E260 Nadia Hrkać

This week's guest is Nadia Hargach, owner of Toronto-based luxury food importer, Nadia.com. Nadia works closely with farms and producers in Europe, mainly Italy, to create custom recipes and private labels. She will introduce you to the highest quality artisanal products from around the world. In our conversation with Nadia, she shared her journey from bartending to building a successful importing business focused on premium Italian products.

Nadia talked about her expansion into high-end spirits and organic wines, emphasizing her commitment to authentic regional ingredients and sustainable practices. Nadia explained her sourcing process, which revolves attending trade shows in Italy and building personal relationships with producers, while highlighting challenges such as transportation logistics and regulatory hurdles with various provincial licensing agencies. We also talked about the current product portfolio, including truffles, caviar, olive oils, and balsamic vinegar, as well as her seawater spirits and wines from the Chitallian regions, plus we cover a number of other topics as always. We had a terrific time, talking to Nadia.

You can find more details of our business online at Nadia.com and that is spelled N-A-D-I-Y-A.com. Or take the show notes for all the links. Enjoy the show. OK, we're back with another episode of the industry podcast.

I am Kippen. This is Dan. Hey, that's me. How's it going?

Great, man. How are you? Doing very well. Doing very well, thanks.

As we record this just a couple days after Christmas, so how was your Christmas? Fantastic. Wonderful. I'm sure by the time people hear this late January, they'll be wondering what the hell we're talking about.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, happy New Year. Yeah, thanks very much. Happy New Year as well.

Yeah, that's it. New Year. New Year. New Year.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not sure what else is...

The New Year better bring some better weather. I've had it. Anyone listening out there in the industry world is looking to open a bar somewhere tropical. You know how to get ahold of me.

I get too much more of this. Yeah, and if you are still stuck in the mire of this terrible weather here in Kitchener Water Loo, come check out the bar that I do currently own. Sugar Run at Sugar Run Bar in Kitchener. You actually run by the figure I've done this going on.

Lots of events all the time. And if you're interested in wine or spirits, you can hit me up at kipsonders at gmail.com for wine from Malaguar Winery and spirits from Alora Distilinko. If you are a fan of what we're doing here on the show, the best way to help us out is to subscribe, follow, rate or review the show that helps tremendously. Or you can just tell a friend.

And if you want to be a guest on the show, or provide support for the show, then you can hit us up info at the industrypodcast.club. Or you can DM us at the industry podcast on Instagram, where you'll find a tremendous artwork from the supremely talented Zakana at Zakana.co for all of your graphic arts needs. And you know, if you're not doing Dry January, and I certainly support that cause, then you should probably be thinking about how you can make yourself a cocktail at home. Or if you're a bartender, what's a good tool to help our professional bartenders as well?

Well, my recommendation would be the Ambibia app, because today's episode is a partnership with Ambibia, the visual cocktail app built by bartenders for bartenders. Menu development shown happen in spreadsheets, email, and G-Drives with Microsoft Word. Ambibia's business accounts that you create collaborative lists, editing permissions, and share custom ingredients across your entire team. The aggregate flavor analysis shows your menu's balance at a glance.

Instantly spotted if you're missing a drink for the crowd that likes spicy or smoky, or if you have too many bitter forward drinks. Business account lists have analytics that makes this sort of thing second nature. Here are all the details in episode 216 of the industry podcast. See why it was featured by Bon Appetit, the number one of the app store when it launched.

The free download gets you 500 plus recipes in all core features, with subscription options for individuals and businesses to unlock advanced tools, and connect entire teams. Visit www.ambibibia.com or check the show notes for the links for more information. Ambibia, it's an invaluable tool. Check it out, that's the ambibia app.

And I guess that's about all we got to talk about. So let's get right to our guest joining us from Toronto. It is Nadia Herkach. How are you, Nadia?

I'm doing very well. Thank you. How are you? We're all right.

Yeah. Thanks for taking this time out on a busy Monday, and just for New Year's. Busy time for you. So we appreciate it.

It is. My pleasure. It's nighttime. So I've done everything I can do until tomorrow, and all is great.

