What is your business called and what does it do?

Matt & Steve’s is proudly the only 100% Canadian made and Canadian-owned Caesar brand on the market. We craft premium Caesars, Ready to drink and Caesar mix. We also have a full line of pickled products, including our signature product, The Extreme Bean, along with The Asparagoos, Extreme Pickle Spears and Matt & Steve’s Baby Dills.

What problem did you want to solve with the business?

It all started with one simple idea: replace the celery stick with an Extreme Bean. We began pickling beans in our condo in Mississauga, and that was the start of our journey. That one idea has led us to where we are today—with a full lineup of pickled products, ready-to-drink Caesars, and Caesar mix, now available from coast to coast across Canada and in
several U.S. states.

Where in the city can we find your profession?

From coast to coast, Matt & Steve’s is proudly available at major retailers, including LCBO, Walmart, Sobeys, Metro, and Loblaws, along with restaurants, bars, and independent stores that champion local brands. We are also proud to be the Official Caesar Partner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, now available inside Scotiabank Arena, Coca-Cola Coliseum, and BMO Field. We have grown from a simple idea to a coast-to-coast presence with over 12 000 distribution points and listings in every major grocery chain.

What made you want to do this work?

Honestly, it started with curiosity. We were bartending, experimenting, and asking ourselves how we could make a great Caesar even better. Once we saw how people reacted, we knew we were onto something. From there, we took that idea on the road—traveling across Canada, meeting restaurants, bartenders, retailers, and Caesar lovers, and hearing their stories. That excitement and support from people coast to coast is what pushed us to keep going and turn a small idea into a brand.

Who are your clientele/demographics?

We do not chase demographics—we chase good times. If you love Caesars, pickled garnishes, and a little fun, you are our demographic. Pickled products and Caesars are loved across generations, cultures, and lifestyles, and our brand reflects that inclusivity. If you enjoy good times, good company, and a great Caesar, you are our people.

How does your business make money? How does it work?

We do not overcomplicate it. We make products we are proud to serve, that taste great, and that make people smile. When consumers connect with the brand and the moments around it, the business takes care of itself.

What is the best question a prospective customer could ask a member of your profession when comparing services? Give the answer as well.

“Would you proudly serve this to your friends and family?”

Absolutely. Every product we make is something we are proud to serve and share ourselves. We obsess over quality and flavour, but we never forget to have fun with it. What we make is not about the product—it is about personality, good vibes, and the moments you remember long after you have enjoyed it.

What is the best part about what you do? What is the worst part?

I absolutely love what I do every day. Travelling across the country, showing up, sharing our story, and creating moments where people experience the brand firsthand is incredibly rewarding. Building emotional connections through fun, shared experiences is what drives me. There can be long days, but when the brand is part of who you are and the connections you make matter, it is always worth pushing through.

What is your favourite joke about your own profession?

The pickle and bean puns. We have heard them all… and yes, we’ve bean waiting for every single one.

Where can we follow you?

Website | Instagram

PAY IT FORWARD: What is another local business that you love?

Another local business we love: Sandbagger Hard Seltzer

The post Homegrown Business: Steve McVicker of Matt & Steve’s appeared first on Toronto Guardian.

After facing firsthand the challenges of finding the right care for his grandmother, Daniel set out to simplify a process that can feel confusing, stressful, and time-consuming. Today, Elderado empowers families—particularly those in the “sandwich generation”—to easily compare options like retirement homes, long-term care, and home care services. By making information more accessible and transparent, the platform helps families spend less time searching and more time where it matters most: with their loved ones.

What is your business called and what does it do?

My business is called Elderado. We’re a free website for families that makes it ease to navigate and compare elder care options for aging loved ones.

What made you want to do this work?

I have personal experience with this problem when I was a family caregiver to my Grandma, and we were looking for long-term care or assisted living. We were paired with a social worker who wanted to help, but in a lot of ways, her hands were tied. I couldn’t believe how hard it was for us to find and compare our options to figure out which home is the best option. It was frustrating, overwhelming, and kept us from being at my Grandma’s bedside.

What problem did you want to solve with the business?

