Customers letters
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"DO NOT WASTE TIME TO POST SPAM LETTERS, WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE DELETE.
I spent days and nites with Mama Africa Miriam Makeba. I don't want to post any comments because are thousand in every video and 99.9 percent they're positive.
This woman is IN PARADISE NOW and has a meeting with GOD drinking some umgombothi(a homemade beer brewed from malt and cornmeal) and discasing the latest issue about George Floyd, police brutality, and more.
I hope between her and God they will come with a solution to save the world. One thing I notice the protesters all over the world, whites, and blacks had the same numbers in attendance, which is very positive.
I just came across one of your products: Mr. Goudas Table Salt. It states that there are 6 grams of protein in 1/4 teaspoon (1.5 g). I looked at the ingredients label and there doesn't seem to be anything that would contribute to so much protein. Can you please clarify if this information is correct? And what the source of the protein would be? Looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you, Nisha Pai MSc RD The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto 416-813-5332 nisha.pai@sickkids.ca
I thought since I know the Maestro Jairo Varela who wrote a song named in Spanish “Mi Valle del Cauca” I took the liberty to translate the Lyrics to English (I think that I did a good job) and incorporate it to my letter to you with the hope that you will post in your website and maybe you can give a credit to another great man that is well known in Colombia.
My final note is related with another important part of your book that describes the Colombian woman those who have been blessed from God with beauty and the comments and pictures are perfect to show the world how blessed we are to have them.
I didn’t know that Greeks have such a good taste…. Sincerely Felipe Afanador
Perhaps a lesser-known dimension of the Caribbean culture as its known in Canada today is the Indo-Caribbean or West Indian culture. At the heart of our event "ChutneyFest "is an expression of music, art, dance, and food; what it also aims to do is support local business and entrepreneurial spirit.
In the last year, CICF achieved a milestone, incorporating our entity and establishing ourselves as a not-for-profit since being founded in 2013.
To this end, we would like to present to you an opportunity to partner with us, to lend your support to a largely unprecedented cultural event like ours and support a continuously growing West Indian community. Sincerely, Stephenson Nanan
This has been the ONLY sugar that I have used over the years which captures the essence of the vibrant rich flavor of actually eating a piece of sugar cane.
I have used Mr. Goudas Demerara Sugar not only casually but also in my baking. I even use this delicious, flavourful and natural tasting sugar in the cream cheese icing that I prepare for carrot cake.
Mr. Goudas Demerara Sugar reminded me of the time when I had traveled to Jamaica to eat cuts of sugar cane.
In an era when so many companies seem to just care about commercial profit at the expense of the health of 'consumers', Mr. Goudas before the 'organic foods movement' had shown that companies can produce very health products and be profitable.
In so doing, Mr. Goudas has been an inspiration to forward-thinking and socially contentious entrepreneurs who seek to make a constructive difference in the quality-of-living among Canadians and other people internationally.
If you would like to use my professional food styling and photography services, please visit my website at visualassets.ca Thank you!
I was not aware of it until friends started to call and informed me of the video. Migrant/contract workers in other cities in Canada saw it as well and started to connect for help.
I would like to keep in touch knowing and comforted by the fact that you will not close the door on us if we come asking for help. The children of the caregivers who succumbed to cancer - the topic of my presentation, their immigration status continue to be in limbo.
They are still here in Canada but starting to lose hope given the uncertainty of their status - they feel their lives are on hold.
While this might be a very short notice, I would like to invite you to a KAIROS event this Sunday, November 30th, celebrating our resilience and the unwavering support of social justice seekers like you that keep our organization going (and strong) despite the federal funding cut on November 30, 2009.
The celebration is at the Holy Trinity Church, 10 Trinity Square, Toronto, Ontario. Please come if you're able to.
My colleagues will be in awe to meet the kind and humble man behind the Peter Goudas food labels! Again, it was an honor to meet you in person! Sincerely, Connie Sorio
Dear Mr. Goudas: I have been an avid consumer of your line of products for as long as I can remember.
Recently, one of my grandchildren presented me with a series of books written by you that she picked up one of the independent stores and guided me to your incredible website.
I guess I will now spend many retirement hours reading about your life since many of your products sustained my life. A quick scan of your website turned into a long evening.
Each chapter captured my interest.
From there I visited the Comments Section out of curiosity. One recent letter conveys my sentiments. Written by Mr. Ken Marshall of Innisfil, Ontario, suggesting that you receive the Order of Canada.
I am surprised that you have not yet received this recognition for all you have done in creating a world of foods and is selflessly giving back to society with your ongoing support to food banks, churches, associations and organizations in need of assistance.
Mr. Goudas, I have never met you yet I feel like I have known and relied upon you for all my life.
I must admit that I and thousands of others are impressed with your creativity and diligence and the world of foods you have introduced to us. Foods which have brought back wonderful memories to my mind.
I agree with Mr. Marshall that you deserve the Order of Canada.
However, on further reading of the Letters of Appreciation, I believe you deserve more than Canadian recognition.
Maybe an International ORDER OF THE WORLD should be created to acknowledge your contribution to all nationalities of the world. The Letters of Appreciation section to me is a testament to your ongoing generosity and philanthropy.
I need this for my letter re THE ORDER OF CANADA which you really deserve. Once again for the lovely visit, we had at your place last week. You truly are an amazing person Your friend, Ken Marshall
Dear Peter: I met you not very long time ago but I heard about your knidness to humanity and your passion for business long time before.
I am from Pakistan and was sent very early in my life soon after my basic education to Germany and then I moved to London, I came to Canada and I saw Mr. Goudas cans of beans and chick peas and rice and hundreds of many more items everyday in the shops in Ontario.
Finally I met you in reality, one day and I saw Mr. Goudas not printed on cans or on bag of rice but just in front of me sitting close to me.
I shook a powerful hand with you and saw in your eyes the shine, the light and energy.
Right as I entered the building I saw your collection of books and recipes.
I picked up a dozen and read every night before go to sleep.
You are a wonderful person,very kind, full of humor, a writer, a cook, a friend, animal lover and on top a very good human being.
God Bless you.... Mr. Goudas I love your passion please keep it up. Long Live Mr. Goudas.
Aslam Shaharyar
It was out of stock today and I cannot justify the lengthy trip to the store again tomorrow for this one product as much as I like it.
Last time I checked Westside Foods it wasn't there either.
I personally bought 8 cans a month which may have been half the inventory on the Metro shelf.
I can't be bothered calling a lot of stores when I can go shopping just to find out if they have it.
For your own benefit I think you should answer my letter. Thanks in advance.
Dear John Knoll :
Thank you for letter and the love of my product.
The store should have informed you that this product has not been available for the past little while. Bean crops in 2013 and 2014 crops have been short and the quality is not up to Spyros Peter Goudas standards. As you may see on the film that Mr. Spyros Peter Goudas is very fussy with respect to quality and the final outcome of his products. Unless he could produce the best in the world, he would not jeopardise his reputation with inferior quality products.
We are sorry for the inconvenience.
Sophie Carswell
Dear Mr. Peter Goudas, This letter should have been written weeks ago and I apologize for being so late... I can't Thank You enough for your generosity and kindness in having your Representative send me your precious Vanilla Extract along with the other bottles of Almond Extract and Mixed Essence. You were so kind to me and I shall never forget what you did for me! Your Representative was also kind and thoughtful and I want to Thank you both from the bottom of my heart. Sincerely, Christina.
We have store managers in Trenton and Brighton trying to get it.
Can you help or have you stopped making it. Thank You.
ANSWER:
Dear Belle Cox,
I am pleased to hear that you and your friends enjoy this product.
However the most recent production of beans for 2013 and 2014 not only in Canada but all over the world was affected due to the beans being broken, discoloured, uneven in sizes etc...
If we were to use these beans the product you know and enjoy would not be the same or be of the highest standard. I have temporarily discontinued the production of this soup.
Hopefully the quality of the beans will improve at which time production of the Northern Bean soup will resume.
I apologise for it being unavailable at this time but do continue to enjoy the many other excellent products available under my label.
Sincerely, Peter Spyros Goudas
You mentioned him as young Raditsas. The young boy you described as being the final casualty of WWII in Kalamaki. My father could never quite get through the story enough for me get all of it. Unfortunately, my father passed away in 2006.
I wanted to thank you for sharing that story of my brother. Though we never met, that story touched my children and myself. I wish I could find out more information, but I thank you for sharing what you have.
Very Respectfully, Michael Demetre Raditsas
Answer:
Dear Michael Demetre Raditsas:
I was utterly surprised to have received your letter and its contents.
I recall having participated in the writing of Mr. Goudas' biography, The Immigrant.
I particularly recall his vivid and sad description of the story of Young Radistas.
At the time, I wondered if anyone would recall this tragedy.
Apparently, The Immigrant is read by many and I am extremely thankful that it arrived in your hands.
Regards, Bernadette
Dear Mr. Goudas, What an exciting time that I had, reading the appreciation letters. Of course, there are too many to go through, however, I ended up on your most recent ones located at the bottom of the page, and I am referring to one about Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. I heard in the news briefly about the Typhoon incident, but I never really invested time to go into detail. When I read the letter from Sofie Hui, I started to understand the severity of the situation. I was surprised to read that Sofie Hui is not even from the Philippines, but is from Chinese origin. Following this, I read the letter from Pastor Alex and his efforts in conjunction with you to help the unfortunate in that area. I must say that the videos of Mr Yoyoy Villame are very inspirational on the educational future of our youth. I never knew anything about Mr. Yoyoy Villame, and now that I have seen what he has done, and why you gave him such credit, I am very happy that I visited the appreciation letters section of your website. I also enjoyed listening to Ms. Jannet Benigno singing along with Mr. Yoyoy Villame in the Philippine Geography song . Your Truly, A loyal customer for many years.
Mt. Horeb Sanctuary of Praise Ministries (MHSPM) Apt.1705 - 235 Grandravine Drive, Tel: 1(416) 3018348 Email:mthorebsanct.praise@hotmail.com North York, ON M3N 1J2 August 5, 2013 Goudas Foods Dear Mr. Goudas, On behalf of MT. Horeb Sanctuary of Praise Ministries, we take this opportunity to offer our sincere appreciation and thanks for your generous donation of food products to our Mothers Day Appreciation Event. The products really allowed us to provide a high quality entertainment package for our guests and assisted us greatly in staging a very successful and delightful evening. Everyone enjoyed the sumptuous meals and of course, some goodies, too. The booklets you so well put together were displayed and some of the attendees went home with the ones they were interested in reading. We, at Mount Horeb Ministries, do acknowledge that without your generous contribution the event would not have been the success, it was and we look forward to future endeavours and partnerships with the GOUDAS brand. It was a memorable occasion. Thanks again for your kind support and wish you continued success in your endeavors. Yours truly, Marcia Walker Chair- Social/fundraising Committee Osbourne Murray â Minister/Director
Hello Susan,
Thank You For Your Letter
Yes good health is important and so I do not add MSG to my products.
Since you can't locate some of the products how about trying some of these delicious soup recipes at home.
I just finished reading your booklet on the Olive Tree. My wife and I were lucky enough to have visited Italy two years ago and Italy and Greece this past year. Your book rekindled our love affair with the olive! Thank you and best wishes.
Tim Cumming .
Im 79 and never in my life had Rice pudding that tasted as good as my mother made. We live in Vancouver,and to think 'Toronto the good' made this. Both me and the wife are very suprised at the quality.
Well done John.
Their house brand (Compliments) is really not as good for a couple of reasons. Can you PLEASE send some to their store? Or is there somewhere else I can get it?
Thanks you. (website: 4166266890)
President of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis Philoptochos Board, Toronto, Canada
ANSWER:
Hello Stephanie,
I am happy that you both enjoyed this product.
Unfortunately it is not available in Michigan at this time.
On your next visit to Ontario please stock up on this amazing product and try some of our other pepper sauces and products which are also amazing!
Sincerely, Peter Spyros Goudas
Answer: Dear Angela: Your letter made us quite happy today. It is absolutely a fact that Mr. Goudas takes considerable time in creating each and every label design. (Imagine how long it takes him to create and produce a product!) The 9 bean symphony orchestra was a wonderful feat of imagination on his part, and much of it is reality, should you try the product. It is a blend of nine beans, each cooked separately and then balanced out through additional cooking, once the products are canned. The beans are selected one by one and he is so proud of this mix, he believe it is the best in the world.
Mr. Goudas also wrote a recipe for the 9 Bean Mix - click here Your letter is an excellent endorsement of his efforts with respect to the labels and the yumminess of the contents. Thank you on behalf of Mr. Goudas
Bernadette Scott
To view a bit of Mr. Peter Goudas Speech at Mount Zion Seventh Day Adventist click on the picture. During his speech, he invited Belle Ganzon to the stage and commended her for her efforts.
Mr. Peter Goudas also mentioned that he was approached by the Nobel Peace Prize, they wanted to award Belle Ganzon for her humanitarian efforts but she refused...
The event depicted is at the Mount Zion Seventh Day Adventist Church during the launch of Caregivers Resource and Development Program (CRDP)
Answer: Dear Nora: Thank you for your wonderful endorsement of my products. Receipt of this letter from you gives validation to the efforts I have placed in producing and implementing a line of products geared to the consumer. It has brought a smile to my face and caused a moment of positive reflection after a hectic week. The fact is I would love to have my products available across Canada. However, the reality is that the chain stores and independent stores have to in stock them on the shelves. My line is carried in Zellers and hopefully, you may see an expansion of the line. You may check out my new website www.mrgoudasbooks.com and read about my introduction into the food business in my biography titled, The Immigrant, and about the creation of my line in the many books I have written in the Books and Articles Section. In addition there is a wonderful Recipe Section. Thank you once again.
Answer: Dear Sherry:
I am very happy that I received a letter from you regard how much you like our products. On the hand, I am so disappointed that I cannot help you since we do not have outlets in B.C. There is a distributer of some of our products in Richmond, B.C. The name of the company is Parthenon, 1-604-244-1999. He may be able to accommodate your request on his next order. Thank you so much for this endorsement of our products. Regards, Peter Spyros Goudas
Answer: Dear Jeffrey: Thank you for your letter and wonderful endorsement of our product. I have forwarded a copy of your letter to the salesman of your area to accommodate the placement of this rice at the store level. Once again, thank you for supporting Food Basics as well as our products.
Answer: Dear Erica: Thank you for such a wonderful endorsement of our products. Mr. Goudas was very, very pleased to receive and read you letter of approval. Hopefully, one day the Mr. Goudas line of products will be available from coast to coast to coast. Your letter from British Columbia has been an inspiration. Thank you ever so much. P.S. Spyros Peter Goudas is also an animal lover and asked how did you get your cat to eat baby corn. Visit our website, wwww.mrgoudasbooks.com, click on the Koukla, Irma, Tiger icon and the Canada Geese stories.
Answer: Dear Kathy: Wow. We loved your odds. Thank you for such a great endorsement of our product. Hope that you take another trip down the international aisle soon and discover a few more of our products. (Then, check out our wonderful Recipe Section on www.mrgoudasbooks.com site.) Mr. Goudas was very happy to read your letter and suggests that you send us a copy of the recipe for your squares. Regards,
Answer: Dear Simon Peter: When this book was first written, it was meant as a private piece. Some individuals advised me not to publish it to the general public. However, I felt that maybe someone out there who may gain some inspiration and encouragement by reading it. Finally, your letter has acknowledged this and I am very happy about that. From you letter I see that you are a man of faith and that will never fail. Thank you so much for taking the time to convey your thoughts to me. There are many more booklets and information available on the www.mrgoudasbooks.com site, especially my biography, The Immigrant, which is dedicated to immigrants everywhere. Regards, Spyros Peter Goudas
Answer: Dear Lucien: Thank you for your kind wishes for my birthday. The number is certainly getting very high and I thank the Lord for keeping me in the shape that I am in. I am pleased that you find my writings inspirational and the comedic effect is a part of my nature. It was a pleasure to meet you. Spyros Peter Goudas
Answer: Dear Shelly: Thank you for your letter. When we read your letter to Mr. Goudas he was thrilled to know that you think find that he produces the best Coconut Water on the planet. He smiled and said, I know that, that was my itention. Thank you. We check out your website. Great site. Thank you for your endorsement of our Coconut Water. Regards, Bernadette
Answer: Dear Scott: Your letter was not really a surprise to us. The only surprise in your letter is that you identified the contents as shitake mushrooms. Recently, we received several complaints about this issue. The contents were described as brain parts or out of space vegetables like creatures. So far, you are the only one who correctly mentioned the word mushrooms. However, this is not the shitake type mushroom, it is oyster mushrooms and they are much more expensive than baby corn or any other mushroom on the planet. There was a mislabelling at the Thailand packaging plant, and apparently a few cases of oyster mushrooms were labelled as the baby corn cuts. Thank you for taking the time to inform us. We appreciate customers like you. Who knows, maybe some time in the future, some one will purchase oyster mushrooms and discover that there are baby corn cuts inside. Regards, Bernadette
Answer: Dear Bill: Thank you for your wonderful letter. Mr. Goudas himself was thrilled to receive your letter. Your letter is positive verification that the efforts he places on bringing the best products in the world to his customers, has been perfectly portrayed in your letter. He said it is like a dividend. Not sure the bank manager will accept it though. Thank you. The reality is, Mr. Goudas really does go one step beyond in selecting his products. If they are not good enough for him, they are definitely not good for his loyal customers. Once again, thank you for your letter. It is an excellent endorsement of our products.
Answer: Dear Paul: Thank you for purchasing our product. Simply add water to the coconut powder to the consistency and flavour you like. Visit our website www.mrgoudasfoods.com in the books and articles section and click on the topic Coconut Tree. You will find a wealth of information about this Tree of Life and some recipes. Coconut milk is used to enhance cooking and should not be used as a milk drink. Regards, Bernadette
Answer: Dear Joel: Thank you for your letter and endorsement of our product. I spoke to our sales representative for this store and he has advised that as of the present time, your store is stocked with Black Bean Soup. Check our the www.mrgoudasfoods.com website and you will find a world of information about our products, recipes and reading information that will have you loving our products for life.
Answer: Dear Mr. Sanders: Our sincerest condolonces at the passing of your wife. We admire your efforts in trying to stumble through the cooking thing. Yes, sometimes it is very difficult for a new chef to progress through the details. We would like to inform you that we have a website www.mrgoudasbooks.com which contains wonderful information about products in the link called Books and Articles. There is a book titled, RICE, detailing the different varities, cooking instruction and general information about rice, including how to cook it. The other books are specific to other products that you may try in the future. Special recommendation is Stuffed Vegetables, a step by step, photo display of the recipe. Lima Beans and Chick Peas are very popular. Mr. Goudas also recommends that you read the book, MIRACLES STILL DO HAPPEN. It is a very inspirational book and hopes it will lift your spirits. In addition, the link, RECIPES, within the same website contains over 150 recipes by Mr. Goudas. With our help, you will become a talented chef very soon. Thank you so much for your letter. Regards, Bernadette
Hello my name is Helen Cumini and I am from Val Therese Ont, Canada. I'm writing all of you to tell you that I absolutely love your Pepper Hot Sauce. I don't ever think I run out because I always have extras here in the house. I use it for everything.
I love it so much that I talked my finance into giving your hot sauce away as a gift at our wedding. I'm giving our caterer some so I can have it at our head table. I'm making sure I don't miss out on my sauce, my finance thinks I'm silly lol he says I'm the Goudas hot queen. I want to personalize my wedding by using the hot sauce and my finance he's the shot glass man lol. I thought of asking you to see if there is a way I can get a bit of a deal on buying the hot sauce in bulk? We have 280 people coming to our wedding and where I buy your product now I'm sure they can not give me a deal on all the hot sauces I would need to purchase. The size is perfect (85ml) for a gift and hey who doesn't use hot sauce? Anyways if you can get back to me that would be great. Your friend Helen Cumini
Answer: Dear Helen: Congratulations and good luck for the future to you and your fiance. We are happy and very surprised to find that there is a goudas hot queen out there. When we read the letter to Mr. Goudas, he was very pleased at the depth of love you have for his hot sauce. In addition, he stated that we should advise you to come in to our office and, as our wedding gift, he will provide you with the quantity you need at half the price at the store level. Here comes the bride, the goudas hot queen bride. Once again, good luck and best wishes.
