Our Story
LeClair Organics is a Canadian based organization with a local presence in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and Vancouver, British Columbia founded by Jeremy LeClair. We started out in Q4 2020 with just 3 products and a focus on novel coffee products not yet known in Canada.
After tons of product research it became apparent that finding something truly unique and innovative, yet common to everyone could be quite a difficult task. Being a lover of coffee and based on that criteria, I thought, what better industry to look into than caffeine & coffee.
One might assume that the ubiquitous popularity of the coffee bean and amongst centuries of development would mean saturated and well developed market. However to my surprise, there were still some very large gaps within such an established industry.
Therefore LeClair Organics was originally founded on the basis of identifying key insights regarding the coffee industry and the most popular beverage in North America.
In North America we only consumed two species of coffee. There are many “varieties” and production methods of these same two species, however there still are literally only two. Approximately 80 percent of coffee consumed is Arabica coffee (coffea arabica) and 20 percent Robusta coffee (coffea canephora). Therefore after lots of research came across Liberica Coffee (coffea liberica), the third species representing only a fraction of the last percentage of global coffee production. I had the unique realization that nobody in North America was offering Liberica Coffee at that time. The first step was of course to have a sample of this distinctive third type of coffee, & upon the first cup the decision was immediately confirmed to move forward with Liberica Coffee as the first product. Since then we continually leading the way for Liberica as an exciting & distinctive coffee experience.
We also realized an exceptionally important upcycling opportunity within the coffee production chain. The green coffee beans are first removed from a vibrant red coffee berry before being dried, roasted then brewed. This vibrant coffee berry, to our surprise in most cases is still being discarded. With a simple additional drying step we produced our first coffee berry tea product.
The berry is not an optimal compost option either. The berry’s high sugar content attracts toxic mold on a large scale. Despite it’s exceptional flavours and mild caffeine content, the berry in the North American coffee market is a virtually untapped market in stark comparison to the bean. We believe the coffee berry is of equivalent importance and value as the coffee bean itself, which is quite a bold statement considering the size and scope of the claim. That being said we are glad to lead and represent exceptional new possibilities within the industry. We have demonstrated the real world market demand and value for ongoing economical impact of the coffee berry. We know that a fresh coffee berry yields approximately 80 percent berry and 20 percent bean. Once they are both dried, the ratio becomes closer to 1:1 berry to bean. That being said this represents a predictable and significant new output per each coffee estate, revenue that was previously not utilized.
What started as taking in a small volume online orders, local organic growth and a one person operation has transformed over time to the present day thriving business with ever increasing growth. In a short time we have reached sales across each province in Canada with ambitious goals to expand beyond the borders. We have now expanded well beyond just an online ecommerce platform towards an expanding network of retail presence across Canada. Our business activities and various levels of the supply chain have developed into an international community. Based on our current learnings of developing new & novel ingredients to market, expect to see ongoing much more exciting things to come in the future.
Mission
We are committed to providing exceptional flavour experiences, inspiring imaginative possibilities through the expression of ingredients and the stories behind them. We aim to lead the introduction and enable accessibility to distinctive new ingredients and flavours.
The social enterprise model with market driven impact is a foundation of our success. Therefore we are committed to sourcing excellence. We insist on uncompromised quality, as well as alignment of purpose and intent in which sourcing is obtained. We are committed to regenerative agriculture processes, designed to enhance the environment and local biodiversity. This also includes responsibility and social impact of the communities in which we operate in. Furthermore, our meticulously chosen plant based products are synonymous with energy, health and wellness.
Vision
- Creating an ingredient & flavour experience that resonates with world class culinary, mixology, barista talents and inspire a community to those with mastery in their craft.
- The continual pursuit of accessibility to these extraordinary flavour experiences
- A social enterprise and international community that leads by example and substantial influence regarding social impact and the environment
Who We Are
Founder Story
Founder Jeremy LeClair
I’m Jeremy LeClair, Founder of LeClair Organics, and currently have local presence in Saskatoon and Vancouver. I am also the Founder/Creative Director of LeClair Media a marketing company focused on video production and commercial photography. As a Canadian based marketing professional, photographer & cinematographer, my passion for visual storytelling roots from frequent collaboration with a diversity of exciting entrepreneurs whom each have inspirational ideas & bold visions. My influence and experience has come from working at a marketing agency for many years, being involved in the $30 Million Google XPRIZE competition, working on a few “Hollywood North” film sets for Netflix Productions and the development of LeClair Media.
Over time I became influenced and inspired to find a relevant opportunity to start my own consumer product brand. My passion specifically for food & lifestyle photography had led me to collaborating with many entrepreneurs in the retail, food, beverage and restaurant industries. My past experiences and further investigation led me towards the first 3 products and to officially soft launch LeClair Organics approximately October, 2020. What started out as just myself creating a small venture has rapidly transformed to the be the much larger entity as it is to present day.
Partners
Quite simply, the North American winter climate and landscape is not ideal for the cultivation of many exciting ingredients. This is why we’ve carefully selected the right partners that resonate specifically with the same qualities and values as us. Our network of agricultural partners and various manufacturing partners amongst the supply chain layers are each innovators in their own respective communities. The agriculture estates and detail orientation along the supply chains are equally treated with comparable respect and quality as you would see on a British Columbia Vineyard or an organically grown Saskatchewan acreage. As we move forward we intend to share more photography and info about our partners.