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Food & hospitality

Summer Fresh Salads Inc.

Prepared-foods manufacturer · Woodbridge (Vaughan) · Greater Toronto Area

In 1991 Susan Niczowski, a University of Toronto-trained chemist then working as a microbiologist at Shopsy's, began making hummus from Macedonian family recipes in her mother's kitchen. Within weeks the operation moved to a federally inspected plant in Woodbridge; today Summer Fresh ships salads, dips and prepared foods across North America from an 80,000-square-foot facility, with hundreds of employees, more than 3,000 proprietary recipes and a place on Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies list.

Niczowski's parents belonged to the Detsa Begalci generation displaced by the Greek Civil War, and she has repaid the community's faith in full measure: a Macedonia 2025 board member, one of the diaspora's 'Big 20' entrepreneurs, and the honouree of Canadian Macedonian Place's 2024 ReImagine Gala, which raised $825,000 for the seniors' home.

Details

Founded
1991
People
Susan Niczowski, founder and CEO
Address
334 Rowntree Dairy Road, Woodbridge, ON L4L 8H2
Website
summerfresh.com

Sources (5)

  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Niczowski
  2. https://summerfresh.com/pages/our-story
  3. https://canadianfamilyoffices.com/family-business/susan-niczowski-on-growing-a-business-from-community-roots/
  4. https://macleans.ca/economy/business/how-summer-fresh-became-a-grocery-store-staple/
  5. https://umdiaspora.org/umd-congratulates-susan-niczowski-on-being-honored-by-canadian-macedonian-place-during-reimagine-gala-in-toronto-canada/

  • PowerBev Inc.

    Beverage distribution · Toronto

    The beverage venture of Tom Bitove, a third-generation member of the family that built Toronto's great Macedonian catering empire. PowerBev has sponsored lunche...

    Macedonian connection: Tom Bitove's beverage company — third generation of the Bitove family, grandsons of immigrants from Gabresh, Aegean Macedonia; a recurring Macedonian Open sponsor.

    Sources: https://canadianmacedonianplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/13886-CMP-Zdravets-Newsletter-SinglePage-FINAL.pdf

  • Tim Hortons — Branoff Family franchises

    Coffee shops (franchisees) · GTA

    Community-affiliated

    Every Macedonian Open for years has begun the same way: coffee and breakfast under the Branoff family's Tim Hortons banner. Franchise coffee is the modern chapt...

    Macedonian connection: The Branoff family's Tim Hortons operation is the registration-and-breakfast sponsor of the Macedonian Open year after year.

    Sources: https://canadianmacedonianplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Zdravets-Newsletter-Spring-2026.pdf

  • Triple "A" Cheese

    Cheese manufacturer · Mississauga

    One of the GTA's principal feta makers, founded in 1996 by Kosta Stanwyck and his sons Chris and Tom. Kosta belonged to the generation that built St Clement of...

    Address: 7210 Torbram Road, Mississauga, ON L4T 3L7 (retail outlet at 7190 Torbram Road)

    Telephone: 905-678-7053

    Website: https://www.tripleacheese.com

    Macedonian connection: Founded in 1996 by Kosta Stanwyck — a founding builder of St Clement of Ohrid Cathedral — with his sons Chris and Tom; the Stanwyck family are mainstay sponsors of Canadian Macedonian Place.

    Sources: https://www.tripleacheese.com/

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