The honey is delicious and the no-drip bottle cap makes for very easy serving...so thank-you again for another fine product.
PS. Would you consider adding tinned whole button mushrooms to your list of products?. Sincerely Marie
i especially like your sugar as it is not as fine as Redpath's. Where can I find it?
Answer: Dear Meg: Thank you for your letter.Zeller department stores and many independent stores carry our products. It is quite possibe you will find this products in one of them.
Answer: Dear Russell: Thank you for your letter.Regarding your suggestion about can size, we would like to let you know that the can size in Canada is standard by Canadian regulations. At times, Mr. Goudas himself has wanted to reduce the can size on some of his products. However, the formality and procedures in applying and convincing the Canadian government to change the ruling has not been successful since the ruling has been in effect for over one hundred years. For the last 10 years he has been very frustrated with Canadian regulations in his efforts to change the can size of Tomato Paste from 155 ml to 50 or 75 ml since he knows that only small amounts of tomato paste is used in cooking at any given time. Most people use a spoonful or two at a time, and the remainder sits in the refrigerator, eventually turning black and mouldly, and has to be discarded. It is sad that all efforts to do exactly what you mention has fallen on deaf ears. Thank you for corresponding your thoughts to us. Regards, Bernadette
Answer: Dear Buzz: What a beautiful letter. Guess the boy has grown up. I remember you very well. It seems like only yesterday, although more than 40 years have passed. I beat you to the punch and have published my biography, The Immigrant. However, when I was writing my bio, mentally I relived the good old days in Kensington Market where my store was located Your name, and the other kids, such as Louis Perreira, always flashed in my memory. I am very happy that you remember me and have taken the time to send this letter and bring back fond memories. Should you find yourself back on our soil, please contact me so we can get together for old times sake. Pat is still with me and we have a son, Panos.
I am still very active, in fact, I am a certiied workaholic and I work more than ever before in spite of the back injury. Nevertheless, for you I will find the time. Peter
Answer: Dear Carlo: What a wonderful letter, testimony and endorsement of our product. Mr. Goudas believes that this product has been conceived way before its time since it appears that the public is not ready for this meal in a can concept. It was an enormous investment of his time, effort, energy and investment to create this unique recipe, develop a canning procedure for proper sterilization and to ensure that the final outcome of the product had an extraordinary taste, appearance, and, of course, exceptional quality. However, apparently, the general public recognizes the word Tuna, and purchases Tuna in the can. Should the craving be for Tuna and rice, the rice is cooked separately. The concept of Rice and Tuna ready made in the can, causes consumers to stop, think for minute, and wonder how is this possible. Your thorough endorsement of the product brought a big smile to Mr. Goudas' face. As Mr. Goudas always says, he will be very famous as the greatest food producer and innovator of all time, after he passes away! His efforts to understand the food habits of every individual culture and taste is perfectly portrayed in a comedic format in his book titled: The Cow Foot Story, Chaa mon dem a like mi foot, mon! in the Books and Articles Section of www.mrgoudasbooks.com website. I suggest you peruse this site and you will learn about the pains and efforts on his part to produce the finest products in the world, especially through his biography, titled, The Immigrant. Again, thank you for your excellent letter.
Answer: Dear Lisa:it is a pleasure to receive your letter. Coincidentally, your letter arrived on the same day we received a new container of Coconut Water. As always, Mr. Goudas tries samples of all products coming from over seas. As he was sampling the product, we read your letter to him. And he immediately responded, You see, they already know how good the product is even in Australia. We wish we had a large enough distribution network so that our products would be available in Australia. However, should you find yourself in Toronto, Canada, upon presentation of this e-mail Mr. Goudas would not give you a complimentary can or two but a full case to last you for some time. Thank you so much for your endorsement of our product. Regards, Bernadette
Diane
Answer: Dear Diane: Thank you for your wonderful letter. It is absolutely remarkable to have a customer write us and express such comments. Upon reading your letter to Mr. Goudas, he was overwhelmed with your words. He has spent basically all his adult life, and expended all his energy in providing the best food the world has to offer to his customers. In many ways, he ensures that the food you love and maybe be grew up loving is available to you at affordable prices. Your letter actually brought tears to his eyes! Thank you. We have posted your letter on our website www.goudasfoods.com in the Comment Section. Your letter is verification to Mr. Goudas that all his efforts so far have been worthwhile. You may also visit www.flyermall.com at the bottom of the main page are many of the booklet and stories he has written about His products and his life experiences. They are some of the most in-depth and sometimes funny stories you may ever read. Please take the time to enjoy them and learn something about the man behind the label. Regards, Bernadette
Answer: Dear Tom: The majority of our products state the country of origin. Those from China definitely have that statement. The perception is lately that products from China may be questionable, however, the technology and quality control are, in fact, superior to other countries. Facilities are also newer. Chinese manufacturers depend on repeat purchases from their counterpartners around the world, they are doing their best to emphasize quality. With respect to the cornmeal, our line is from the U.S. Canada produces some corn meal on a small scale. However, there is no manufacturing facility at present producing the fine grain granulation that is acceptable by the thousands of daily users of our brand.
Answer: Honourable Sheila Copps Dear Sheila: Your letter arrived a few days after we provided a donation to the Haiti disaster. You may view this on our website in the Events Section, and also the letter to the Right Honourable Michaelle Jean offering our assistance. Nevertheless, hearing from you is a thrill. If I can be of further assistance, I will be very pleased to do so.
I have been a fan and loyal consumer of your products for more than 25 years. I learned how to cook under the watchful eye of both of my parents and the products were always Goudas whenever we could get them. Living where we were getting anything from the Caribbean was always a challenge but when it came through the flavor and quality was the winning factor every time! I wish to show my appreciation by offering you this slogan: Mr. Goudas is as Good-as-Gold! Hey - you might want to have your girls and boys down in the Goudas marketing labs boil that up a bit in a couple a' beakers and see how it all cooks down! Thanks again for the years of diverse quality Caribbean products. For my parents it was always a welcome taste of 'home'.
Answer: Dear John: Your letter made us very happy, especially Mr. Goudas when he read it. An affirmation of appreciation from a customer is a very big bonus for all of us. Having worked with Mr. Goudas and having witnesed the efforts, concentration and specifics he places in the acquisition of a product, the development of a recipe, labelling and marketing, I can assure you that he is very particular and precise in his requirements. If it is not good enough for him, it is not good enough for the customer. I have heard him say, after all his work to perfect each product, Someone out there will be appreciative. Your letter has shown that you and your family are appreciative and loyal customers. Thank you from all of us at Goudas Foods. Your slogan is out there for the world to see your approval. Visit www.mrgoudasbooks.com website. The books the Cow Foot Story, The Curry Story, The Ackee Tree will give you an idea of how the Goudas line begun. It all started with a little shop on Baldwin Street in Kensington Market which attracted a diverse clientele base requesting their native food. Maybe your Mom and Dad may remember. Regards, Bernadette
Regards, Bernadette
Answer: Dear Ashlea: Thank you so much for your letter. For your information, the following article appears in Events Section of www.goudasfoods.com - September 24, 2008. The article is a self-explanatory. Armando Viola's name pops up occasionally in the Goudas organization. For example, in the March 23, 1973 Events Section, in Mr, Goudas' biography, titled, The Immigrant, and the Article Guess Who Is Coming Back to Sobeys, January 2, 2008. Over the years, whenever Mr. Goudas narrated a story about how he began, etc., etc., Armando's name was always mentioned. As we all know, Mr. Goudas knows many, many people. Some of them are competitors, some are back stabbers, and some considered to be personal friends and supporters of this organization, a group which includes Armando.
Ever so often, Mr. Goudas would ask one or more of the salesmen at the weekly sales meeting to relay hello to a particular person, be it a store manager, or someone associated with the company. In this instance, he always sent greetings to Armando and the following week the salesman would return and say Armando sends hello to you, too. Armando was a junior Assistant Manager at the Dupont and Shaw Food City location in the early 1970,s when Mr. Goudas first entered the food jungle arena full of hope, ideas and new products to capture the ever-increasing multi-cultural market. At that time, many high level managers and store owners did not understand the mentality of Mr. Goudas. However, Armando was one of the first to see Mr. Goudas, vision and immersed himself in becoming educated within this field so much so that he became one of the top managers at the Food City which was part of the Oshawa Food Organization. He then went on to Price Chopper and IGA which are now part of the Sobeys Organization, which bought the Oshawa Group. Basically, he worked for the same organization all his life. He was very loyal and most of the managers were trained under his direction. After many years, Mr. Goudas and Armando were reunited at the www.FlyerMall.com 2nd Anniversary Celebration, March 20, 2005 and posed for this memorable photo. Sadly, Armando passed away. He will be missed.
At the subsequent sales meeting, Mr. Goudas mentioned that the company has lost part of its history. On a personal level, Mr. Goudas feels like he has lost a friend. Our condolences go to his family. From Mr. Goudas and the entire Goudas Foods Organization.
Answer: Dear David: Our products are not carried in Loblaws and No Frills since early 2000. However, they are available at other stores, such as Price Chopper, Food Basics, Highland Farms, Zellers as well thousands of independent stores. In your area we recommend, Grants at 3415 Dixie Road, First Value 2267 Islington, Yaun Min, 3085 Hurontario Street and many stores in that area. Thank you for wanting to purchase Mr. Goudas products. We hope that once you find your nearest location, you will be pleased with the discovery.
You should tell Mr. Goudas to put the Goudas rice song on youtube. I was searching for 'Mr. Goudas' on Youtube and found nothing about this company. The song is great.
Answer: Dear Walter: Thank you for your letter. We certainly love and can not stop laughing the way it is stated. You are absolutely correct to say to the wife buy Mr. Goudas they have good products. With respect to your complaint about the exotic fruit cocktail, we would like to let you know that cherry is not a tropical fruit and is only there for decoration. It is not really meant to be a part of the ingredients on a large scale. In fact, in the future we will eliminate the cherry from the list of ingredients due to fact that the producing country does not grow any cherries and they have to be imported, making it very difficult for production. Please continue saying to the wife, buy Mr. Goudas they have good products. Seasons Greetings.
Regards, Bernadette
I have been fortunate to locate your web site and really impressed with all the informations you have published ,most of the stories you have told me but never heard about the cow foot Marketing There at times I,ll look back at the wonderful times we had at the 813 Club and at your home on Thursday nights doing the Goudas Radio Programme and as read your biagrophy again and again I,m always proud of you and has been fortunate to know you as a friend,Wynn comes over here sometimes as a consultant for one of our local Radio Station,I,ve spoke to Colin a few weeks ago as he move back to Jamaica,and as you can see I am here in St. Vincent but doreturn to Canada twice per year as my so works with Air Canada.How is big Willie is he still alive also Saull our Sales man.I,ll keep in touch if I know your e-mail address,and my best wishes to Pat and your son hopefully we will meet some day
Percy Thomas
Answer: Dear Pearce: What a wonderful letter of endorsement of our products. Mr. Goudas read your letter at 4:00 a.m.(not because he is a night walker, but that is his usual start time) and he was happy all day. Customer appreciation like yours make not only Mr. Goudas but all of us very pleased to know that our efforts to produce the best the world has to offer does not go to waste. With respect to your question, it is as follows, the long grain white rice product of USA is grown in Arkansas, North Louisiana and certain parts of Mississippi. Another type of white rice by the name Calrose is grown in California. Rice is a difficult subject and rice variations depend upon growing and harvesting areas. Weather conditions also play an important role for the final outcome in taste and appearance. It is a whole big subject which cannot be explained in this paragraph. If you grew up on California rice, then the Calrose short grain or Gao Gao medium grain (Item 512) should be the rice for you. You do not have to purchase an 8 kg bag for trial purposes. Simply purchase a 750 gr bag of the Mama Lucia brand which is also one of our brands and we hope you continue to treasure the memories of your childhood year. Mr. Goudas has requested that I forward to you a copy of his biography, along with 30 booklets he wrote. We hope you will enjoy reading them.
Regards, Bernadette
Answer: Dear Rafael:
Your letter is very encouraging. Thank you. It is also very significant since, at present, we have a wider range of distribution in the Montreal area. Lately, we have established a warehouse distribution in Ville St. Laurent, Quebec which will hopefully enlarge our product and customer base. In the meantime, our products are readily available at Zellers, Mourelatos, P A Supermarkets, and many independent grocers. We hope that in the near future you will be able to find our products at many more stores. Merci, beaucoup. Bernadette
I would like to tell you that today I just made an amazing discovery on the internet--The wonderful, warm, unique human being behind this strong family unit-(your company)- you sir, Mr. Goudas...
I discovered your products in 2006 @ Zellers and your 'rice pudding' is truly a gift from the Gods.... I was instantly impressed(and hooked)by the taste & texture...I know how much love you put into it's creation.... I must say that whenever I am in Zellers I immediately pass by the isle (where the 'foods of the world' are)and scout out your pudding first.... Unfortunately, I have many a time(in the past years namely)found it out of stock.... Rest assured, I always enquired(and never let up)so it has happened less and less especially this past year... Recently, I noticed there was none again(huge sigh)... I enquired, they mentioned 'the gentleman comes religiously weekly (on tuesdays)' I was relieved but I still insisted that the message be relayed to try not to run out!... I'm sorry, but I'm hooked (I have been known to buy at least 4 to 6 cans but have felt 'guilty' that no one else would discover this dessert if I should take them all).... It must be the fact that good taste and good affinities run in my blood.... I was born in Haiti and my mother instilled in us very young a taste for the 'finer' goods and having lived in USA and Canada having travelled in my life namely throughout Europe, the islands - both the Caribbean and the Pacific ones (Hawaii & Tahiti)and recently (last fall)to Greece -for the 1st time- What a truely enchanting place - the cradle of our modern society- in every sense.... Having discovered Athens, Cape Sunion, Mykonos and Santorini(and its most splendid cities), I can see how this country created someone 'as special as yourself' and your fellow countrymen.... Continue the wonderful creative work you do in all aspects of your life and Happy Birthday to you and may your unique spirit never change-- Marjo Efraristo!
Answer: Dear Marjo: Your letter was an absolute joy to receive. Everyone in the office was very happy, especially Mr. Goudas himself.
The Rice Pudding is referred to as love in a can due to the fact that his mother lovingly created this dish and is one of Mr. Goudas' fondest memories. Your letter has been posted in the letters section of the Goudas Foods website and it is our privilege to display it there.
Mr. Goudas states that should you find yourself in Toronto, let us know since he would be please to make your acquaintane and to present you with a complimentary assortment of his products.
Regards, Bernadette
Dear Bernadette: It simply warms my heart to receive your 'endearing reply' (complete with the attachment featuring 'M. Goudas' Rice pudding book')! What an absolute delight! Oh! and what a smile(LOL) I had on my face when I saw Mr. Goudas's likeness dressed in a 'French Chef's' costume fussing over his 'labour of love - delicious poudding' with a spectacular Grecian isle setting as backdrop.... !! I thank you all (un gros merci !) and wish you continued success.... I will definitely take you up on the 'complimentary assortment of Mr. Goudas' products' (gift) and I will let you know when I plan a next visit to Toronto (to see my brother in Markham).... Hopefully then, I could tour your facility (especially where you make your wonderful poudding)! Again, Efraristo ! :) Marjo C.
Answer: Dear Lucia: Hope you are doing okay. You are right that it has been a long time. An article about Robert Dipiero is posted in the Events Section or our website. There are no other employees like Rob and Colleen. The sweeper will never be the same. Mr. Goudas has been informed of your letter His exact words are 'I always remember good people, like Robert and Colleen.'
Wishing you the best for the season.
Regards, Bernadette
THIS IS THE MOST DELICIOUS DIET I AM ON. HOPE YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH I LOVE YOUR PRODUCTS.
I have been purchasing your products for quite some time and recently picked up your pamphlet on rice pudding. I found it interesting and also enjoyed your website. I have always wondered who Mr.Goudas was, I thought it was from India. Although I am impressed with your business, I have always wondered why the labels are, well, not very appealing. Pardon me for being blunt but I find the choice of colours and the presentation very tacky. I have always believed that if you made your labels more simple and less busy, your profits would increase. When I first saw your product line, it looked cheap and poor quality as the colours on the labels are too saturated and the presentation is too busy.I firmly believe that a better choice of design would make your business much more successful. I will however continue to buy your products.
Thank you Don Bartley
Dear Mr. Goudas,
Thank you so much for your generosity in giving us boxes and boxes of food/food products for our clients in the food bank. As you know, in the last couple of months, the people we serve in our area have been increasing in numbers and the supplies we get from the North York Food Harvest have not been enough. We serve twice a month, on the 1st and 3rd Sundays, and plan to open weekly, maybe in the spring, as per request by North York Food Harvest. We sincerely thank you for your kindness and may the good Lord continue to richly bless you and your business in your desire to help the less fortunate in the community.
Sincerly, Belle Ganzon, Mt. Zion Community Services Coordinator
I Love your canned fruits, they are delicious, and recently I bought 6 cans of SLICED PEACHES # 204 For Chritmas I made a fruit salad and I mixed them with: DEL MONTE SLICED PEARS, and Goudas MARASHINOS CHERRY and BRANDY The next day the liquid ( JUICE ) had turn into THICK JELLY ?
I taught it was the Alcool.I did not take any chances and threw the whole thing in garbage. Yesterday I mixed a can of SLICED PEACHES with a can of DÃLE PINEAPPE CHUNKS and this morning, the juice is thick JELLY again ?
IS IT DANGEROUS TO EAT ? PLEASE TELL ME. PS For Canada requirements, why don't you write on your Sliced Peaches cans the list of ingredients ?
Thank You, Yves Valade
Answer: Dear Yves: Thank you for your letter and for purchasing our products. With respect to ingredients, the label states clearly the list of ingredients. We do not produce marashino cherries under the Goudas label. In addition, you state you mixed our peaches with dole pineapple chunks, please do not spoil our beautiful fruits which we took great effort, time, concentration, etc. to bring to you and mix with foreign ingredients, including alcohol.
Try next time to enjoy the best the world has to offer all by itself, like the peaches or any of our other fruit. When we created our beautiful fruits we never made reservation for the addition of alcohol.
Answer: Dear Lydia:
Your letter has become another collector item for all of us at Goudas Foods. And especially for Mr.Spyros Peter Goudas since he personally designed that label a few years ago.
In the initial stages, there was objection to the beans as a musical instrument but Mr. Goudas thought everyone needed a little laughter in life. Since the label has been circulated, it has had an impact on those who appreciate good humour, like you. As part of our response, we have incorporated another wonderful attached below:
Douglas J., McIntosh Toronto / Ontario September 15, 2000 To marketing strategy/endorsements
I have tried the 9 beans symphony, and failed to hear the symphonic acoustics. My son, however, being less inhibited discovered the 9 octaves. He composed his observations into a sonnet to be dedicated to those born without the benefit of gas. He was exhausted, but nevertheless, title the following, Four Strong Winds.
