A Tiny History
HIYA!
Erich & Danielle here.
We run Tiny Market Co, alongside our wonderful team.
We'd like to introduce us & our story.
A tiny bit of history (as told in the 3rd person);
After a decade of kitchen experience and losing his job as a Sous Chef in early 2020 due to the pandemic, Erich started making pasta at home with friends who encouraged him to sell it.
SAUCY was the name of his first company, a tiny wholesale business selling pasta, sauces & meal kits made in his home kitchen, and various ghost kitchens around the city with his friend Hazel (a core member of the tiny market team today). Erich & Danielle met along the way (friends at first, now partners!) & she quit all 3 of her jobs to join the project that would soon be named TINY MARKET CO, Erich's brainchild for a brick & mortar pasta shop.
Tiny Market Co opened on December 29th, 2021, with a tiny team of 4; Erich, Danielle, Hazel & Jasmine (another friend of Erich & Dans).
When the shop first opened, they ran their tiny retail shop with a mini fridge, no signage & a residential oven. After Jasmine left for MTL a few months later, the gang of 3 operated completely on their own for about a year, while pasta classes & tasting menus came into the picture, and wholesale expanded. Every dirty dish was hand washed, focaccia was made 1 loaf at a time, lord of the rings played while ravioli was made, and they drank wine out of coffee cups on Sunday afternoons....waiting for the community to discover the shop.
Flash Forward to 2025;
We have been fortunate enough over the last few years to grow our business & our team. Our pasta classes & tasting menus have become a massive part of what we do, and we now wholesale pasta to some of the most fantastic restaurants in the city which is WILD!
Our retail section has expanded (not literally though - the space is still tiny) and we offer a fresh range of sauces, noodles, lasagna, focaccia & filled pasta on the daily. Our product is always made fresh in house, using the best ingredients to ensure our quality doesn't sway, and that our clients are eating food that we can be proud to sell.
Our Mission;
is to stay tiny.
& to make a not so tiny impact on our community through food
We have been blessed to gain more attention over the years but NO, we do not plan to expand, or open another store. Our energy & time will continue to be dedicated to maintaining quality in both our product & service. We teach all pasta classes personally, we cook & serve for all tasting menus, Erich delivers the pasta daily to each of our wholesalers & Danielle greets each face that walks through the door. We work with our neighbourhood food bank, and other local shops in the area who are run by folks we call friends. We welcome dozens of regulars into our shop & know them by name & what street they live on. Our job gives us the utmost amount of pride (and stress of course!) & we are so lucky to be here.
Photo taken of Hazel, Danielle & Erich for Toronto Life (our first big publication!)
Taken by Ebti N. (2023)
OUR CURRENT TEAM
Erich Chef & OwnerDanielle General Manager, Events & Front of HouseAlyssa FOHNiki Head of Pasta ProductionHazel Dough & PastaJohn ExtruderChenee Sauce & PrepYuki Bake & PrepJordan Bake & PrepSamuel PrepJay Prep & DishMarcus DishGurpiar DishArnaldo Dish
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