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Category: Local Economic Development

La Sublime, a New Business in Odanak

Allow us to introduce you to Yves Panadis, an Abenaki from the community of Odanak. He owned two shops called Keto Sublime before launching his La Sublime business. As the son of an entrepreneurial father, for 40 years he was strongly inspired by this family male role model. In the past, Yves worked for Hydro-Québec and as a foreman for various companies and was a travelling representative for the Mega-Tech company.

One day, the couple decided to become their own bosses. It was therefore at this moment that their entrepreneurial journey began seven years ago. He explained to us that he and his wife make a solid and complementary team because he has plenty of project ideas and he likes to take action, while his wife, Valérie Lacerte, handles the analysis side of things and is a meticulous planner. She is also the director of the company.

Their entrepreneurial idea consisted of finding a low-carb pasta alternative. Due to their Ketogenic dietary choices, Yves and Valérie have lost the equivalent of one hundred and twenty pounds in two years. They love their new approach to eating, but being big pasta lovers, they found it difficult to have to deprive themselves of this type of food in order to continue eating in a ketogenic fashion and maintain a healthy weight. Previously, as owners of two KETO grocery stores, they were able to try several kinds of pasta to counter the high levels of carbohydrates in those sold in the supermarket. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find anything comparable to the taste of real, fresh, low-carb pasta.

The first to create this product!

A year ago, they opened the business in Sorel-Tracy and now they are located in the community of Odanak. They are hiring Indigenous people and expect to need to hire a lot more of them soon as the business will have to operate 24 hours a day in order to be able to produce all the pasta orders. Yves even tells us to expect new large-scale projects very soon.

Mr. Panadis and his wife did not receive any assistance to start the new business. They have been in business for seven years now, so they had a sold background that enabled them to take the steps on their own. They decided to risk investing their own money to buy their machinery because they believed in the success of the business. Being very independent and professional, they did a lot of research to make their entrepreneurial dreams come true.

There is some good news on the financial side of things in the near future: the band councils of Odanak and Wôlinak will be providing financial support to cover a portion of the salaries of Indigenous employees who work for La Sublime.

How can you get some of this pasta?

There are more than sixty-five points of sale which distribute the varieties of fresh pasta in five Canadian provinces. From fettuccine to linguine, they have developed eight different kinds of fresh pasta to please all tastes. The products are even available in a 400-gram family size format, which is much more economical when you have several mouths to feed. You can also benefit from free delivery when you purchase at least 12 packages of pasta.

Since the pasta is rich in protein, an 85-gram portion is sufficient. It takes 4 minutes to cook and tastes the same as traditional pasta.

Valuable advice for entrepreneurs

Mr. Panadis believes that having an idea that takes up a lot of space in your mind is an excellent sign that this project must see the light of day. If you have a specific goal, you have to go for it and never back down when faced with challenges because investments in terms of time, energy, passion and self-confidence are indeed needed. The key is also to surround yourself with people who believe in your project. Above all, set goals and always keep in mind that there is a solution to every problem.Picture of La Sublime

They are the only low carb fresh pasta manufacturers to have a Nutrition Facts table that is tested and approved by a certified analytical laboratory! This certifies that the ingredients and carbohydrates listed on the packaging are those that are genuinely found inside.

In closing, I think that we would all benefit from consuming fewer carbohydrates in our diets. We can be proud and honoured to have an Indigenous business that has innovated in the food industry to the benefit of everyone’s health. Moreover, to try it is to love it! I have personally tried their eight varieties of pasta and I can confirm that the ones we buy at the grocery store no longer appeal to me at all. They are extraordinarily tasty in addition to being sugar-free! I wish nothing but the utmost success to this great and daring company!

You can view and order their excellent products on Facebook and their website:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lasublimepasta/

Website: https://www.lasublimepasta.com/?fbclid=IwAR1ARL7UCyxtn4NV2Fhw0y6McKRFit6rYlTR_KN6ps_zMoLSxjkC6pODhFQ

To peruse other business portraits, please visit our blog.

 

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