Mr Goudas Beans So wise, so frugal. Buy Goudas Beans, They'll turn yer ass Into a bugle
Do we win anything? (how bout a free case of beans)
I have some questions please: 1. What is the shelf life of Mr. Goudas Hot Pepper Sauce? 2. After opening, should it be kept in the refrigerator? 3. Is it alright to take a bottle that has been opened on a camping trip for several days with no refrigeration? Many thanks for creating wonderful products. :)
Best regards, Robert Williamson & Family
Answer: Dear Robert: What a wonderful letter of endorsement of our product. Thank you. We thought it should be published. With respect to your questions: It is advisable that, if possible, to refrigerate after opening. The life expectancy of our pepper sauce is indefinite, and it definitely does not lose its heat, appearance or flavour. Like fine wine, it ages well. And yes, our pepper sauce definitely loves the outdoors and long trips. We must warn you that custom officials may find a reason to confiscate the bottle after tasting with excuses such as needing further investigation or analysis. Needless to say, Mr. Goudas himself was very happy to read your letter. It was confirmation that all his efforts to produce the best pepper sauce in the world has finally been appreciated.
Regards,
I also happen to enjoy your products, as do many of my co-workers.
I do want to tell you that while your current packaging, logo and website have a very fun, colorful and ecclectic look and feel, I'd like to help you improve them. We could make a huge improvement in the sales of your products without taking anything away from who you truly are and what your products represent. In other words, we'd like to help you do what you're doing, just better.
I am part of a communications firm, Hypenotic Advertising. We'd like to meet with you to discuss how we can help you further your business by improving your marketing--from your packaging to your website.
Wondering if we could treat you to lunch sometime?
Thanks very much.
I cannot beg you enough. Please, Please, Please continue to produce the Rice With Tuna products. It is literally the only snack I eat at home. The grocery store near my house has said that the product is not a replenished product and I am scared that I am eating the last of my cans of rice with tuna. Please send over a truckload to Windsor Ontario. I will buy them all.
Carlo Orlando
Answer: Dear Carlo: Your letter brought a smile to all of us. You see, in the initial stages Mr. Goudas thought it would be a good idea to make an easy pull, ready-to-eat, high-class product such as Tuna and Rice.
He went out of his way to make batch after batch on a trial basis until he was able to find the right variety of rice. He selected the best Tuna from Thailand, experimented with the wonderful spices and finally he achieved his goal and produced a few thousand cases. However, when the product finally arrived in Canada, and since this innovation was new and unheard of by the general public, sales were very poor to the point that Mr. Goudas himelf started distributing this product among the salesmen and employees free of charge.
Needless to say, some people like you have purchased the product and love it. But unfortunately, because of the unawareness of consumers, it was not possible for us to repeat the production. Mr. Goudas believes that he made this wonderful product 20 years before its time.
Nevertheless, he was quite happy to see that some people like you appreciate his efforts and especially how you presented it in your letter.
I would like to say thanks, basically. Mr.Goudas has the best selection of different (and sometimes odd) foods that i love. Yesterday i tried the black bean and great northern soups for the first time. I was so hungry and drunk, the nice warm soup made me feel like a real winner (and it was insanely delicious).Right on plz let me know if you guys are ever near going under so i can stockpile and hoard various tins of deliciousness.
Mr. Goudas, am very gracefull with you because your products, came to help the women, and men who has to work out, at the same time have to cook for the rest of the family.
Your products are deliciuos, healthy,fast and easy to cook, and also the prices are very accesibles for everybody. My favourite product is olive oil extra virgen, is the only oil that does not upset my stomach.
Sincerely, Mary Hermosilla
My pantry is always well-stocked with your products and I look forward to finding more and experimenting with them in my kitchen! Thank you! Thank you! And may God Bless you even more with His Good Grace!
Stavros Anagnostopoulos
Answer: Dear Stavros:
Your letter was very well received within our organization, not only by Mr. Goudas, but by everyone in the office. Mr. Goudas himself was thrilled that there are people out there who not only like his products, but the articles he writes. Thank you very much.
For those of you who do not realize what Mr. Anagnostopoulos is referring to, we are incorporating a copy of the article which was published in the newspaper.
MIRACLES STILL DO HAPPEN
Initially, I intended to call this booklet Floaters but I changed it to the above and as you go through the story, you will understand why. I was in my office very early in the morning, around 4:00 a.m., which is my usual time, along with my long time early secretary, Maria, who is 71 years young. She has already prepared my first Greek Coffee of the day and I am completely focused on my computer screen with my pet dog, Koukla, and Tiger still snoozing. Everything was quiet, until I heard something drop into my coffee. It was not long before I realized that there was blood dripping from my nose. I proceeded to the washroom and washed my face and nose with some medium hot water, only to find out that instead of stopping the flow of blood, it made it more intense, the bleeding continued. I remembered as a kid that my mother always told us to lift our head backwards and hold the nose. I did this. When I thought that the bleeding had stopped, I released my nostrils, only to find out that it did not. I thought it would be a good idea to take some toilet paper, roll it up and plug my nostrils. The toilet paper became soaked with blood and fell out of my nose. Regardless of my efforts to stop the flow, the bleeding continued for more than four hours. All the while Koukla is barking up at me, as if she was telling me that I was full of blood. Many thoughts flooded my mind. One of them was maybe I had picked my nose and cut a vein. Or that a blood vessel had broken. In my estimation, I lost over half a pint of blood. All of a sudden at around 8:00 a.m. the bleeding stopped along with Koukla's barking. It seemed like I was ready to continue working. When I told the staff what had happened they told me I should go to the doctor. I choose not to go but I did phone. I was advised that I was the luckiest man on earth since I had just escaped a huge stroke, which either could have killed me, or paralyzed me for the rest of my life. I made an appointment to see the doctor to check out my condition. Naturally, I continued working and around 4:00 p.m. I had a sudden urge to sneeze. I remembered the events of the morning and instantly picked up some tissue paper and instead of sneezing, I held it back only to realize that in a few seconds my spine had expanded and a nerve cut in between. Only people who have had severe back pain will understand the tremendous pain that I suffered. I will not go into details of how many months I spent in severe pain, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I was unable to move my legs, to drive, or even walk. Needless to say, my doctor advised me not to have an operation because the possibility of recovery without surgery was greater than if I had one. I am sure that we all heard the expression 'the show must go on'. The business had to continue running. All my employees depend upon me and gave me the encouragement to plug on. With the help of painkillers to ease the pain, I was able in my spare time to write 25 booklets with the assistance of my recording secretary, Bernadette. And although I was in immense pain at times, all the booklets are written in a comedy format. So now I am sure that you are thinking, of what does this have to do with floaters? Well, I was getting better. I was able to move my legs, walk with the assistance of a cane, limping a little - with Koukla limping along beside me. I thought she was trying to imitate me but then I took her to the vet only to be informed that she had arthritis. I was even able to drive my car. Then one night as I was returning home from the airport, with Koukla on my lap as usual, I felt like a bunch of hair suddenly landed in my right eye. I pulled to the side of the road and I tried to remove it. I was unable to. Therefore, I thought the best thing to do was to close one eye and continue driving slowly. Since the office was closer than home, I proceeded to the office. I immediately went into the washroom, adjusted the water temperature and scooped handfuls of water into my eye trying to wash the bunch of hair out. This bunch of hair was very annoying and difficult to remove. It did not even budge regardless of the position that I was looking in. Since I was very tired and unable to drive any longer, I felt that I should lie down and try to get some rest. The following day, I woke up with the hair still there. It had a tremendous impact on my vision. It was like branches of trees moving left and right with no consistency in my line of vision. I tried several times to remove it with water, with no success. It was then that I thought the best thing to do was to go to the hospital. I spent more than four hours just trying to register and finally, I was allowed to go into the ophthalmology section. Needless to say, I was very upset walking up and down the corridor looking through one eye with perfect vision, and the other eye, seeing the people behind bushes. When the doctor finally arrived and examined my eye, he suggested that I take a pill to calm my nerves down. After a little while he returned and gave me the diagnosis, that what I thought was my dog's hair is not correct, and he could not see anything outside of the eye. He also suggested that he would make an appointment for the next day to see an opthalmologist for further diagnosis. I had a terrible night but I did make it on time for my examination. The opthalmologist immediately settled me into the examining chair. He placed a few drops into each of my eyes and told me to go out into the lobby for 15 to 20 minutes until my pupils became dilated. I still had enough vision to see all the diplomas that the doctor had framed on his wall from all over the world. I felt I was in good hands. I returned to the chair to allow the doctor to perform his examination which involved him telling me to move the eye to the left, to the right, stay still, etc., etc. Finally, the examination was completed. I could not see him clearly through my dilated pupils, I clearly heard his diagnosis. Right then and there, he told me that it was not dog's hair but FLOATERS. He told me that he was not too sure and that I should seek a second opinion for verification. In fact, the doctor knew that his diagnosis was correct but apparently he did not want me to have a heart attack or a conniption in his chair. However, I persisted in asking what floaters are since I had never heard of such a thing. He told me that it is something within the liquid of the eye and that there is no cure for it, nor is there an operation to remove them. What I thought was my dog's hair was really a reflection of the mirror of the eyes. Since I was not mentally prepared to accept this explanation, I thought it best to leave hoping he had made an incorrect diagnosis in spite of all his credentials. So I left his office and I telephoned a friend of mine because I was unable to drive. I spent the rest of the day at my friend's house trying to calm my nerves. I asked his wife to scan the internet and find the word floaters. Each time she read an article to me, I became more and more disillusioned. Each article emphasized that there was no cure for floaters and that they are very annoying. There are people even at a young age that develop them and they stay with you for the rest of your life. I sat there listening to her with my fingers crossed hoping that the doctor really had made an incorrect diagnosis. The next day, I made an appointment with another doctor, only to have the same information and diagnosis confirmed. The floaters were so annoying that I had to turn off the lights in my office. My poor secretary had to work along with me in the darkness using only the light of the computer screen. Even a little bit of sunlight or looking up at the sky was enough to give me a tremendous headache. I made an appointment with a third doctor for a final opinion. This time I took my son with me. After the examination, the doctor verified that the floaters are here to stay and will eventually affect the other eye. My son heard the conversation very clearly and on the way out of the doctor's office, I told him to learn as much as he could about the business and that I had to learn as much as I could, the language of the blind. â Braille. Since I produce more than one thousand products from all over the world which I believe are the best the world has to offer, I thought to incorporate the perfume of the products within the can with blind people in mind. With the essence incorporated within the ink of the label, when visually impaired consumers pass by the supermarket shelves or open their cupboards, the intense aroma generated by the label would cause them to immediately identify what is in the can, for example, a pineapple or a tomato field, for that matter. An article with respect to this particular idea of mine was printed in Globe & Mail newspaper on April 3, 2001. That idea became intensified in my brain as a consequence of the floaters, and the research that I started twenty years ago but had never completed, will be my mission for the years to come. Needless to say, I spent more than two months in seclusion with pain in my legs, pain in my back, floaters in my eye, until my 65th birthday came along. So the big day arrived! Once at the office, I was greeted with many Happy Birthday wishes. I received telephone calls, postcards, letters and e-mails from every part of the globe. However, I was left speechless by letter that was posted on our website by my employees. The text is as follows: HAPPY 65TH BIRTHDAY SIR! Hello Everyone: It is 9:20 p.m. on Wednesday, March 28, 2007. It is not unusual that I am sitting here at work. My hours have been rearranged because my boss apparently works 29 hours a day. Anyway, tomorrow, he will be 65 years old. Happy Birthday, Sir! Congratulations on reaching such a milestone in life, thank you for what you have done and accomplished in this time period and may our great and wonderful God, our Father Almighty, continue to bless you and keep you strong, healthy and productive for many, many, many more years. For without you, there will be a terrible void left in the world because, you have made it possible for millions of people to have food on the table. There are no words to describe my gratitude and appreciation for everything you have done and I am very privileged to have made your acquaintance. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. An e-mail arrived in the office today from one of our many suppliers. It has been reproduced exactly as is and is a sincere testament to the Man for all seasonings, rice products, beans and peas, soups and prepared meals, canned vegetables, beverages and drinks, tomato products and pastes, canned fruits, sugar, flour, sauces, condiments, spices, etc., etc., Mr. Spyros Peter Goudas, who for almost 40 years has dedicated his life to a mission which has been successfully accomplished in spite of many trials, disappointments, personal tragedy and grief. The text of the e-mail is as follows: My name is Theologos Kangelidis, my English is poorest than semi poor. But my will to express my opinion for Mr. S. Peter Goudas is very strong and I will try to do it anyway I can. I hope I will be understandable. Before about a few years, I was so much disappointed of my life and so tired from all the bad moments I had with my work( after few years of hard work I had set up a little factory for canned food) in Bulgaria( I am Greek) I was looking to the net for some companies to collaborate with and send to them some samples... As I search I found a website called MR. GOUDAS www.goudasfoods.com. I wrote a letter to him and after a while I had already an answer which left me surprised. How fast this man reply to me although he was very busy with all his products. After a long conversation with the man, I left with the opinion that he is a very clever hard working man looking for perfection for his products. But all this was like a fairy tale for me, because he said to me that he will advance money and raw materials to me...you see I was in a difficult time... NO ONE WILL BELIVE IT SINCE WE DON'T KNOW EACH OTHER!!! The next morning they call me from my bank that an amount of US dollars has arrived from Canada to my account. I don't believe it! Yes, it's true!!! After a short time, a whole load from MR.GOUDAS raw material to begin production of his products arrived in Bulgaria for me. Since that day till today, me and Peter have produce more than 35 articles under MR. GOUDAS brand, all of them under his straight observe and opinion (you see, he wants the best in the world and not less) and we are good friends more than business partners. Honestly, I am 45 years old and I have seen many things in my life, for first time I have met a person like him. Words are very poor to express this entire phenomenon called Peter Goudas! He is a whole catalogue from qualities Honest, HARD WORKING, human, sensitive, clever, hard to the difficulties of life, funny when he has the time, simple and thousands more... If he was not near to me, at all these hard moments of my life I really do not know if I was here today. I pray to God every day to keep him alive and healthy because he is a good man... I want to thank him in a very open and public way for all people to see who Mr.Goudas is. If the world had 2 men like him maybe life was better for sure. And to close this long letter, I must thank all his team in his company (they are all of them perfect). And all his valuable customers that they respect so much his name and his products which without any date are the best in the world! I am proud to serve him and his company!!! With all my respect, Theologos Kangelidis As I continue to type this, I am overwhelmed. The above letter perfectly describes this man whom we all know as MR. GOUDAS, and I sincerely believe it is the most appropriate Happy Birthday and Thank You to SPYROS PETER GOUDAS. Since I have been recording the details of his life for his autobiography titled, The Immigrant, I have become aware of the strength and determination of Mr. Goudas. We love you sir and never ever forget that. You have made the world a better place! Happy Birthday Sir! You are an inspiration to all of us. From all you faithful employees, and of course Koukla. My whole staff knowing my situation encouraged me not to retire, since not only them, but the world needed me, maybe now more than ever before because the tremendous experience that I possess should not be allowed to go to waste. Not yet anyway. I was telling my floaters story to one of my suppliers in Bulgaria, when he told me that his mother who was raised in Greece and is very religious, will send me a little package the contents of which I should place on my eye and this will cure me. I thought it was just another old wives tale so I did not pay it very much attention. After one week, I had a telephone call from a Customs Supervisor telling me that as Mr. Goudas, I bring hundreds of containers from all over the world and every one of them has the proper paperwork accompanying them. This particular package did not have any paperwork and they were unable to process the entry into the country. However, since they knew me very well, they told me they would forward the package and when I found out what it contained, I should inform them for their records. When the package did arrive, I realized that it contained a piece of cotton, soaked in oil from the candle of St. Paraskevi, considered to be a healer of the blind, from the Church of the same name in Thessaloniki, Greece. I phoned my supplier and advised him that I had received the package. He further informed me that his mother instructed that I pray from deep within my heart and believe. I was then to cover the eye overnight with the eye patch (like that of a pirate) and St. Paraskevi would heal my vision. I admit that I have to deal with all nationalities in the world as part of the nature of my business and each one has their own beliefs, and food is indirectly related to religion. I have no room for mistrust in miracles therefore I did exactly as per instructions and I spoke directly to the Great One who is above, until I fell into a deep sleep. Only to wake up in the morning and find that miracles still do happen. Now, I am 65 years old and I am better than ever before. I can walk without the assistance of a cane. I drive without dark glasses and I control my blood pressure, until one of my secretaries causes it to rise. I thank the Lord for keeping me in the top shape that I am in, at this stage of my life. Spyros Peter Goudas
I am just writing because I found out that your rice and tuna product is still in its trial run at select supermarket locations. My father conducts the grocery shopping in the household and I, for one, look forward to eating the cans of rice and tuna ever time I know its shopping day. I usually am able to finish up to four cans (the number of cans he usually buys) within the same day of purchase and look forward to the next weeks supply all over again. Please continue to supply this product and we all will continue to enjoy it.
Thank You, Carlo Orlando
Thank you for your masterpiece, it has given me many hours of laughs and music. I love the design of the label; its clear, engaging and hilarious. thank you for these magical fruits.
yours,
Adrian M.
Thank You
Monique Pitre
Φιλικα Σουλιωτης Βασιλης
Suggestion: when we click on a product we could get a link to various recipies used with a particular product without to much trouble.
Thanks you very much
Answer: Dear Mr. Stephenson Thank you very much for your letter. Your commments were absolutely correct, and through your input we were able to catch in the nick of time the next run of labels. It is very funny because this label has been around for quite some time and no one has noticed the error. We appreciate that you took the time to write to us. Regards Goudas Food
Since I can't eat wheat, dairy, and I don't eat meat nor handle MSG at all, I have a bowl of Mr. Goudas soup every morning and add extra beans, fresh tomatoes and other veggies or cooked quinoa, or buckwheat or top with fresh basil and spinach etc. Thank you for the oppportunity to manage. The curried rice and tuna seems free of MSG but can't find it in London-wish you imported a MSG free eggplant. Love the split-pea receipe on the can with celery,lemon juice, and oil. I add green pepper to it and it goes with the other dips at a party. When in Toronto what a win--noticed that Whole Foods is on track! Why did you remove Pareve symbols? What happened? Try to get Food Basics to expand on your vegetarian products.
Thanks again,
Opal Sparks of Toronto, Ontario
First of all Iam the biggest lover for your rice pudding , Its Funny I will only buy a can Once or twice a month as special treat because I can't stop until I have finished the whole can my self.
Never do this but I would like to bring this to you attention . I bought a can of Goudas rice pudding last night At price choppers in Kitchener.(March 29th -07)
I have never seen a can of rice pudding like this before . I swear it consist about 80% of milk hardly any rice. I dont know how this happen but I was a little disappoint . So before I buy any more pudding I will wait a month or so, hopefully I will get another batch that has been mix well. If I happen to encounter this again I will let you know.
Thank you Trina Earle Kitchener ont
Answer: Dear Trina:
Thank you for your letter and endorsement of being the biggest lover of our rice pudding. I would like to let you know that there will have to be a competition for this title because I thought I was the biggest lover of rice pudding.
With respect to your incident, obviously, milk is more expensive than rice so it was not intentional.
We can assure you that our quality control will be looking into this. It seems that ever so often after a few thousand cans in the filling line, the rice gets stuck and this occurs and the can gets more liquid than rice.
We will try to correct this and although this does not make up for your disappointment, we felt the following article would give you some insight into how much thought and effort has been placed into this product and how much it actually means to Mr. Goudas and especially now that he turned 65 - visit our website www.goudasfoods.com in the Events Section - March 29, 2007.
