Pusateri's Fine Foods offers a range of specialty products, including an extensive seafood offering. It is the exclusive agent for Caspian Sea Beluga and Oscietre Cavier in Canada.

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Being part of a family business since 1963, Cosimo Pusateri dreamt that his fruit and vegetable stand on Sinclair Avenue in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, would one day flourish into a gourmet food emporium containing the best foods of the world all under one roof. He, his wife, Ida, and their family grew the business until they were able to open a larger specialty food shop, Pusateri’s Fine Foods, in North York, Ontario, in 1986. After Cosimo’s early passing in 1995, Ida, with her three children – alongside her brother, President Frank Luchetta, and General Manager John Mastrioanni – grew Pusateri’s Fine Foods into the full-scale gourmet food store it is today.

Currently, the company has two Ontario locations with a third in the works for the near future. Plans for expansion into the United States are also on the table.

According to the company, Pusateri’s strengths are quality, selection and service. “With over 52,000 SKUs in its locations, you are sure to find products to please every pallet,” it says.

“Pusateri’s is considered at the top of the list as far as specialty retailers in North America,” Mastrioanni states.

He and Luchetta described their gourmet food emporium in a recent Food and Drink interview and highlighted examples of products that are so elite, they’re bound to shock even the most worldly connoisseurs.

What they’ve learned along the way, they say, would undoubtedly make Cosimo Pusateri proud.

Food and Drink: How would you describe Pusateri’s Fine Foods?
John Mastrioanni: It’s a full-scale food shop, which has pretty much anything you can imagine. We go all over the world to find our producers and pick the best of their lines to bring back to the shops. Many of them are very exclusive in that there is a limited amount available worldwide. We carry what they can afford to give us from their plantations and sell it exclusively here in Canada.

FAD: Can you provide some examples?
Frank Luchetta: Our olive oil collection is home to well over 250 brands. We carry all of the high-end private estates. One example would be the Chateau d’Estoublon Extra Virgin Olive Oil, which is produced by the Breitling family of the Breitling Watch Co.

With a small grove of olive trees in the southern region of France, they have produced a fabulous olive oil and packaged it in signature Chanel perfume bottles. Last Christmas was our first year importing the oil and, needless to say, that at a price of $100, the product sold out in a mere two days. Our second order of 200 vanished in a week.

JM: We are also the exclusive agent for Caspian Sea Beluga and Oscietre Cavier in Canada. After a two-year ban on Caspian Sea caviar – in order to replenish the waters with this sturgeon fish – the ban was lifted and we were given the rights to distribute the limited quota, which was released to the Canadian market.

The extremely rare Kopi Luwak coffee is also available in our shops. At $480 a pound, it is considered the most expensive coffee in the world. With only 500 pounds available worldwide, we have established a market, which arguably sells the largest percentage of what is available. Last year, 175 pounds were delivered to our doors and sold out within weeks. People often put their names on waiting lists and request shipment across the country.

FL: All of our beef is aged on our premises for 28 days. We have been known for having the premium cuts, including Wagyu beef from Japan at $150 a pound, which comes with authenticity papers for keepsake. Our customers are world travelers and appreciate this rare indulgence.
JM: Just like us, producers test the market for the right company to present and sell their product. We have built our reputation with not only our customers, who expect the finest, but also our suppliers, who don’t have to look far for a retailer that is in tune with luxury or quality food.

FAD: How much influence do customers have on your decision to carry certain items in your stores?
FL: We are constantly searching the world for incredible products, but it is also our well-traveled customers who tell us about an interesting product or bring back a label from trips abroad to source and sell for them. If we deem the product worthy, we go out of our way to ensure its availability.

JM: We’ve been fortunate enough to build relationships with suppliers around the world. With the volume that we have, it’s easy for us to bring in small or large quantities and turn them over frequently.

FAD: How do you manage to get your hands on some of these products?
FL: We’ve become a launching pad for many new items. Producers use our stores as test markets to introduce their innovative products. If it is successful in our shops – whose clients have discerning tastes – they now have the comforting results to move forward.
JM: A great example of this is Godiva Chocolatier. We became the first boutique “shop in a shop” that was not corporately owned to sell Godiva. The venture was extremely successful for both parties.

FAD: How does Pusateri’s stand apart from other gourmet food stores?
FL: Right from the beginning, we started with a prepared food section. It was a smaller part of the business with homemade pastas and salads, and over the years, we’ve developed it into a full-blown meal replacement line that represents almost one-third of our business.
JM: In 1986, Cosimo envisioned a movement to whole meal replacements. We’ve constantly expanded on this department knowing full well the future of our customers’ needs in respect to prepared foods. Dual family working equaled less disposable time even to cook. We knew our clients were looking for an alternative to fast food, hence the expansion to quality homemade or restaurant-style foods to feed their family.

[Also,] the food is prepared in small batches so that it is consumed fresh. If rush hour is a busy time, that’s when a lot of prepared dishes come out on the counter. Our belief is that each store is to run independently of the other.

FL: Our customers come here to pick up lunch or dinner and take it home to have a restaurant-quality meal in the luxury of their own homes. We’ve expanded our business into a very successful full-service catering company. We can send our chefs into your home and prepare a meal for as little as four guests or up to 2,000 people.

JM: When Ferrari is having a launch party for their newest car, they call on us to do the catering. They align themselves with a company that is synonymous to the quality they’re representing. They want someone on the same level as to whom their target market is for.

Another point that stands apart is Cosimo’s vision to make the shop somewhat of a theatrical atmosphere. This vision was to engulf customers’ senses, peak interest and experience the adventure of travel in replacement of shopping as a chore. Families come and see what’s new and sample their way through international flavors of the world. We buy products by sampling, and it is only fitting that our customers have that same experience.

Customers know they will get the freshest and rarest products even if it means getting a square-shaped watermelon from Indonesia. It might cost $75, but it is part of shopping in a unique food emporium.

FAD: You source products from around the world, but do you source from local producers, as well?
JM: We take priority to local producers because of the importance to support the local community and contribute to the growth of those areas.

FL: We’ve revamped the store to supply both conventional and organic foods that are available in the city.

Our facility is not equipped for storage, which is why our buyers go to the market at 3 a.m. every morning to purchase each day’s needs. We buy the best available product with the freshest, high-quality grade. Because of that, the shelf life is four to five days longer from our stores than any other chain store in the city.

We do not go through the process of warehousing; instead, each store receives product directly from the market. We pay a premium to have the highest grade and the best quality items so we can assure our customers receive the best of the market at all times.

FAD: You also carry some items under your own private label. Can you expand on that?
JM: Because we’ve always believed in carrying the best of what’s out there, if a product is not regularly available on the mass market, we have no problem putting our name on something we think is exceptional.

FL: We do have Pusateri olive oil and a Pusteri balsamic vinaigrette, as well as our own sauces, jams and coffee. Pusateri’s in-house brand is not the most expensive within the collection of products, but we guarantee its representation of high company standards. We continue to promote other brand products in addition to our own.

FAD: How would you describe the company as a place of employment?
FL: It really is a family environment. We have employees that have been with us since day one. They don’t want to leave once they’re here.

JM: Our employees are faced with a profession, not a day-to-day job. The family environment we have is a reflection on the amount of years that people have been a part of Pusateri’s. Our employees are comfortable with their positions and what Pustateris’s stands for – a company with growth and a continuous vision, as well as integrity.