Hi friends, thanks for tuning in again. If this is your first time here, my name is Tracy
Martens and this is YQG In Bloom. Now make sure to like, follow and subscribe so you
will be in the know of any of my upcoming podcasts. Now I'm really excited today because
progies are my jam. I would eat them probably for every meal and I'm really excited because
one of my favorite ones are Littlefoot food progies in Windsor and that is Rob Myers. He
is one of the owners. Hi Rob. Hi guys. Hi Tracy. I'm so excited you're here. Now how
long have you guys been in business? We started in September 2013 so it's 11 years this month
actually. Wow. When you continually make perogies nonstop it just feels like kind of day after
day but looking back at it's amazing we've been making the little pockets of joy this
long. And they are pockets of joy, that is guaranteed. I still have the strawberry progies
from Strawberrylicious in my freezer and I have to get them out this weekend. I mean
that's my favorite part about our food is that it is freezer food. It's designed to
be there for when you're ready for it. You don't have to eat it right away and like the
strawberry are a special edition. Yeah the strawberry pie are a special edition one that
we did with Raymont berries. We got their fresh strawberries and made basically a pie
filling thickened it a bit with granola and then wrapped it up in our thin perogies dough.
So this way when you want a slice of pie you don't have to get the whole thing. You know
you've got a couple of perogies sitting in the freezer. Yeah I tend to overeat when it
comes to his progies. I have 10. Every time I eat I have 10. And then you're not alone
most people say it's hard not to finish the bag. You really can't. So I mix it up. I like
to have a variety and you just never know because they throw it all in the pan. It's
kind of like your little variety packs. Little roulette packs. You make your own and you
make them with the flavors that you love. Oh for sure. Now you guys started this in 2013.
What made you guys do perogies? What was it about perogies? Rachel had a family recipe.
She was taught from her grandmother who was actually taught from her babcha, the original
recipe maker. Ever since she was basically old enough to stand up at the counter and
help pinch the perogies closed she's been making them. And we were looking at starting
some sort of food business because she realized she did not want to work in an office. Nobody
does. Right. It's boring and she liked working with her hands. She loves cooking. So that
all made sense. Got my business mind turning and I asked what sorts of things she would
make if we did start a food business and listed off a couple things and then eventually said
well my family has a perogie recipe so there was a hard stop. I think it was the next day
she made a batch of perogies for us for dinner and they were the best that I've ever had
in my life. I was raised on grocery store perogies. That's all flour. Yeah. Whole lot
of dough, little bit of insides. A good way to get sour cream into your body. Oh yeah.
Having that filling and knowing it's traditional and came straight from Poland this recipe.
I said okay we've got something here and she made a batch, gave it to family and friends.
The family said wow these are like batches and the friends wanted to buy more so we made
more perogies which then begot making more perogies and more perogies and more perogies
and 11 years later we are making more and more and more perogies. Well hey make what
you know. I don't really know too many people that don't like perogies. It's funny because
in this area perogies are really well known. I think it's because we're a melting pot of
cultures. We have everybody here and everybody's kind of one upping their own game which in
turn makes everyone else have to one up their game. In every community that I know there
is a Polish church that sells perogies and cabbage rolls on Fridays and so yeah I've
grown up with them and they're amazing. I'd prefer the handmade to the store bought ones
any day. Now you guys have a ton of flavors. How many do you have? At any given time in
the store we have somewhere between 40 and 50 different flavors. Over the last 11 years
we've created upwards of 150. There was a time where we were working with the Willis
Dead. My cousin was the head chef there or one of the head chefs there and she had us
make a pea soup perogie for them one time and it worked out. It went really well and
they loved it and I mean this is like year one or year two of what we were doing so being
in a restaurant and making a perogie like that was a little intimidating because the
Willis Dead had such a great reputation but yeah it went over really well and from there
on I think we did about 10 or 11 different perogies with them over the course of that
year when she just had a different idea for something, wanted to try something. She would
get us a version of the filling, we would perogie-ize it. I never ever would have thought
of pea soup perogie. You can do anything. I have a feeling it would probably be good.