How do we make it easier for every family to find the elder care information they’re looking for – whether you’re interested in long-term care homes, retirement homes, or home care? Families need to learn how elder care works, what public and private resources exist, determine their budget, assess their loved ones’ care needs, and more. Plus, there’s a whole new language filled with lots of acronyms to learn – what’s the difference between long-term care and retirement homes, what are ADLs, and more. Our goal is to help families spend less time searching for information and more time with their loved ones.

Who are your clientele/demographics?

Our primary demographic is ‘Sandwich Generation’ adult children. This is typically a female (often the eldest daughter) who is helping to support their aging parents, while having kids of their own. We also find that a lot of social workers, discharge planners, and nurse navigators use Elderado to support their patients.

How does your business make money? How does it work?

Elderado is free for families to use; we don’t accept any sort of referral fee or commission. Instead, we offer advertising opportunities to retirement homes and home care operators. For example, a retirement home hosting an open house can promote their open house on their company page on Elderado and the pages of all the other similar nearby retirement homes.

Where in the city can we find your profession?

Elderado is a free web platform that can be accessed anywhere from your phone or computer at elderado.ca.

What is the best part about what you do? What is the worst part?

The best part is getting to spend time with residents in retirement homes and long-term care. I toured 77 retirement homes in 2025, and I got to hear hundreds of residents share their stories.

The worst part is when I speak to a family who needs support but can’t get it. Our public elder care resources (long-term care, home care, etc) are falling well short of demand, and there is a tremendous amount of stress and responsibility that falls on the family. It’s a terrible situation when I speak to a family who is doing all the right things, but cannot get the support that they need.

What is your favourite joke about your own profession?

Not a joke, but something a resident of Scarborough Retirement Residence said to me that I loved was, “A lot of people worry that moving into a retirement home means losing independence. But when you think about it, having someone else cook, clean, and shovel the snow doesn’t sound like losing independence to me.”

Where can we follow you?

Instagram | LinkedIn | YouTube | Facebook

PAY IT FORWARD: What is another local business that you love?

Viive Planning

The post Homegrown Business: Daniel Clarke of Elderado appeared first on Toronto Guardian.

What is your business called and what does it do?

Made for Milo creates custom pet portraits that feel elevated, design-forward, and truly “home décor first.” Customers send us a photo of their dog or cat, and we turn it into a timeless, modern art piece that looks intentional in your space, not like a novelty print.

What made you want to do this work?

I’ve always loved design, and I’ve always loved animals. I started Made for Milo because I wanted to create something that blended both: meaningful artwork that celebrates pets in a beautiful, sophisticated way. For so many people, pets are family. I wanted to help people honour that bond with something they’re proud to hang on their walls.

What problem did you want to solve with the business?

Most pet portraits on the market lean cartoonish or overly playful, and they don’t always match modern interiors. I wanted to solve that gap by creating portraits that are minimal, tasteful, and high-end, while still capturing the emotion and personality of each pet.

Who are your clientele/demographics?

Our customers are pet owners who care deeply about aesthetics and quality. Many are homeowners, design lovers, and gift shoppers looking for something personal but still refined. We also create a lot of memorial portraits for people honouring a pet they’ve lost, which is always incredibly meaningful.

How does your business make money? How does it work?

Made for Milo is made to order. Customers choose their size and style, upload their pet’s photo, and we create their portrait from scratch. We share a proof for approval, make any requested edits, then once it’s approved the final artwork is produced and shipped. We sell primarily online through our website and marketplaces, and each piece is created as a premium custom product.

Where in the city can we find your profession?

Made for Milo is based in London, Ontario, but I am from Richmond Hill, my husband is from Vaughan, and we serve customers all over Toronto and beyond. Since everything is ordered online, Torontonians can browse, customize, and order from anywhere in the city and have their portrait shipped directly to their door.

What is the best question a prospective customer could ask a member of your profession when comparing services? Give the answer as well.

Question: “Will the portrait look like real art that fits my home, or will it look like a novelty gift?”

Answer: A great pet portrait should feel like true décor, not a gimmick. It should have a refined style, clean composition, and professional finishing so it elevates your space while still capturing your pet’s unique expression.

What is the best part about what you do? What is the worst part?

The best part is seeing customer reactions. People cry, laugh, and genuinely light up when they open their portrait because it feels so personal.

