About Cheddar & Co.

Cheddar and Co. was established in October 2007. This childhood dream came to reality when Mark Giesbrecht and Michelle Yasinski moved from Calgary to pursue Michelle's passion to feed people and offer them food made with the finest ingredients she could find.

Michelle grew up in Campbell River and became a chef in the mid 1990's. She has worked at such prestigious resorts as April Point Lodge for the Peterson family, then on to Painters lodge and Westcoast Resorts private fly fishing lodge. Michelle made a move to Calgary in 2000 and worked at some of the top restaurants in the city.

Michelle's back ground in the culinary arts and her love of all the fine food ingredients, produced locally and throughout the world, is what makes Cheddar & Co a food lovers paradise. You can spend hours looking through the shelves, tasting cheese or striking up a conversation and coaxing recipes out of Michelle (which she is happy to share.)

In 2004 Michelle and Mark decided to move their family, which now included 3 year old Alena, back to beautiful Vancouver Island to be closer to family and nature. Michelle also made a promise to her beloved Black Labrador Retriever "Cheddar" that his final years, months and days were going to be spent swimming, chasing ducks and walking the trails he loved so much.

Hence the name Cheddar & Co - the store was named after their beloved Doggie.