‘Buy Canadian’ Reddit post becomes secret ingredient to help save Ontario condiment business

It seems that the secret ingredient to help save Shenul Williams’s small Pickering, Ont., condiment business was a healthy dash of Canadian patriotism.

With sales down, and fears that she may have to close shop, a posting on a “Buy Canadian” Reddit thread has significantly boosted orders, she said.

“I’m really blown away with the love and support from Canadians through these uncertain times,” said an emotional Williams in an interview with CBC News. “I was worried that I was going to lose my business.”

Williams owns and operates Aki’s Fine Foods, which manufactures and sells Indo-African condiments including pickles, chutneys and barbecue marinades. She took over the business from her parents more than 30 years ago, and has expanded it to a point where her products are featured in stores across Canada, including some of the larger grocery chains.

Aki’s has had its ups and downs, but it was hit particularly hard by COVID-19 after many grocers and restaurants that stocked her products went out of business.

These past few months, since the beginning of the year, have been particularly dire, she said. However, earlier this week, her daughter Aliza Welch decided to post about her mom’s business on a “Buy Canadian” thread on Reddit.

‘Products have a maple leaf’

“My mom owns a Canadian-made Indo-African sauce company that has been in business for 38 years. It is truly amazing and has been struggling since COVID,” Welch wrote. 

“With so much interest in buying small Canadian companies, I figured I would share her products as an alternative. Your support would change her life. All products have a maple leaf!”

The response was immediate and enormous, she says, with order requests through her website increasing by almost 4,000 per cent, according to Williams.

“I can’t believe it,” she said. “This impact that it has had on my business is significant and is saving my business.”

She said she’s also received messages with the orders.

“I can remember one little note. This lady said, ‘Keep it up.’ You know, make Canadian. ‘We want Canadian.'”

The response to Williams’s products is indicative of the huge upsurge in consumer demand for Canadian products that has swept through Canada since U.S. President Donald Trump declared a 25 per cent tariff on imports, said Gary Sands, senior vice president of public policy and advocacy for the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers.

A ‘permanent shift’

“I’ve been with this organization 25 years in August, and I can tell you I’ve never seen anything like it,” Sands said.

“I think this has been a permanent shift.”

In Belleville, Ont., for example, the family-owned Sprague Foods soup company, with its red maple leaf displayed prominently its cans, has seen a boost in sales. Some local farmers as well are reporting spikes in sales.

According to the Canadian Federation Of Independent Business (CFIB), which conducted a recent poll that’s yet to be published, 25 per cent of businesses reported taking steps to highlight their Canadian-made products.

And of those businesses, 50 per cent reported an increase in the demand for those Canadian-made products, said Michelle Auger, senior policy analyst with CFIB.

“It’s a wonderful sentiment that Canadian consumers are coming together and rallying behind our Canadian brands,” she said.

But Auger also cautioned that not all businesses may be able to sell Canadian products and that Canadian consumers shouldn’t necessarily penalize those.

Businesses are pivoting and shifting where they’re getting products and slowly trying to be less reliant on U.S. markets, but many may still have inventory from the U.S., she said.

“We also want to make sure that consumers understand how important it is to just shop locally and not avoid businesses who can’t totally shift where their goods are coming from,” Auger said.