Who We Are

Charles August (C.A.) Paradis and his brother Earnest found a fine china and crystal shop at 92 ½ Rideau St, Ottawa Canada.

As a recent accounting graduate, Pierre Paradis, son of Earnest, and the youngest of 11 children, joined his father and uncle to help with the the business’ bookkeeping.   Pierre realized that there was opportunity to sell their china inventory “in bulk” to restaurant clients.  This would set the stage for the company’s future restaurant and equipment supply division.

In 1966, Pierre marries CA Paradis sales clerk Diane Solomon (now Paradis), who was hired by Earnest earlier in 1965.  Pierre likes to joke that his dad hand picked his entire future, including his career and wife… Diane likes to remind Pierre that she has more seniority within the company 😉

Pierre becomes the sole owner of the company in the early 1970s and is forced to relocate the store to our flagship 1314 Bank Street location, after being expropriated from 92 1/2 Rideau Street, for the building of the Rideau Center in the downtown core.  The initial move occupied only 1/3 of our current 10,000 sq. ft. showroom but was a considerable jump in size from our former location.

CAPCO (CA Paradis Co.) acquires York Store Equipment, and adds three more physical locations between Gatineau, Kingston and Mississauga.

In the 1991,  the restaurant industry suffered a massive set back after the introduction of the GST.  Worried about the industry’s overall financial health, Pierre seizes the opportunity to actively promote  top quality cooking appliances and tools to a new generation of upwardly mobile men and women, self-labelled as foodies.  With the creation of the Food Network in 1993, the retail operation was appealing to a new male audience, who were keen to equip their kitchens with the best knives, cookware and appliances.

Alain Bouliane joins the company as Comptroller to successfully manage the transition of business into the next era of growth and will become a future owner of the business.

With a new consumer focus shifted to all things wine, Diane introduces a specialty wine accessory shop within the Bank Street location, after graduating from the Algonquin Sommelier Program in 2000.  Diane and Pierre become an official sponsor of the CA Paradis Wine Lab at Algonquin College, where Diane was an active member of the educational team.  CA Paradis would become the leaders in all things wine and were pioneers in high end wine cellar design service to both wine loving connoisseurs, and Ottawa’s emerging fine dining restauranteurs.

Candace Sutcliffe joins the team in 2005, and drives a new era of growth by rebranding the retail segment, The Chef’s Paradise.  Her love of all things gourmet paves the way to her becoming part of our current ownership team, and a regular patron in the Ottawa food and beverage scene.

Pierre celebrates 50 years with the company and begins thinking about his retirement.

Pierre and Diane Paradis retire in September of that year and and sell the business to a new ownership team; Brian Corbishley, Isabelle Gagnon, Alain Bouliane and Candace Sutcliffe.  With each owner having a unique and complimentary skillset, the team is excited to continue a new generation of kitchen and cooking innovation that has grown the company into a dynamic and adaptable 100 year old business.

We look forward to adding to the company timeline.

Chef’s Paradise becomes our single brand to both retail and commercial clients to best represent who we are to our loyal clients.