Thank you. Yeah. And the reason we say that is because you want a luxury based Toronto based luxury food importing company. Yeah.

So what's the name of the company first and foremost? So it's just easiest to say Nadia.com and then add us back with two eyes. The name was kind of born from a previous partner that I had. It's a long and traumatic story, but we don't need to go there.

But it was born out of a common passion and love. I have a holistic background. So everything I do, I'm very conscious of the ingredients, the way that it's made. I love things that are labeled like IGP, DOC, DOP, you know, authentic from the region and the practices are authentic from what that region is supposed to be.

So that's kind of what I focus on. And then recently, after four years, just over four years of being a business, I expanded into alcohol. So high-end spirits and organic wines with the same philosophy that I have with my food. And so do you have employees waiting for you?

You're sort of a one woman show here. I have a couple of part-time employees on standby. But the amazing thing is that we just discovered, or I just discovered, a fulfillment warehouse. So not only do these people store my product, they pack it, fulfill the orders, and deliver it themselves.

So that has taken the need for employees even, you know, it's gone. Yeah, that's great. But you're still, are your sort of boots on the ground as like sort of representing the company at four bars and restaurants? Are you the one meeting with the bars and restaurants?

Yes, it's only me. I'm the only salesperson in the company. And I mean, I built the last person's company that I worked for. And that's what prompted me to do this on my own.

They gave me zero customers. I grew it to like 200, 250, maybe even 300. And I said, why can't I do this for myself? And I mean, I'm not doing any competing products.

So it's not like it's a conflict of interest. I just started it on my own, and I'm doing it my way. And I love it. So give us an idea of the sort of products you're bringing in.

Oh my god. OK, so what I'm mostly proud of is probably my private label. So I'm probably one of the only people that does a truffle sauce that doesn't have any refined oils, like safflower canola. I refuse to consume that myself.

So why would I sell it to people? So I have a special recipe made for me in Umbria, Italy that is made from only extra virgin olive oil, the highest percentage of truff-fresh truffle, which is 10. No one else does it. So I'm kind of proud of these customized recipes that I've had, and the people that I've met, the beautiful suppliers in Italy.

It's just an encaviar from Italy, northern Italy, farmed. I was in the water with the beluga circling around me like it was a predator. And I worked very closely with my suppliers. I vet them all.

So yeah, I was going to ask you about that. Obviously, there's a lot of travel involved in what you do if you're importing this stuff. So you're going over to Europe often, and how do you connect with these suppliers, and what's sort of the process on how you choose what you're looking to import? Right.

So I usually go to trade shows in Italy, and that's how I initially meet them. And I always do have something in my mind of what I'm looking to add to my product list, each of my portfolio. And if the person that I meet meshes with me, and I feel that feeling of like that they have the same passions and the same priorities, same standards as I do, then I will buy from them and eventually visit their orchards, farms, whatever it is. Got it.

Yeah. And very particular. So how often these trade shows happen, and where are they mostly? You mean wearing Italy?

Yeah. So the last couple I went to are in Bologna, which is an amazing city. But they were focused on organic, and the last one was slow wine and organic. So slow wine, as you know, it's everything is organic, or done in a biodynamic fashion.

So that was the most recent one. And this year, I'm going to a different one. So I try to change it up because I want to be inspired, and I want to see new things. And I've already gone to the organic one twice.

So I'm going to a private label show in Bologna again. But my trade shows have been in northern Italy, Bologna, and I've been to Metallica and Basilica. So all different areas. And when you go to these shows and meet up with the producers, that you want to vet as your supplier.

Yes. How long does this take? Like how long will you spend that? Like on a single trip, for instance?

Because it sounds like it could take like two, three weeks sometimes if you wanted to just sus- Well, you're right. The trade show itself is only a few days. And then I have been known to extend my trips because I fell in love with the producer. That's my olive oil person.

I fell in love with this family. And I extended my trip to visit all of our trips. And so the whole trip was probably like two weeks. But the trade shows are only a few days.

But I refuse to go home after a few days because for the time difference, it's not worth it for four nights. Yeah, totally. You got to extend it a little bit. And it's, I mean, it's the worst places to spend a few weeks or days.

