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At Ratinaud, Frédéric Tandy practises a quiet devotion to ingredients, craft, and community. Trained in France and settled in Nova Scotia for more than two decades, Tandy builds his offerings from what is local, seasonal, and honestly sourced, working closely with regional producers and foraging ingredients, from wild mushrooms to spruce tips, sumac, and more. His charcuterie and cooking are refined, yet simple, anchored in a deep reverence for ingredients and the hands that cultivate them.
Ratinaud was built slowly and deliberately, shaped by time-honoured techniques: curing and drying meats by hand, smoking and preserving with care, and making everything from scratch. When the shop first opened, charcuterie was still unfamiliar terrain in Halifax, so much so that there were no clear regulations to support it. Because of this, Tandy found himself working under near-constant federal inspection, yet persisted, and successfully carried Ratinaud forward.
Today, Ratinaud’s offerings are shaped by availability, instinct, and collaboration; ingredients lead, ideas follow. Behind the counter, hierarchy dissolves. Tandy works shoulder to shoulder with his team, approaching cooking as a shared responsibility rather than a title. The result? Food that feels humble, richly flavourful and inseparable from the community it serves.
You arrived in Canada without even knowing where Cape Breton was, and over time built Ratinaud with a quiet, steady devotion to place. You’re also quick to brush off the “chef” title. How do those two instincts — to belong deeply, but to stay humble — live together in your cooking?
I started cooking at a young age and quickly developed a passion for it. I worked in all sorts of establishments, from fine dining to more traditional restaurants. I wanted to learn as much as I could and focused on my craft. I’m passionate about ingredients and what I can do with them and share that with customers. Having customers happy with a simple thing like a meal or a piece of charcuterie is very rewarding to me. I like to stay quiet and focused on what I do. I don’t chase any titles or recognitions. At the end of the day, Ratinaud would not be what it is without strong team work.
I feel very lucky to be able to make a living out of something that I truly love to do.
Ratinaud has never chased hype — no big advertising, no polished social push, just word-of-mouth and consistency. In a food world that often rewards visibility over substance, what has staying quietly focused protected for you?
When I started cooking in restaurants in the late 90s, social media wasn’t a thing — food establishments were focused on their craft, and the ones that were good at it eventually became successful.
We are in a different world today when it comes to social media. I believe it’s important to use it as a tool, but not to abuse it. Personally, posting too frequently or spending too much time polishing a picture makes me feel like I’d be a part-time employee for Meta.
In the food industry, you can’t just rely on that. Some pretty pictures may bring customers through the door, but if you don’t have a good product and consistency, those customers won’t come back. Over the years I’ve seen many establishments with a great social media presence that didn’t last a year.
For me, word of mouth is the best advertising a business can have, and I’d rather spend time with my team and my customers.
You were making charcuterie in Halifax before there were even regulations for it here, essentially helping define the category locally. Looking back, what did it take to keep going through those early years when the path didn’t really exist yet?
I had previously started Ratinaud at the market a few years before that. I was also working full time in a restaurant at the same time, so I already had a small clientele.
When I resigned from restaurant work to focus solely on Ratinaud, the beginning was really difficult, both physically and mentally. Seven days a week, about twelve hours a day, working alone and handling every aspect of the business — I did that for many months. You have to be strong in your head and hold onto the belief that it will all work out.
There were many times I doubted myself, asking what on earth I was doing to myself. I had invested every dollar I had, built my own business plan, secured a loan from the bank — I made all of it happen on my own.
But I just couldn’t give up. Quitting would have meant returning to square one, abandoning my dream of having my own place, and losing everything I had worked for. That wasn’t an option.
