Our history

1951 - 1960

In 1951, Herman Eiser, with a Masters Degree in Food Chemistry from McGill University founded Empire Dehydrated Products Ltd. naming his first product line Luda, after his business partner’s daughter.  Herman Eiser worked tirelessly to encourage Montreal chefs to try his soup bases, a concept that was, to say the least, unfamiliar to restaurant owners and their chefs.  He listened to their needs however, creating new soup and sauce bases to their requirements, and even making personal deliveries.  Herman Eiser’s devotion to quality and his dedication to his customers were the keys to his early success. 

1961 - 1980

By 1961, a larger facility complete with food processing plant and lab was built under the inspection of the Canadian Department of Agriculture.  However, with sales growing steadily and with the opening of export markets in Australia, Japan and the Middle East, Empire soon had to relocate to another new plant with an expanded R&D department.

Herman Eiser’s son Victor joined the company in 1974 while in 1978, the company name was changed to E.D. Foods Ltd.  The following years saw the decision to bring all printing in-house so that items such as product labels could be provided within very tight deadlines.  A dietitian was added to the technical team to provide professional support as well as nutrition advice.  And with US and overseas sales continuing to grow, plant capacity was doubled and a computerized control system was installed.

1981 - 2000

In 1981 the fine cuisine Inspiration line was launched.  And in 1991, E.D. Foods had added “private label” retail grocery accounts to its customer list.  That, and growth in the foodservice sector, necessitated another expansion, this time to a custom-built 45,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art facility in Pointe Claire with temperature and humidity controlled processing and packaging areas, 1,600 square feet of labs, new research equipment, a tasting room and advance computer systems to increase the company’s productivity.

2001 - 2011 ED's 60^th Anniversary

In 2002, the company added a corporate chef to its team while more recently, Aliments ED Foods welcomed the 3rd generation of the Eiser family to the management group when Robert Eiser came on board in 2006.

For 60 years, ED has been at the forefront of advances in a significant segment of our industry: the development and production of kitchen basics.  From the revolutionary soup base concept created by company founder Herman Eiser to today’s wide range of trusted brands and private label products, ED has focused on being an innovative, reliable source of solutions for our partners in the foodservice industry.