Exactly. Exactly. Yes. OK, so let's back it up a little bit.

OK, let's go way back actually. This important business, you actually worked in the service industry as a bartender, correct? Yes. Yes.

Let's talk about that. How did you get into the service industry and the places to work that? Very interesting story. I love that I have that history, by the way, because I think it meshes with my personality.

And I think that it's helped me to where I am today because dealing with restaurants and restaurant people, I mean, I have the right personality. And I think that there's nothing wrong with my history. I think it only adds to my current relationships. But I was very young.

And then someone that I was romantically involved at the time, whatever, ex-fiance, he prompted me. He said, why don't you try bartending? I was 21, so I'm going to give you my age there. And I ended up working.

I was supposed to have been like four or five years ago then, right? I ended up working for this bar called Empire Dance Bar. It was one of the coolest places back in those days. And the guy that trained me, he's no longer in Canada, but he was the most famous bartender back in those days.

I'm not going to say his name because I don't know if he would like that. But he was very famous. He even has a famous sounding name. He trained me and he did such a good job.

It was just, I guess, innately in me. And I went on to bartend. I just loved it. I was great at it.

And I ended up bartending for many, many years. So that's kind of how you got in the industry. And I do agree, like having the background in any kind of service job, bartending, serving, whatever, is going to help you deal with the people you need to talk to now to sell your products. Totally.

Totally. I remember I had a sales job once because I am like a nutritionist. I call myself a naughty one, but it's still good to have the balance. And I remember I had an old boss who hired me because in the interview, I got really nervous and it was almost like I had to rest or something.

And I said that I was a bartender because he said, what do you do for fun? And I started saying Pilates, yoga, and he was rolling his eyes like he was bored. And then something with my brain said, oh, I used to bar tend and I regretted saying it. But that's why you hired me.

And I made the most money I made in my life at that job. Because you're not the owner, you're not spending the money on inventory. So you're just doing the sales. And I was so good at it.

And he knew to hire people who had this background. He was not smart. Yeah. And I'm always a little bit surprised that more people don't sort of get that.

I talk to people in all sorts of industry all the time. And like if sales is sales and people who work in bars and restaurants don't know how to sell better than anybody. It's all sales. But I think a lot of these, like if it's a non-industry company, then they look at you as saying, oh, while your experience is in service industry, that's not sales.

But 100% is sales. And we can probably do it better than anyone else. We're going to hire. A thousand percent.

A thousand percent. I mean, yeah, go ahead. Sorry. No, so then did you find that you made connections in the city as well that helped once you started your own business?

Yes. Fine, you should ask that. When I, no one has started my own business, but before. So a lot of these relationships I leveraged when I started working for the previous importer.

And it got them to where they are today. And it got me where I am today. So honestly, I leveraged, like I'm talking restaurants. I don't need to name them, you know what I mean.

But I think it's also going out. Like I also, I mean, I don't go out as much obviously now, but I used to go out a lot and meeting these people in the bars, the high end cocktail bars, because my age dictated kind of I switched to the higher end places where you could grab a bite and you could have a beautiful environment, sit by a fire, have a gorgeous cocktail. You know, meeting those people too. Like, you know, now it's so easy for me.

I go in and I go in to have fun, but I'm also selling on the side. You know? It's honestly, it's like my favorite worlds have met. I love my life.

I really do. Yeah, it's cool. It's like you and it's kind of, I mean, I've started doing this wine and spare sales on the side as well. And I find the same thing because I know so many people in the industry already, you've already got a foot in the door.

And you're already, it's already so in line with what I like to do anyway, which is go to the bar and talk to the bar. Exactly. Yeah. So, I totally the same page.

So when did you, well, you kind of touched on this earlier, but when you transitioned into like, okay, maybe I should just do my own importing. You already had connections or knew about the trade shows etc from your previous job or like, what were the hardest parts of sort of starting your own business and learning? Oh my God. Okay.

Let's narrow it down. The trade shows, yes, I was already going. I was already being flown because the owners were in Italy and I was being flown in from Canada because they have an agreement with the Italian government that they can only fly people from Canada to these shows. And because I was the main sales person and the only person on the ground boots on the ground, they were always pushing me to go.

