It was over twenty years ago when Melinda made her first biscotti for her family. She really didn’t know where this journey would lead her when she brought some snacks to work. Everyone thought it was so good they told her that she should bring it to coffee shops in Victoria British Columbia. Initially she saw it as a way to make enough money to take her girls to Disneyland one day, and with an oven and mixer and lots of determination her plan was underway.

It took a lot to get started but soon the biscotti was available in five local shops near Sidney where she lived. After a year of steady orders Alun joined the business and they decided to make a go of it. Melinda stayed at her day job at the hospital, then working at home they renovated their garage into a commercial bakery and for three years they kept going. By then deliveries were going out to 85 coffee shops as far as Nanaimo, BC and people were noticing it in Toronto. The little garage bakery was becoming too small and it was time to make a change. Melinda took a leave from her job and the pair rented a commercial space in Sidney to build a larger bakery. They then added a coffee shop and went to work. This first big change was adding grocery stores. The first grocery chain to carry their biscotti was Thrifty Foods, then followed by Country Grocer and Red Barn, then MarketPlace IGA, Save on Foods and others. Business was ramping up, more coffee shops were carrying Melinda's Biscotti, and regular customers as far away as Toronto came on line. Rumour has it that even the president of Italy has enjoyed Melinda's Biscotti, and we know the snowbirds have! Eventually that space became too small again, so at the end of three years Melinda and Alun, with the help of many wonderful customers and friends, picked up the business and moved down the street to their last location with a bigger coffee shop and space to supply over 300 customers in 4 provinces. A wrapping machine and dough depositor were installed to help make over 2000 biscotti every day.

If you ask Melinda and Alun what is the best part of their business, they will always tell you the same thing, it’s the people they have met along the way, the wonderful customers, and the suppliers they have come to know and work with.  It has been a lot of very hard work and Disneyland is still somewhere down the road, but it will happen!! Taste a world of happiness, over 20 years and our biscotti business is still going strong.