History

Lyne Martineau is a woman who thinks with her heart before her head. A mother of 5 children by 1984, she had decided that she had had enough of drastic diets where you are "dying" of hunger and where healthy habits are hard to add to your life. That was when she decided to take charge of the situation by building a healthy dietary program for her whole family. Conscience of her children's health, she had already been cooking meals based on Canada's Food Guide. She started realizing that her own health, as well as the health of other adults, was as important as children's health. Adults should also be eating healthy foods to loose and maintain their weight. This philosophy is evident in today's society, but 20 years ago, it was far from being the case. August 14, 1984, on Tuesday night, Minçavi made its debut in Danville at the Canadian Legion. At the very first meeting, 10 people were in attendance, mostly family and friends. As the weeks went by, attendance went up from 10 to 30 people, all wanting to know how this mother of a large family lost her weight, kept if off and became healthier. Little by little, the word started to spread and pretty soon people from neighbouring towns were comming to see this energetic, real little lady who didn't have to starve herself to loose 45 lbs. Mrs. Martineau suggested to her groups that they drink skim milk, the type of milk that out in the country would be referred to as, "Rince from the bull tank". In 1984, skim milk was very hard to find in stores, so hard in fact that Minçavi members had to keep going to see their grocers to insist that they get skim milk. As the weeks flew by, people were loosing weight and staying healthy. Danvillians finally came to the conclusion that they could eat good foods while loosing weight at the same time and even better; they were maintaining their healthy weight.

The demand for Minçavi got bigger and bigger until Ms. Martineau couldn't hold off any longer. In January 1986, Minçavi went from being a non-profit organization to the company that we are today. Minçavi's first meeting places were held in St-Félix-de-Kingsey, Richmond, Notre-Dame-du-Bon-Conseil and Drummondville; where over 600 people attended nightly. Then came meetings in Princeville, Plessiville, Victoriaville, St-Liboire and Sorel. The nightly agenda included individual weigh-in's, motivational conferences, food samplings, aerobics classes and for new members, explication of the dietary program. Imagine, a company expansion simply by way of word-of-mouth. In 1990, Ms. Martineau adopted 2 children from Cameroon, Africa. Minçavi's expansion continued and was now able to count more than 10 conference hosts. In 1993, Ms. Martineau took steps to adopt her last child, from Guatemala, bringing her family to 8 children. On the business side, Minçavi's expansion continued and made its debut in New Brunswick.

In 1995, Minçavi's first website hit the scene. Modest, but well presented. Internet wasn't widely used at this point but Minçavi decided to continue trying different approaches. What a good decision because today over thousands of anglophone and francophone people from the four corners of the world visit www.mincavi.com.

In 1997, after finishing an administration course, Ms. Martineau's daughter, Caroline M. Gauthier officially joined the team. Caroline grew up watching her mother accomplish a noble cause. At 12 years old she knew that she wanted a great career. Ms. Martineau gave her the chance to work in the head office as a receptionist; where previously there had only been 2 other employees.

In 1997, Minçavi launched a 8 week summer camp. It was a 6 day stay for children between the ages of 8 to 15 years old. The camp included horse riding lessons, tons of fresh air, discovery of Minçavi meals, as well as teaching the kids healthy eating habits. A great success that Minçavi might renew in the future. 1997 was also the year that Minçavi debuted in Ontario. In 1998, Minçavi held a study to find out what there members looked for in ready-to-serve meals. At that moment, 81% of people responded positively, but Minçavi wasn't ready and wanted to wait for the right opportunity.

In 2000, Minçavi hired a full-time nutritionist to better understand the public needs. This decision brought many new supplementary courses to Minçavi's dietary program as well as more support for the conference hosts and Minçavi members. Also in 2000, Minçavi's famous chat forum, www.mincavi.com, made its debut. A domino effect occurred due to the fact that the members needed a place to share ideas outside of the conference. In 2001, a scientific study held by Dr. Caroline Gosselin brought about much success for Minçavi's long term weight maintenance in its past and present members. An information stand, as well as a conference held at NAASO on obesity in Quebec, permitted Minçavi's presentation of this scientific study to leading experts in the scientific field. Minçavi's members were once again assured that their life-style change had merit. Dr. Gosselin's book, "Maigrir pour la Vie" supported Minçavi's claims and also reassured the public. With the help of the internet, the "Minçamis" phenomenon took over. "Minçamis" are our loyal forum chatters who decided to give themselves a title (Minçamis). They organize diverse activities (suppers, outings, softball teams, etc...), motivate each other to loose weight, maintain their weight and stay in shape. They also exchange tips, ideas, recipes and share a strong bond with each other.

May 1^st, 2002, Minçavi's ready-to-serve meals see the light of day in Asbestos's Coop-Metro (Jean Boisvert, Christian Bourque, Danielle Dubois, Minçavi,s Dtp.) with a variety of soups, principal meals, salads and desserts. Minçavi recipes, made into ready-to-serve meals, at the same time respecting the standards and quality required for these types of food; an instant success. Minçavi members started to hear about the healthy meals and flocked to Asbestos from all over the place; Lac-St-Jean, Quebec and elsewhere to procure the meals. 3 months later, August 2003, Metro's head office (Mr. Réjean Pierre and Mrs. Marie-Claude Nicole) met with Minçavi to discuss the possibility of placing their ready-to-serve meals throughout all of the Metro's in Quebec. At this time Minçavi continued its partnership with Aliments Martel in St-Romuald. They had been producing and distributing Minçavi meals to Metro since April 7, 2003.

August 16, 2004, Aliments Minçavi took steps towards better serving the public by establishing an order service as well as representation of products throughout other food stores and interested HRI's. Today, Minçavi proudly celebrates its 20th year in a rapidly rising market. Minçavi has over 200 meetings per week, 300 employees (full and part time) in Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick, as well as the 400 stores which carry Minçavi's ready-to-serve products. Minçavi has gone from a dietary program where you loose weight to a way of life, where people learn to put their own , as well as their whole family's health, ahead of their plates. Many Quebec Doctors recommend this dietary program. Up to today, Minçavi has published over 10 recipe books to meet their clients needs, the last one being "Spécial 20e Anniversaire" which includes Minçavi staff's favourite dishes. Minçavi always grew by the publics demand, a natural process without rushing. This is why organized petitions are needed to open new meeting places.

Today, Lyne Martineau and Caroline M. Gauthier are working together towards the same vision. They are surrounded by a competent and overall very real team. Each and every person employeed at Minçavi has experienced daily problems that helps them to better understand the needs and problems of their members. Minçavi continues following their philosophy on being real and not on the weight problem itself. To see happy people who have found themselves, who are living a better quality of life and who have reached their healthy weight is a great fulfillment for us. People who choose to come to Minçavi will never be judged or treated indifferently. For 20 years, we have seen millions of motivated people take the Minçavi challenge and seeing this has helped us to continue pushing the limits. The whole reasoning behind Minçavi is to satisfy our present clients and to win the hearts and plates of future "Minçamis".