So that's my first experience. And then I got on their list and now, now they're, I'm on their list for whatever kind of always organic, let's call Naria, it's slow wine, let's call Naria because they know I have a special niche market. Right. So I'm kind of obsessed a little bit, but the hardest part I would say was transport.

Yeah, very difficult. The government, so first I had to deal with, you know, you have to deal with CFIA, right? You have to deal with getting your food license and import license transport was the scariest because when you're dealing with perishable goods, nothing creates anxiety like for a small company to think that they might lose five brands overnight. Right.

And for truffles being delayed or caviar, this happened many times and I'm not going to say it's not going to happen again because it probably will, but I've just learned to manage it more normally. So it's like part of just like the sort of loss leader of your business in a weird way, you almost have to budget for the fact that you're going to lose a certain amount of product or that you might. I don't know if it's, I'm not very good at budgeting. I would say it's more like I like to gamble.

Okay. Got it. Is that okay? Yes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it's I say all the time that people who do what we do in the lip for living are like gamblers anyway. It's like, anyone who's taken up this type of a job for their full profession, you're basically gambling all the time. You never know how much money you're going to make week to week.

So, you know, yeah. Yeah. I'm not going to make the excitement. I remember I swear to God, I don't know how many times I've had to scream at UPS or DHL on the phone and I cracked open up all at 11 AM.

I can't do this anymore because the stress is just, but it always worked out. Like maybe I lost a little bit, but then remember the oneness and the responsibility is on the shipper in the end. Right. It's not on the receiver and it's you can be complaining on the carrier, but usually I've not been responsible.

So yeah, like how often is that a fight for you though to like get the shipper to take responsibility? Because I'm sure they're always trying to push it off on someone else also, right? It's not fun. And as a woman, sometimes you're treated, I hate to say this, but you know, you're dealing with Europe, right?

So a lot of times there's a very like aggressive and assertive behavior, bullying. I call it bullying. Yeah. So it just happened.

And I just have to really put my foot down. I'm an Aries, you know, so sometimes it's not that hard for me to just say, look, like, this is my business, it's my baby. That's why I look at it. It's my toddler.

My toddler is now going to be five and I will refuse to be bullied into pain for something that I shouldn't. And I always use the example of telling them, how would my customers feel if I said, look, you have to pay for a soft truffle. Right. I would never do that.

It's embarrassing. So how can you do that to me on your customer? So this is a fight that's happened a lot lately because it's the holidays, but yeah, it happens. So do you deal with specialty shops as well?

Or is it solely bars and restaurants? You do it all? Yeah. Yeah.

So how many clients would you say you have at this point? How many clients altogether like shops and? Yeah, yeah, you can ball park if you need to. Yeah, definitely a 250 around.

Oh, wow. Jesus Christ. That's amazing. Yeah.

Is that all primarily in Southern Ontario then or even Central, closer to Toronto? Canada. Canada. So you're doing all across Canada?

Yes. So how do you make those? Are you making constant trips? Or like, how are you doing this all by yourself?

I guess is what I'm asking because now you're making trips to trade shows in Europe and then you're also at your boots on the ground selling the product to bars, restaurants and jobs. How are you doing this across the country also? So across the country, the clients have been just from me reaching out or social media or I haven't had to physically go there. Okay.

So there's been the plans to go expand in those areas of Canada that were already present, but I've, there's a lot of people that I've never met physically. Right. Right. And and that's okay.

We have a great relationship. I have a great product and we have a really good trust factor going on. So I, you know, it's not really necessary for me to be physically present, especially these days, you know, with, with all these people, but all across Canada, we also have private customers remember. So once in a while we'll get some private orders through Instagram or whatever.

I mean, I don't really focus on social media too much. It's not really my thing. I'm more so wholesale and quality of product and service. is not always what it kind of seems to be our social media.

