A Quebec quick service restaurant company that runs TacoTime and Mr. Submarine, among others, wants to start selling its products in grocery stores.
MTY Food Group Inc., which company controls a network of 2,238 restaurants across Canada, said its subsidiary MTY Tiki Ming Enterprises, has signed a license agreement with Produits Alimentaires Berthelet Inc. to market some of its products in retail stores in Canada, according to an article in the Financial Post.
Berthelet is a food maker specializing in dehydrated food and liquids that sell under names such as McLean ice cream and Saucier sauce mixes..
The six-year deal covers three MTY brands, including Thai Express and two other brands to be determined later.
Products are expected to appear in retail stores within the next six to nine months.
In Quebec, restaurant Les Rôtisseries St-Hubert, the province’s most popular chicken chain, already offers its gravies and other foods in stores such as Metro.
The company, according to the article, is spending $25-million to expand its existing food-making plant in Boisbriand north of Montreal to cater to the growing ready-to-eat market.
MTY’s products however, won’t be ready-to-eat.
Company CFO Eric Lefebvre said in the article that such foods would represent too many issues for the company to control, such as freshness while also representing direct competition for MTY franchisees.
“We’ll go for sauces on shelves, frozen products etc.,” Mr. Lefebvre said in the article.
“Hopefully, we’ll be able to match the products you get in the food court. This is one of the main challenges for the next few months.”
