About Us Our large location at 1632 West 3rd Ave includes: A gourmet food store A showroom for our gift baskets and containers A warehouse for the specialty foods we carry or distribute (see www.mafwholesale.com for more on our wholesale business.) A large area for the design and preparation of gift baskets, including large commercial orders of between 1,000 and 3,000 gift baskets, all palletized for delivery. Mad About Food facts Every gift basket is made in-house, by us The specialty foods we carry have been tasted and handpicked by us for quality, originality, and flavour Beyond baskets, we have a large selection of fun and unique containers Large or small, custom orders are always welcome Our History Mad About Food began in the fall of 2000, with the launch of the company's Gift Basket Collection. The company grew, and in November 2002 we moved operations to our new specialty food retail store on West 4th Ave. The store received rave reviews, our clients loved its look and feel, and it was an incredible learning experience for us. In March 2004, we closed that location and moved our focus back to the gift baskets, operating from a warehouse. In the Fall of 2006 we formed a complimentary business, Mad About Food Wholesale (www.mafwholesale.com), which distributes to specialty food, grocery and gift stores. In April 2007, we opened up at our current location, combining the best of our 8 years' experience into the new Mad About Food. Photo above: assembling an order of over 1000 baskets. We Have Great People Allyson and Marianne are the key people you will be communicating with. Allyson brings to the business the overall direction of the Company. She's as passionate about Mad About Food's specialty food products as she is about helping her customers. Our key researcher, it's her knowledge of this market and her dogged determination to find new, great tasting products that make our baskets so unique. Marianne has been responsible for many facets of the Company's gift basket production since 2002. She moved back to Winnipeg (her home town) for a couple of years, but has rejoined the business with the opening of the West 3rd location (April 2007). She must have highly developed visual-spacial skills, as she has a knack for artfully fitting eclectic assortments of products into containers. The baskets she designs definitely have that "WOW" look when they're finished and ready for delivery. Her knowledge of great tasting foods and gift baskets grew in Winnipeg where she worked with two other specialty food businesses. We're thrilled she's back. Our Selection is Eclectic and Exclusive We strive to offer something people have never experienced before. We buy direct from local producers and pick and choose the specific items we think are great that other suppliers and distributors offer to ensure our selection is eclectic and exclusive. At least 30% of our items can’t be found elsewhere in Vancouver, and many not even in Canada. When we’re really passionate about a particular specialty food we go to great lengths to find and import the item because that’s what makes us different – and ensures those who receive your gift really enjoy the food we include. All this takes time and effort, but we wouldn't have it any other way. Mad About Food is a member of the Buyers’ Circle of the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade. Our membership in this group of passionate retailers gives us early access to the Fancy Food Shows, networking dinners with other retailers and a higher profile when we visit a suppliers’ trade show booth. At the 2007 New York Fancy Food show Allyson was one of the members of a panel discussion entitled “Exploring Gift Basket Business Models: Pricing, Presentation, Strategy”. We Search Far and Wide We visit several trade shows every year, including Canadian gift shows, and the US Fancy Food shows in New York, San Francisco and Chicago. We are constantly tasting, testing, and researching. Our most important criteria is that the specialty foods we offer taste great—because then we know the recipients of our clients’ gifts will really enjoy them. And secondly, they must be well-packaged, as they'll be adding to the overall look of the gift. Each component contributes to the “WOW” recipients experience when they receive your gift.