So one day these trips will be planned to expand, but for now I'm focused on building what I have, because right now the alcohol is here. So now I have to focus on Ontario and building expanding into my wines and my seawater spirits. Right, so that's something else I wanted to talk to you about because like I know from personal experience, the whole process of sort of registering as an agent through the AGCO is a massive pain in the ass. And like, and then getting your products in through the LCBO, getting them approved is a huge pain in the ass.

So talk to us about your experience there. Well, I will say this, everyone said to me what you just said and people tried to scare me. And I don't know if it's, I think it's just because I've already been through the worst things with CFIA and caviar and the fear and the stress and the anxiety. Honestly, it wasn't that bad.

Oh, okay, that's good. It wasn't that bad, but what was bad for me was getting used to their system. It's very dinosaur. Oh my God.

It's brutal. It's so bad. Oh yeah, I've been working on the side to try to get the single malt scotches into the LCBO and registers and agents or the AGCO for the same thing. And it's the process is taking months.

And part of it's because yeah, like the stuff that they need to like the weight of the bottle, the weight of the court, the shape of the bottle, like it's crazy. And why do you need to know all this information? Like, and if you get anything wrong, then that can blow up your whole application. Like if you make a mistake on any part of it, like, yeah, it's crazy.

So I have a funny story on that on the subject. One of my beautiful suppliers of the seawater spirits, they sent their first order. I just had a friend who was in the wine industry for 30 years, look at the labels, not getting a professional label review, okay? Oh yeah.

And yes, they can stay. So the bidders, which are red because compari's red, so they had to make theirs red, were destroyed because of an illegal ingredient in the spirits. So I was, I was thinking I was crying for, I don't know how many days, because I had all these orders, right? And then the owners were pretty upset as well.

Sure. The same shipment, the Limuncello and the Amato had 0.9 more percent alcohol. So they wouldn't let me take, pick up my seawater until I had stickers made, sent them to them, and they applied them on my behalf. And I had to pay for all of this, by the way, all of it.

So it was, my first order was not fun. It's like the very dictionary definition of like government red tape that you're going through with this shit, like all this stuff that has, so like they're just, obviously, you can't even blame the people because they're just following orders. Like these are the guidelines, but like they're just like, the guidelines are so archaic, just like the, we're talking about the whole process is archaic. And like there's no incentive for them to update them because whatever, what they just don't care, they'll just not bring your product in.

Yes, exactly. They don't care at all. No, and it's, well, I mean, I don't know if anyone listened to the show, it's heard me bitch about the LCBO before. It's basically, it's like, I can't, I just drives me mad that like we live under this monopoly that applies all these regulations between the AGCO and the LCBO.

I was right explaining to these guys from Scotland, the difference between the AGCO and the LCBO. And even that is like, what the fuck are you talking about? You see? Yes, well people tried to scare me, but I'm not easily scared.

I'm an Aries, like I said, the second time I'm mentioning it, I'm fired. I don't scare easily. And plus I've been through, if I told you what we went through to get the, even the safe food license, because our license initially untailed meats, cured meats, and cheeses. To get that license, what we had to go through, and I'll never forget this.

And this was like a blessing in disguise. So this was Christmas 2021, okay? Plandemic time. Yeah.

And I remember getting, why can't we order meats? Why can't we order meats? And finally somebody from the government replied to me, this is not a joke, this is not an exaggeration. This is exactly what was written back to me.

There was a broken button. Oh man. But you know what happens, Kit? It saved us from ordering that.

And the pandemic happened right after. Oh well, yeah, so good timing, I guess. Well, I think in this. Fuck though.

I could've been just sitting on all that product for Lord and his own, right? Like, I'm gonna go and see it. Yeah. Yeah.

That's the other thing about the, okay, so I'm just like, just because I've gone through this many times myself, like the whole deal with the LCBO and the ADUCO. And getting your, now that you're onto that side of it, is like, you also have a certain amount of space in a warehouse that you're allowed to use. Yeah, so explain the listeners how that works when you're bringing in, like now that you bring in wine and the sea salt spheres. Which aspect exactly though?

Like how, like, like the warehouse situation? Well, I went to pick up my own alcohol the first three times because I wanted to see so badly, but this was all about. I took pictures and stuff, just because I'm that kind of girl, you know, I wanted to see, you know, it was sunny that day, it was beautiful, it was September. I took pictures and I was like, yay, this is the first day of my new career, you my new business, you know?