The hardest part is that custom work is very emotional. Memorial pieces especially carry a lot of meaning, and I take that responsibility seriously, so the pressure to get every detail right can be intense, but it’s also why the work matters.

What is your favourite joke about your own profession?

People always assume artists are broke and, honestly, fair, until I discovered the secret investor class: emotionally attached dog owners.

Where can we follow you?

Instagram | Website

PAY IT FORWARD: What is another local business that you love?

I’d love to shout out Pawsitive Difference (Toronto) for their amazing dog walking and training community. They do such a great job supporting both dogs and their humans.

The post Homegrown Business: Caitlyn Costa of Made for Milo appeared first on Toronto Guardian.

What is your business called and what does it do?

Tression is a Toronto-based startup launching on March 3rd – the world’s first medical-lifestyle compression category offering elevated trousers and leggings combined with medical-grade functionality, built to look and feel like modern wardrobe staples rather than medical garments.

What made you want to do this work?

For decades, compression therapy has been prescribed to 1 in every 3 women for circulation, leg fatigue, and chronic venous conditions — yet adoption remains low because solutions have been limited to traditional compression stockings.

This was, in fact, my mother’s experience due to her varicose veins diagnosis. But like so many women, she struggled to wear compression stockings consistently because the options felt uncomfortable, inconvenient, and disconnected from everyday life.

This has presented a widespread 80% therapy non-compliance, despite the proven clinical benefits of graduated compression garments.

Watching that experience firsthand is what led me to start Tression.

What problem did you want to solve with the business?

Low adoption rates of compression therapy, a medical solution that is prescribed to 1-in-every 3 individual, due to the poor design of existing medical compression garments for the last several decades.

Who are your clientele/demographics?

Women 30 to 70 years old who are prescribed compression or have a lifestyle with long hours of sitting or standing and experience tired, aching legs.

How does your business make money? How does it work?

We are launching on March 3rd through our e-commerce website as well as partner clinics across the GTA.

Where in the city can we find your profession?

Physiotherapy, chiropody, and MedSpa clinics, pharmacies, and hospitals carry traditional compression garments.

What is the best question a prospective customer could ask a member of your profession when comparing services? Give the answer as well.

How do the Tression garments differ from medical compression stockings and the lifestyle compression products such as Skims and Lululemon?

Answer: Tression combines the 2 industries and categories of product, by bringing together the medical grade compression (verified 20-30 mmHg graduated compression) with lifestyle designs that look and feel like buttery-soft and polished silhouettes.

What is the best part about what you do? What is the worst part?

Best part is being able to help women across the world support their wellness while feeling confident and comfortable in their fit, without any sacrifice!

Worst part is that defining a whole new category is challenging. Manufacturers and suppliers are used to accommodating either category (medical hosiery or fashion garments), and R&D takes a long time to re-invent the best of both worlds.

What is your favourite joke about your own profession?

I spent 12+ hours every day sitting down and inducing tired legs while building Tression, so I can help other women experience light legs without discomfort 🙂

Where can we follow you?

Instagram | Website | LinkedIn

PAY IT FORWARD: What is another local business that you love?

The Hive – a local co-coworking space that I also work from!

The post Homegrown Business: Parisa Agahi of Tression appeared first on Toronto Guardian.

We spoke with Co-Founders Isaac Langleben (Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer) and Jacqueline Prehogan (Co-founder and Chief Brand Officer) to learn how this Toronto-born business grew from a local start-up into one of North America’s highest scoring cat and dog food companies and why their mission matters now more than ever.

What is your business called and what does it do?

Our company is called Open Farm, a mission-driven pet food brand helping pets live their healthiest, happiest lives. We make premium quality nutrition using clean ingredients from some of the best farms and fisheries in the world. Our products range from high-protein kibble and fresh meals to freeze-dried raw and treats.

But the “what we do” is only part of the story. Open Farm was founded on the belief that better farming, better ingredients, and better transparency could meaningfully improve the food system. When we started the company, we saw a lack of accountability across animal agriculture and a disconnect between how food was marketed and how it was produced. We set out to change that. Since our first bag, we have led our industry in animal welfare with 100% of our meat ingredients having third-party animal welfare certifications, and every ingredient can be traced back to its geographic source. Transparency isn’t something we added along the way; it’s one of the principles the company was founded on. We are more committed to our mission than ever, having earned our B Corporation Certification and bringing on one of Canada’s leading Board-Certified Veterinary Nutritionists to our team.