DELICIOUS RICE PUDDING READY-TO-EAT FROM MR. GOUDAS
Dear friends, supporters and customers of my products, I would like to tell you a little story about rice pudding. As you probably know, the roots of rice pudding came from Turkey centuries ago, and the tradition continued from generation to generation, until it finally arrived in the hands of my Mother, who happened to be from Smyrna, Asia Minor. Maybe some of you know what happened in l921 in Asia Minor. Let us forget the misfortunes of those people; please do not hate the Turks because of that. Let us take that wonderful Turkish recipe and relate it to the recipe I am about to reveal. If you go into a large Internet search engine and look up the word Rice Pudding you will find 324,000 documents and articles. Almost all of them tell you how to make it. There are recipes related to Caramel Rice Pudding, Chocolate, Dates, Fruit, Creamy, Silky, Ginger, Coconut Rice pudding, and we can go on and on and on; endless lists of recipes that take forever to be written down on paper. During and after WW II, my mother made Rice Pudding because rice was a very inexpensive item with which to make this simple recipe. The only other ingredients needed besides a handful of rice, are a little fresh milk, a little sugar, and a lot of imagination, patience and love. The reason you need patience is because you have to stay on top of the pot in the final stages of cooking so that the milk does not stick to the pot's bottom, and at the same time the rice has to be already cooked to perfection. The milk taste has to disappear by blending it in with the rice. I also remember that my mother never wanted any of us kids to distract her during the final stages of preparation so that the pudding does not stick to the pot. My mother always made Rice pudding as if creating the most extravagant work of art. In 1998, there was an issue in Belgium about Mad Cow Disease. The only company in the world that was making Rice Pudding, which was located in Belgium, was not able to ship it to Canada or to the United States because of that issue. Therefore, I started thinking in terms of making Rice Pudding myself. I knew that I was about to loose a pile of money through the research and development of this new project. I would like to inform the general public that if someone wants to make a canned Rice Pudding, he does not just make a big bucket of pudding, scoop it into the can, put the lid on it and expect it to be rice pudding; No!! Of course not! The process is very different from this. The raw ingredients have to be cooked while already packaged in the can. They also have to be individually consistent, that means, X amount of rice and X amount of milk filled with sugar. Then each can has to be placed in the retort (pasteurization process), the temperature has to be raised up to a specific degree for an exact amount of time, and then the chilling procedure commences. All this preciseness is necessary to avoid overcooking and sticking to the can. This is very similar to the cooking artwork my mother performed back in WW II. After the above procedures are completed, we then sterilize and rotate the product for a certain amount of time. A project like this takes thousands of dollars in research and development, and after you have that accomplished, you will need a factory with which to do it. As you can understand, at the research stage you cannot make a batch of a few cans, instead you have to a make a batch of a few thousand cans. You keep it for a minimum of fourteen (14) days, to make sure that sterilization is perfect and to ensure its shelf life and consumer safety. You then open the can and try the product; now you may need a little bit more sugar, maybe some more rice, and maybe less milk? Maybe, maybe, maybe!!! The variations and adjustments are almost endless. Consequently, we make up another batch and throw out the previous batch, then I try a different rice, yet this rice absorbs more water and becomes more solid so, we have to discard this batch and keep making more batches, one after the other until we consider it to be as perfect as it can be. As all my friends know, I am fussy, particular, miserable, and a perfectionist, as well as some other choice descriptive words found in the dictionary, when it comes to food. Finally, it seems that this one batch is the right one and at that moment, mass production can begin. The first batch goes to food critics, my friends, restaurant owners, people whom I can trust to be honest in their opinion, and if the majority of them believe that it is the right and perfect one, then and only then do I place it on the many supermarket shelves. Obviously, there are so many recipes and variations of Rice Pudding and I can not please the whole world, but I know deep within my heart that I did the best humanly possible and it is sufficient to say my Rice Pudding is one of the best in the world. I am very happy to receive letters to verify that statement on the Goudas foods website.
Regards,
Bernadette
I even get disappointed when I go to the store and they are out and won't give up until the Manager restocks a lot of it.
Thanks again
Answer: Dear Marguerite:
Some time in the past we tried to make this product without salt. We did make a batch of a few hundred cases but the response from those who tried it was that the product was flat and tastless.
Therefore, to avoid any further complications, we maintain our existing product and the only difference made was to improve the quality.
Thank you for your endorsement of this product.
We will be delighted to be part of the GOUDAS family.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR MR. GOUDAS
With all my respect,
Theologos Kangelidis ELVIRA co.
He doesn't realize that hard work that gets put in to make great tasting products and offering them for the very good price.
But then again people like him live off of fast foods and do not know the real and good stuff. I am also planning to open up a small retain store and I will carry your products proudly. I my self came to this county with little money in my pocket 10 years ago and seen some of the bull crap..
Take care and God Bless Thank you
I have been very sick for three weeks. So much so that I could not eat regular food.
The only thing that kept my body and soul together was your soups.
The variety was wonderful and the nutrition was more than enough. And, the fact that they contain no MSG really helped.
Thank you for helping to heal me. I am a certified loyal customer for live. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Kathy Ryan, R.N.
I wish to express my appreciation & gratitude to goudas for producing high quality foods that are not just healthy for me & my family, but also very affordable as we are financially limited.
We have been using goudas products for many years now because we trust the quality & goodness that goes into each product you produce. The best part is we never run out of ideas & ways in which to prepair these products, its an adventure every time.
Thank you for your dedication & life time of experience in producing healthy low cost foods that everyone of every ethnic origin can enjoy, without it costing an arm an leg...
Answer: Dear Burt:
Your letter was very inspiring and we thank you for your kind words about this particular product which also happens to be one of Mr. Goudas' personal favourites.
It is true that our company has put a lot of effort into the perfection of this product and we are very happy to realize that there are customers out there, like you, who are thoughtful enough to let us know how much they appreciate it.
Unfortunately, we do not have a distributor in New Brunswick at present. However, there is hope for the future.
The product is available in Montreal at Zellers and Mourelatos. The location of these stores may be viewed on www.flyermall.com.
I have been a loyal customer of your products for many years.
As I am getting older, I am very careful about my diet. I have eliminated most of the sweet stuff, candies, cakes, chocolates and some meats.
Over the years I have cooked with your ingredients. Your rice is our favorite, we never buy any other brand.
In the early stages, I always cooked your beans from scratch they always turned out to be right or at least I thought so. I have tried some ready to eat soups from other brands and after several disappointments, I gave up on prepared soups until recently I made my final try by purchasing the Minestrone, Lentil and Great Northern Bean soup There are no words to express my family's satisfaction about the taste, appearance, and flavor. Each spoonful was a satisfying experience. The variety and texture of the products in each soup are simply delicious..... the beans are cooked to perfection and I certainly enjoy the perfect balance of the vegetables and the olive oil which is a big plus with respect to the flavour.
I have spent several days scanning your website, I found out information about products that I never knew and the history of how you created them. I came across the article on the Rice Pudding and as I was reading the article, your words that you 'are fussy, particular, miserable and a perfectionist as well as some other choice descriptive words found in the dictionary when it comes to food' made me laugh for some time. I then had to read the article again to get the true meaning. Needless to say, now I am convinced that the slogan of the Allstate Insurance Company should be transferred to you, therefore I can say with assurance that 'I am in good hands with Mr. Goudas!'
I have nothing else to add but,
Your customer forever
Angela Rutherdale
Hello Mr. Goudas , I was just visiting your site to try and find out more about mixed essence - part out of necessity - wasn't sure if I was using it in the proper food dishes, and part out of curiosity - was wondering what exactly mixed essence is?
On your site I found mixed essence but no information about it,instead I read how you started your business providing hard to get food products to various ethnic communities.
You worked hard to educate yourself to what ethnic communities were missing in their shopping needs.
So mr Gouda, maybe its time for you to now share that knowledge you acquired with the rest of the people of Canada. Many ethnic groups are already familiar with your products now, which are types of products they were used to seeing in their old countries,but Canadians like my self have no clue about what some products you sell are used for.
You have a lot of great products that many Canadians will never try only because they are not informed about it (eg: your curry experiments, once you knew the difference between the regional types of curries then you had it made so to speak).
Educating the costumer. My suggestion how to educate potential costumers is inspired by a store called Lee Valley tools, they distribute a catalogue about wood working tools. What's special about this catalogue is that below each tool is an explanation of how to use the tool and what its for. Once you know what a tool is used for you won't hesitate to buy it if it makes the job easy or better,not saying you should put out a catalogue but you should put a lot of info about your unique products onto your website,and then put clearly on all your products that the info can be found at the website,even little banners in the stores on shelves informing about the website.
People are open to new things now, we just need the knowledge to help us choose.
Answer: Dear Brett:
Your letter deserves an answer because you explained so fully the purpose of your writing to us. We certainly do agree with you and behind the scenes we have been working to provide an explanation for each product. It is an ongoing task requiring detailed focussing and research. It is very time consuming - taking much time out of Mr. Goudas' daily rigorous schedule to relate to the writers the vast knowledge of his almost 40 years of experience.
I would like to mention to you that within the Products Category, next to most of the pictures, there is a line called 'Product Information'. Once you click on this line, you are immediately taken to the window which explains a story behind the product or gives further details on the product itself. For example, go to the products section, click on Diary Products and scroll down to item 241 - Rice Pudding - click on the information about the product and you will find an article, and although it is only one page, it took more than one month to complete, regarding the whole concept and development of this item.
This is one example. There are hundreds of articles like this one on different areas of the website.
Obviously your comment is very true and eventually, upon completion of our task, we may then be able to have that idea of a book on the products, materialize.
Additionally, useful information about products will come from Mr. Goudas' Biography, titled 'The Immigrant', which will be published in the near future.
Nevertheless, to come to your point about the mixed essence, when Mr. Goudas read your letter, he told me this fascinating story: Back in 1975 when he was developing, along with other people, the preparations for the Caribana parade - Articles Section - Caribana -1975 -76. It took a period of 6 months for the costume preparations. At one point and time, he delivered to the 'mas camp' where the costumes were being made, a few bags of flour. Obviously being from the Caribbean, most people made cakes with it. One lady brought a piece to Mr. Goudas and he was fascinated not only with the taste but with the aroma of the cake. A light bulb came into his head and he questioned her as to what the aroma was. The lady advised him that she had finished the bottle brought from the Caribbean and had thrown it in the garbage. Mr. Goudas went with this lady to her home and searched her garbage to find this particular bottle. Not wanting to sound like an advertisement - the bottle was labelled 'Benjamin's Vanilla'. Mr. Goudas then, in his mind, selected a few varieties of flavouring and created the 'Mr. Goudas Mixed Essence'. Only a few drops are needed to enhance any cake mixture to the next plateau (according to your words).
In conclusion, we would like to thank you so much for your letter. It has been an eye-opener and a food for thought for the future. Needless to say, it is 1:00 a.m. and it took more than 6 hours to complete this answer and I type at 100 w.p.m. if that makes any sense.
Once again, thank you.
You recently came out with Mr. Goudas Soya Sauce. Of course it has become my brand of choice. I personally was not happy with the soft plastic squeeze bottle and secretly hoped that you noticed it was inappropriate.
I recently stumbled upon Mr. Goudas Seasoning Sauce. Wow! What a product. I am very impressed with it and use it each time I marinate chicken, beef, pork and even seafood. Additionally, I thank you for the ideal sized glass bottle. I am smitten with it and on my next trip to the grocery store -I intend to buy a whole case of Mr. Goudas Soya Seasoning in what I refer to as the 'sexy and convenient' glass bottle format. I intend to place it on my dinner table. I hope this will spawn a chain reaction when I have dinner guests over the holidays.
Answer: Dear Joe:
Thank you most kindly for your e-mail and endorsement of our products. We are very pleased to know that a nurse practionner has acknowledged the statement mentioned in your letter.
Yes, we admit that not all stores carry our products and it is up to consumers like you to contact the Head Offices of your grocery stores and firmly request that the product(s) you need be carried in the stores.
We are happy to let you know that Zeller's stores in Barrie carry a large variety of our products.
For requests with respect to products at Foodland and IGA you may address your e-mail directly to their Head Offices at customer.care.ontario@sobeys.com
I looked at the tape with Mr. Hall. Congratulations to Mr. Gouda, but even more, congratulations for recognizing someone who helped you. Very classy.
Sincerely, Jean McNeil
Answer: Dear Jean:
Thank you so much for your letter and positive endorsement of our products. Customers like you certainly make the effort Mr. Goudas has invested in his products worthwhile. The Mr. Goudas 7 Flowers Honey is produced from bees fed on flowers not on sugar which make this honey so very special. The area in which it is produced in Bulgaria, as you probably noted on the website, is the ideal location for this product.
It is true that not all the stores carry all of our products but you will find a wide selection at Price Choppers, Highland Farms, Food Basics, Zellers, Galati Market Fresh, and many independent grocery stores. The Honey is available at the following locations: Fresh Value Market, 2267 Islington Avenue, 401 and Islington; Grants Food Market, 3415 Dixie Road; Yuan Ming Supermarket; 1000 Burnamthorpe Avenue; Oriental Food Center Warehouse, 2363 Haines Road, Mississauga and most of the Zellers stores.
Should you not be able to find this or any other Mr. Goudas products at your favourite supermarket, you can direct your inquiry to the following addresses: A & P, Dominion and Food Basics at fresh@aptea.com , for Price Chopper, Sobey's, IGA at customer.care.ontario@sobeys.com ; for Wal-Mart at cacustrel@wal-mart.com .
Once again, thank you for your letter.
Answer: Dear Suji:
Thank you for you letter and apparent loyalty to our products. Unfortunately, we have not expanded south of the border. It is something we have considered for the future but it is yet to materialize.
Many of our products have lately been available at the Zellers, Basic Food Stores, and Price Choppers in the Niagara Falls area and the equivalent stores in the Windsor area.
Could you please tell me where I can purchase Sweet Source sugar in London, Ontario?
Thank you. S. Salyga
Answer: Dear Sonia:
It is true that many people are not aware that some 'sugars' available in chain stores do not state on the label from what the product is made, or where the product comes from. Therefore, it could be from beets or whatever, and most of them are in powder form, or possibly mixed with fillings.
It is important that if you do not see Sweet Source or Mr. Goudas, which are both 100% pure cane sugar in your favourite supermarket, direct your complaint to the Head Office, Customer Service Department, of that store.
Answer: Dear Lee:
Thank you for your letter and the time you spent to write to us.
Although the contents of your letter does not cause celebration, we have to mention the following: The old soup recipes, were produced with totally dehydrated products. The new line of soups produced in Bulgaria, are made with fresh ingredients. We have to admit that we have an extra spoon of oil because some people do like it. However, people like you, seem opposed to it. It is very simple, because the oil sits on the top, to remove a spoonful, if that is the excess.
We would like you to try the soup again, using the above information in mind. To be able to determine whether any brand of soup contains fresh or dehydrated ingredients, please note that if the vegetables are uniformly cut, it is dehydrated prior to canning. In our soups you see the uneveness in the cut, even in the carrots or onions.
My problem is that I presently can't find this product anywhere in any Hamilton grocery stores. The location I thought I purchased your product from does not have it stocked on the shelves.
Please provide me with the names of stores in the Hamilton area that carry this particular product. I want to 'stock up' MY shelves for the winter! Thanx.
Answer: Dear Necia:
Thank you for your letter and endorsement of our products. We particularly liked the phrases: 'the products you sell are excellent beyond words', and also, 'Thank you and keep on making our food taste great!' You brought a smile to everyone at work, especially Mr. Goudas himself. With respect to cooking the beans, some people as a rule soak the beans overnight. We believe it is a cultural heritage. We refer to blackeye peas, red/green lentils, barley, yellow/green split peas as 'soft beans' and they do not require pre-soaking. White/red kidney beans and chick peas, on the other hand, require some pre-soaking.
When I asked Mr. Goudas about your question, he told me that his mother always soaked the chick peas in water with 2 tsp. of baking soda overnight. I further inquired as to why the baking soda? He said 'I do not know why, but it was always the best tasting chick peas I ever ate!'
His mother's recipe is as follows: Soak chick peas over night in baking soda. Rinse off the next day. Start cooking in fresh water. Just before tender to taste, add 1 chopped onion, 2 tsp. flour, juice of one lemon, and 2 tbsp. of olive oil. Continue cooking until the chick peas are tender and the sauce becomes creamy. Umm ... yummy.
I am writing to tell you how much I adore your products.
Your Garlito Chick Peas were an absolute hit with my family. I have six children, and a few cans are always enough to spice up any stew we make.
We live a lonely life up here. It is cold, unforgiving, and brutally lonesome. Your products help us keep in touch with the rest of the world. If not for your special products, we would be left to eat the local food, which becomes tiring quite quickly.
Thank-you, Mr. Gouda. Thank-you for bringing light to our bleak existence.
I don't usually write letters of praise to food companies, as I find more fault with them than good. However, after using your wide range of products for many years, I felt it necessary to comment on the excellent quality of your fruits, beans, etc. The product that has done me the most good over the years has been your Papaya Chunks in the can. For years I suffered with high blood pressure and diabetes that was difficult to control with diet and exercise. I had been on medications and insulins for a few years, along with regular visits to a dietition and doctor. As hard as I tried to get better, nothing seemed to help. Then I happened upon an article in a medical journal (which was in my doctor's office) that extoled the virtues of adding papaya and papaya extract to a diabetic's diet. I thought 'what do I have to lose?'. I found one store in our town that carried your Papaya Chunks, bought as many as they had on the shelf, and starting using it at every meal. After 2 weeks, I noticed my blood sugars were coming down and I was starting to lose a bit of weight. After about a month, my blood pressure was near mormal and I had lost 5 lbs. Now a year later, my blood sugars are normal as is my blood pressure and I've lost 42 lbs! Of course, I still watched my diet, adding more of your beans and soups, but still eating lots of papaya. My doctor is happy, I'm happy, and all my family and friends are happy! No more insulin or pills, just beans and papaya! Happy! Happy! Happy! Thank you, Mr. Goudas, for helping me get my health back with your fabulous products!
Peace and Love, Ellen McLeod
I am very fond of all of your products, including the dried beans that you sell--wonderfully wrapped, I might add--in bulk. However, I am unable to locate 8KG bags of chick peas; which I'll be using to make hummus. So far, Mr. Goudas, I've bought 8kg bags of yellow split peas, red kidney beans and lentils, Winnipeg-grown!
Do you think you could supply me with the location of a place that sells 8KG bags of chick peas in the Ottawa area?
Thank you very much Mr. Goudas. I look forward to hearing from you, and continuing to buy your excellent, one-of-a-kind products. We as consumers can trust that all of your products, labeled as 'Mr. Goudas,' is good food on the table.
Regards, Wei
Answer: Dear Wei:
Thank you for your letter and kind words about our products.
Since this letter is equivalent to very good advertising, we have taken the initiative to post it on our website.
Additionally, in response to your request as to where to locate our products, the following supermarkets/independent stores in your area and surroundings carry our products: Basics (Ottawa area): 667 Kirkwood Road, 1670 Herin Road, Asian Grocers 3095 St. Joseph Blvd, Unit 5101, Orleans; Belfast Fruite Inc. 1010 Belfast Road, Ottawa; Canton Market 1906 De Carresour, Val des Monts, Quebec; Farmers Pick 11430 Prince of Saales Drive, Ottawa; Geeland Bagvio Store 1020 St. Laurent Blvd, Ottawa; Grace Ottawa 219 Bank Street, Ottawa; Zellers 1980 Oglivy Road, 2277 Riverside Drive Unit 44, 1585 Merivale Road; Kowloon Market 712 Somerset West; Huang-Phat Ottawa Corner, 139 Corner Summerset; New 168 Market 1050 Somerset Street West; Price Choppers 1150 Robertson Road, Nepean, and 318 McArthur Avenue, Vanier; Sultan's Super Market 22446 Bank Street Unit 116, and Wah Shingh Store, 835 Somerset Street West.
Obviously, not all the stores carry all our products, but chances with the above list you should be able to fulfull your needs.
I have been purchasing some of your products for awhile now. I have been enjoying them, most times. However, I am finding that your supplier for the Great Northern Bean Soup, is really OVERCOOKING the BEANS AND VEGETABLES. This is NOT good at all. I am really disappointed, to say the least. I see you are getting this soup from Bulgaria. Is there some specific reason why you can't get this from a CANADIAN supplier You use to have it made in CANADA. Why did you change I found the CANADIAN supplier the best. As I said above, I DO NOT like this soup now. The beans and vegetables are OVERCOOKED. That destroys a lot of the nutrients. I will NOT be purchasing this product again. Your CANADIAN supplier had a much better soup.