But it's not a big deal for me, the warehouse part, because now I have this beautiful company, I don't know if I'm allowed to mention their name. Sure. They kind of change my life. I find out about them, they're called Ship Noble, one word.

Oh, yeah, Ship Noble, yeah. Okay, so I even care a worry about the warehouse because Ship Noble just goes on a regular basis to pick up every single day, they pick up product, every single day. If I even just have one case to pick up for a customer, they will go pick it up. So to me, I've never incurred those expenses because it takes 365 days, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like if you sell it within a year, which forgot, but I would hope so, then you don't have to worry about paying and incurring a warehouse piece. Right. But one of the problems was when the pandemic hit, that these people couldn't bring anything new in because their product was, they only had so much space in the warehouse and they were only allotted that small amount of space.

So now they're sitting on all this old product that they can't move and then they couldn't bring anything new in the interim. So like I remember at the time, I was before I was doing the rep work myself, but I was like, my reps would come by to the bars and they would be like, oh, like, we've, do you need any wine? I'm like, what have you got anything new? And like never, right?

So we're just recycling the same old shit. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so let's talk about the wine and spirits that you are bringing in.

Tell our listeners what they're all about. The salt water spirits, let's start there. Okay. Sea water spirits.

Sea water, sorry. Okay. Like salt, you got salt in there. Salt, salt, salt, yeah.

100% right. So what this genius of a company does is they filter everything but the salt from this water that is in an island in Colombia. I'm sure you know where Calabria is. And the sea water spirits were named after a famous writer in this, that wrote in the 18th century in the tower that is in the middle of this water on this island.

Marion Crawford. And when you look at the names of these spirits, you're like, what the hell is Dr. Cloud is? What the heck is this?

But Don Orcino, but it's all named after characters in this writer's books. Very cool story. Anyways, basically the ingredients are like, for example, the Limoncello. I personally never liked Limoncello because it's too sweet.

I don't like sweet drinks. This Limoncello is obviously made with sea water. So it's not too sweet. And on top of it, they use Amalfi Coast lemons, green and yellow and the flowers from the tree.

Like it's next level. So because it's sea water, it contains super, super high amounts of polyphenols. And for those who don't know, polyphenols are antioxidants. Right?

And then we have the Amaro, which is collected, all the ingredients are collected from Southern Italy. And the Amaro is rosemary, mint, eucalyptus, citrus, genshin, it's just a beautiful Amaro. And there's a hint of salt in all of your sips. It's just beautiful.

So I've managed to, the bitter got destroyed as I mentioned. So now they're working on a new recipe and that's gonna be coming in in 2026, very early. And then they're working on a vermouth made with carob, cinnamon, I can't wait and sea water, of course. So it's very, very different.

And this, the reason why I was very excited about it. And yeah, that's what I'm doing. I'm trying to change people's lives one sip at a time. Perfect.

And so this is another company that you met at a trade show and like you tried their product and you were just like, we need this and get it. Well, we tried it at the Kato festival. We're blown away by it. That's what I can back Nadi up on this one.

Yeah, people need to be trying it. And then so how do you decide on the wines that you like to bring in? Okay, so it's gonna sound strange because I'm so niche. I only import wines from truffle regions because I already, I started my business with just fresh truffles.

Like five years ago, I was literally on the street in high heels and address in 35 degrees with a cooler trying to sell truffles. That's what I was doing with my business. That's how I started. It's not easy.

I'm very proud of myself. But here we are today, five years later. And so I import wines that aren't very common and grapes that aren't very common from regions that aren't very common. Well, Italy's the place for that because there's so many different varieties.

And I think that's cool that you're doing, like it's on brands for your company. It's on brands. But yeah, sorry, continue. So talk about, yeah.

So just a couple of the regions are Marque and Umbria, which are two of my kind of my new kind of favorite. Now, Umbria is like similar to Tuscany. It's just not as expensive. And you know, the same terroir, not as touristy, right?

