About Us
Family founded in 1994, we started as a distributor of baking ingredients to the local retail trade in Canada.
We have evolved to become a trusted supplier of high-value functional and nutritional raw material solutions coast-to-coast in North America and beyond.
Our Mission
Empowering Health Through Ingredient Science & Innovation
We do this by searching the globe for the latest and best in ingredient innovations, thereby arming our clients with the tools to develop truly outstanding foods, beverages and natural health products that consumers will enjoy and consume time and time again.
How We’re Different
We hand-pick product ranges that deliver truly unique results for our clients.
We do not view ourselves as a typical distributor, nor do our supplier partners. We are a professional sales and marketing organization with distribution capabilities.
Rather than focus on supplying a broad range of generic ingredients to the food, beverage and natural health products industry, we have instead elected to hand-pick product ranges that deliver truly unique results for our clients. This strategy continues to serve the company well, and has created outstanding value for clients and supplier partners alike.
We help our forward-thinking brands to develop new products with consumer-compelling claims:
- Exciting natural health product backed by gold-standard clinical evidence
- Nutritionally superior, delicious and cost-competitive food products
We’re here to assist you every step of the way.
How We’re Different
We hand-pick product ranges that deliver truly unique results for our clients.
We do not view ourselves as a typical distributor, nor do our supplier partners. We are a professional sales and marketing organization with distribution capabilities.
Rather than focus on supplying a broad range of generic ingredients to the food, beverage and natural health products industry, we have instead elected to hand-pick product ranges that deliver truly unique results for our clients. This strategy continues to serve the company well, and has created outstanding value for clients and supplier partners alike.
We help our forward-thinking brands to develop new products with consumer-compelling claims:
- Exciting natural health product backed by gold-standard clinical evidence
- Nutritionally superior, delicious and cost-competitive food products
We’re here to assist you every step of the way.
Our Values
Practice
Integrity
We believe that honesty is the best policy. We operate with high ethical and moral standards at all times, and we are fully transparent in our communications with clients, supply partners, associates and employees.
Value
Our Client
We find practical and effective means to meet the needs of our client in every interaction. We measure our success by that of our customers.
Cultivate
Leadership
We promote growth of our people. We empower them with the knowledge and resources to get results for our clients and supplier partners, and to help our business to flourish. We firmly believe in a proper work/life balance for our staff.
Support
Diversity
We promote an environment where people are valued and rewarded on the basis of their efforts and ideas, without regard for their race, gender or creed.
Meet the team
Our Leadership
Michael Chernyak has been President of CK Ingredients since October of 2003, when he acquired the business from the company founder. Prior to that, Mr. Chernyak oversaw the company’s business development function. His current responsibilities include setting the strategic direction of the business, managing strategic vendor relationships, overseeing company operations, and providing leadership and support to its employees. Mr. Chernyak is a graduate of the Honors Business Administration program at the Richard Ivey School of Business – University of Western Ontario. He lives in the Toronto area with his wife and two children.
Colleen Madden is responsible for New Product Development, Appications Development and Product Strategy at CK Ingredients. She has a strong track record of success in these areas, including over nine years at ConAgra Foods in a variety of roles including Innovation Manager. Ms. Madden holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Food Process Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and lives in the Toronto area with her husband and two children.
Melanie Alexson oversees the sales and marketing functions at CK Ingredients. She joined the company in April of 2008 after a successful 10-year career in marketing, account and sales management. Ms. Alexson holds a Bachelor Degree in Human Biology from the University of Toronto and an MBA from Wilfrid Laurier University, and lives in the Toronto area with her husband and two children.
Strategic Advisors
Franco Lucchetta
Franco Lucchetta holds over thirty-five years of corporate management experience in the consumer packaged goods and cosmetics fields. Most recently, he was a member of the corporate executive team at Jamieson Laboratories, one of Canada’s largest nutritional supplement manufacturers and marketers. Mr. Lucchetta held a variety of executive-level positions at Jamieson over a twenty-five year period, including ten years as Executive Vice-President, Marketing and Consumer Affairs. He also held managerial positions prior to that at Orlane-Max Factor Cosmetics and Revlon Cosmetics.
Brian Wagner
Brian Wagner is the founder and CEO of NHP Consulting Inc., a Calgary-based regulatory consulting firm specializing in Health Canada registrations and compliance. Mr. Wagner’s firm has served nearly 500 companies in the natural health industry and has submitted in excess of 10,000 applications with Health Canada, with a high success rate of licensing. Mr. Wagner has been a voice for advocacy with government on the regulation of natural health products, and was a key participant in the Health Canada Program Advisory Committee’s working group on Standards of Evidence.
Fabio Brussolo, CA
Fabio Brussolo is a founding partner of BGS Chartered Accountants, a successful Toronto area chartered accounting firm specializing in the areas of taxation consulting, financing, litigation support, corporate reorganizations, arbitration and mediation, and estate planning for small and mid-sized businesses. Prior to that, Mr. Brussolo was the owner of Brussolo & Associates, and also an associate at Peat Marwick.
Mike Draper
Mike Draper is a Toronto, Canada-based partner and executive coach at Growth Advisors, advising small and mid-sized business owners on how to achieve greater results in less time. Prior to that, Mr. Draper had a successful 20+ year career in high-tech sales, driving tremendous revenue growth for several Canadian firms, as well as assisting US-based tech companies in successfully expanding into the Canadian market.
U.S. Founding Member
GenM Collective
CK has joined GenM Collective—a leading U.K.-based menopause advocacy group— as a U.S. founding member.
In early 2024, we’ll receive a detailed report on the U.S. menopause market, which we will be happy to share with you. In the interim, you may request to see the 2023 report on the U.K. market. We believe the U.S. market will share many similarities, but on a larger scale.