Thank you,in advance, for your cooperation in this matter.
Sincerely, Clifton Small
Answer: Dear Clifton,
Thank you for taking the time to write us a letter. Ever since your e-mail, we have opened several cans to capture the meaning of your letter and we found that in every can the beans had been cooked to perfection. Any less cooking than this would have the beens considered as 'raw' from some customers. As far as the country of manufactory issue, the reason being is that in Bulgaria, we are using fresh potatoes, fresh carrots, fresh tomatoes, fresh onions, and fresh celery. This, compared to the mostly dehydriated ingredients used from Canadian manufactures, should make our choice crystal clear. We could have used the word 'fresh' just once, however, we have emphesized the word because its weight is so valuable to today's canned foods in the market. Now that you know of the reason behind this, maybe you should try the soup one more time leaving your negative thoughts behind and thinking of the freshness of the products instead. You may finally realize that this and all the other Mr. Goudas soups are the best in the world. On the other hand, it is customers like you that always put us on a daily test to achieve great quality for our products. We thank you for that.
Answer: Dear Marguerite:
Thank you for your letter and for purchasing our products.
Your idea is an excellent one. However, if we were to delete the salt content it would diminish the taste of the product. Additionally, developing a product without salt would mean producing a whole batch usually a full container which would entail creating a new label, plates, artwork and design and nutrition information.
We are not certain as to how many consumers would accept the saltless taste.
This is a big undertaking because the product has a short shelf life before it becomes rancid. Since we do not have too many requests of this kind, it would be a very risky decision.
At least one person is in agreement with you and that is Mr. Goudas himself.
Thanks for the tinned Chicken Broth(without MSG), as well.
All the best to you.
I would like to thank you for your tomato sauce, especially the one with the picture of the faucet. Being italian, we make out own tomato sauce, but in the last 3 years we have not made any more since it is so time consuming to make 13-17 bushels. Thanks to your product we now buy 5-6 cases of your tomato sauce and i love it for my pasta etc. People think it took hours to make but i tell them it is from goudas foods, and now they go to buy your product too. I also stock up on tuna beans, corn beef (halal), and many others. All i can say is keep up the GREAT WORK! Your products never let me down.
Your number one customer, Pat
I am a huge fan of your products, and have enjoyed many of them for years now. However, I would like to comment on one product that has been a disappointment - the Leek and Rice mixture in the can. I first purchased this product because of my love of leeks - the texture and the lovely mild onion flavour make them a wonderful addition to many other foods and dishes, especially rice. I was disappointed that this product had such an overpowering tomato flavour.
Pairing leeks and rice is a wonderful idea - but I wonder if there is any way to alter the recipe to allow more of the leek flavour to shine, and less of the tomato. If you close your eyes and taste this product, you can't tell there are leeks in it, and I think that's a shame. There are so many other products available with a tomato-flavour base to them. Perhaps this one doesn't need to be one of them. The consistency is perfect, as is the texture of the rice, but the tomoto paste is extremely overpowering and obliterates any of the subtle leek flavour that might be there.
Otherwise, please keep up the outstanding job of providing tasty, unusual, high quality and good-value-for-money products. It's a wonderful thing when a company with your roots and history is able to attract such a loyal following.
By the way, your web site is amazing.
Best wishes, Sarah Lawson
Answer: Dear Sarah:
The receipt of your letter today was amazingly timely. The reason is that the discovery you have just made on the Leeks and Rice is something Mr. Goudas himself thought about one year ago. Since he started this product, the majority of chefs advised him that it would be better with the tomato paste. So therefore, the company made many batches of this particular recipe.
Personally, he never really liked the idea. He then developed a Leeks and Rice recipe without the tomato paste. It took almost a year to perfect. Finally, the finished product arrived in our warehouse yesterday!
After reading your letter very carefully, we opened a can for him to try the new product - heated for 60 seconds in the microwave and at the same time reading your letter, he stated after eating this new delicious recipe: 'At least one person in the world agrees with me. And that is good enough for me!'
Now then, Mr. Goudas asked me to send to you with one of our salesmen, a few complimentary cans of the new Leeks and Rice, together with our newly developed Spinach and Rice which is also made without tomato paste. This is for your personal evaluation. After tasting the new product, send us a letter in the comments sections of the Goudas Foods website, provided you like the new product so it may be permanently posted on the internet.
Thank you for being a loyal customer and we sincerely appreciate your letter.
Dear Bernadette:
I just had to write you back (and I will also leave comments on your website in the Comments section) to let you know that I tried the new Goudas Leeks and Rice that your sales representative delivered to our home last weekend, and it's ABSOLUTELY MARVELOUS!! This is what I expected it to taste like the first time I tried it. Let me tell you what I noticed and enjoyed the most about this new recipe:
1. It was far less salty, allowing the flavours of the leeks and rice to come through
2. The texture was not as mushy
3. It seemed as though the grains of rice were slightly bigger. Perhaps this was simply because I could actually see them in this mixture!
4. There were lots of good-sized pieces of leek in the mixture, and their texture and consistency was very good. Not mushy, not stringy. Good use of green and white pieces to provide visual variety.
5. The flavour was most definitely much more 'leeky' â you could smell the subtle aroma of the leeks as soon as you opened the can, and that flavour carried through the heating process. I found there was just the correct amount of 'sauce' which meant the overall result was not as wet and sticky as the one made with the tomato paste.
6. The addition of very small pieces of tomato provided colour and a nice texture without overpowering the rest of the mixture
7. The mixture actually looked like the photograph on the front of the can! The photograph was what prompted me to try in the original recipe in the first place, so it was wonderful to see that the contents matched the photograph.
Overall, I would say that the new product is 100% more palatable and visually appealing. I am just thrilled that you have come up with this recipe, and I hope that there will be enough positive feedback from within your own company, and from consumers, to make this the recipe you go with! I would certainly continue to buy Leeks and Rice if this is what it will taste like from now on.
As well, I would again like to say that in this day and age, it's marvelous that you are listening to your customers in your endeavour to continue to bring quality food products to the market. I genuinely appreciate the time you have taken to respond to my initial letter, and the opportunity to taste this new and improved recipe. Thanks very much!
With all the best,
Sarah Lawson
I thank you very much for your hard work for bringing the people of this great country with the choice of a tremendous line up of healthy, yet affordable products. I recently bought a tin of your cabbage rolls & your rice pudding. The cabbage rolls, lets say were ok as I am not a big fan of dill. I've heard people raving about your rice pudding & let me say they were not kidding. Thank You very much.
The reason I am addressing this email to employees is that Mr.Goudas had a vision and without his hard working employees his vision would never have come to be.
Answer:
Dear Boris:
The arrival of your letter immediately caused additional sorrow in Mr. Goudas' heart for his beloved Irma, companion of almost fifteen years.
Your letter is definitely excessively harsh and cruel at this particular time.
Yes, Mr. Goudas is an avid dog lover. And so is very member of this organization. But before I go on, let me introduce myself to you. I am one of the secretaries in the office and guess what,I have the privilege of responding to you.
I grew up with dogs and yes, they were allowed to roam freely because the weather permitted that in my country of origin. I would not let my pet out to roam freely in â23 degree weather in Canada without a coat. Our beloved Irma did not need even that. She had a beautiful coat of fur of her own to the end, thanks to Mother Nature.
There is no indication anywhere that Irma (May she rest in peace!) or any other animal was/is a child substitute, bed partner (God forbid!) and none, and I repeat none, of our mothers are bitches!! But, the consensus of the people that we know is that now we know at least one! It is up to you to guess who that is.
You mentioned that 'dog lovers should have their head examined by a good psychiatrist' and for some reason I cannot see the logic in this statement.
It is a proven fact that animals relieve stress levels in their care-givers.
Mr. Goudas' e-mail was not meant to impress anyone, it was simply an announcement of Irma's passing to those who know her. Apparently, and unfortunately, you do not.
If you had followed up on the website and examined the 'Letters of Appreciation' you would probably have realized that the man has done, and is doing, more than anyone could and would for society in general. I guess your sentence was inserted in such a way to let us know that you contribute to a charitable organization. We give you credit for that.
As a matter of fact, the truth is that your letter is the only one we received with cruel comments. Any one who knows Mr. Goudas and his organization knows that we all love animals. Our beloved dog is dead. And right now, I refuse to give you further thought or consideration.
We know what you think and what you feel, thank you. And maybe you should look deep inside your self to determine the underlying reason you wrote such harsh and cruel letter.
We would gladly accept your 'fondest wishes' but we could not find them.
Regards,
Bernadette
I would like to extend my deepest condolences on the loss of your BELOVED Irma. She sounded like such a SPECIAL Companion, and I am sure that the time that She spent with You and Your Family was undoubtedly the BEST TIME of Her life. You can ALWAYS count on the Love & Companionship of an animal, because they are so non-judgmental, and ALWAYS return the LOVE back to their Family & Friends. I am sure that it was a very sad evening for the entire Goudas Family, but rest assured that your Irma will be waiting for You with open paws, when your time comes to elevate to the next level. Just imagine Irma as a healthy, happy young puppy again without a care in the world, except waiting for her loving Peter.
Death is not an end to life.........It is a NEW Beginning.
The GOUDAS Family is a SPECIAL FAMILY, and I am sure that IRMA was blessed to be a part of it until the end of her life.
GODSPEED to Her.
ALL the BEST, Your Friend, Paul E. Hamlyn
I am one of these individuals who spend time scanning the Internet exploring and obtaining information in the privacy of my home environment.
I am a big fan of Mr. Goudas products and with time on my hands, I decided to explore your site, with particular interest in obtaining a recipe for cous cous. I always wondered why you did not have cooking instructions on the package but I realized that after I went into the products section under cous cous, I saw the blurb about the thousands of recipes available on the Internet. I was just about to write you a nasty letter giving you some sh**** when something within your website aroused my attention and I forgot about the cous cous.
Nevertheless, I spent hours and hours reading the articles. I am overwhelmed the wealth of information on your website. I always thought 'Mr. Goudas' was some fictional character not a living, breathing, human being. There are so many events, happenings, products, etc.
There seems to many facets to this 'Mr. Goudas' person: an innovator, a creator, a philanthropist and an animal lover. I was fascinated with the Koukla story. The narration by Jasse MacDonald is out of this world. Then the trouble when you broke your leg, drove yourself to the hospital and then the bank pulling the plug on you.
The article about Costa Rica in which you made the Latinos very proud and I applaud your boldness with the Columbians.
I went to the events section and was expecting to see the current events first but no, the website shows you the old events first. So I followed the pattern and I started reading year by year. I went through your life story very thoroughly and I spent hours reading and reading and clicking here and clicking there.
My goodness! What a website!! The information seems endless!
I finally arrived at the current events: I stumbled upon your New Year's Resolution and was totally flabbergasted. I was just thinking to myself, who would see a business man like yourself in the office on New Year's Day.
After I read the article, I smiled to myself. I felt like this was a jigsaw puzzle and the most important piece in the middle is missing. Who are you? A spiritual side?! Wow.
Nonetheless, Mr. Goudas, your January 01, 2006 greeting should be applauded. Thank you. The hymn you so amply explored here is one of my long time favourite sand I never before knew the history that came with it, right here in Canada, eh!
Thank you. May you have a wonderfully successful year.
Answer: Dear Elroy: It has been some time now since we deleted the basic cooking instructions from our rice packaging. The reason is that although we gave specifice instructions with respect to quantities of rice, water, salt, cooking temperature and time, would you believe we still had a barrage of letters/enquiries/calls about the results with phrases like: 'my rice did not cook right, what kind of pot to use, it was over-cooked, it was under-cooked, became too dry, or too moist, etc., etc., etc.,' Phew!!! Then the company made a decision to discontinue the instructions and allow the customer to make his/her own cooking choice. Then, with the introduction of the internet we felt justified because there are hundreds of methods available and we thought having only one recipe minimized the endless cooking possibilites of the product. Mr. Goudas always advises that if you are happy with the brand of rice that you presently purchase, then look no further. But, if you are not: Goudas rice is very nice. That is the end of the search because you know that you now have the best the world has to offer. As far as the basic cooking instructions are concerned, forget about the measuring cups, specific temperatures, etc. Simply half-fill pot with water, bring to a boil, add little salt (to taste), add one tea-cup of rice. Let it boil until grains are satisfactory to you, then drain off the water, garnish with a slice or two of butter, cover for a few minutes and voila! Perfect method of cooking for any variety of Mr. Goudas rice. Now then if you want to be more creative, we suggest the following: In a saucepan add 2 tablespoon of oil, (Mr. Goudas, of course) thinly slice a carrot, onion, celery stalk, and stir fry for a minute or so, then add one can of Mr. Goudas Chinese Vegetables (Item 566 - which contains baby corn, water chestnuts, bean sprouts and bamboo shoots. Created in Thailand by Mr. Goudas and tastes like it was freshly picked from your backyard garden.) At this point add one teaspoon of Mr. Goudas Trinidad Style Hot Sauce (Item #38 Mr. Goudas' personal favourite). Stir fry the mixture for another minute or two. Add some already cooked shrimp, or small pieces of chicken. Then add a few spoons of the already cooked rice. Sparingly add Mr. Goudas Soya Sauce, and enjoy. Just a small reminder that the Soya Sauce contains salt, therefore do not add any additional salt to the vegetables. Believe me, this will the meal of your lifetime. When you serve this to your friends and they ask you the secret: tell them that you use Mr. Goudas products and as the slogan states: Goudas on the label, means good food on the table.
Not to long ago I came across a drink called Tamarind drink. It was the best beverage I have ever had. I cannot compare it to anything taste wise. It is great. For 89 cents each, I usually buy 8 cans, two for today, and then one, once a day for the rest of the week.
Thank you for bringing us this delicious drink!
Whatching your business grow and witnessing your brand divirsity I was absolutely impressed with your Website!
It is entertaining simplae and easy to manuver... point and click and whalla your there
Answer: Mamma Lucia Italian Style Rice ( Calrose ) prod 166 or 511
Although it is called Italian style rice, according to Mr. Goudas very little of this variety is grown in Italy. It grows primarily in California. Mr. Goudas has always given credit to the Italians for two things, their soccer skills, and for the methods and variations in their preparation of rice. Many people have asked Mr. Goudas why he does not include cooking instruction on his rice packages. His response is that it would be very unfair to summarize all the recipes into one when someone can ask his/her Italian friend for their specific recipe or family tradition.
One day Mr. Goudas came out of the laboratory kitchen with a platter of rice, which we all enjoyed. When we asked him how did he do it he told us that he had prepared the rice as follows:
In a large frying pan, he sautéed a diced onion in 3 tablespoons of Mr. Goudas Extra Virgin Olive Oil, (Item #438), he believes that onions improve memory and always includes at least one onion in his dishes. Next, he added a can of diced tomatoes with herbs and spice (Item # 315) and allowed this to simmer. He then added a can of baby clams (Item 490) carefully rinsed and drained. Regardless of name brand, Mr. Goudas believes that there may be a small residue of sand left in the clams. Additionally, three cloves of garlic, thinly sliced were added to the mixture. Simultaneously, he boiled 1 cup of rice in 2 cups of chicken broth (Item #282) for 5 minutes, (i.e. partially cooked,). He then placed the rice including the broth into the frying pan containing the other ingredients. He gently stirred the mixture with a wooden spoon until the rice was completely cooked, and had absorbed all the tomato juice. The garlic flavour penetrated the rice along with the herbs and spice from the tomatoes. Mr. Goudas always adds one tablespoon of his most favorite pepper sauce to his dishes, i.e., Mr. Goudas Trinidad Style Hot Sauce which contains crushed peppers, papaya, celery and parsley.
Needless to say, when we tried this recipe, it was superb, as always. (Privately, we thought, too bad for the office vegetarian. She was missing out on a wonderful treat.)
While we were all sitting at the table enjoying this unique dish, one employee mentioned to Mr. Goudas that if onions improved his memory, he should consider eating it more frequently because he certainly did not remember the raise that was promised years ago!!
Again, I thank you for the high quality and good standards of your products and I will continue to buy them in the future.
Sincerely, Eloise Cacciola
I am originally from Lagos, Nigeria, Africa and I can testify that I like all of the Mr. Goudas Products I have purchased.
Namely: Long Grain White Rice, Butter Beans, Berried all flavours, Salt, Vegetable Oil, Tomato Paste, Gombo, Black Beans, Kidney Beans, Chick Peas for Hummus, Curry, Crushed Tomatoes, Black Pepper, to name a few.
I am delighted to finally meet you and thank you for producing such wonderful products.
My niece, her son and I are now three generations of Nigerians enjoying your products.
Sincerely,
Sola Salami
Mr Goudas's rules!!!
I stumbled upon the website sometime back, and have had a burning question ever since. When will these marvellous products end up on store shelves in the U.S.? As a strict vegetarian, I note, whilst almost drooling on the computer keyboard that your tinned soups all sound delicious and almost all of them are Kosher and approved veg. Quite a change from the meat laden soups I see at the supermarkets on this side of the border! Pigeon peas in tins! Another product that you usually never find in a U.S. grocery store and something I'd buy in an instant if it were available. One of these days, I hope to see the entire range of products in my local market. They would sell very (huge understatement!) very well. Thanks! Robert
Robert Answer: Dear Robert: Mr. Goudas was personally very pleased to receive and read your letter. And he requested that I relay this to you. He genuinely thanks you for your kind words about his products and the encouragement and enthusiasm with which you envision a U.S. market. As you have probably seen on the website that he basically spent his lifetime creating all those magnificient products for all nationalities, and eating habits. Obviously, you have drooled" over the images and you rightly assume that they are good. However, if you try them you will be hooked for life. With respect to distribution throughout the U.S., or Mexico, it is a tremendous undertaking that may be possible some time in the distant future. At the present time, we have been concentrating on not only the Ontario market but also recently in Quebec and certain parts of Western Canada. It is a step-by-step process. At the moment, Mr. Goudas is focussing his attention on 'ready to eat meals' such as: Cabbage Rolls, Baked Eggplant, Baked Butter Beans, Okra in Tomato Sauce, Baked Baby Onions, Stuffed Peppers, Stuffed Tomatoes, and many more along with the ready soups which are being updated with fresh ingredients as opposed to dehydrated. Additionally, we also have the ready-rice in six (6) flavours. Mr. Goudas was so pleased with your letter of encouragement that, should you come to Toronto, Canada, please let us know. Mr.Goudas will personally take you to dinner and also provide you with various samples of his products so you may take them back home with you. Upon publication of his biography, an autographed copy will be forwarded to you. "
Expecting an answer to get our fix (hahhaha)
Answer: Dear Michel:
We here at Goudas Foods were very pleased to receive your letter. We admit that no one customer has ever advised us of the extent of their satisfaction with our product as you have. Thank you immensely.
We passed it on to Mr. Goudas who immediately decided that this letter is to be posted on our website for the whole world to see such appreciation of his efforts to bring the best products in the world to our doorstep.
With respect to the red peppers, we had anticipated that the quantity ordered would suffice for at least one year. This item became such a huge success that our supply was depleted in a short period of time. Unfortunately, this is a seasonal product and a new batch will not be available until the end of July.
Again, thank you for your patronage. "
We at Goudas Foods were veeeeery, veeeeeeeery pleeeeased to receive your letter. It is rare that we receive such communication from a customer regarding one of our products.
The concept and development of this product took a veeeeeeery loooong time. Mr. Goudas himself was humbled to receive at least one letter in appreciaton of his efforts.