So Umbria, I explored last year and I just fell madly in love, madly in love. With the climate, with the terroir, with the people, with the products. And Umbria has a special terroir where everything that they produce has a much, much higher percentage of polyphenols. So here we go again with that word.

I know I'm a naughty nutritionist. I can't, I can't. I mean, if you're gonna be naughty, you may as well be nice a little bit too. Right.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so, and so like specifically getting into those regions, how did you, and trying to make them from places that had troubles? Again, you during meeting these people at trade shows and you just happened to know the regions where troubles come from.

And that's how you focus in on those? Yes. I knew what I wanted. I always have an idea of kind of my standards and my, you know, what I'm looking for.

And then a lot of these people did message me. But you know that there was over a thousand wine companies or wineries in, at this trade show that were not represented in Canada. Oh, wow. Crazy.

Yeah. So, so I was bombarded. So I had to be very, because I only had a certain amount of time per day for meetings. So I chose like, okay, I don't have anything from this.

They were organic, check, check, check, check. And that's how I went along. And then if I liked the person I connected with them, that was even more of a bonus for me. Yeah, that's crazy to think about, right?

Especially in like how many producers there are in Italy of wine. And then like we touched on earlier, how many different varietals there are. Like I can only imagine there's like, I can't even imagine how much wine has not made it here yet. And France probably to a lesser degree, but Italy for sure.

Yeah, you know what? I'm kind of obsessed with Italy. But what can I say? It goes in line with my business and you can do no wrong.

Right. Like I'm a little bit obsessed, I have to say. Yeah, I love Italy too. So I understand it.

So how many wines do you currently have in your portfolio? Wines or regions, let me think. I think I have six wines only. I'm starting all very small and very niche.

Well, you just started with wines. That's why I'm just curious. Yeah, but you're already like, you don't even like, for everything you're doing on the food side of it, you'd like bring any wine and spirits on top of that is a huge undertaking and a completely different field. So yeah, I would expect you to have a lot.

I was just, yeah, I was just curious. So I have three from Umbria and I have two from Marque, one from Poscona. So what did I say? One, two, three, four, five, maybe just five.

So I'm looking at my alcohol. Yeah. I think just five or six. But that's a good story.

And then they have spirits, which makes seven. Right. Yeah. So and for the spirits now, like you mentioned, it's the Amaro and the Limin Jello for now, but hopefully the bitters get back on track.

And the mood. Oh, yes, and the vermouth is coming, right. Oh, yes. Yeah.

So OK, so on the importing, obviously, you're doing the truffle still and the truffle oil. What else is involved in the caviar on the food side? What else? You don't have to give it to the whole aspect.

No, no. So I have two of my kind of like star products, both of which were discovered at the slow, it used to be called organic food for. Now it's slow wine and slow food. Anyways, one was I was looking for a very particular special olive oil.

And I knew because everyone sells olive oil. Olive oil, as you can see when you go into a store, you see 30, 40. I don't know how many types of olive oil. You're kind of bombarded.

I wanted to get something that was very unique and very special. So I found this family that makes this olive oil. I don't know how many years, I think like at least 20 years, maybe 30. It's from Umbria.

This is this is before I got the wine. So I was getting into Umbria and organic and it's DOP. So everything is according to the region. When I extended my trip just to visit with this family and visit their orchards and their offices and their warehouse.

And this olive oil is, have you ever heard of the cough test for olive oil? No. So the more if you take a sip of olive oil and you cough, the more you cough, the more polyphenols and the stronger, the better the olive oil is. Oh, OK.

I will send you a bottle. We should have done the cough test on air. That would be good. But I will send you a bottle.

So once again, super high polyphenols, this olive oil is something out of this world. And I have very specific customers that sell a ton of it. And then of course, this is a product you never find at a big chain store, never, ever. This is a very special product.

And then my second star that I'm in love with, because I met their whole family, is my balsamic vinegar from Modena. This company's been around since 1714. No, I should. Have you been to Modena?

No. It's like some ancient, cute, tiny, beautiful, beautiful city. I was just enamored there. The food, it's part of the, they have the most Michelin stars in the world in this area.

