About Us

We respect our environment, we love to entertain, we hope to enjoy good health, and we love food!

Opening a spice company was a natural for us because it includes all of the above. The Canandaigua Spice Company was founded in February 2006. Our goal is to bring great tastes to our customers' kitchens.

Now with over 350 different herbs and spices, plus many locally grown and organic selections of gourmet food items, we are proud to be members of Finger Lakes Culinary Bounty, Pride of NY, and the Northeastern Organic Farmers Association of NY. These organizations promote local farmers, growers, and producers. We believe in promoting them too! This year we will be working with 12 local growers to provide us with the freshest, locally grown herbs and spices. We also offer products from 10 local producers that range from coffee marinades, through hot sauces and mustards, to hand-made baking mixes.

Our local growers include: Jeanne Berry Herbs, Clearview Farm, CSC HERB GARDEN, Fellenz Family Farm; Firefly Farm, Happy Goat Farm and more. 

We have some exciting NEW introductions for this year. In honor of our region in NY, we have developed a Finger Lakes Meat Rub Collection, each named after one of the lakes in the region. Sold individually or as a set these make great gifts for friends, family or visitors! Also NEW this year - our Salad Dressing Mixes. We utilize locally grown herbs and spices to add even greater flavor to your salads. Look for the Salad Dressing Mixes to be introduced on Memorial Day. And to entice local food enthusiasts and Culinary Tourists we have created a fun and informational game called 'The Spice Is Right'! Come on down and ask for the game sheets, you are sure to learn new things about the everyday and exotic herbs and spices in the shop.

In January 2007, we expanded our retail floor space to include a room just for Gluten Free products. We are members of the Rochester Celiac Support Group and utilize their website as a continual resource. If there are products that you would like to see us carry, please let us know and we will do our best to order them in for you.

We believe that freshness and high quality can be provided at a reasonable price. The customer’s experience at Canandaigua Spice Company is important to us. We hope you enjoy our diverse selections, exceptional customer service, and the expertise of our staff.

With a little over a year under our belts, we want to thank you, our customers. Canandaigua has been a warm and welcoming community. We ask for and appreciate our customers input and feedback. Let us know if we are meeting your needs or if there is something more we could do.

And, most of all, this could not be the success it is without family, friends and loved ones. Special thanks to my sons Kyle & Darius and to friends Anne & Brit, and my dad [he makes the dog biscuits].

GO GREEN

Here is the list of what Canandaigua Spice Company is doing to promote "GREEN LIVING":  

• We have established CSC [Canandaigua Spice Company] HERB GARDEN and registered with the Northeastern Organic Farmer's Association of NY [NOFA-NY] to organically grow a portion of our inventory in our own garden for the store. We must meet all of the requirements set by NOFA-NY and sign a Farmer's Pledge, which allows any interested parties to inspect our garden to insure we are growing organically. Visitor's are asked to call for an appointment to tour the herb garden between June and September.
• We are members of Finger Lakes Culinary Bounty and Pride of NY, partnering with as many local businesses [within 50 miles] to buy freshly grown/dried herbs & spices, plus locally produced foods. We currently have 12 local growers providing us organically grown herbs & spices, and over 10 local companies providing us locally processed foods. 1/3 of our inventory is grown organically and/or locally. We currently supply product to over 10 local restaurants. 
• We manage our local transportation costs and reduce exhaust by exchanging product at Finger Lakes Culinary Bounty meetings [we meet monthly & we car pool, 4 people]. This saves on gas, exhaust fumes, oil burned, etc.....
• We have set a minimum requirement for all major supplier orders [$500.00] so as not to waste fuel, and create more pollution by ordering indesciminently.
• We purchase a portion of our electric from hydo power sources.
• We actively support wind farms.
• We recycle and used recycled products. We use recycled plastic and paper bags. We ask our customers to return bags to be recycled. Our product containers are recycled. Our safety seals are not plastic, we use decomposable tape. We recycle all cardboard and paper. If a customer doesn't want their receipt it goes in a recylce bin, not the garbage. We request and require that all of our suppliers have a recycling program as well. We say "Thank You" to customers that bring in their own canvas bag or specifically say "I don't need a bag".
• We have set a 3 year goal to be a paperless shop! Right now we do all ordering through the internet, we use a paperless internet faxing program to reduce paper waste. We are in the process of putting all nutritional data, recipes, and invoicing on-line to eliminate paper. We educate our customers in our goal so they don't continuously ask us for paper copies.
• We installed energy efficient fixtures, ballasts, appliances, furnace, AC, etc....
• We set our heat lower, and our AC higher. Most customers don't notice.
• We have a vestibule to reduce heating/cooling exchange.
• We share facilites with our neighbors. ie: 1 dumpster for 2 businesses
• We use all GREEN cleaning products. We refill when able instead of replace. We buy in large bulk to save on packaging and landfill. We use all natural bulk cut hand soaps to save on packaging and contaminated water.
• Our lights [in all non-retail locations] are on photoeyes to turn on only as required. They time-off.
• We do not do mass mailing, or direct mailings to save energy, trees, etc... Our brochures and business cards are printed with soy inks, and on recycled paper. 
• We bought 100% of all shelves, cabinets, display cases, sales counters, etc.... used, within 20 miles of our shop! And it all came together and looks beautiful!
• Our company car is a Toyota Corolla and gets 38 miles to the gallon.
• We promote & participate in local Community Supported Agriculture programs and proactively support them.
• We save all dishes to end-of-day and do them once to save water/soap.
• We offer classes on natural/homeopath/beauty applications for spices and herbs.
• We encourage composting, and practice it at home.
• We provide 100% cotton aprons to our employees.
• Most of our floors are tile or cement so we sweep instead of vacuuming.
• We contact all companies that send us "junk mail" through the USPS or email and ask to be taken off their distribution list.
• We turn off/unplug all lights and non-critical appliances at the end of each day, right down to the coffee maker.
• We strive to purchase appliances that do NOT have electronic clocks or 24 hr monitors.
• All major appliances have an annual maintenance contract to replace filters and measure efficiency.
• All doors and windows have efficiency ratings and/or weather stripping.
• We had an energy audit preformed by the electric & gas company and implemented as many suggestions as were practicable. ie: we installed insulation above our ceiling tiles and around our heating/cooling ducts to reduce heating/cooling loss.
• We used non-lead, low fume, water soluable paints on our retail surfaces.

There are likley more things that we will do, but this is a good beginning.    

Bon Appetite!

Michelle Jones Ham                                                                                             

Owner, Canandaigua Spice Company

Hours:
Sunday - Closed
Monday – Saturday 10 am – 6 pm