They’ve got the beet: Montreal company is backed by one of Canada’s most famous vegans

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You know you’re Canadian famous when Bryan Adams personally invites you to hang out backstage at his concert.

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In 2022, the vegan rock star slid into VG Gourmet owners Emmanuel Castiel and Chantal Bekhor’s DMs to express his admiration for their products — and to personally invite them to his show in Ottawa.

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Adams has also been known to name drop the Montreal husband and wife business owners during interviews.

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Not that their plant based food products — which include an array of bean and veggie burgers, bites, kebabs, soups, crumbled proteins and tofus — are any secret. The goods made by a staff of 20 in their 15,000 square foot facility in Montreal reach more than 1,500 restaurant menus and major grocery stores across Canada, including Costco, Sobeys, Whole Foods and IGA.

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Their newest product is the eye-catching Beet Power Burger, made with Canadian grown black beans and beets and boasting a whopping 19 grams of protein and 10 grams of fibre.

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Bekhor, a longtime vegan, was an elementary school teacher before she decided to ditch the classroom for the kitchen in 2015 — not long after Emmanuel told her the veggie burgers she made were so good, they should start selling them. With an emphasis on clean ingredients, VG Gourmet prides itself on recipes built around fresh vegetables, herbs and spices that taste homemade.

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“We’re raising the standards for what plant-based products can be,” Bekhor says in a statement. “People are choosing meat- and dairy-free options for all kinds of reasons, sometimes just to mix things up or eat a bit healthier. They shouldn’t have to sacrifice flavour or nutritional quality when they do.”

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Castiel, who previously worked in marketing and sales, oversees VG’s business development.

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“We’re proud of how far we’ve come,” he says. “It’s nice to look back now and see how much we’ve achieved.”

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