I have never written a letter like this before and I feel kind of silly doing it now.But I wanted to thank you.I am a Canadian born and raised guy, my mothers family has been here for over 300 years and my fathers family has been here for about 100 now and growing up my diet reflected my Canadian upbringing, meat and potatoes, vegetables grown here and little variety.
When I grew up and found out there is a whole world of food out there to be discovered and became a fanatic for sampling foods of other cultures and people.And as I did through restaurants and friends I wanted to learn how to make these dishes myself.
I was familiar with some of your products, corned beef (broken up and fried in a skillet with frozen hash browns and onions) and crushed tomatos and canned mushrooms mixed with Italian Seasoning (Howcome there is not a Mr.Goudas Italian Seasoning?) over pasta for the best home made tasting sauce in the world!I mean that.I have included your tomato paste in this recipe also.I have recently tried your 9 Bean Mix, the label grabbed me and I use your kidney beans and hot sauce in chili.Just to name a few of my more regular uses.
But what I really appreciate is that I can try a new recipe or idea and I will purchase your products because I know they are authentic and of excellent quality.I know this because I see people from all over the world come to Canada and when they shop they buy Mr.Goudas and that says more then any commercial to me.And the best part is the price is always reasonable and affordable.Which is important to me too.
And here's something you might find cool.I met a girl from California and we fell in love and she is moving here to stay.And when she first started visiting and wanted to try real Canadian food I introduced her to your stuff, being a vegetarian she was immediately in love.And it will be a regular thing on our table.
My only wish is that I could find your products in one place!
Thank You Jeff
I only have one problem....I wish they came in bigger bags, e.g. 300 G. Maybe you can explore that possibility. All the best.
I have been using your products for years now, ever since I discovered that your products are better than, and less expensive than, other brands. Congratulations and keep up the good work. I made a pot of pea soup a couple of weeks ago, with your dried split peas; I have had nothing but raves about it. Thank you so much for your dedication to great product offerings.
Ruth
Now that is what I call fantastic customer service - keep up the great work !!
I hope that one day you could post some photos of yourself during your time in the armed services in Greece.
To me you are just one of many unsung heros of Greece during that period of subordinate confusion and you are most welcomed in my household in sunny Sydney Australia whenever you choose to vist Sydney. No doubt you have many friends all around the world including Australia; please allow me to be included on any welcoming list.
I am 39,a secondary teacher becoming a land lawyer, married with a 22 month old son.
Again thank you for sharing your story. And cheers, adio nick vlahadamis syd aus
I enjoyed reading your biography which began in Greece, and the chronology of your successful company. I to am Greek, and partner with two other Greek gentlemen here in WA State. We manufacture a line call The Greek Gods that was introduced to the retail market just over 2 years ago. The line consists of authentic Greek style hummus, tzatziki, feta, and olives. It's nice to see a fellow Greek as successful as you.
I have tried all your products from A to Z, and have such a good time with all of them. I have also tried your spring water, which is magnificient, and according to your website it appears to be holy water. However, I purchase a carton of 12 and have found the caps too difficult to open. My son who is much stronger me, also failed. I went to my neighbours to rescue me from this situation the results is the same. It seems to me that I have to hire a sumo wrestler, or I have to go to strength training classes just so I can enjoy a beatiful water which apparently it is. Tell me sir, is this something that I am doing wrong? Is there any trick to this game? Do I have to go to Canadian Tire to buy some vice-grips or plyers? I am down to my knees and begging you, get me some solution to this problem. Was there ever a sign beside the case of water that had a special deal, Buy a case of water and get a pair of plyers to enjoy it? Did I miss that? Remember, I am a loyal customer of your products for many years and have never once complained to you about anything. You may even take this message as a semi-complaint, or just it maybe something that you have overlooked.
Yours truly, Bouli Douli Answer: Dear Mr. Bouli Douli:
I have seen several comedies (films) in my life but none of them have made me laugh as much as your letter has. (My secretary is still laughing even while I am dictating this to her).
Your letter was read over the intercom system throughout the Plant so that all our workers could hear about your experience. We are also posting your letter on our website so that our viewers and customers may have the same opportunity to read and enjoy , particularly those who have experienced your exact same problem. We know how frustrating it is to have a bottle of water being thirsty and not being able to open it.
You see, sir, sometime ago at the beginning of the production line, the caps on these bottles were tightened 'a little bit more' than was necessary. Therefore, approximately 500 cases of our 'holy' water went unnoticed and consequently, some of them have already been distributed. As soon as we became aware of the problem we were able to capture most of them before distribution. Our workers are presently using them on a daily basis and I must admit they have been very creative in opening these bottles. Some of them place the caps between the door and the doorpost and twist the bottle; others open them with their teeth (Thank goodness we have a Dental Plan!!) I personally felt that I was loosing strength in my arms when I had to ask my 67 years young secretary to open a bottle for me. For the first time she considered retiring when she herself could not open the bottle. Well, I am now stuck with her (happily so).
Deep inside I feel sorry for all the older people who have encountered difficulty in opening this water, which in reality is sterilized and has no contact with the outside world.
Once again, thank you for your letter and we sympathize with all our valued customers who have encountered difficulty with these bottles. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused.
Sincerely,
Peter Goudas and the Staff at Goudas Foods
I just finished reading the Tin man article and i wanted to say that your products are definitelly not a new thing to me, i literally use them everyday and couldn't be happier about their quality. About the 9 Bean Symphony, which is very nicely put by Sarah Teitel who is reflecting the comedy of the whole situation (and made me laugh so hard!), i would like to add a recipe of my own with this product, that i think viewers would greatly appreciate. The recipe is as follows:
1. Drain the water from the can and place the contents in one big boul 2. Chop a whole onion in small pieces 3. Add some lemon juice and olive oil to your preference 4. Sprinkle some origano 5. Mix well
I hope your viewers will enjoy this simple recipe!
Yours trully, Jessica
I never knew about your website until I read the article on National Post recently. I browsed through your website with great interest, and I also found the story about the 9 Bean Symphony. Initially I didn't understand what Mrs. Sarah Teitel was talking about in the article.. but after I read the story of the 9 Beans I got it right away and burst into laughs! Also, reading this story I was very surprised to find out that Maria Callas, the famous singer, was Greek.. I always had the impression she was Italian.
Mr. Goudas, I have been buying your products for years! This article was a very good chance for me to find out about your webiste, for which I am here taking the opportunity to congratulate you.
Keep up the great work with your products! In my kitchen, you are the international brand!
J
I was really impressed with everything on your web site, and now I can put a character to the face that stares at me from the cans in the supermarket. I am relatively new in the market place (gyros and tzatziki manufacturing), and it's reassuring to see someone of your calibre who has achieved such success to still have humanitarian values. During the course of my life (I'm 30) I have always paid special attention and learned from those around me. Hence, I thought of writing you this email. It may sound ridiculous, but for some reason I think you might be able to offer a sentence of advice for me. What is most important in the success of one's business?
Take care, and hope to hear from you.
Thanos Answer: Dear Thano,
Thank you very much for your kind words and your compliments for Goudas Foods!
Mr. Goudas wishes you success and prosperity with your new business. I am his secretary and I am transfering his words to you via this e-mail. He was happy to hear that a 'sumpatriotis' fellow Greek man, is prospering in a business with such a Greek signature to it, gyros and tzatziki manufacturing. He also asked me to forward his advice to you: 'You have to do exactly what you like to do in life; be in the business you like to be in, and enjoy your work. The best qualities of a businessman are determination, patience, integrity, and focus on your goals. If you are enjoying your work and you are happy with the results, the whole world will appreciate your efforts and will recognize the quality of your products'.
I was very pleasantly surprised this morning, upon meeting your Mr. Michel Safi at a pre- Arranged spot very near my house, who handed over to me 9 cans of your products. I remember your having mentioned to me, during our telephone conversation, that you would be sending me some samples. What I could not have imagined that 'some' would turn out to be this many. I would like to thank you for your largesse and for keeping a promise.
I have not, as yet, tried any of the cans. I do assure you, however, that I shall not fail to let you know what I think of your products. I can say this, at this point of time, that by simply perusing the cans individually, I have noticed that each one is potentially a time saving foodstuff for a person in my position; namely, a widower.
I had another unexpected surprise, later on in the day, when I mentioned all this to my daughter in California. She had lived in Toronto during seven years after having been transferred there from Montreal by the company where she worked â a liability insurance company. Apparently, she had become well acquainted with GOUDAS products and liked them very much. Knowing that I like white beans in tomato sauce very much she mentioned that your product is very tasty.
Once again my sincere appreciation to you with the hope that I shall be able to get back to you on this subject,
Yours truly,
G. (Gary) A. Ekmekjian
Approximately 10 to 15 years ago, I had a complaint about one of your products and for some reason or the other my compliant was not satisfied when I called your office and therefore at that time I stopped purchasing your products. Over the years I have tried every brand that is on the market but I have not been able to successfully find any other item within the other brand names to match the quality and taste I experienced under the Goudas brand name.
Lately, I have seen that you now have a huge variety of items and my pride finally failed me and I found myself purchasing some of the latest products that you have on the market, and I ended up purchasing a couple of months ago one of your Rice Puddings. This was a real treat â excellent, if I might say so. What a magnificent product. I have to admit that my stubbornness made me waste 10 years of my life searching for a replacement that is not available in the market and I do not know if there ever will be a replacement for Mr. Goudas brand of products.
Again, (swallowing my pride),
J. Eisenberg
We discovered your delicious soups while living in Toronto, but now we've moved to Ottawa and have not found them anywhere in the city. In fact, we ask our Torontonian friends to bring us Mr. Goudas soups when they visit! We hope you will expand your soup distribution to Ottawa stores very soon.
Regards, Jewel
I can understand that you have problems not knowing how to cook rice or any other things since your wife used to do all the cooking, this is a very common thing for many people today.
I know that certain people do not know even how to boil an egg and as such makes it very difficult to switch eating habits. However, in the last few years I have made products to facilitate people in situations such as yours. Without cost to you, I will send you samples of my new products which may not be available in your area. I hope you like them.
After you have tried them, please let me know your opinion.
Yours truly,
Peter Goudas
PS why don't you lot do any frozen stuff - I usually hate frozen food - but if you can pull this off in a jar...I'm sure you can pull off a nice frozen curry beef !
I also purchased a few other soup varieties and also the rice pudding. I haven't tried these yet but from the letters on your website, they sound good too.
Thank you.
P.S. Food Basics has a full complement of your products - all the soups, rice products, milk products, etc.
John Poletes Toronto Canada
Have a nice day! God Bless :)
Your addicted for life customer Graham Wyatt
Waterloo, ON
This is especially true since my recent move to Oshawa from Toronto. Even so, I was hoping you could direct me to where I would likely be the most sucessful.
In addition, I have found it impossible to find one product in particular; Mixed Essence. Are you still making this product?
Thank you. Melaine Thomas
Answer: Dear Melaine, Thank you for your kind letter, customers who look and depend on our products are priority for our organization. We try any possible way to guide them to the nearest store in their area. In your situation you have a choice of several stores that are located in the follow addresses: Food Basics,600 King St., Oshawa, IGA 199 Wentworth St. W., Oshawa, Price Chopper 1150 Simcoe St. N., Oshawa Price Chopper 1414 King St. E., Oshawa Also in Whitby, which is the nearest there must be at least 20 stores which carry our products. As far as the mixed essence bottle, we still product it and is available in stores especially in the baking season. We are very happy that you like it and because we don't what you to miss the baking season this Easter, we've couriered to you a pair of mixed essence bottles. Once again thank you for your kind letter.
Denise Giacchi Conway
WOW! I think Brian was even more excited with YOUR response... than my response after I said 'yes!' to his proposal. We're glad that we could give you a good laugh, thank-you again.
p.s. We'll be sure to send you some pictures from our special day!
Also one suggestion I see you have started, but nutritional information on labels would be a big and appreciated improvement!
Keep up the good work! Answer: Dear John:
Thank you for your letter and appreciation of our products.
For your information, our soups are now made from fresh ingredients as opposed to dehydrated. Additionally, we have deleted the MSG factor. They should be available at Price Chopper, Food Basics, Dominion, A & P, Super C, Zellers, and many independent grocery stores.
With respect to nutrition information, it is now incorporated into most of our products, with the intention of including it on all our products.
You have just gained a new devoted customer. PS. My rice dinner turned out great and I can't wait to get to the store to purchas more of your product.
Thank You Peter.
Here is a wonderfully terrific idea - at least I think so. Why don't chick peas come in salad serving cans? I am always throwing away half cans of chick peas. i would really love to see a salad size serving.
Also, I would really appreciate an answer - Where can I write to get one?
Sincerely,
Lindsay Elder Answer: Dear Lindsay Elger
There is no doubt that your idea is a great one, but unfortunately the Canadian regulations regarding can sizes restricts us from making certain products the way we think is right. I would like to give you a few example of Mr. gouda's ideas, for years he tried to get permission to can tomato paste in half the size of the existing 5.5 oz can to approximately to 2.5 to 3 oz cans, so that anybody can use the whole contents in one serving, instead of using half of a regular can and leaving the unused for the next cooking which will have turned black and moulded and ended up in the garbage anyway. The same situation in the can of mushrooms, the smallest size you can find in Canada is 284 ml which when opened can serve as a main dish for 1 or 2 people. We all know that mushrooms are a side dish and a 5 ounce can would be much more suitable. Mushrooms exposed to air taste like rubber a few days after it's opening even in the refrigerator. Examples like this come ten fold, I agree with you totally, and I hope the examples we've given you explain why we it can be done. Your wonderful idea is far from realization at least for now. However please continue writing to me a few of your ideas and you never know what the future may bring.
I cannot find Mr Goudas Tropical Fruit any more. We particularly liked the nato de coco. please e-mail a reply. Thank you. Answer: Dear Betty,
Thank you for your letter. The following chain stores have our products available for shelf space. Sobeys, IGA, Price Chopper, Food Basics, Dominion, A&P, Herbies, Wal-Mart, Zellers, Shoppers Drug Mart, Buck or Two. You can ask any of these store managers of the above-recommended stores, to stock our item on their shelf for you. However, if one or all of the store managers are not willing to stock the item for you, we would be very happy to accommodate you with a few cans if you visit our office in Concord. For your information, the nata de coco product you mentioned has been labelled as the Exotic Fruit Cocktail. Mr. Goudas personally created and developed this product 4 years ago, and up to now many companies have tried to duplicate it, but have all failed. We are very happy that you like Exotic Fruit Cocktail. Thank you.
Hewitt Dairy in hamilton is one of only 2listed sources; the other is in Oakwood. Neither sell by mail order.
PLs consider packaging in putups similar to regular powdered milk. It is a natural in your product line,could represent a profitable niche and is currently unexploited opportunity in a rapidly growing market . Mr. Goudas goat milk (products) are good for you 40% of world thatis dairy intolerant!!!! a marketting theme chas Answer: Dear Chas,
Your letter is very important, where you deserve an answer. The segment of the market that you refer to is too small for mass production. Since the milk marketing board, and many other authorities, controls milk, it would be very difficult and time exhausting to obtain licenses and develop this product. We thank you for your idea, and appreciate the time you took with us.
Thank you.
Sincerely Yours, Tara Taylor
Answer: Dear Tara,
Unfortunately, we do not have distribution in your area, although, we are planning to in the near future. We are so happy of your devotion to our many wonderful products, including the seasoning salt, where you go the extra mile to ship it half way across Canada to enjoy. Please advise your mother-in-law, that if she wishes to visit us in Concord, Ontario, we would be more than happy to give her a gift box to send to you free of charge. Thank you very much.
We are very, very happy that you have noticed a small detail among the other hundreds of products Mr. Goudas has created. Since the smallest of details are important to us, that is why we answer your question. If the quality of any bean in that specific crop is not to our quality standards, we may slightly change recipe. I agree with you that the original recipe was perfect, and we will try to maintain the originality of the product, since we now know that there are people out there looking for these small details. When Mr. Goudas created and perfected this product a few years ago and opened the first can to try as a meal, (immediately after first production) he said, 'There will be no other Minestrone Soup like this in the world, unless homemade, but we will face a problem down the road, if one of the variety of beans is not to our satisfaction.' Here we are today, answering your question, knowing it was coming a few years ago. Thank you for your letter, and we are very happy that you took valuable time to write to us.
Mrs. Johnson Answer: Dear Roxanne,
When Mr. Goudas decided to come up with a line of soups, he had people like you in mind; who love soups, and do not have enough time, the perfect ingredients, and the patience to make a work of art. We have a section within the GoudasFoods website, specifically an article written by the Jamaican Express http://goudasfoods.com/articles/jamaican.php , which is self-explanatory.
Unfortunately, our soups are not in all the stores yet, however, the products have been listed in a database of Sobeys, IGA, Price Chopper, Food Basics, Dominion, and A&P. You can find the soups in the Goudas section or most of them have our soups integrated throughout the store. If one of the stores above does not carry the soups, please ask the store manager to carry and stock it for you.
We have confidence that the moment your husband tries one of our soups, he will be very pleased, as well we maybe change your opinion about canned foods. Also, we would like to mention that Mr. Goudas has developed 6 varieties of ready to eat rice, that only require approximately 2 minutes in the microwave, where you may also wish to add some tuna, beef, pork, chicken or other meat. You do not have to worry about getting a pot of water to a boil, spending another 20 to 30 minutes stirring, adding flavours, hope and cross your fingers that the taste turns out ok. For more information of how much 'Koukla' (French Poodle Superstar) Mr. Goudas' dog hates Mr. Goudas Vegetable flavoured rice, please click on this link http://goudasfoods.com/articles/koukla.php. We hope you are able to obtain our soups, and are very sure that you will be absolutely satisfied. Thank you.
Allow me to offer you my warmest congratulations for the job and all the projects you have well done.
Just a wee note to say how much I enjoy Mr.Goudas products, which I discovered a couple of years ago in my little local grocery store. I buy only Mr.Goudas long grain rice, and canned vegetables, and they are always first rate. Recently I discovered Mr.Goudas lentil soup.....and quite frankly I was very pleasantly surprised, it is quite the best canned soup I have ever tasted. Being on a very limited pension I do not tend to experiment with food items with which I am unfamiliar, but I never have any reservations about trying something new from your product line.
So keep up the good work, and I will continue to encourage my family and friends to use and enjoy your products.
Sincerely Marie B. Deane
Lifetime Customer Phil Cargill
We appreciate your letter, we also thank you so much that you purchase so many of our products and love most of them. We would like to respond to your letter as follows. Over the 35 years of Mr. Goudas' existence we finally realized in our company that you couldn't produce a product loved by everyone. There will always be someone that disagrees with a particular taste. We can assure you that before we put the product into the market, we spent every possible effort as far as the recipe, ingredients and other things involved in creating the product. If we followed the Spadina Recipe, with a list of ingredient including pork fat, and bacon strips in order to satisfy your taste, it would not be vegetarian. However the list of ingredients in our cabbage soup states clearly the goodness of the product within the can. We can assure you that our cabbage soup was based on the recipe used by the OLD BITCH, as you call her. Although you may not be happy, and we appreciate that; I would like to point out to you, that we do have complimentary letters from wonderful customers like you, telling us how delicious it is. In fact, after Mr. Goudas read your letter, he is considering to re-label this wonderful soup and call it The Old Bitch Recipe. Please view in the same column letters from: Dona Emery Nov 25 2003, Helen Reilly Feb 5 2003, and John Mandel Dec 5 2002. Once again we truly appreciate you comments.
To whom it may concern:
I purchased your can of Great Northern Bean Soup just this week. I wanted to congrautlate on the 'home made' taste. Both my husband and I really enjoyed it. I often purchased your other Gouda products, but this was a first for your bean soup.
Thanks again & thanks for not putting corn & peas in it.
