Nichol Fine Foods
Delta, BC
Raised in the beautiful coastal city of Vancouver, B.C., Heather Nichol spent many years in the retail and restaurant industry. During that time, with her love of food and gardening, she began painting such motifs on anything from fabrics and accessories to dinnerware. What started as a hobby, soon became a whole new career direction that would take hold of Nichol for the next ten years.
Four years ago, after a year of life changing events, local entrepreneur Heather Nichol joked that she should design a line of crackers called Gone Crackers to celebrate making it through in one piece. There seemed to be a void in the market for a flavourful cracker made with natural ingredients, and without sugar or yeast
Her mission was to create a very flavourful cracker, made from the highest quality ingredients, while excluding yeast, sugar, and hydrogenated oils. A fan of Italian food, Nichol set out to make the ultimate Parmesan and Rosemary cracker. A few months later, when amusing comments from friends and family turned into praise, Nichol knew she was on to something, and started on a second flavour, this time, without dairy. Flax and Sesame was born. Its toasted nutty taste, with a spicy kick at the end, proved to be the perfect compliment to cheeses, and dips. With her two winning flavours in hand, Nichol found a commercial space to bake the crackers in, and two weeks before Christmas, the first delivery of crackers was on its way.
Since then, Gone Crackers has paved its way into many fine establishments, both in Canada, and the United States. The hectic pace of a growing company has kept Nichol hopping, but complaining she's not. When many people said she had probably "gone crackers" if she thought a living could be made from selling them, thankfully, the one thought that kept coming back to her was, "If Mr. Christie did it, why can't I?"