ready to eat products.
What makes Fresh Is Best Salsa Company unique is our commitment to freshness. The slogan "Taste the difference FRESHNESS makes" really says it all. People actually say things like "I can taste the freshness", "I am addicted", that "Fresh Is Best Salsa is the best salsa we have ever tasted". Fresh Is Best Salsa is not preserved, cooked or altered in any way, all the vegetables and herbs are fresh, the limes and lemons are hand squeezed, the garlic is hand chopped. Every effort is used to ensure the absolutely freshest and purest ingredients go into this salsa. It is packaged with a "best before date" to further ensure that the consumer gets a fresh product.
As a matter of necessity, Fresh Is Best tortilla chips came about. In order to get people trying their salsa, Colin and Lisa placed a bowl of tortilla chips beside them. Tortilla chips were a natural. Initially they bought brand name chips, only to find it was becoming a rather expensive and tasteless endeavor. So, Colin hit the kitchen again, this time he found a great corn tortilla that once cut and fried, was light, crunchy and bursting with freshness. Hence, Fresh Is Best Tortilla Chips. These tortilla chips are made fresh daily, without any preservatives and have a 60 day shelf life with our new packaging. Fresh Is Best Salsa has since expanded into a number of fresh products; salsa (mild, medium, hot and hotter), tortilla chips tri-colour (yellow corn chips, red chili chips and green jalapeno chips), corn tortilla chips (plain), guacamole (mild, medium-hot), a layer dip (bean, salsa, guacamole, sour cream and cheese), taco shells (corn, jalapeno and chili flavours),Roasted Garlic Spinach Dip, Smokey Black Bean Dip, Hummus, Tzatziki, Garlic Butter, and our own FIB Habanero sauce. They also host "Sample Saturdays" where each week a different Fresh Is Best Salsa Recipe is featured; lasagna, chili, meatloaf, Quesadillas all using Fresh Is Best Salsa as a base. The idea is to teach people how the use Fresh Is Best Salsa when cooking to create delicious meals at home.
Customer service and marketing go hand in hand, for continued growth and development for Fresh Is Best. They deliver to a variety of local and province wide grocery stores (click here to find a distributor near you) encouraging people to buy in their local neighbourhood, yet they keep the bulk of their products exclusive to their store essentially drawing the consumers to them. In the summer, Colin and Lisa bring out their demo cart to the community, attending everything from Farmers' Markets to block parties and sporting events. The "Fresh Is Best Salsa Mobile", a restored 1975 Volkswagen Delivery Van once doubled as a delivery van and marketing billboard. Aside from the fact that the van looked cool, it created quite a stir on the road as the steering wheel is on the right hand side. Once a postal delivery vehicle in Germany, the van gave Colin and Lisa high visibility and drew interest to the store and products. Now that the Company has grown and provides product all over B.C a larger refrigerated truck is used to deliver the product. Fresh Is Best Advertising campaign includes radio ads; merchandising racks and signage in local grocery stores, and lots of community sponsorships and giveaways.
Who are their clients? It starts with anyone who likes chips and salsa and it grows from there. Colin and Lisa find that their customer base is rather spread out. On one had they see many families take home chips and salsa as a meal, yet Fresh Is Best has also seen many clients who are eating salsa for the health benefits (garlic for colds, high vitamin and nutrient content), then of course chips and salsa are a great party favourite for everything from children's birthdays to retirement parties and office parties. Generally, targets are families and party goers in Colin and Lisa's marketing, giving us an age range of 18-55+.
At Fresh Is Best they strive to support their local economy. In season Colin and Lisa rely on local farmers for 80-90% of their produce and are committed to supporting local growers. Fresh Is Best hopes to partner with local farmers and government to encourage year-round hot house production for Fresh Is Best Salsa Company produce, and year-round employment for farmers. Essentially it is a win-win situation as they get superb quality produce, vine ripened for roughly the same cost as having produce grown and shipped north - all the while ripening in a box. Another commitment is to the Fresh Is Best production process which is reliant on people actually doing the work, putting human energy into the food, as opposed to automated machinery, creating local jobs and local pride in the products themselves. Traditional tortilla chip and salsa manufacturers rely on high volume and mechanical process to make their profit. The niche that Fresh Is Best has found is producing fresh high quality product on the local level enhancing the nutritional content and eliminating the need for preservatives. Consumers are thrilled to buy locally and get product at least three weeks fresher than anything else on the shelves.
Fresh Is Best Salsa Company has surpassed yearly sales projections within six months of opening its doors and has realized a return on its investment within seven months. The start-up expenses are relatively low for a operation of this size and continued sales projections are still climbing, as the market share has not yet been tapped. Not yet reaching their potential here in Kamloops, Fresh Is Best plans to design and open a store in Vancouver and hopes to open two more locations before year end. The new Fresh Is Best Salsa Shops will have seating and eat-in menu in addition to the products and services established in Kamloops. The concept of Fresh Is Best is not limited to a Mexican flair, the vision is to specialize in fast-healthy-foods. Colin and Lisa are commonly asked, "Why salsa?". Well, salsa has become North America's number one condiment since 1997, even pushing Ketchup out of the top-selling spot in the North American condiment market. In supermarkets across Canada condiments and sauces are among the top 5 fastest growing markets (Stats Can 1997). Salsas are a major feature on the culinary landscape all over the world. There are sambals from Southeast Asia, kim chee from Korea, tsukemono from Japan, raitas and chutneys from India, tabbouleh from the Middle East, pesto and tapenade from the Mediterranean, and hasissa from Africa to name a few. They may assume different forms, but the preparation and concept is the same. One can only guess what the consumption would be of Salsas globally. Thanks to the popularity of the Southwestern, Tex-Mex, and Mexican cuisine's all over North America, almost everyone is familiar with the typical tomato, chili, onion salsa. Fresh is Best Salsa plans to have a variety of ethnic salsa tastes and compliments like tortillas, wraps, breads etc. With "trade-marketing" currently underway our additional products will start showing up in the new year.
"Do one thing and do it well!"