Yours truly, Mrs. M. Witty
Hello, and may we say what a wonderful job you are doing for food eaters everywhere Mr. Goudas. We are two students, both with vegan diets and we have found your company to be the number one source of delicious and nutritious food, all that at an affordable price. Some of our favourite products are your refreshing Snappy Pop and ginger Beer, coconut milk, canned beans (especially chick peas), canned peaches, rice, and Chico-Garlico. One thing is for sure, your slogan is correct, 'Goudas on the label means good food on the table!'
We wanted to write to you and tell you how much we enjoy your products and to congratulate you on your 1993 'Entrepreneur of the Year' award. No one deserves it more Mr. Goudas!
We wish you happiness and prosperity in the future and hope to always find your quality products for low prices on the shelves at our nearby grocer, as well as look forward to your new products.
One idea that we had for your company is a premixed chick-pea dip suitable for hummus. It would come in can format with ground chickpeas and tahini allowing the customers to flavour their own dip, for example by adding lemon juice, garlic, cumin, and olive oil makes a quick and delicious hummus snack!
Sincerely, Scott Pommier & Adam Brodie
Keep up the good work. I like all the Mr. Goudas products that I have used to date.
Regards, Boris. Answer: Thank you for your letter.
We do have the lentils soup in most of Supermarkets, including lately in selected Wal-Mart, Zellers, as well as Shoppers Drug Mart stores, in addition to regular grocery stores. Regarding the 'Cassava Flour', because it is a specialized item, and it is not well-known to Canadians , we have these products available mostly in Ethnic Stores, and in particular in Latin American stores.
Once again thank you for your preference in Mr.Goudas products.
At this point, we are not planning to do Wedding soup. But we certainly will notify you when we finally make one.
Thank you for your letter.
Where can I get a poster of the musical beans & company? Thank-you, Answer: Dear Jennifer,
We are very happy that you have noticed the amount of work and creativity that's put together into creating this amuzing label. Mr. Goudas personally designed this label, and with the help of his label designer they managed to choose the best ideas in putting a 9 Bean Symphony on a label. After he finished the label, and because he thought that it was a magnificent layout, he insisted on his canning people to produce the best possible products. We believe you should know that not all beans are cooked at the same time; they need special care to cook perfectly, separately, and then put together in one can. The consumer then buys them in uniformity. We also would like to tell you an amuzing story; as the label says, you are purchasing a 9 Bean Symphony. One customer once called the Goudas Foods office to 'complain' in a humorous way about the product. As he said, although he was supposed to get 9 notes, he only got 8! To get back to your question, you actually gave us a great idea. We are considering making posters, and the first one will be delivered straight to you.
Thank you again!
Occasionally we have Mr. Goudas t-shirts. For example, over 2000 t-shirts were worn at the 1975 Carribana Parade film in the archives section. Mr. Goudas t-shirts are often worn at various events accross Canada. Next time we will have some t-shirts made we will send you one.
Although we have already considered this idea, we thank you for thinking about it.
I very much enjoyed visiting your website. The story of an individual persevering through the difficulties will all share is always enlightening.
My particular interest is the the Food Industry where I have worked many years on the Ingredient Handling Systems. Rice and bean handling as well as flour systems. I installed a flour system for ?????? Foods in Cleveland for their filo dough about 20 years ago. I was also involved with rice handling systems for ?????? Foods in Tampa, Fl. I have always enjoyed working for owner operated businesses because people like yourself typically know exactly what they want and need and I am able then to design and provide the equipment and systems.
Thanks for sharing your exploits and passions.
Michael J Hageman
We really appreciate that you noticed the absence of MSG from our chicken broth. It is very difficult not to include MSG when producing such products. Most companies use MSG to enhance the flavour. In our case, we don't need the support of MSG to create the most magnificent product in this category!
Thank you for your nice comments. Mr. Goudas is very happy to see that people notice the goodness of his products.
Dear Mr. Goudas,
I am in love with your canned spinach and rice. Or, I should say, I was in love with it, when I could get it - in Toronto!!! Now I live in a small town in Canada's North. Our local grocery store carries some of your products, but no spinach and rice. I would love to ba able to get some. Will you tell me how?
Thank you so much! Pieta Goudron
p.s. I really liked your website, especially the personal information about Mr. Goudas. Answer: Dear Pieta,
We are very sorry that you can't obtain our Spinach and Rice in your area; obviously you have already tried our products before. Since you have developed a taste and love for our products, we would like to give you the recipe where you can do it very quickly by yourself at home. Recipe â Spinach and Rice: Use a medium sized pot, add a little oil, and chop an onion to half inch pieces. Heat the pot with the oil and onions until it starts to simmer. Add 1 bag of ready cleaned spinach to the pot. Stir pot for 2 to 3 minutes. Add 1-½ cups of water to the pot, and let all the contents boil for another 2 minutes. Then add ½ cup of Mr. Goudas Par Boiled rice, or if you cannot find Mr. Goudas Rice, you can settle for second best brands. Add a handful of green dill spice, cover the pot and let simmer for approximately 20 minutes. Serve with a sprinkle of lemon. We hope you will enjoy this wonderful and healthy recipe, however we would like you to make your request to any store manager of North West Company stores about carrying more of our products.
Thank you for your letter.
If a Nutritionist says that, then Mr. Goudas has nothing more to add...
Thank you!
I entered the web site looking for employment and started reading the story on how your company began, the struggles and how it has grown. I found it fascinating and very real the way the author wrote it. It was like some one was talking to me and explaining the story. Well done. I have been buying your products for a long time and find them to be excellent. I am Italian but enjoy cooking and eating different foods from around the world and with your products it makes it easier to do that.
Antonella Risa
Answer: Dear Antonella Risa,
What a magnificent letter! In one of the seminars that Mr.Goudas did a while ago, he stated that Greeks, Italians, and Japanese people, are the most difficult to try foods from other nationalities. When he read your letter, where you say that you are Italian but like to try different cuisines, we saw him holding his head between his hands for more than 10 minutes. He then laughed and said 'What a suprise that is!'. Mr.Goudas then said that from now on he is going to eliminate the reference to Italian people on his seminars, when refering to interests in different foods.
We are very happy that you enjoy our products.
The popcorn is available at Sobeys, IGA, Walmart, Herbies in your area. If it's on the shelf, please ask the store manager to get it for you. I'd like to thank you for your support of our products.
Although your letter was very short, it is very encouraging for us to know that even though some people do not have enough time to write long letters, they still drop us a little note.
Thank you John!
I am very happy that you enjoyed my story; it has already been translated in different languages and is posted in the 'About Mr.Goudas' section, as well as in the front page of www.flyermall.com. Since this article and audio has been released, I have become a very popular dog and I am looking forward to making a movie about myself. Lately my boss has been talking to a Japanese animation producer to start the production of my movie. I am very excited!
Koukla
Fortunately, I had stocked up on canned & dry goods, so with a little ingenuity and a lot of Mr. Goudas canned beans, we have been easting very well despite our lack of groceries.
Your high-quality, but resonably priced products will continue to be a staple in my pantry!
Louise
ps: This is one of the most unusual company websites I've ever been on - I've never visited a food-related website with its own band & theme music before. I loved it!
Answer: Dear Louise,
When we designed this website, we thought of adding some 'spice' into it and making it more enjoyable. We are happy that you find it amuzing. We also admired your cooking creativity during those difficult hours. Just a small reminder: you don't have to wait for another black-out to enjoy our wonderful products!
Keep up the great cooking, as long as you have power! (Although you know the trick now...)
Thank you & keep up the good work!
Just a quick question from an amateur( extremely amateur) cook. My first time cooking with beans. My question: I heard that you may need to soak Red Kidney beans for up to 8 hours before cooking in order to soften them. Is that true with your product?
I plan on cooking chilli for about 1/2 - 1hour after boiling the beans. Will an 8 hour soak be required?
Thanks,
Chris Cattkinson@yahoo.com Answer: Dear Chris,
We sympathize with your cooking handicap, therefore since there is many varieties of beans, each cooked in many different ways, we would like to post you request in our website and since many of our customers have the knowledge of different styles of cooking these beans, we think that you will get some volunteers, to e-mail you some recipes, Good luck and ready yourself in the culinary arts.
Wow! Mr. Goudas is Greek?? I always thought he was an Indian!!!! So how should we pronounce the name Goudas? In South India there's a surname Gowda and I always thought Goudas was a variation of that!
I enjoy your coconut milk powder, no cooking in my house without that powder.
I have just had a can of 'MR. GOUDAS' Spaghetti in Tomato sauce, and I would like to tell you that I found it to be excellent. This is the first time that I have tried 'MR. GOUDAS' and now that I know how good it is I will try them all. I bought it at the Mourelatos Supermarket on St. Catherine Street in Montreal.
I want to try the Spaghetti with chicken and tomato sauce but they did not have it.
It is so nice to be able to write a letter to a company to tell them how good their product is, because it is ususally for a complaint.
So thanks to 'MR. GOUDAS' I will be enjoying some nice meals.
Yours truly,
Lillian Smith
I shop at No Frills, located at Woodbine Avenue and 16th Avenue, and the reason I shop there is because I do most of my banking at the CIBC located at that plaza. I have asked the store manager several times why they do not carry your products that I love, like the marinated bean salad, and the manager responded that it was a head office decision. Is there something you can do?
Thank you, Janet Answer: Dear Janet,
We appreciate that you have taken the time to write to me. I am very touched that you mention how much you (LOVE) Mr. Goudas products. You did not use the word (prefer, fancy, desire, favour, like better, choose, or that you plain just like my products), but you used the word (LOVE). So Janet, this is exactly the word that I use when I produce products. Only those products that can be truly defined by the magic word (LOVE) get the label stamped with my name on it. Furthermore, the fact that you have notified and asked the store manager (SEVERAL TIMES) to carry Mr. Goudas products for you, is a sign of unwillingness to cooperate with the demands of consumers like you who know what they want and (LOVE). Please note that if the No Frills store manager's excuse was that of a corporate based decision, then just know that there is an appropriate Greek saying that best translates, 'YOU CAN ALSO FIND ELSEWHERE ORANGE TREES, THAT YIELD ORANGES.' Only time will tell whether their corporate decision was the correct one. Since, Mr. Goudas' high quality continues, and they are many loyal consumers, like yourself, who search for alternative stores or, ORANGE TREES, that carry the Mr.Goudas Brand, please note below a list of stores in the immediate area for you to enjoy the BEST THE WORLD HAS TO OFFER.
Wal-Mart - (Markville Mall - McCowan & Highway 7) Food Basics - (Steeles Ave East & Highway 404) North West Corner Denison Supermarket - (McCowan & Denison - South West Corner) Garden Basket - (Markham Road #48 & 16th Avenue) Nivi Supermarket - (7750 Kennedy Road Unit 8A) Chankanai Market - (186 A Old Kennedy Road) Priyas Supermarket - (Steeles & Fenton Road)
I was introduced to you brand name foods from my ex-husband. He introduced me to East Indian food. I don't like spicy foods but there are some of your products that I do like. I enjoy, the Basmati Rice and the 'Tai' Noodles. You can products are also very good.
I have lived and worked in Toronto for many years, never thought to visit your facilities. If I have another opportunity to return, I would like to tour your facility.
Thank you
Victoria Forigo
Thank you for your wonderful products.
Your friends, Ken & Marion Marshall
Thank you.
Harry & Barb (Barr& Abraham)
PS; Please do not ever discontinue this product it has saved my marriage!!
I have noticed lately that you have no Kosher symbol on some varieties of your canned beans. I am of Arabic decent and have never bought any product with the Kosher symbol on it. I have purchased a few cans and am very happy and pleased about the quality of the contents. I know it's a small issue, however with over half a million Arabians located in Ontario, I can assure you that more Arabian's will start using these products.
Thank you very much. Haroot
We have been using Goudas products for years, and I never gave a thought to who Mr. Goudas even was. I thought that He was an imaginary Character like Uncle Ben, or Robin Hood, etc. I found your website, and was TOTALLY INTRIGUED by the Peter Goudas story. No wonder the products are so GREAT with such a dedicated organization putting them out. His story is TRULY INSPIRATIONAL! Also, I was touched by the story with George Hall, and just how Mr. Goudas turned his situation around into what it is today. What a GREAT man.I wish you ALL the BEST, and continued success, and keep the products coming.
Sincerely yours, Paul E. Hamlyn :-)
Ms. Ritchie. Answer: Dear Sharon,
The Loblaws and Fortinos stores have decided not carry our wonderful products anymore. However, if you do like our products, you can obtain them in Price Chopper, IGA, Dominion, Food Basics, Walmart, Sobeys, Herbies, Highland Farms, Galati, SuperC, Loeb and laterly in Zellers and Shoppers Drugmart as well as thousands of independent stores.
Dear mr goudas keep up the good work hope you keep entertaining us with your innovative products. regards,
I was encouraged to write to you about an idea I had, after I have seen how proud is your company with the people who founded it and how ethical people you are. Since this company is considered to be a Greek company, so let me, out of Greek Patriotism, suggest that your company should contribute more to boosting Greek Exports. For example, why would not you import into Canada and the states the nice nectars (apricot, peach, etc) made in Florina, etc, note that most of similar items available in the Canadian market are Italian made and may be the cost in Italy is higher than in Greece . Also the nice and typically Greek snakes of croissants filled with Chocolate, strawberry's paste, or other flavors Of course you can always negotiate with these companies to produce under your name as you currently do. I am sure that you can think about 100 of other competitive Greek products. I wish your company all the best and always forward.
I really like your products and use several on a regular basis. One of my favourite is your Soya Beans, which I use often in the many soups that I make. However, since moving to Huntsville I have been unable to obtain them locally, despite requests to store personnel. Is there any way that you or your sales staff could persuade at least one of our supermarkets to carry this item. It would save me having to buy them by the case when I am in Toronto.
Thanks, Rob Adamson Answer: Dear Mr. Adamson,
We appreciate your letter, and we are happy of your love for our products. We know sometimes store personnel do not follow up with the requests of the consumer. They just try to sell whatever they have, inspite of the fact that the consumer ultimately drives the sales within the store. They also do not realize, that if the consumer does not find the products they are looking for, they go elsewhere to get it. However, in your area, the Price Chopper located at 12 Cann Street - Huntsville, ON has been authorized to carry Mr. Goudas Soya Beans from Head Office. On your next visit to that store ask the store manager (Jim or Chris) to order for you.
Once again, we are very happy that you appreciate are products.
Με φιλική εκτίμηση Βούλα Παναγιωτίδου
I have been living in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia for almost 13 years now. I formerly lived in St. Catharines, Ont. It has been years since I have had a can of Lupini Beans. I have asked Sobey's in North Sydney for 12 years to order me some of this delicious snack. I have been faithfull in requesting this product to be brought to my grocery store. If I didn't enjoy them so much I would have stopped trying years ago to get them. I would like to have a couple of cans to take with me to Halifax in June. My brother is donating me a kidney and I would love to be able to have a snack when I recover.
My daughter is 12 years old and has never had the chance to taste these, I think that she would love them also. Thanks for your time. Could you let me know by e-mail where i could get this product.
Thank You, Shawna Forest
My wife brought home this new product that you have lunched called TAHINI, and i cant remember the last time i tasted home made tahini like this.
Your TAHINI tasted so good with all my wife's cooking that she is making new recepies with it
Since i come from a country that TAHINI is a base ingredient in our cooking and we use it in all our meals i was very delited with the taste. On a scale of 1 to 10 your TAHINI is 11 Keep up the good taste
My name is Nyall Gonsalves and I work with Kuehne and Nagel International, who are a Global Network of Freight Forwarding and Logistics Specialists.
Just to let you know that I had been researching the Goudas website this last weekend, as I had the company in my list of customers we have serviced in the past in some way in Freight and Transport.
I have been researching several companies like H.J. Heinz, Canworld Foods, Canada Bread Company and several others who are associated with the food and beverages industry.
It is my job as an Account Rep and Logistics Food Specialist to research foodstuff based companies.
But this is why I decided to get down to write this....
There are a lot of people like you with a history of having worked hard the immigrant.Your hard work at building Goudas Foods, is a way that proves to new immigrants like me( 5 years now) that if you run with your dreams and work at them, then you will soon see them come to fruition.
What really fascinates me is how people like you came into this country with nothing and today you cannot go into a grocery store without feeling your ubiquitous presence.
I admire your vision Sir, and now hold onto my dreams and vision even more after reading about you.
Some of my research readings on other sites and trade magazines have been so mundane.But visiting Goudas Foods has been refreshing and whets my appetitite even more.
And yes I must add that as a concerned individual with the uncertain situation in Iraq , I was touched to read your letter addressed to Mr.Kofi Annan.
Buying products off a grocery shelf that bares your family name would now be a matter of appreciation of not only the food content but also the man who has given them the name.
Best Regards Nyall Gonsalves Kuehne & Nagel International
Cheers and congratulations to you on your offer to the United Nations for offering rice tothe people of war torn Iraq. As 12 year old child, I can see suffering of children in Iraq and I can also see kids fighing over food on the news. Kids over there are suffering in Iraq. As a Canadian, I'm glad that you are helping out the people of Iraq. So, I would like to appreciate your donation to Iraq.
Regards, Gaurav Sharma ---The letter above is referring to a letter in the whatsnew section that has been sent to the United Nations, which stated the following:
March 27, 2003 United Nations Kofi A Annan, Secretary General
Dear Sir,
Goudas Food Products & Investments Ltd. is known for contributions to various organizations that support absolutely needy, and desperate hungry people.
At the moment, we are focusing on the unfortunate peoples of Iraq, and since their main staple food is rice, we would like to offer you a few thousand family sized bags, to deliver directly to the above mentioned people.
We are a modest company looking to help those in desperate need. However, in order for us to succeed in helping, we require assurance from you that this rice will arrive and be distributed to the people who absolutely need it.
We place this task in your capable hands as you have earned the world's respect as a true peaceful leader.
Awaiting for your kind response, Sincerely yours, Goudas Food Products & Investments
Peter Goudas President & CEO
March 27, 2003 United Nations Kofi A Annan, Secretary General
Dear Sir,
Goudas Food Products & Investments Ltd. is known for contributions to various organizations that support absolutely needy, and desperate hungry people.
At the moment, we are focusing on the unfortunate peoples of Iraq, and since their main staple food is rice, we would like to offer you a few thousand family sized bags, to deliver directly to the above mentioned people.
We are a modest company looking to help those in desperate need. However, in order for us to succeed in helping, we require assurance from you that this rice will arrive and be distributed to the people who absolutely need it.
We place this task in your capable hands as you have earned the world's respect as a true peaceful leader.
Awaiting for your kind response, Sincerely yours, Goudas Food Products & Investments
Peter Goudas President & CEO --------------------
P.S. For those people who do not know the meaning for 'Kudos', it means praise, credit, or glory for an achievement, [Late 18th century. From Greek, praise, renown.]
It was indeed a great pleasure to see your excellent web.site which has given a new dimension in the consumer goods presentation.While, I appreciate your dedicated efforts in this venture, I feel that it would present a long standing impact on the whole range of finest quality products around the world.
I wish every success of your wonderful creativity for the present and the years to come.From your web site, I do understand that you were awarded as the best executive in the country in 1993. I am sure that the present level of success determines your strong ability which perhaps was awarded a decade ago.
Interstingly, I had been to your Head Office to deliver one important document. While I was awaiting at the reception lobby, I was reading the Certificates which has been awarded to you in recognition of your outstanding generousity to the different ethnic communities.I am confident that those awards are best proof of the four criteria that the people who judged you in 1993.
Wish you all the bests.
Thanking you, Jag Biswas.
I would like to take this opportunity and extend my highest compliments for your dry beans and peas product line. For over a year now, my family has been enjoying the wide variety of dry beans and peas your company has to offer and we have been most pleased with both the quality and price of your products.
