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| Family man
- Tim Ormiston
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Tim Ormiston Makes Much More Than Organic
Yogurt. After working for more than twenty years in the bakery
industry, Tim Ormiston was ready for a new challenge. He was searching
for a business that would not only better reflect his personal values,
but which could also some day be a legacy for his family.
It took Tim and his wife Alisen nearly a year to find the right opportunity,
a small dairy manufacturing plant in Richmond. When they purchased
Olympic Dairy in 1989, it was producing three lines of natural yogurt.
"The company was well run and offered the public a top-quality product,"
Tim said. "At a time when awareness about health and well being was
on the rise, Olympic provided fertile ground for growth, education
and the development of new and better cultured products."
Over the last thirteen years the family-run dairy has grown 900%. They now offer more than 90 products including all natural dairy yogurt, "soyogurt," smoothies, sour cream and a full line of certified organic products.
Tim credits much of his company’s success to a loyal, committed work force. "Some of them have been with me from where I worked before I bought the dairy," Ormiston said. "One has worked with me since 1969, over 30 years." Two others were part of the original Olympic Dairy crew. One person Ormiston gives special credit to is his wife. "Especially in the early days, Alisen was always there to discuss the challenges that lay ahead and lend her support," he said. "She also contributed a great deal helping out with the physical work. On one occasion, she and I worked side by side for three months from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm to get all the bugs out of a new yogurt packaging machine."
Alisen still enjoys laughing about the time when they were testing a new machine to fill yogurt cups. "The speed was set too high for the lids to be properly sealed," she said. "Three of us and most of the machinery ended up drenched in yogurt. It was like an episode of I Love Lucy."
One aspect of the work Tim especially loves is the freedom to try new ideas. In the late 1990s Tim spearheaded the development of products sweetened with fruit juice instead of sugar, making Olympic the first Canadian dairy to offer such a choice.
The new millennium found Tim addressing the increased demand for organic
foods. "There was a call for products that were guaranteed free of
all chemicals," Tim said. "Products that returned to the basics of
simple wholesome food, and we wanted to be a part of this change.
We partnered with a local certified organic dairy and haven’t looked
back."
Born and raised in BC, Tim was especially proud to join forces with
an organic farmer in Abbotsford. Ben Brandsema, owner of Nature’s
Glen Certified Organic dairy agreed to be Olympic’s exclusive supplier
of the BC certified organic milk now used in all of Olympic’s organic
products. In 2001 Olympic’s new Certified Organic Unhomogenized yogurt
was awarded top honours at the Canadian Grand Prix New Product Awards.
This line continues to grow and now also includes Organic No Fat Yogurt,
Organic Sour Cream and Organic Milk
Olympic’s "Soyogurt" has a similar history. Tim’s plan was to offer a non-dairy alternative, made from non-GMO soy, that would be as delicious as yogurt. "Soyogurt" has come to offer the best of both worlds. It’s high in protein, cholesterol free, low in saturated fat and provides all the benefits of active bacteria cultures.
2002 was another watershed year, with Olympic moving into a custom-built, 31,000 square foot stand-alone plant in Delta’s Tilbury Island Industrial Park with almost three times the work space as their Richmond facility.
An entrepreneur at heart, Tim is more likely to be seen working around the plant than sitting at his office desk. But whether he’s packing yogurt, assembling boxes or waxing the production room floor, it’s likely that in the back of his mind he’s thinking about new challenges. For example, he has plans to develop fortified products for niche markets. "We might start with basic yogurt and then add herbs or other ingredients like aloe vera or ginseng," he said. "The idea is to create a product which would be healthier for the intended consumer."
One more thing Tim and Alisen Ormiston find especially gratifying is that their two daughters are becoming more involved in the family business. Lesley Ormiston began managing special projects for Olympic Dairy in 2001, and her sister Marnie came on board this year to help coordinate new packaging designs.
More info visit www.olympicdairy.com
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