{"id":25441,"date":"2021-06-07T16:06:06","date_gmt":"2021-06-07T20:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev-gordon-food-service-canada.pantheonsite.io\/ideas\/success-story-closed-doors-open-up-opportunities\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T10:51:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T14:51:34","slug":"success-story-closed-doors-open-up-opportunities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/success-story-closed-doors-open-up-opportunities\/","title":{"rendered":"Success Story: Closed Doors Open Up Opportunities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Catering company\u2019s ups and downs lead to Yo-Yo Cookies and more.<\/h2>\n

You can\u2019t change your business in one day, but one day can change your business. For Kitchen Door Food Company<\/a> in Nova Scotia, it happened on pandemic shutdown day.<\/p>\n

When life handed catering a catastrophe, company founder Patty Howard pivoted before the word became a cliche. Within a week, she embarked on a survival plan that became a business transformation\u2014one that included Yo-Yo Cookies™, Dog Beer and cooking classes for the online masses.<\/p>\n

Pre-COVID, Howard\u2019s core revenue came from catering. In fact, she called her operation Kitchen Door Catering, with about 75% of its business from weddings, social occasions, corporate events and regular business drop-off meals. That disappeared in March 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe realized pretty quickly that our pipeline was dry,\u201d Howard recalls. She cut her staff from 35 full-time employees and 20 part-timers to four. \u201cWe did one week of phone orders for our retail food, and that weekend I went in and built a little Square e-commerce site.\u201d<\/p>\n

E-commerce takes hold<\/h3>\n

E-commerce was a new thing, but it made sense to fall back on the small retail food shop part of her business. Howard learned years earlier the value of small, diversified revenue streams. To complement catering\u2019s slow periods, the Kitchen Door 11,000-square-foot Dartmouth storefront also sold fresh and frozen chef-crafted meals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere weren\u2019t a lot of businesses open when the pandemic shutdown hit, so we just started making food,\u201d she says. \u201cI think the restaurants that took on that role really struggled in the beginning. There were shortages in packaging, and they really didn\u2019t know how to make it and test it and make sure it worked at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kitchen Door had all of its packaging and labeling in place, as well as clear instructions on how customers could prepare the food at home. They also had the skills to produce meals in volume \u00a0and achieve quality results.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring lockdown, we did 10 times what we would normally do in retail during the first three months, but we were missing all of the other business,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Within a week and a half, she was able to recall two more employees. Among them was her resident chef, Andrew Ferrell, who shifted from conducting in-house cooking classes to online events.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Enhanced online cooking<\/h3>\n

The in-house cooking classes were all about the experience, Howard says. People would come in, have wine, enjoy a three-course curated dining event. She wasn\u2019t sure it could work online.<\/p>\n

Some of the first classes only had two people. But their popularity grew, hitting a sweet spot with private events.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs more and more people realized \u2018normal\u2019 wasn\u2019t coming back soon, organizations started looking for ways to team-build, and we started doing events,\u201d Howard says.<\/p>\n

One event with Doctors Nova Scotia, a non-profit medical association, included 156 people. In groups of six, they worked with an online instructor to cook communal, family-style meals.<\/p>\n

The program expanded to \u201cWe Shop\u201d and \u201cYou Shop\u201d formats with different pricing. For local residents, Kitchen Door delivers food for the class. For long-distance participants, they get a list of groceries. It\u2019s a blend of catering know-how, retail capabilities and cooking-class enjoyment.<\/p>\n

\"Packages<\/h3>\n

Yo-Yo Cookies™ come calling<\/h3>\n

While the cooking classes grew, it was the retail side that changed the business. Kitchen Door was long a supporter of local products. In addition to selling their own packaged products, the storefront became an outlet for other specialty foods. That\u2019s how they met Yo-Yo Cookies™.<\/p>\n

The shortbread and buttercream sandwich cookie hails from New Zealand. The company that created the cookie for the Canadian market is based in Prince Edward Island packages and \u00a0sells them through many retailers like Kitchen Door\u2019s specialty retail shop. When the company wanted to scale up manufacturing, Howard got the call.<\/p>\n

Kitchen Door is now the licensed manufacturer of and distributor for all four Atlantic provinces. It was an opportunity that required equipment, training, food-manufacturing certification and a different mindset.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spent years working \u2018on\u2019 the business, not \u2018in\u2019 the business, and now I was back in there getting my hands dirty,\u201d Howard says. \u201cI\u2019ve never made so many cookies in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The decision to take on a licensed product paid off and she anticipates continued growth.<\/p>\n

Dog beer ghost kitchen<\/h3>\n

One new twist is brewing dog beer. A former Kitchen Door employee started a doggie day care and learned the lesson of having a retail presence. She started simmering bone broth in her Instant Pot and called it dog beer. It led to the creation of Crafty Beast Brewing Co. To meet demand, she sought Howard\u2019s help.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a manufacturing version of a ghost kitchen. Every night, the tilt skillet at Kitchen Door goes on and makes bone broth that gets frozen and shipped to Crafty Beast. A canning company does the rest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re in catering, you get pretty good at MacGyver-ing. It\u2019s also very taxing\u2014lots of lifting, loading, unloading, weekends, 2 a.m. prep work,\u201d Howard explains. \u201cI\u2019m not saying I\u2019ll never do catering again, but the lane we\u2019re in now makes a lot of sense for the work-life balance of the team that\u2019s been with me a long time and through all of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next up? Possibly creating custom prepared meals for a diet and nutrition business with multiple locations in Nova Scotia. Or perhaps more co-packaging or licensing deals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always something up my sleeve,\u201d Howard says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Catering company\u2019s ups and downs lead to Yo-Yo Cookies and more. You can\u2019t change your business in one day, but one day can change your business. For Kitchen Door Food Company in Nova Scotia, it happened on pandemic shutdown day. 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