Nunzio Tumino, founder of Aurora Importing, jokes that it was a mistake that got him into the business. A new immigrant from Sicily, Nunzio and his wife Maria used the little money they had to open a grocery store in Toronto’s west end. To keep it afloat, Nunzio worked three jobs while Maria put in long hours at the store. At night, they squeezed in English classes.

On his trips back to Italy, Nunzio was often asked by his immigrant customers to bring back specialty foods they desperately missed. A fruit wholesaler once asked Nunzio to ship 400 bags of Italian chestnuts back to Toronto. When bad weather delayed the delivery, the wholesaler backed out and Nunzio was stuck filling every corner of his house with bags of chestnuts! He started making calls to local stores. Luckily, the holiday season was approaching and no one could resist the quality product. Nunzio quickly sold all the chestnuts and was able to turn a disaster into a lucrative opportunity.

It was a mistake that inspired Nunzio to start a food importing business that would share the best Italian products with Canadians.