By Erik Morrison – Economics & Business Editor

Located on Queen Street in Lennoxville, Brad’s Gourmet makes great pizza for dine-in or takeout and allows others to make delicious pizza at home with easy-to-use dough mixes developed by Brad himself. Brad has been making pizzas for about 20 years now, and the idea of turning his dough recipe into a dry mix that would be simple to use came to him in late 2018. The dough mix worked well, so he decided to try selling the mix to friends, neighbours, and coworkers. People liked how easy it was to create a great-tasting pizza from scratch, so Brad and his daughter Jess began the long journey of learning the requirements to take the dough mix to market. Brad’s Gourmet received certification from the Ministry of Agriculture, took courses on food preparation and handling, and they developed the packaging requirements (such as nutritional facts and barcodes). Bit by bit, the vision of developing a viable product to take to market was coming together.

In late 2021, Brad lost his job due to covid-19. He was connected to Entreprendre Sherbrooke to build a project to develop a viable company based on his dough mixes. To sell in grocery stores, you need a commercial kitchen. It is not permitted to use your home kitchen to produce food products that are sold commercially. Since it was difficult to find a commercial kitchen space, his idea morphed into a project to create a shop that sold dough mixes, sauces, cheese, and some ingredients (such as charcuteries) to make your own pizza at home.

Not long after opening his shop, he realized the problem of fast-approaching expiration dates on perishable products. He began to freeze the meat products, but they were not moving quickly enough. This problem led him to the solution of selling ready-to-eat pizzas in-store. He launched this idea five to six months after opening the shop by bringing in a few chairs and tables and spreading the word to existing customers that Brad’s Gourmet will begin selling hot pizzas on Fridays for lunch and Saturdays for breakfast. The idea took off with students and the locals of Lennoxville. It was a huge hit. It was expanded to offering hot pizzas all day (whole or by the slice) for five days a week.

Many people have congratulated Brad and his daughter Jess for starting the business during the pandemic, but Brad says the pandemic is the reason why he was able to start. If he had not lost his job, he would not have been as likely to pursue his true passion for cooking and serving people. Brad’s main goal is to continue to forge friendships with his clientele and learn about his customers on a first-name basis.

One of the challenges Brad’s Gourmet faces is managing the three aspects of the company continuously. They sell pizza dough mixes that are available in varieties including traditional, Italian, keto, and more. They offer ingredients that make the perfect toppings and the tools to create your pizza, and of course, they have hot and ready-to-eat pizzas. It can pose challenges to develop the dough mix business at the same time as preparing pizzas and sourcing quality ingredients to provide in the shop. The dough mixes are now available across Canada through Brad’s Gourmet online store (BradsGourmet.com) as well as on Amazon Canada.

Brad has some wise words for those looking to start or pursue a business idea: “Based on my experience, it’s never as we imagine. All the preconceptions I had were wrong. You have to just go with the flow and learn from your failures (since there will be many), and do not give up. Keep going with it. Since it’s not easy, make sure you love what you do. It’ll take a lot of your time so that’s really important. Also, make sure you remain flexible, if you’re inflexible you may miss valuable opportunities.” As for advice on making a great pizza, “don’t overdress it.” If you have not visited Brad’s Gourmet yet, check it out in Lennoxville for all your pizza needs.