One exotic snack store, winning the hearts of Montrealers
Snaxies is an exotic snack store that sells delectable treats that you won’t normally find at any other store in Montreal, or Canada for that matter. Sergiu Paunescu, the owner of Snaxies, located in the Mile-End, explains that during the pandemic, his business never stopped running.
Paunescu opened Snaxies in April of 2020, at the age of 26. Before owning Snaxies, he operated a tutoring business during his studies at Concordia’s John Molson School of Business. During the pandemic and over the course of 2020, he decided to quit his other jobs and open up Snaxies. He explained that when he opened Snaxies, he had to build it from the ground up. “So, you dig your way up, then you learn how to breathe, walk and talk. It was non-stop when we opened. I had to do every single shift for close to three months,” Paunescu explained.
The first platform that truly launched Paunescu’s business was DoorDash. “I turned it on and within the first five minutes, I got a $60 order,” Panuescu explained. The owner also described how apps like Uber Eats and DoorDash are not exactly the easiest platforms to manage. “I started operations [in] July of 2020, so that was the first COVID summer. I did not expect the online platforms [referring to Uber and DoorDash] to get that much volume in terms of orders.” Paunescu also explained that 80 per cent of his revenue comes from these platforms, with hundreds of thousands of products sold in the last year.
A turning point for Paunescu was during the curfew in January 2021. “The first day of curfew, I read the law. Quebec issued a certain legal document of what businesses could and couldn’t do. We are an online business, essentially, so we were allowed to operate. However, customers were not allowed to enter the store. So I used my store as a storage space. The only people that were in my store were my employees and I,” Paunescu recalled. At the time, grocery stores and depanneurs were not allowed to deliver, but online platforms like DoorDash and Uber Eats were still permitted.
On the first day of the curfew, his business was still running as usual. “We were working, there’s about 10 Uber drivers lined up outside my door. Then there’s this guy that comes up to the door and knocks. My employee goes up to the door and tells him, ‘Give me a second.’ The guy still knocks at the door and lo and behold, it was four cops. They call me up and say I was not allowed to operate. However, I told the cops, look in the store. There’s no pricing, we’re an online business and we are allowed to operate.”
This situation was a great lesson for Paunescu, as he realized that in these unprecedented times, information changes quickly each and every single day, so it’s hard to get the facts straight.
The first set of cops who came to the store believed that it was functioning illegally. Then, a second team of cops said that they were not sure. Finally, the third group of cops came to his business and said that it was completely fine for him to operate. “I got an apology, saying we [the police officer brigade] tried to pursue you in court, however, the court said we wouldn’t win. We’ve advised all the police in your area not to bother you anymore.” After the incidents with the police, Paunescu relocated Snaxies to its current location at 5026 Parc Ave. in May 2021. He wanted to move to this location to give his customers an in-store experience.
Kaitlynn Rodney, a journalism student at Concordia University, explained her experience inside the store. “When I first heard about Snaxies, I was really excited to show my boyfriend. He is a sugar addict! When I first got in, I remember thinking it was a little more expensive than I expected, but when I thought about it a little bit more, he is importing snacks from outside so it must be expensive.”
Some of Paunescu’s best selling products include Dunkaroos and Nerds Gummy Clusters. “I have whole palettes that are reserved for wholesale customers. To give you an idea, one palette is 2400 gummy clusters. A palette of Dunkaroos is 3600. It’s fun to have both products because people enjoy them so much.”
With his continuous success, Paunescu plans not to open another location, but instead to venture more into distribution. “A lot of companies are steering away from that. It’s costly and a lot of maintenance to take care of the operation. I want to expand my business into distribution. I want to focus on distributing the products rather than retail.”
The stay-at-home order did not stop Paunescu in the slightest. He is quite literally the “Willy Wonka” of Montreal, attracting customers from every corner of the city, and hopefully soon across North America.
Feature photo by Dalia Nardolillo
