Gatineau tofu maker struggling to meet fresh demand

A Gatineautofu company has its plant running at full speed trying to keep with a surge in demand for its products.

Soyarie makes the soybean product at its plant near Lac Leamy, but even running 24 hours aday, six days per week, it'sstruggling to keep up with orders.

Frederick Nol, Soyarie's director of production, said demand has been steadily increasing, but is now so great the company is being forced to turn away new customers.

Nol said many people looking to get protein from non-meat sources are turning to tofu,notingCanada'snew food guideencourages people to get their protein from alternativesources.

The company also sells to stores in Montreal and Toronto.

Expansion plans

Soyarie is spending $2.5 to$3 million to renovate the formerAliments Martelfacility near the Gatineau airport.

When that move is complete, as soon as December, the company said it will be able to double its production in the short term, and eventually triple it.

"We're trying to move as quickly as possible to be able to keep pace with the market, which seems to grow more and more every year,"Nol said in a French interview.

The company waslaunched by Koichi Watanabe in 1982, who started making tofuin his garage in Hull.