ABOUT EC

From a very early age, Elspeth Copeland demonstrated an interest in all things culinary, and she considers herself fortunate that she was able to translate this passion into a successful career.

A graduate of Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, Elspeth worked for Canada’s largest food retailer for sixteen years, assuming roles of progressive responsibility. During the first half of her tenure, she developed over six hundred private label food items, ranging from ice cream to baby food, gourmet sauces to French baguettes. As a product developer she was afforded the opportunity of travelling throughout North America and Europe, working with manufacturers, learning from seasoned retailers, and absorbing invaluable insights from local chefs and food professionals.

With this broad range of knowledge in her tool kit, Elspeth evolved into a formidable in-house resource, helping shape and refine her employer’s product development process, hiring and training new product developers and contributing to the definition of brand standards.

The next step in her career involved managing a Business Unit: the Fresh Prepared Meals Department. The scope of this work was national – overseeing both Private Label and National Brand assortments, merchandising and procurement for over nine hundred stores, with annual sales in excess of 500 million dollars. Although managing all financial aspects of a department on such a large scale was a new experience for Elspeth, she rose to the challenge, applying her experience, knowledge and can-do attitude to the task. Thanks to the creation of a new go to market strategy, driving net contribution dollars was her primary area of focus, and her efforts yielded solid results. In addition, Elspeth was appointed to work on teams for selected projects for the Chairman’s office.

Elspeth has now chosen to strike out in a new direction, creating her own consulting business. An entrepreneur at heart, she was eager to apply her rare combination of product development expertise and business acumen, guiding manufacturers and their customers to define new and innovative ways to successfully grow their business. Elspeth recently attended the Cordon Bleu in Paris, to partake in their two-week Gastronomy Diploma program along with eighteen other lucky students from around the world. Now she is working on her thesis on Canadian Cuisine for her diploma in Gastronomy from the University of Reims.  For her, this new path is the perfect “recipe”: continuing to learn about the delicious world of food while driving sound business results!