Interview: Kimberly Chamberland, CEO of Big Mountain Foods
I had the pleasure of speaking with Kimberly Chamberland, co-owner and founder of Big Mountain Foods, a Vancouver-based manufacturer that produces plant-based and allergen-free foods. Founded in 1987, Big Mountain Foods prides itself on utilizing real and fresh ingredients in all of their products. Each item is certified vegan; gluten-, nut- and soy-free; and non-GMO verified. Additionally, the company is female-owned and the workforce is 90% female. Naturally, I was eager to speak with Kimberly and learn more about the amazing work that her company is doing for the food allergy community. Check out our chat below:
Q: Can you give me a little background on Big Mountain Foods? How and why it started?
A: I was raised in the food industry. My grandmother always had big steakhouses back in LA during the Hollywood era. Then, my mom was part of the whole revolution — a lot of her friends were being shipped off to the Vietnam War — and she just became rebellious. Everything that had to do with fancy steakhouses, my mom was the opposite, so I was raised a vegetarian. She opened up several diners, and she had a vegan/vegetarian catering company. So, once I graduated, a friend of hers had a company called Simply Wonderful Foods — he was delivering tofu sandwiches, granola, etc. Whole Foods didn’t exist back then. There were mom-and-pop health food stores, and he would make a lot of products one day and deliver them the next day. He decided he wanted to sell the business, so my mom said to me, “You have always been gifted with food. It’s what you know.” So I bought his company at 20 years old. It was a very unique situation — the kitchen was shared with an Italian gentleman who invented frozen pizza. He was growing, exploding and getting mainstream grocery stores, and it inspired me. So, I started going after that market. At the same time, I thought I would be brilliant and open up a restaurant. So we opened a restaurant in Kitsilano, and it was all vegetarian. I named it Healthy Horizon Foods. I had my restaurant in the front and did wholesale out the back door.
I went to Safeway with all of my products, and I told them I would guarantee all the sales for a shot, and they [gave me that shot]. There was a veggie dog, but there wasn’t a veggie burger at that time. My [restaurant] menu had 15 different types of veggie burgers, so [our Safeway rep] was like, “Why don’t you do something that has a shelf life instead. Simplify your life.” The original Mountain Veggie Burger was invented, and it was a mainstream grocer that encouraged me to do that. So, at that point, it was strictly a veggie burger. It had nothing to do with allergens. I wasn’t political about soy. I eventually sold the restaurant and focused on wholesale.
About six years ago, my daughter Jasmine graduated from business school. She went and got a job, and I just started thinking about it — she has so much to give, she’s such a brilliant young lady, and she’s known the business since birth. So I offered her the opportunity to come and join forces at Big Mountain.
Q: I know your products are plant-based. Can you talk about the decision to also make sure that they were nut-, soy- and gluten-free?
A: Jasmine was diagnosed with celiac. There really wasn’t anything out there for people with celiac. Everything somehow has wheat in it. We decided, OK, let’s make our veggie burger allergen-free — so we took out the flour. Then we created our second product, which was the Cauli Crumble. We were doing a demo at Safeway and made these little flatbreads. We actually won best new product of the year for that. It’s just so simple, clean and versatile. A woman said her daughter loved the flatbread, but there was only one problem: she couldn't take it to school because there’s walnuts in it. A lightbulb went off — we realized we should devote our line of products to being allergen-free. So we switched from walnuts to sunflower seeds, which are more nutritious, grown in Canada, and more affordable. Often, walnuts can be very bitter and [sunflower seeds] really help with the texture of the products, so that was simple.
We also try to stay clean label, which is very difficult. We don’t use starches or gums. It’s been really challenging coming out with sausages and not being able to use those ingredients. But everyday customers thank us, so it’s worth it.
Q: What have been the biggest challenges to bringing specialized products to the marketplace?
A: It feels like we came up with this line of sausages, but our [distributors] are not caring that we’re 40% vegetable and allergen-free. They just say, “We don’t have room…” We really thought our latest launch — the sausages — were going to be a no-brainer, but we’re just not getting the opportunity. So we want to get a little more creative with what we’re coming out with. And we need more people like you saying [to their local grocery stores] that “these products are available and I would buy them because this is the type of food I need to survive.”
Q: What would you like for the company to be doing five years from now? Any major companywide goals?
A: We really just really want to be known at Big Mountain Foods for good, wholesome food. We’re not trying to be political. We want flexitarian, vegetarian, and meat eaters to enjoy our food and be recognized. — and to really have our customers have trust and faith in what they're buying, and that what we’re claiming is what they’re getting. It’s so difficult to be in the food industry and see all of our competitors out there. You go to their website, and it will show the yellow split pea and the beet with the root and a cracked coconut. And meanwhile, you know it’s all powders. And here we are — really using artichoke, hemp, yam and kale — and it’s hard to get that word out there when these other companies have bottomless pockets. We just really want to be known as an honest company that you can trust. We’re really trying to focus on that. People are knocking on our door to see if we want to go public or be acquired. We’re just trying to stay focused so people feel good about what they’re supporting.
Big Mountain Foods’ products can be found in local grocery stores. Most notably, the company recently entered into a distribution partnership with Kroger. And, if they’re not available near you, put in a request at your grocery store.
