Tree Island Yogurt
Location: Courtenay, British Columbia
Sector: Retail and Consumer Products
Current: Providing grass fed yogurt to consumers in Vancouver and on Vancouver Island
Future: Providing grass fed dairy products to Canadians; co-packing grass fed dairy products for premium Canadian food manufacturers. Exporting premium dairy products to Asia.
Opportunity Highlights
- First independent grass fed dairy processor in Canada – Because we are both the leaders and primary advocates for grass fed dairy we are uniquely positioned in the market place to leverage this rapidly growing market segment.
- Started small and niche – Developed strong brand recognition through personal relationships, organic growth turned into solid foundation leading to excellent brand loyalty in a highly commoditized, highly price sensitive shelf.
- Only independent dairy in BC sourcing milk from individual farms – Providing value to consumers by tracing the origin of the milk in their dairy products back to a farm
- Methodologies and formulations developed in-house – All recipes have been developed in-house including greek yogurt thickening technology this means not as easily replicated by competitors.
Management Team
W. Scott DiGuistini, Director
First person to assemble and publish a eukaryotic genome sequence using “Next Generation Sequencing”. Publication has been downloaded 35,000 times and is ranked in the top 10% of scientific publications of all time. PhD research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science and nominated for a Governor General Gold Medal award. Built a small business in a highly competitive category of grocery carving out a new niche of artisan and grass fed yogurt on an entirely commoditized shelf. Working with the Minister of Agriculture, initiated a change to the dairy quota system in BC that will lead to greater innovation by increasing the economic opportunities for dairy farmers to pursue specialty production.