What made you want to do this work?

Our path into the pet industry wasn’t linear. I was in law school, and Isaac was working in finance when we adopted our rescue dog, Bella, a Puggle who changed the entire trajectory of our lives. Caring for her made us realize how limited the options were for pet parents who wanted products that reflected their values. That realization pushed me to rethink my own career path and ultimately inspired the creation of Canada Pooch. As we became more aware of issues surrounding ingredient sourcing, animal welfare, and environmental impact in our own food choices, it also became impossible to ignore the gaps in pet nutrition, which is what eventually led us to build Open Farm.

What problem did you want to solve with the business?

In 2014, transparency in pet food was almost nonexistent. Ingredient sourcing, farming practices, and animal welfare standards were rarely discussed. Meanwhile, the broader food system was facing pressure around ingredient sourcing and consumer trust. We wanted to build a pet food company that reflected the values people apply to their own food—responsible farming, real transparency, and high-quality ingredients. By embedding those principles directly into our supply chain from day one, Open Farm became a way to show that great nutrition and great farming practices go hand in hand.

Who are your clientele/demographics?

Our customers are pet parents who want to feed the absolute best to their pets. They’re conscious consumers—families, young professionals, and urban pet lovers—who care about what goes into their own food and expect the same level of integrity in their pets’ nutrition.

How does your business make money? How does it work?

You can find Open Farm in over 8,500 neighbourhood pet stores across North America, as well as on our website. We’ve launched more than 130 recipes in the past two years alone, all made with responsibly sourced, third-party certified ingredients.

We’ve always believed that doing some good and doing well in business can coexist. That belief is why we’re a Certified B Corporation, meaning we measure success through social and environmental impact as well as financial performance. In 2024, we became the highest-scoring national dog and cat food brand in North America, which we’re incredibly proud of. In addition to creating the highest-quality pet nutrition, our team is laser-focused on our impact, including advancing our regenerative agriculture and zero-waste-to-landfill goals, as well as supporting people and animals in our communities.

Where in the city can we find your profession?

You can find Open Farm recipes in neighbourhood pet stores all across Toronto, including Global Pet Foods and Pet Valu. We’re big believers in supporting local retailers; they’re the heart of our community. At our headquarters in Little Italy, you’ll find a passionate team with leaders in animal nutrition such as our veterinary nutritionist, innovation specialists, and our head of animal welfare, all working together to raise the bar for pet nutrition.

What is the best question a prospective customer could ask a member of your profession when comparing services? Give the answer as well.

Pet parents today are asking all the right questions, but one we get a lot is: “How do I know this food is actually good for my pet?”

At Open Farm, every recipe is created with veterinarians and animal nutritionists to ensure it’s complete, balanced, and goes above and beyond to benefit pets’ long-term health. We use only premium, responsibly sourced ingredients, never with fillers or additives. We obsess over every standard, ingredient and nutrient. We also believe trust comes from transparency. Every Open Farm product includes a QR code on pack that lets pet parents see exactly where each ingredient comes from and view the product’s carbon footprint. That level of openness is something we’re extremely proud of.

What is the best part about what you do? What is the worst part?

The best part is hearing from pet parents who tell us their pets are healthier, happier, and more energetic because of Open Farm. Knowing we’re helping improve the lives of animals while supporting better farming and sustainability practices is incredibly rewarding. The hardest part? Redefining an industry that’s been slow to change. But meaningful change takes persistence, and it’s worth every step when we see how far we’ve come.

What is your favourite joke about your own profession?

People like to joke about the fact that they’re feeding their pets better than themselves (and with Open Farm, this can sometimes actually be the case)!

Where can we follow you?

Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Facebook. You can also visit openfarmpet.ca to learn more about our mission and shop our recipes.

PAY IT FORWARD: What is another local business that you love?

Reach Personal Fitness on Dupont. Incredible gym with a very experienced and passionate team. Shoutout to Ben and Greg!

Ezra’s Pound on Dupont Street! Best coffee and food, nicest staff, and great vibes.

The post Homegrown Business: Isaac Langleben and Jacqueline Prehogan of Open Farm appeared first on Toronto Guardian.