Anything with potato. Potato makes a good base. It on its own is very bland and can
absorb a lot of flavor so as long as you add enough ingredient into it you're fine. Like
our hot chocolate perogie. You have a hot chocolate perogie? Yeah. Okay hold the presses.
When does that come out? Oh it's been out. We've had it for years. This is the problem
with having so many flavors. People like cheddar and like certain other ones that they find
and then you're good and you're happy and. Well and that's the problem is you guys whenever
I see you at the different markets or the vendor shows and that I look at the list and
I gotta sit there for 10 minutes because I have the worst time trying to figure out what
I want. It can definitely be overwhelming. You are not the first to say that or stand
there for a solid 5 to 10 minutes. I have people standing there taking pictures and
sending it to their family so they can pick or calling their friend and cheddar, bacon
cheddar onion, spinach feta ricotta, jalapeno cheddar. Now you have the hot chocolate perogies
in stock all the time? Generally yes. If we run out of something that we regularly carry
we put it into our next available production slot. So that's either the next week or the
week after. Okay so I might have to come to the shop tomorrow. Yes they do have a store
inside their factory which is awesome and I just found out it's not far from here. Yeah
hop skip and jump from here. I love it. Now you said you clapped once with Willestead.
I know you collaborate with a bunch of different businesses. How many? Do you have an idea?
On Perogies I want to say we've probably worked with 20 to 30 locals. Like Sawyer's Craft
BBQ we did two with them. We did one with Professor Zahedine out at Armando's. We've
done many with the Cheese Bar, many with Robbie's Gourmet Sausage, many with Auntie Aladieu.
And like this whole summer we've teamed up with one downtown farmers market business
each month to produce a perogie based on one of the things that they sell. So we did the
Zinza sauce as a perogie. We collaborated with Maja Y'all and did a spaghetti and meatball
perogie with them. We brought back Auntie Aldieu's Chicken Pot Pie and I've got one coming up
with Rizzoi this month. We're going to do the Chicken Kima. Now I know I still have
in the freezer the Bubby and I have the Farmers Cheese. I have to defrost Robbie's blueberry
sausage because he has Robbie working with him. Yeah we were fortunate enough to hire
Robbie from Robbie's Gourmet Sausage Factory as our head chef and then in his spare time
he produces more sausages. So we have part of a freezer just devoted to his stuff and
he usually has about 5 to 10 different flavours at any given time. And that's the thing is
Windsor-Essex County they all love Robbie's sausage so make sure that you can get down
to his place and get some sausage and I'm really excited. I'm actually going to have
them this weekend. I've been waiting and waiting and waiting. It's nice that it seems like
falls here aside from a little earlier this month. Do you do pumpkin? We do a pumpkin
pie pierogi and actually we just talked with Colesantes. They're going to be doing an event
at the beginning of or mid-October that involves pumpkin spice so we'll be doing a special
pierogi for that event as well. Okay I also have an obsession with pumpkin so let me know
when that happens. So historically we've done a mix of sweet potato and pure pumpkin and
then spiced it accordingly and it tastes exactly like pumpkin pie. We veganized it eventually
because we didn't have any vegan dessert pierogi so instead of the butter we used butter flavoured
olive oil from Dressed by an Olive. Just a little thicker, a little richer but still
vegan friendly so that's good. And all of the dough is vegan? Yes, no eggs. We have
a bunch of usually about 15 different types of vegan pierogi available but we use the
same dough for all of them aside from the gluten free ones that we forgot the flour
to do for us. Yeah I haven't tried the gluten free yet. Do you find that there's any difference
with the dough? There is. It's a little thicker, it's a little tougher but you can't work with
certain ingredients and flour is the main component of almost all doughs. Well I mean
a little thicker is not that bad. I mean I would rather have it a little thicker than
it fall apart and you lose all your dough. Yes. Or lose all your insides I should say.
