Home style through history.

The action began in 1933 in the midst of the great depression. J.Rene Ouimet, a farmer son borrowed twenty thousand dollars to found “La Maison J.-Rene Ouimet Ltée.” He rapidly establishes a strong network to distribute prepared foods and European cheese. The adventure is started.

Cordon Bleu’s Birth

At the same era, a new brand is lunched by the Faille brothers. Lucien and Aimé, impressed by the popularity of their mother’s meat pâtés, founded Cordon Bleu Ltée Company. Neighbour of Faille family, J.René show rapidly is interest. Beginning by being the exclusive distributor for Quebec and Ontario, he got the entire control of the companies in 1946.

In 1952 J.-René had the idea to market a meatball stew just like the one his mother made for the holidays. That year, the renowned Cordon Bleu Meatball Stew came into existence and was destined to become the company’s flagship product.

In 1963, in its thirtieth year of business, les Entreprises J.-René Ouimet ltée merged with Cordon Bleu ltée.

The expansion

M. J.-Rene Ouimet kept the control of his company until 1963. On march 29, he turned over his company’s share to his three children, J.-Robert, Suzanne and Francine. An expansion era is started. In 1964, J.-Robert Ouimet was promoted to executive vice-president. One year later, he became the sole shareholder.

In 1963 and 1964, the Cordon Bleu quality is recognized during the World Quality Competitions held in Paris, Brussels and London. The Cordon Bleu brand won 18 gold medals for exceptional quality of its products. To commemorate this prestigious achievement, the officials of the World Quality Competitions awarded The Cordon Bleu Seal of Quality – a seal that represents Cordon Bleu’s excellence and tradition since 1933.

The year 1979 signalled the beginning of a series of acquisitions, namely the Paris Pâté, Esta, and Clark brands. In 1986, the factory and the administrative offices regrouped in the same location – the move tooks two years to complete. It was in the summer 1988 that the inauguration of the new premises at 8383 J. René Ouimet in Anjou, east of Montreal, was celebrated in the presence of no other than Mother Theresa !

From canned food to frozen meals

Year 1989 marks the acquisition of Tomasso, a company created in 1934 by Mrs. Giovanina di Tomasso from the famous restaurant Piazza Tomasso in Montreal who specialized in frozen Italian meals. In the Spring of 2000, with fast growing business and an always growing demand for its products, the company moved its operations to a new tailor-made factory in Baie D’Urfé;, Quebec.

By the same token, the Baie-d'Urfé; factory is added to Aliments Ouimet-Cordon Bleu Inc.’s assets, a high-end factory of a size of 90,000 square feet. The human resources management philosophy of these two key players in the food industry and the importance they give to the quality of products and authenticity make them already perfect partners.

Today…

Today, a private holding owns Cordon Bleu and Tomasso and makes canned products under the Cordon Bleu, Esta, Clark and Paris Pâté brands, as well as frozen products of the Tomasso, Buona Cucina and Gusto Italia brands. Furthermore, several private label products are made in the Anjou and Baie-d'Urfé plants, for important Canadian and US food chains. The established standards of quality, in part thanks to the HACCP program, allow Cordon Bleu-Tomasso to export products to United States, Mexico and even Australia.

With the know-how the company acquired throughout its history, Cordon Bleu-Tomasso will continue to accomplish its mission: producing and marketing highly differentiated and value-added food products.

The future is bright for the Cordon Bleu-Tomasso company.