La pincée seems to have been part of the Quebec culinary world forever. But it is a success achieved by the sweat of two fronts for ten years, to the delight of its craftsmen, Catherine de Gongre and François Maisonneuve.
As with many successes, the story of La pincée began for fun, without a game plan and even less a business plan. Catherine, trained at the Institut de tourisme et d’hôtellerie du Québec (ITHQ), had fun creating spice blends for her, in her daily life and in her work as a cook in a center for small childhood. One thing leading to another, by sharing her small pots with those around her, she saw in it a certain opening to put her overflowing creativity to good use, all under the watchful eye of her spouse, François Maisonneuve, graphic designer and photographer who was going quickly put your grain of salt in it.
“I like to invent lots of things. And what I wanted to create were pot recipes, that is to say that the spice makes the recipe, says Catherine. For [rehausser] a fillet of sole, for example, which is commonplace. Spices will also add texture. »
In 2010, François designed the first label for a thousand pots of Classique nº 1, a sea salt with herbs from the bouquet garni, presented at the Marché des Saveurs in Montreal. Thanks to the sales of this first batch and their own in-house talents, the company then took off. In 2012, after a complete overhaul of its brand image and with six products in hand, La pincée really took off, winning a Gaïa award highlighting excellence in food packaging, tied with the IÖGO brand. A nice pat on the back.
Two artists in business
Ten years later, the couple still refer to themselves as two artists in business. “We work hard, but we don’t necessarily feel like we’re working,” says François Maisonneuve. It is an attribute that is cool in the project. It’s not uncommon for us to arrive on Friday and I would take an extra day! Even if I am doing accounting or some task that is not so sexy… We quite like all the facets of what we do, and the positive takes precedence over the challenges and the difficulties. And customer loyalty and repeat orders add energy to the mill.
“The years have passed quickly, adds Catherine de Gongre. But we progressed at a family pace, to keep a balance in our lives, and we learned a lot to respect our values. She underlines how touched she is to see that La pincée is part of people’s cuisine. “They appreciate the products, they have their favourites. It helps them to cook better and locally. For me, it’s a great success. »
“Our mixes are solutions in the kitchen, like a toolbox,” adds François. And both also note that the range has evolved with the customers, relating in passing how the gravlax mixture raised many questions 10 years ago. “There is a good opening, and today, the spice blends are being introduced better. »
Creativity is far from dry. As on the first day, the inspirations come from the personal tastes of the family. The Kobé pinch, for example, was imagined after a request from their 19-year-old son: a great lover of Japanese cuisine who started cooking during the pandemic. Meetings too, multiplied over time, feed the idea machine. Catherine talks about her partnership with the Gaspé seaweed gatherer Stéphane Maddix Albert. François talks about the arrivals of gorria peppers harvested in Sainte-Madeleine, cranberries from Saint-Louis-de-Blandford or balsam fir buds from Danville. In their voices, we feel their affection for small producers. “We like working with human-sized companies like ours,” they say.
These meetings have also made it possible to create several collaborations and projects over time. And this is where the line is drawn for the future. After a MonsRegius beer concocted with the Bombay spice mix or a hot sauce project that will be released soon, the couple finds that more and more people are knocking on their door to make associations. Much to their delight. On the eve of concluding a contract with a distributor in Canada, the duo look at “the hours and hours of work” of the last decade thinking: “It could be, we did it! “It’s powerful to believe in an idea and to build something according to our values,” they argue. There is possibly a magic in our way of working which means that we are still there after ten years. »