So it's in Emilia Romagna, which is a beautiful region, as you probably know. So the balsamic that I have is, I just chose one, because they have several. I chose the organic. And you can't, most people don't realize this.

You're not allowed to say how many years it's age, because according to the consortium, you can't base your yours on how many years all the barrels have an age. So when you see five years, 10 years, it's BS. Completely BS. So this company explained everything to me.

I met the mother, they were hugging me, they feed me. It was just the most, I swear to God, I want to cry when I talk about this. But all of all my balsamic are another two of my, like very passionate, very heartfelt suppliers. Have you told us a bit of a couple of horror stories about the transport situation?

Have you ever had a situation where I think you tried at the trade show and you were like, okay, yes, this is perfect, I want to bring in. And then when it got to you here in Canada, it wasn't the same. Never. Oh, that's good.

That would be something that would worry me once. Like, yeah, just like, you just never know, right? That's true. That's a very good question.

But you know what I do? I actually ask them when I'm about to place the order, because I don't place the order at the trade show. I wait, I do my research, because a lot of times they don't have what I want. Because remember, I'm asking for custom recipes.

Right. Because I'm a difficult lady. And I asked them to send me these samples of these custom recipes to my house. I test them with friends, with people, and they usually were all on the same page, wow, this is fantastic.

So my last private label expanded into honey, white truffle oil, black truffle oil, and what was the last one? What the heck did I bring in? Oh my God, there was something else. Wait, honey, I can't remember now.

Anyways, oh, salt. The salts are mined from a mine in Sicily. They're not even sea salt. And then they take the truffle from the region.

This is from Marque. Remember, I was telling you, it's one of my regions that I'm obsessed with? Yeah. Well, they take the salt and they don't even use the cheap, the lowest and black summer truffle.

They use the winter, neto, preggiato truffle. So I brought in four or five new products, and I tested them all, and they were all amazing when they got here. So you have a little group of friends that you trust with their palettes that you bring in to help you? I do.

Sometimes it's family, sometimes it's family. It's also because it's smart because everyone's palates different. So just because you love something, everyone else is gonna love it, right? So that's smart.

If you can get it through five different palates that you trust, and everyone gives it the thumbs up, then good to go. Is there any other question I want to ask you? Is there anything that you're still searching for that you haven't been able to find that you want to add to your portfolio? Yes, but I don't want to say it on air.

Okay, that's fair. I don't think there are whales out there that you're trying to bring into the portfolio. I don't think anything's a white whale with my small niche business, but it's just that I just want to be, I'm waiting to be inspired and assured that what is in my mind is gonna come. I don't mean to sound too flaky or whatever, but I'm in airies, but at the end of the day, I'm also creative.

I'm also an e-inspired, I'm looking for inspiration. And that's what's gotten you this far. So if I wait for the next inspiration, I mean, I'm leaving for it only less than two weeks, I'm hoping that something's gonna happen on that trip. Well, I don't really think you could do what you do without being creative and going on about it that way.

You have to run your business, you have to be pretty analytical, but there has to be a big creative side of you to even want to do what you're doing in the first place. Right, right. Especially because chefs are creative and they're relying on me to bring in premium product that's not typical, it's not mainstream. Yeah, exactly.

Well, I think it's amazing. I don't know how you're doing all this by yourself, but how you had the fucking time to talk to us. But we really appreciate it. Tell our listeners where they can find Nadia if I'm saying to the company properly, and how they can reach out to you if they want to buy some of your products.

Oh, sure, it's just Nadia.com and nadiyay.com. And you can take it from there and messages are checked on a regular basis. I don't sleep really. I can imagine you don't.

I can imagine you don't. Thank you so much. Well, no, thank you. This was super fun.

You're actually the first importer we've had on the show. It was super fast on the conversation. Yeah, yeah. Well, when we met you at the Cocktail Festival, I was like, yeah, I definitely guessed the area because you can talk and you're passionate about what you do.

And it was like, again, you're definitely in the industry, but part of the industry that we haven't really had a chance to discuss on the show yet. So we're super grateful that you came on. And thanks for taking the time. I know it's a super busy time here for you.

Thank you so much. Thank you. Wonderful. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Dan.