You lose all your dough and all your insides. That too yes. But people seem to like them,
they keep coming back and buy more. They've thanked us for producing them because nobody
makes vegan gluten free pierogi. Oh for sure. Or just gluten free pierogi I guess. Well
I mean most people don't make vegan pierogies either because they, it calls for egg or milk,
I've seen butter, I've seen so many different recipes for pierogies so it's awesome that
you're able to do a vegan one so that everybody can enjoy it. We do our best to not impact
our customers wallets. We know that we're on the higher end of pierogi that you buy
because the other options are $2.99 for like a bag this giant but we all know that it's
dough and potato flakes and powdered cheese. So you know you get what you pay for and unfortunately
in this economy everything's more expensive including all of our costs so. But you guys
also try to use or utilize as much of the local ingredients as what you can. Yes. So
I mean I don't mind paying a little bit more for knowing what is in the product and that
it's local so you don't have all the extra additives. On the other side of the coin the
money spent on buying from local businesses keeps the money in the community. Exactly.
So we do our best where we can to you know buy from our reputable friends, buy from people
that we know and trust and do what we can to make Windsor a better place. Oh gosh yeah.
Now I see you guys at a lot of different markets and fairs and all of those things. You're
also in a ton of stores. Yeah we have about 50 or so local retailers all shapes and sizes
so to speak. Like our largest retailer would be the real Canadian superstore now we're
in their four locations the Walker Road, Dougal, Leamington and Chatham in the area. Once we
figure out a better way to ship frozen product in bulk then hopefully we can get into the
other ones. We've been in talks and we're more or less approved it's just figuring out
the logistics because we're such a small business we don't have we won't have the volume to
fill up the trucks to then make it worth shipping so. Yeah I can see that. Step by step. It
seems like a lot saying you've been around for 11 years but realistically in a food business
11 years is still new especially how fast you've grown and the amount of products in
the variety and the stores that you've been in that's a huge accomplishment for you guys
and it's it's still just a small business. Yeah most definitely there's so much involved
in a business that even after going to business school you don't think about until you're
living the day to day. Oh yeah. Everything in school is very isolated okay here's your
accounting here's your finance here's your marketing here's your production which you
don't even really deal with in business because that's outsourced to somebody else. And keeping
it insourced. Yeah and when you're wearing all those hats at the same time there's a
lot going on so having that reliable team being there who knows what they need to do
and can execute without having to you know be managed is wonderful and it feels like
a little family. We go to work with people that we really care about and we do everything
in our power to help them live their lives while we are still just small. No that's good.
Now whereabouts is your store located? So we're tucked in the manufacturing area of
Old Castle the best landmarks would be Highway 3 and Walker or Costco. So if you're coming
from Highway 3 you just go north on Walker take your first left onto Blackacre between
the two big churches and then you pass Lyuna or you pass Amaco and make your first left
onto Faison and then just follow that street down and around. So it's on Faison. Yes 2010
Faison Drive. Google map it trust me. It's a little zigzag but it is well worth it because
you sell your own products as well as Robbie's sausage and a whole bunch. Well it's a lot
of the people that we met at the downtown farmers market. We've networked and worked
with them over the years so we sell pies from Auntie Aldo. We have butter tarts from Christine's
out in Leamington. We have hand pies from Zuley. We have maple syrup from Ruscon maple
syrup. We have honey from Hawksview. We have Cedar Valley. They were one of our first people
we brought in when we moved to our new location and had a shop that we could sell from. Oh
yeah. I mean they're amazing and they were right across the street from you guys at the
time. Well again throwback to the downtown farmers market. The first time they popped
up their business was there and I was making pierogi and I needed lunch so I walked down
and I saw them. I grabbed a fetish salad, went back to my tent, ate it, went back to
their tent and said this is like the best salad dressing, best fetish I've had and these
pita chips are awesome. Can we sell them in our store? And they said yes. So we were weirdly
enough the first people in Canada to be retailing for Cedar Valley and I think it's only been
four or five years they have leapfrogged and they are across Canada now. Oh and the states.
It's been amazing to watch them grow. I can't even keep up with Amin and Zariah. I know.
I can't believe how much they've grown. They're wonderful people and they're great in the
community as well. They're the reason we have our shop where it is. We have the same landlord
and when he heard there was going to be an opening he let us know that there was a shop.
He's a good boy. Yeah he really is. So what does your fall look like for Littlefoot? Lots
of production. We've put some new items on the menu, brought some old items back. We
used to make lasagnas when we first started and we didn't do that for quite some time
because we just didn't have the capabilities at our old location and now that we're out
in Old Castle at 2010 Faison Drive we have the ability to do that kind of stuff now.
