Our Story

GOURMET GARAGE: 30 years of deliciousness and quality 

Founded in 1994 by the late Mehmet Kapan as a small charcuterie shop in Etiler-Istanbul, we have grown into a niche premium food retailer as well as a food producer over the years, with a strong brand perception for quality and service.

We are now operating 9 Gourmet Garage stores located in premium locations, 17 shop-in-shop bakery sections inside CarrefourSA, while also producing and selling our own branded packaged mezes, bakery and sandwiches in major retailers.

We are among a select group of premium grocery chains targeting up-segment customers, along with Macrocenter and Carrefour-Gurme in Turkey. 

Gourmet Garage benefited from the growing e-commerce trend and due to its convenient store locations and wide premium assortment. We have partnered with all major marketplaces and e-grocers as delivery points.

As a result of our strong brand recognition, we decided to profit from our internal food production capabilities and started marketing and selling our own branded packaged food (i.e. meze, bakery, sandwiches) to major retailers, starting with CarrefourSA in 2018. Our packaged mezes and food are being sold with brand name “Gourmanje”.  Our packaged bakery products are under the “Gourmet Bakery” brand name. 

Aiming to capitalize on our strong brand and the growing demand for our products, we see branded packaged food business as a growth opportunity both at home and abroad. Towards the end of 2023, we established our first foreign subsidiary in Germany (Gourmet Bakery UG – haftungsbeschränkt ) and we will start distribution in early 2024. 

In Turkey, we supply coffee shops, Hotels and events with fresh foods, snacks, frozen pastry products and produce white label / private label snacks & cookies in small and larger batches. We are “artisan” in our approach. A lot of our products are handmade with culinary care.  Baked from scratch with love in Istanbul with the best ingredients we can get our hands on: traditional recipes, modern takes on classics with our own innovative spin. Pretty tasty. Turkish – that’s part of our mission. Pure cool Istanbul flavours – each bite a short trip to the Bosphorus. In short, that is what we want to offer to our potential cross border clientele.