David Ehrenworth, founder of David's Gourmet, wanted to provide a one stop personalized gourmet grocery experience, but could not do it within the size of his previous two locations.  He needed something large.  When he saw the space at the Bruce Street location he immediately thought is was perfect.  It was centrally located in Waterloo Region, easy access of the highway, great exposure, and it was a great square footage.

David knew his expertise was gourmet grocery, but also knew you cannot do all things well.  So he invited the best butcher, fruit/vegetable, and nuturition store retailers that he had heard of to join him in a marche like concept.  To his delight, all of them shared his vision, and they were very soon partners and friends:

Fiddleheads:

Jenn and Kim have their degrees in nutrition and are truly passionate about what they do.  This is their fourth location, and are very hands on for relationship building with their customers.  They both have a great knowledge of their product, and a fantastic sense of style.  They recently won the prestigious 2008 Retailer of the Year.  www.fiddleheadshealth.com

Kara's Fruit and Vegetables:

Gerald Kara, his father, wife, and family have been an institution at the St. Jacob's market for decades. His knowledge and passion for fruits and vegetables is astounding.  He handpicks his product everyday for the store from the Food Terminal in Toronto.  He refuses to sell inferior product. Gerald and his family are in the store everyday to offer advice, a warm smile and hello, and offer a sample. Gerald and his family are one of the kindest, caring, friendly people that David has ever met, and he is extremely proud to be partnered with them.

The Healthy Butcher:

David kept reading glowing articles about this butcher in Toronto in Toronto Life magazine and the Toronto Star.  Seems a husband and wife team of lawyers were so passionate about organic, local, fresh beef they quit their jobs and opened two stores in Toronto.   They proved you never can go wrong following their passion!   As a long shot, David called Mario and Tara to explain his concept and see if they were interested.  Within a week they were on board, and David was one excited person!

www.thehealthybutcher.com

With the pieces of the puzzle put together, and a couple of months of construction, the rest is history.  A one stop gourmet shopping experience, with the owners of the stores at hand to offer the expertise, advice, and old-fashion personalized service.

David's Gourmet History

• October 2006 while standing in line for cheese for almost an hour on a Saturday at a local gourmet store in Kitchener, David gets a revelation, "this town is too big for just one small gourmet store!"
• November 2006 David negotiates lease for Waterloo location
• November 2006 David has to find 6000 new products, source equipment, design the store, and put it together before Christmas
• December 12, 2006 David's Gourmet Waterloo is open for business
• May 2007 David's Gourmet Waterloo expands by 1300 square feet, delayed due to David's unexpected blindness for 2 months.
• June 2007 David's Gourmet wins Platinum Caterer of the Year
• September 2007 David's Gourmet annouces the opening of downtown Kitchener location
• October 2007 David's Gourmet wins prestious Retailer of the Year award
• November 2007 David's Gourmet in downtown Kitchener opens
• August 2008 David no longer has any ties to first two stores
• October 2008 David's Gourmet on Bruce Street opens and a new shopping experience begins
• David's Gourmet on Bruce, wins Records 2009 Readers Poll for Best Caterer, Best Specialty Food Store, Best Delicatessen