So we do a cheese lasagna and a meat lasagna, a cottage pie, a shepherd's pie. We have the
cabbage rolls and the stuffed peppers as always. Then we've started a new line of boil in bag
meals. Yeah I like the boil in bag. The cabbage rolls. They were really really good. Good.
I'm so glad. No they really were. My husband, he's not a huge cabbage roll person but he's
like, I'll eat them and he loves them so we will definitely be getting them again. Well
that's our whole shtick is we want to make your life easier. We want to make your nights
faster and better so you can do the things that either you have to do like making podcasts
or enjoy the time that you have not making podcasts. Yep and I, as much as I love cooking
or I used to love cooking now it's just like oh I'd rather just pull out some progies or
some cabbage rolls. Now that you've said lasagna you piqued my curiosity and for sure going
down there tomorrow I definitely need some hot chocolate progies to go with the strawberry.
So for the hot chocolate when you heat them up they'll cook the same as the other progie
they just might go a little quicker and the sugar could potentially burn if you're not
paying attention. Not that you have to watch them like a hawk. But fry up three or four
of them put them in a little dish with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top and a little chocolate
syrup and you have a like hot ice cream progie sundae. Oh my goodness okay you have me sold.
This is great and when are you guys going to be in at Colesantes? So I believe that's
going to be the 12th they haven't officially announced it yet so keep an eye on their social
media and follow us at Little Foot Foods and we'll post when we have the flyer for it but
I believe it's going to be 10 to 2 on the 12th of October. Okay perfect and that's when
you're re-releasing the pumpkin pie progies? Yeah we'll have the pumpkin pie there and
we'll have the pumpkin spice available to eat as well as our classic cheddar. And the
classic cheddar is wonderful. One last thing I did want to ask you because I really love
your broccoli mac and cheese progie is there any potato in that? Yes. I wasn't sure some
of them it's like because I mix everything I just will open up a million different bags
and I throw it in as a roulette. I don't know why I just don't buy your roulette ones and
I couldn't tell. When you do it your way you ensure that all the progie you want to eat
are in there and you'll know like you're not getting any really weird outliers so to speak.
But yeah the broccoli mac and cheese is still the potato base. Okay. Unlike our ones that
are cheddar based like the classic cheddar bacon cheddar onion jalapeno cheddar the Brock
mac and cheese we actually make our mac and cheese sauce that's in our mac and cheese
dish. We cook the noodles the sauce goes in with the potatoes and the noodles that all
kind of mixes together so the mac and cheese sauce ends up just being a little thicker
mixed in with the potato and then bam it's broccoli. It's really good I really like that.
All of our progie are potato based except for the enchilada that is corn tortilla chips
that are deep fried and then mixed in with the enchilada sauce that gives it the sticky
texture to be able to bind everything else together. I haven't tried that one yet. It's
my favorite. I definitely will. I've tried and I do like the jalapeno cheddar because
they're really not spicy and I'm not a spicy person but I love the flavor of jalapeno.
Yeah the jalapeno is definitely on our more mild end of the spicy ones. Carolina Reaper
would be on the other end so you want to stay away from that. And I do like your stuffin
one. The stuffin one is so good. I haven't had it in a while. We're going to have that
as our spotlight progie. I think it's the last week of the month. In September? Yes.
Just in time for Thanksgiving. So if you're the type of person that will sit there and
go to the fridge and grab the bowl of stuffing after everybody goes home and eat it. That's
me. Then you fry up a couple of these. You have a side of stuffing for any meal without
having to actually do all the work of it. Yeah we're a household that will buy a 20
pound turkey for three people and five pounds of stuffing and nothing goes to waste. Rob
thank you so much for being here. I am so glad that I finally was able to get you on
the podcast. I had the day off to visit. Yeah we've touched base many times over the years
so I'm glad that we could finally work it out. And I will definitely be in tomorrow
to stock up on everything for my freezer. It's running a little low on progies. And
again my name is Tracy Martins. Make sure that you follow Little Foot Foods on social
media and your website is littlefootfoods.com www.littlefootfoods.ca. Sorry about that.
Make sure you follow me and this podcast so that you can catch when all of my new podcasts
come out. Have a great day.