- Story by Tess van Straaten Photography by Don Denton

Story courtesy of , a Black Press Media publication
Like Boulevard Magazine on and follow them on

Not many people can say they鈥檙e the big cheese. But Nanaimo鈥檚 Eric McLean sure can and he has the T-shirt to prove it.

鈥淧eople get a good chuckle out of it and it helps me stand out,鈥� laughs Eric, who started McLean鈥檚 Specialty Foods 27 years ago.

The Glasgow native was even inducted into the Guilde des Fromagers, or 鈥渃heese hall of fame,鈥� five years ago. And his passion for good food is contagious.

鈥淚t鈥檚 like one of my customers said the other day 鈥� life鈥檚 too short to eat bad cheese,鈥� Eric says.

The idea for the specialty foods store, located in Nanaimo鈥檚 Old City Quarter, was actually the result of Eric and his wife, Sandy, being unable to find ingredients like extra virgin olive oil, prosciutto and good cheese when they moved to the Harbour City almost three decades ago.

鈥淲hen we moved here from Vancouver 28 years ago there was nothing,鈥� explains Eric. 鈥淲e just realized there was a big hole in the market. It鈥檚 hard to believe, but before I opened the store in 1992 you couldn鈥檛 even buy balsamic vinegar and nobody knew what San Pellegrino was.鈥�

For Eric, who鈥檇 worked in the food industry since immigrating to Canada in 1980, opening the store 鈥渉ad to be done鈥� and he says many of his first customers had also recently moved to Nanaimo from larger cities like Vancouver and Toronto.

鈥淟ike us, they鈥檇 moved here and couldn鈥檛 find what they were used to buying,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 promoted the store at first as a place to get hard-to-find ingredients.鈥�

With around 150 different kinds of cheese 鈥� one of the largest selections on Vancouver Island 鈥� as well as gourmet oils, vinegars, truffles, p芒t茅s, a delicatessen and wide assortment of Danish, British, European and South African specialty items, McLean鈥檚 has attracted a loyal following over the years and a surprising number of new customers.

鈥淓very single day for the past 20-plus years, we鈥檝e had at least one person, and usually several, say: 鈥極h this is great, we鈥檝e never been here before鈥� or 鈥楩riends told us about this place, we just moved here,鈥欌�� Eric says. 鈥淓very single day, without a lie, so can you imagine what that does for our confidence. We鈥檙e doing something right and the positive reinforcement has been phenomenal.鈥�

But running a small business isn鈥檛 easy. In the beginning, sourcing the products was the biggest challenge. However, now the challenge is competing with grocery and big box stores that have big buying power and are now carrying more specialty items.

鈥淚n the last three-to-five years, supermarkets have suddenly discovered things like balsamic vinegar and prosciutto,鈥� explains Eric. 鈥淭he biggest challenge is supermarkets have realized specialty foods are part of a growing market. But their main motivation is price and they can鈥檛 tell you what to do with the product.鈥�

While Eric says he usually can鈥檛 compete on price, he can offer something chain stores can鈥檛 鈥� specialized service and extensive product knowledge.

鈥淲e can spend time with the customer and tell them what to do with the product, share recipes and share our experiences using it. And that has given us the edge,鈥� Eric says. 鈥淚 teach my staff to get to know our customers and to treat them like they鈥檙e important, because they are. I may sign their paycheque but I don鈥檛 pay them. I tell staff to always remember the customer pays them.鈥�

Eric says the most important lesson he鈥檚 learned in running the business has been to trust his instincts. But the best advice came decades ago, when he was still in Scotland and training in sales, from a man who would become his mentor.

鈥淗is name was George Burrows and he told me never, ever bullshit the customer because it will come back to haunt you,鈥� Eric says. 鈥淲e were in a shop one time calling on a good customer he鈥檇 had for a good number of years, and the owner was going to order this and that [from us] and George told him not to order it because it wasn鈥檛 a good fit for the store. I asked George what the heck he was doing because I thought we needed every sale we could get, and he told me that if he goes back next month and it鈥檚 still sitting there on the shelf, the customer isn鈥檛 going to be happy. 鈥楬e鈥檚 going to be really pissed off if I sold him something for the sake of selling something.鈥欌��

The conversation has definitely stuck with Eric, whose other passion is music. He鈥檚 been playing guitar since he was 13 years old, including a stint professionally, and is one of the co-founders of the Nanaimo Blues Festival. His other claim to fame is launching Mott鈥檚 Clamato on Vancouver Island when he worked for Cadbury-Schweppes years ago.

鈥淚 learned an awful lot about product margins, how to merchandise product and how you can increase sales by moving product and repositioning it 鈥� because the location of the product is really key,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 like to get a product that looks nice because basically it鈥檚 fighting for its life to get someone to pick it up. So the better or more interesting it looks, the better chance it has of finding a home.鈥�

After almost three decades in business, it鈥檚 clear Eric has found his home. But the grandfather of three isn鈥檛 planning to retire anytime soon.

鈥淧eople ask me if I have an exit strategy and I say, 鈥榟ow do you spell that? We鈥檙e going to keep on doing what we鈥檙e doing and trying to stay ahead of the curve.鈥欌��

Check out .