How Gourmondo feeds Seattle

From the very first sandwich, it’s been hard to get more Northwest-centric than Gourmondo.

Alissa Leinonen, a fourth-generation Seattleite, founded the business as a tiny cafe in Pike Place Market in 1996. Leinonen refinanced her car to get Gourmondo off the ground in the 470-square-foot space. She and her partners at the time would flip a coin to decide who would wash dishes and who would make deliveries.

The business — a recent addition to PCC’s Inclusive Trade Program, producing grab-and-go sandwiches for all co-op stores — has evolved right along with the city in the 29 years since those early days.

For many years the company specialized in corporate catering and boxed lunches for business events, adding outlets like retail cafes and, more recently, a taproom, while consistently making philanthropy a priority. At the start of 2020, Leinonen opened a new 25,000 square foot commercial kitchen that nearly doubled her space — only to lose nearly all her business when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

“That got really complicated really quickly,’ she recalled recently. “The silver lining in that was two things, though. It allowed us to be able to pivot to an essential business, and really focus on serving the community.”

Corporate partners asked Gourmondo to make meals for people living in Seattle Housing Authority buildings. Seattle Public Schools needed help for children who had relied on school breakfast and lunch. Food banks needed support. Suppliers donated food that couldn’t go to its regular outlets.

“Throughout COVID, I think we ended up doing over a million meals to the community. This was the most meaningful work that we’ve done, and it really kept our doors open and kept our teams together. And the beauty of it was, the space was 25,000 square feet. I could keep everybody safe… it was a real gift,” she said.

“We even had farmers calling, saying, “We’ve got produce that’s just out on the fields. If we get it to you, can you do something with it?” And we’re like, “Yeah, sure.” And then all of a sudden, we had 98,000 pounds of potatoes, onions, apples… We got a big freezer truck so that we could start processing Potatoes O’Brien and doing different products.”

PCC partnership with Gourmondo

As pandemic effects eased, the big kitchen space in SoDo provided other advantages. It had originally been built to U.S. Department of Agriculture certification standards, and Leinonen was able to receive both USDA and Washington State Department of Agriculture certifications for wholesaling. PCC was one of the first companies she talked with.

“One of the things that I love the most about PCC is PCC’s got very, very thoughtful and strong guidelines around the ingredient list,” she said. In a business with slim profit margins, it took work to source ingredients that met PCC standards and would still be affordable.

Gourmondo upgraded ingredients company-wide in the process, she said. That involved challenges like switching to a GMO-free mayonnaise, sourcing nitrate-free bacon, finding a soba noodle manufacturer who did not use a yellow dye barred by PCC. Local producers like Firefly Kitchens kimchi were added to their sandwiches.

“They helped push us to be a better business, they really helped us to elevate our offerings.”

Philanthropy is still significant to Gourmondo, she said, with proceeds from seven of their box lunches each going to a different nonprofit. The company also partners with YouthCare, FareStart, and Big Brothers/Big Sisters.

“All of us, at some point, needed people to show up for us…,” Leinonen said. “It has an impact.”

PCC carries several Gourmondo sandwiches, including top seller “The Olivia,” a roast chicken and pesto sandwich that was created by Leinonen’s daughter Olivia when she was a teenager working at the café.

“It’s a local business,” Leinonen said. “We are proud to be part of the community.”