Bela Peko: the revolutionized dessert

Esperanto pêché mignon , Bela Peko merges the idea of ​​the puree-based dessert and the pot recipe, but above all combines gourmet pleasure with the benefits of healthy eating. Make no mistake, the recipes offered are not healthy desserts, but provide beneficial nutritional properties for those who will enjoy them. It was with Danielle Paquet, founder of the company, that we had the chance to discuss the innovative universe in which she is immersed with passion and a thirst for learning.

Head full of ideas

“By dint of rubbing shoulders with businesswomen, the desire to create my own business imposed itself on me. And ideas, I've never lacked,” admits our interlocutor. According to Danielle, being an entrepreneur is something we either have in us or not. It is certainly not her prior career in government that can belie the fact that she always has been. Her involvement in a mobilizing project on women's entrepreneurship had made her immersed in this universe as a civil servant.

Certain criteria were clear from the start of her business: Danielle would opt for an aerial business model where everything is done with the help of subcontractors and contractors while limiting administrative infrastructure as much as possible. The designers of its brand image quickly understood that the wish was not to market a healthy dessert, but rather a healthy contribution combining the taste of the dessert. They offered her packaging in a tube format exposing illustrations from Quebec, which directly joined the artistic values ​​of the businesswoman.

Innovation driven by vegetables

Each recipe was created from a different vegetable and Bela Peko uses chefs and nutritionists to make them delicious while maintaining good nutritional values.

The idea was also to use the resources already available in Quebec. The company was born out of working together with several of them, whether we think of product preservation, packaging or production. The entrepreneur is also in consultation with certain resources in order to optimize the packaging in order to make her products accessible to as many markets as possible.

Rapid growth

When incorporated in 2018, the new food guide was expected and recommended the presence of fruits and vegetables in half of the plate. The wish, in creating Bela Peko, was to offer a dessert alternative in response to this recommendation. “Young families with children were particularly targeted by our products, because parents want to provide nutritious food and don't always have time to cook. »

The company was among the fifteen selected out of a hundred registrations by the City of Quebec as an innovative project. On November 21, 2019, it began its marketing by holding its kiosk at the Grand Marché de Québec for a period of 40 days. The craze for Bela Peko was immediate and a loyal clientele has since grown.

Since then, the points of sale have multiplied. “Every week, a merchant calls me,” admits Danielle. Once the Quebec market is well integrated, the interest is to turn to Ontario, the food supply of grocery stores there being occupied mainly by ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook. In October 2020, the launch of the online store was done out of necessity given the pandemic. The Black Friday promotion was a huge success.

Encouraging interest from supermarkets

In her partnership with Metro, Danielle sees an openness of supermarkets towards local products. The local purchase program offered by the grocer allows sales at 21 of its merchants. The percentage of branches having renewed their stock after their first order is 23%, which is significant considering that there is no tasting possible in grocery stores during the pandemic. A merchant even confided to Mrs. Paquet that he thought he would be robbed of them so quickly that the products disappeared from the shelves. It must be said that the product image is very selling!

Projects in focus

The next step for Bela Peko is to expand its marketing to some fifty additional points of sale, including Metro grocery stores outside the Chaudière-Appalaches and Capitale-Nationale regions. It's just a matter of finding the right person to represent the company in this expansion.

Initially, Bela Peko's products were designed for the target market of young people who needed to raise funds through a fundraising campaign. It is indeed the ideal product, combining not only healthy food values ​​with schools, but also being a product whose preservation is not as risky as Yule logs and chocolate bars. The module will be ready for the fall on the website, where interested parties can choose the products and pay online.

In addition to signifying a cute sin , Bela recalls the woman and Peko brings back the sparkling side, strongly underlined by the packaging of the products. Women in difficulty is the cause supported by the entrepreneur for several years and her goal is to eventually donate a percentage of her profits to the cause.

Learn more about the company by consulting its member profile.

Reviewed by MF Editorial