Flavors Du Jour
By Andrew Joseph, Features Editor
Automation ealed Air Corporation Koch Equipment LLC Les Cuisines Gaspesiennes Linx Printing Technologies Ltd. VC999 Packaging Systems VisuaScan Inc.Given the company’s impressive track record so far, that time may well be sooner rather than later.
“During the 1980s, our meat business grew and grew to the point where we decided not to produce pizza and sub products any more,” says Carpinteri, crediting the company’s firm commitment to high quality, freshness and taste as a major catalyst for continuous market growth.
“In 1990, a local slaughterhouse purchased a percentage of our company,” he adds, “and because they were already exporting meat out of Canada, we joined them for strategic reasons.”
Although by the end of the decade Gaspesiennes purchased back its share of the joint-venture business, “Puerto Rico still remains a very strong market for us,” says Carpinteri, adding that more than 60 per cent of the company’s output is now sold outside of Quebec, with the U.S. and Caribbean countries being its biggest export markets.
According to Carpinteri, the company has also managed to maintain its growth momentum over the years in large part by being able to stay ahead of the industry curve in respect to emerging new packaging trends and methodologies.
For example, in 2004 Gaspesiennes became only the second company in Canada to have purchased a model RS420 flexible zipper rollstock machine manufactured by the Swiss machine-builder VC999 Packaging Systems—enabling it to become one of the first in the country to hit the market with resealable packages of deli-style cold cuts.
States Carpinteri: “We produce what I consider to be mainstream products, but we wanted to develop a certain purchasing reflex with our customer base, so that whenever they see our product they know that they are definitely buying a higher-quality product.
“We use our zipper machine to produce a product that not only tastes good,” he says, “but one that now also looks like a higher-quality product that it is.”
While the high-performance, modular, compact, stainless-steel machine—outfitted with a knee-free loading area, a tilt-back gripping gain, nine storable programs and a uniform heat distribution system with independent forming and sealing station lifting systems—was a significant capital investment, Carpinteri insists it was worth every penny.
“Of course price is always an issue,” he concedes, “but back then there weren’t many zip-pack machines: I believe it was the first of its kind that VC999 had produced,” reveals Carpinteri.
“And although we did have some initial difficulties with it, they were quickly resolved and the machine is still functioning at a very high performance level today.”
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