Theo’s Eatery

Theo's Eatery

Restaurant commercializing popular salad dressings

CHALLENGE

Theo’s Eatery is a family owned and operated Italian & Greek restaurant located in Orillia, ON. Established in 1993, the restaurant employs 60 employees and serves comfort foods including salads, pizza and pasta. In addition, the restaurant makes its own salad dressings which it sells over the counter. Theo’s Eatery’s saw an opportunity to bring their popular Caesar and Greek salad dressings to the consumer goods marketplace. The challenges this project faced were replicating the unique flavour and visual appearance of the products, and identifying an appropriate co-packer identification, since High Pressure Processing (HPP) is an emerging technology in Canada.

SOLUTION

The Business & Commercialization Solutions team first provided an environmental scan, competitive analysis, target market and promotional strategies. The food science team at the Canadian Food & Wine Institute Innovation Centre, after completing formulation trials and sensory sessions, provided two final formulations to the partner, along with co-packer identification, suppliers and regulatory guidance. Theo’s Eatery is in the process of scaling up these products and we hope to see them on shelves in the near future.

Funding: Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) through the College Voucher for Technology Adoption (CVTA) program.

READ THE STORY HERE