We usually buy Mr. Goudas dry beans products (chickpeas, green lentils, pot barley, black beans, navy beans) from a nearby Food Basics store and to-date we have been very pleased with the huge selection that this particular store is carrying. Since our family consumes large quantity of beans on a regular basis (on average, we go through a bag of 8Kg chickpeas a month!), I have tried to inquire into purchasing large size bags of pot barley, black beans, fava beans, etc.
Liat Jacob
Sincerely Wendy Answer: the buttet fat in the Mr. Goudas coconut milk is exceeding over 17% in contrast to other brands with 7% butter fat or less, that is why the product is thick and solid. once again thank you for enjoying our products
St. John Ambulance is a not-for-profit charitable first aid organization who has been meeting the needs of the community through first aid, healthcare, CPR training, and the volunteer first aid Brigade.
Our first aid Brigade is made up of individuals from all walks of life; healthcare professionals, business professionals, etc. All with one common goal....the desire to serve their community to the best of their ability with the lifesaving skills they have acquired through St. John Ambulance first aid training. They take these skills and desires out to the community when offering first aid assistance at the many community events they are asked to attend.
First aid training is available to business professionals (a WSIB requirement), and anyone interested in learning lifesaving skills. We are extremely proud of our courses geared towards teaching young people how to deal with lifesaving situations.
But with funding cutbacks, we are having to find new ways in which we can raise funds to continue these essential community programs. August, 2003, St. John Ambulance staff and Brigade along with EMS, Fire and Police will be participating in an All Bases Covered" baseball tournament to raise those much needed funds. How can you help your community? Through your donation of product to be used to help feed the almost 200 individuals participating in this fundraising event, you will be showing your support and understanding in how important it is to provide lifesaving services.
In return for your participation we would like to have your logo placed on the back of participants t-shirts, and in media releases surrounding this event.
Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at 416-967-4244 ext (316). I would like to thank you for your consideration, and look forward to your positive response.
Sincerely, Anne-Marie Russell Assistant - Development "
B & K Furlotte
I buy your brand of coconut milk on a regular basis and have noticed the addition of 'potassium meta bisulphite' to the product. Any explanation on why you use this preservative would be appreciated.
Sincerely George Zechrins Answer: Dear Mr. Zechrins, The Canadian and US label regulations state that all ingredients contained must be declared on the label. In Coconut products, because of their sensitivity, and high probability of spoiling, it is important that the appropriate preservative be added to stabilize their shelf life, and ensure the customers safety.
However, all the coconut milk products, contain preservatives, but, most companies do not declare them, which we beleive is wrong. Because certain people are allergic, we feel it best to record this on our label.
We can show you within the near future that most companies have to declare all the ingredients contained. At Goudas Foods, we are product pioneers, and feel it is important to have the appropriate required information.
If you want additional information, please search the internet for the specific preservative.
Yours truly, Customer Service
Sincerely yours, Len McCormick Answer: Dear Len, our products is already available in the Food Basics store in the Windsor area, however, two new stores are opening this month, which will carry a wide variety of Mr. Goudas products. The are both Price Choppers stores, one located at 5840 Malden Road, and the other located at 5415 Tecumseh Road East. In addition, to two other existing price chopper stores, there are 2 food basics stores in the area with the following addresses: 2491 Dougal Road and 880 Goyeau Street. We hope you visit these stores. If you do not see the specific Goudas products you are looking for, please speak to the store manager, who is already authorized to carry all of our products. or you may equally wish to email the following companies to request these Mr. Goudas products:
IGA Canada, randy_huckvale@igacanada.com Sobeys Inc., customer.care.ontario@sobeys.com
Lately I have been shopping at the A&P stores in Oshawa. Both in the Ritson street store and the one in the MId Town Mall. To my disappointment the Goudas rice and fruit products are not featured any more. My wife is disappointed as it was her favorite brand for these items. May be you can encourage the store to carry these products as I am sure other people must like them as well.
Can you advise me of the nearest store(s) that may carry these products, I would certainly appreciate it.
With Regards,
John Herscheid Answer: Dear John, If you have requested our products from the A&P stores, and you didn't receive a favourable response, please note that our products are available in a wide variety at Food Basics, Price Choppers, Herbies, and lately at selected Wal-Mart stores.
Thank you for your comments. Customer Service
SINCERELY, J T
Answer: Dear J.T., The mixed essence has been developed to make the most wonderful cakes and pastries. We are happy that you enjoy it, and we would like to mention that the mixed essence and other baking ingredients at Food Basics, 325 Thorold Road in Welland. You may also find it in Commisso's stores. If they do not have it on their shelves, please ask the store manager to stock them for you. Thank you, Customer Service Department.
I receive calls every week for people asking me if I sell coconut milk or sugar and not just rice.
Shall I give them your number. (I suspect most are new customers because they get my number from 411). How about a sales agent. How about just a few samples.
Like I said, it's a gouda thing that we like you and YES THIS EMAIL IS LEGITAMITE. ( look up our phone number)
OH YES, I have had several of your products in my house and my 2 youngest kids ( 6 and 8 ) get crazy whenever they walk by your products at Loblaws. They think it is a family thing.
I have to admit that I have made the biggest mistake of my life. For the past 15 years, I have used your Mr. Goudas flour when I bake. I saw a Generic Brand 10kg bag of flour for $4.77 and thought that was a good deal. I bought the generic brand and started baking. To my surprise, nothing I baked came out right. Not only did I waste my ingredients and time, but I was also embarrased in front of my guests.
Mr. Goudas, I was very happy with your flour over the years, and I have regreted trying to substitute Mr. Goudas flour. I have learned my lession, and wish you all the best for the New Year.
I would like to take the time to comment on a store called Highland Farms located on Duferrin Street that has so many multi-cultural products. I don't beleive I have visited a store that has such a selection. Their meat, deli, and fresh produce departments are clean and makes for a pleasant shopping experience. The reason I say this is because I used to shop at stores that have yellow labels, and was not pleased that Mr. Goudas and other products were no longer available. I have been shopping for Mr. Goudas products for a long time, and although I was happy going to stores that pushed their unnamed brands, I was only shopping becuase I could find your products. Now that they are no longer there, I had to ask to find the nearest store that you supply. That's when I feel in love with Highland Farms.
I thank you and hope more stores take after Highland Farms' style of shopping.
Yours truly, Harriet Petrovsky
Thank you for your letter. We wish you all the best with your new business. we know that if you use Mr. Goudas ingredients in your kitchen you can't go wrong, and your customers will be satisfied with the quality of your cuisine.
We recommend following Wholesalers who distribute our products to restaurants, WING MAY TRADING COMPANY, 416-609-9656 WING LUNG PRODUCTS CO, 905-279-9433 TAI TEE FOOD SUPPLY, 416-299-0099 S & A RESTAURANT SUPPLIES, 416-450-8684 CITY WIDE CATERING, 905-625-4447 CROSSTOWN FOOD SUPPLIES LTD, 416-755-8888 GORMAN DISTRIBUTING LTD, 905-853-3663 KARIABA FOODS LTD, 416-264-3434 KRONOS FOOD, 416-690-1990
Thank you for making so many good Soups. Our whole family just loves them all year round !!!! Your soups are the best on the market. No others comes close !!!!! Also, your Mr. Goudas fruits and beans score # 1. The peaches are always perfect and taste like they are still on the tree. We discovered your wonderful products 10 years ago and we will be your customer for life !!!! THANK YOU MR. GOUDAS for all your hard work in providing us with high quality food products. Also, I noticed that your products are not available in the local ZEHRS STORE. Can you Contact ZEHRS to stock all your products on a regular basis? THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN.
I'm very happy to have found your web site, while browsing through the internet!!! You see, I am a great fan of your products. During my 14 year stay in Canada, your products kept me close to home, Greece. Your 'ΦακοÏλεÏ' (lentils), 'ÏεβÏθια' (chick peas), your olive oil, the canned peaches, the rice pudding (which by the way is very close to the one my grandmother used to make!!!) and all the other products that you import, made me feel all those years that I never left home. Apart from your greek products, your wide product range exposed me to tastes that appeal to other ethnic groups which I grew to like so much that I have my friends who are left back in Toronto, ship them to me as often as they can. Mr. Goudas, no other brand rice matches your quality!!! Your black pepper and garlic powder are never absent from my kitchen or my cooking!! As far as your chicken broth this product tops it all. There is nothing else like it plus it is MSG free!! Congratulations for your effort to constantly assure such great product quality . Keep up the good work, and I look forward to one day finding your products on greek supermarket shelves!!!!
Yours sincerely,
Ms. Demetra Misirli
I would like to comment about your Exotic Fruit Cocktail. I have always bought regular fruit salads, but the different eye catching style label on your Exotic Fruit Cocktail, made me try and buy it. I was skeptical until I opened the can, and saw something I really liked. The taste was absolutely stunning and unbelievable. The fruits were incredibly firm and tasty, and the cocunut portions within the Cocktail placed a taste that I have never experienced before in my entire life. If I have to comment and rate the product between 1 to 10, this is definately an 11. I congratulate you on a product so well thought of and made.
The purpose for my writing was to advise you that I can not find this product in store I visit close to me. I had to drive over 15 minutes to a Food Basics store, and since visiting their store, I believe it to be worth the extra time it takes to shop for products that I love.To whom it may concern: I would like to comment about your Exotic Fruit Cocktail. I have always bought regular fruit salads, but the different eye catching style label on your Exotic Fruit Cocktail, made me try and buy it. I was skeptical until I opened the can, and saw something I really liked. The taste was absolutely stunning and unbelievable. The fruits were incredibly firm and tasty, and the cocunut portions within the Cocktail placed a taste that I have never experienced before in my entire life. If I have to comment and rate the product between 1 to 10, this is definately an 11. I congratulate you on a product so well thought of and made. The purpose for my writing was to advise you that I can not find this product in store I visit close to me. I had to drive over 15 minutes to a Food Basics store, and since visiting their store, I believe it to be worth the extra time it takes to shop for products that I love.
I had recently purchased a tin of Dolmadakia and a tin of Squid from Highland Farms and wish to inform you that they were the best Dolmadakia that I ever had in my life. I have tried may brands but yours are like home made.
As far as the squid, they were the tastiest and the most delicious, especialy with bit of lemon and olive oil.
Keep up the good work and encourage other stores to carry your products because they are the best.
Your happy shopper,
Paul Mageris
Thank you for your preference of our products. We are happy that you enjoy their rich taste and best quality. If the stores where you shop do not carry the Marinated Bean Salad, then you can find it in: Price Choppers, Food Basics, Highland Farms, Garden Baskets, and lately in selected Wal-Mart Stores. Once again thank you for appreciating our products.
I'm writing in regards to your product, the crushed tomatoes. I've tried a lot of different brands over the years. Then I decieded to try yours, since then that's all I've bought my two boys and husband and I enjoy them very much there not to acidic and there's no sugar. You get the real taste of tomatoe's. I just thought I'd drop you a note to let you know how good they are.
Thank you. Helen Cassidy Hagersville, Ontario
Answer: We are thankful for your letter about our soup products. Obviously you have purchased our soup in the past, and according to your letter, you really appreciate them.
We are very happy to know that at least you admit that our soup product is second to none in your household. Also I would like you to know that on the list of ingredients you will notice that there is no msg, or dehydrated items. Nutritional information will be available on our website in the near future, which will allow us to keep the valuable space on our labels. Furthermore, note that we do not print small quantities of labels for our products, they are mass produced. Be patient, and your request for nutritional information will be added to our labels in the future.In the meantime, we are really sorry that you will not be able to enjoy the best the world has to offer. Goudas Foods does not hide anything, please re-read our label and note the FRESH ingredients such as potatoes, celery, onions, carrots, etc.. P.S.S. By the way, if you ever find a product such as ours or better, please be sure to contact us, so we may test your claim. Kindly refer to our products page in canned soup section and read the article 'The Jamaican Xpress' p.20 Your source for no-nonsense information. and read closely about the section on our fresh ingredients, which are only allowed in Mr. Goudas tins.
I really appreciate the simplicity of preparation of a quick meal. When I am in a hurry, I enjoy opening a can of 9th Symphony or can of Chick Peas. I drain the juice, and add a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and finely chopped onions. I mix it up really well and toast some calabrese bread and I am in heaven, within 5 minutes.
Mr. Goudas, your Chick Peas and mixed beans are the best in the world. Please keep up your efforts, as I am always eager to learn of your new products.
I have also tried your rice pudding and I can tell you this, I really enjoy it.
A few years ago my husband and I came across a product in Jamaica that made other condiments and chutneys look uninteresting. It was the Goudas pepper jelly. It made roast meat dishes sing when a dollop was put on the side and went beautifully with samosas. When we came home to Canada we discovered that it was available here at a few stores and to my surprise, I just discovered that Goudas is a Canadian company.
Unfortunately, in the last few months, the supply of pepper jelly on the store shelves has dwindled down to nothing and I fear that this product has possibly been discontinued.
Please let me know if it is still available and where I can get it. Thank you very much for your wonderful products, especially the pepper jelly.
Sincerely, Andrea Majkut Answer: Dear Andrea,
We thank you for your letter, and wish to advise you that currently the product is selling at Food Basics, Price Choppers, Highland Farms, and the Garden Basket to name a few stores in your area.
There are several varieties of pepper sauces and spices available. Please visit our sauces and seasonings page at www.goudasfoods.com/products
Regards, Customer Service & Relations
My children made me, not long time ago, discover one of your products. It was the soft drink that you carry. I would be interested to export your product to other countries. Therefor I would like to know if it is possible for you to send me a catalogue and a price list, so I can work it out with my associates. My address is 1043 boul l'assomption, repentigny, QC, J6A 5H5, and my phone #514-777-6529. Thank you very much for your prompt answer. Patrick Dormevil Answer: At this point, demand exceeds our current capacity for the Snappy Pop product.
We thank you for your interest, and wish to advise you that we are expanding our current manufacturing and distribution ability of Snappy Pop in 2003.
Regards, Sales & Marketing
I h've used your packaged chick peas for a long time. i found them to be soft, tender and easy to cook. i used to buy from my local supermarket loeb or loblaws store but lately I can't find it, however i've tried several other brands in those stores, but none have been ablie to satisfy me. the size is much smaller then your and it take almost forever to cook. Also the taste is far different from yours. i 've requested the store manager to get a pack or 2, but still i have none. Answer: Dear Lilian,
Thank you for letting us know that this product is not available in the store that you are shopping. However, here are some suggestions of the stores that we know at this point carry this item:
THANA STORE, TEL: 613 567 2963.......................... FOOD BASICS STORE, KANATA, TEL: 613 595 2942............ GRACE FOOD STORE, TEL: 613 567 7730.....................
We are not surprised that you like our products and we thank you for your letter. We hope you will find this item in the stores listed above. In the mean time we will try to put this item in more stores in the Ottawa area.
Just a sugestion why don't you make rice and shrimps as well. Answer: Answer- Dear Mr. Crooks thank you for your letter, the tuna and rice product was introduced as a test case and is currently not in mass production.
You ROCK Mr. Goudas
Kenny, Linny, Shauna, Dave, Joey, Bryan
My highest compliments. You have the BEST rice pudding, ever made, since I ate some at this restaurant many years ago. The restaurant does not exist anymore. I have tasted many kinds but yours is the best i am so pleased that you have made this great RICE PUDDING by MR. Goudas. A friend purchased it at central meat market store, gave it to me to try , I fell in love with it. I have looked for it elsewhere it does not exist. I have managed to travel to central meat market store to get some. It is out of my way, it is well worth it though. Why doesn't Zehrs stores carry it or Foodbasics stores! They carry other Mr. Goudas Products. I asked the managers (show them the can of rice pudding) if they would order then in the near future. they said they would look into it. it is such a great product . Again my compliments I eat a can or 2 myself a week. I intend to serve it hopefully on Thanksgiving Day and during the Christmas holidays. Have you ever thought of putting raisins in it! it is also great. I want to thank you for making this great product ( MR. Goudas Rice Pudding ) just thought I'd let you know what I thought.
Adedicated thankful customer
Ms. Mona Lamothe
Kitchener, Ontario
We are in the process of perfecting a new version of Rice Pudding with Almond and raisins however it is not ready for the market at this time.If the stores that you shop at is not carrying the rice pudding, please contact the manager or the head office
Zehrs Tel: 519-658-5135
Food Basics Tel: 416-239-7171
Thank you for your letter, this proves that our effort to make the greatest rice in the world is worth the while.
Sincerely J. Gaudette
Thank you so much for your chicken broth. While doing my weekend shopping I packed up that wonderful can of chicken broth with the great sign (No MSG) 0which was a joy for me because. I get very sick from just a little of that dreadful MSG. I have just made a great pot of wonderful soup for the cold rainy day.
Edna J. Young
Belleville, Ontario
This is probably a strange one...
I have been enjoying Mr. Goudas Foods Canned Beans for a couple of years now, and recommend them to my friends. One, a can of mixed beans, the paper wrapping show suggestions of other products ... would you have a couple clean covers, or a large size version of that. Or would you have any posters advertising signs, or something of that nature. The reason is that I find those photos so nice, I would like to frame them and put them in my kitchen.
Mick Mcintosh
Hull, Quebec
Many friends come to my house and they eat it and ask for the name, then they start to buy.
Sir. Good Luck!
Hi there! Finally I have made the time to write to you this letter to comment and thank you for your absolutely fabulous packaging of Mr. Goudas products. I am & have been dedicated customer of Mr. Goudas for years for these reasons; also because your products are well priced and good quality. I also like that you include other languages on your labels. Your graphic design team should be given an award or something for this packaging. I am a designer myself, so I appreciate the way your products look on my selves and sometimes I use them in making collages, etc especially the canned beans. So please tell your packaging designers how much I appreciate their work and how sometimes as simple as packaging actually improves the quality of my life. I also appreciate the sense of humor that I believe your packaging has. Keep up the good work, quality and good price. Your company deserves to be successful and I hope it is.
PS.
Hey do I win the most satisfied customer award?
I have tried the 9 beans symphony, and failed to hear the symphonic acoustics.
My son, however, being less inhibited discovered the 9 octaves. He composed his observations into a sonnet to be dedicated to those born without the benefit of gas. He was exhausted, but nevertheless, title the following, Four Strong Winds.
Mr Goudas Beans So wise, so frugal. Buy Goudas Beans, They'll turn yer ass Into a bugle
Do we win anything? (how bout a free case of beans)
Since I discovered it last Christmas in Auntie Crae's delicatessen in St Phillips (Conception Bay), she has been bringing me in two cases every months or two.
So I write to say how much I love your addictive product. I wish they had bars that served it in great foaming ice-cold tankards; I wish a cold barrel of it could be connected directly to my veins. I swear it makes me feel better after drinking it.
As a fan, I would be most grateful for any information you might care to send me on the history of your firm. Are you really West Indian? How are your sales? What's your future look like? Tell me everything.
Dr. Elliot Leyton Dept of Anthropology University of Newfoundland St. John's, Newfoundland May, 30 1998
Hi, I would just love to tell you how much I enjoy your product. I am 21 years old and I am in University in St. Catharines (Brock). Snappy Pop accompanies me to all fun social events, for it isn't a party until there is Snappy Pop. My friend Rachel and I discovered it one overcast Saturday at Zehrs. $0.33. What a deal! We bought two each and when we sipped the delightful beverage our mouths and tummies celebrated too. It's funny, now we are known as the Snappy Pop Girls.
Thanks for making such a fabulous product.
I was wondering if it was possible, if you have, purchase a t-shirt. We would both wear them with pride. I know this all sound a little, maybe a lot cheesy, but it comes from the heart & taste buds ( HA)
Thanks again,
Melissa Mikols
Mr. Goudas Instant Noodles are excellent, affordable, and convenient product, which I hope I will be able to continue to buy.
I just thought of an ad for your company! we are always growing!" well good luck and good health and take care cause there are very few of us left! God bless you, friends and fans! "