History

In 1977 Peter Teerling Immigrated to Lethbridge, Alberta with big dreams of one day opening his own business. A baker by trade, Peter started off working at Woodwards in the bakery department but the dream of having his own business did not leave him. In 1980 Peter and his wife, Theresa, started to really look into the process of what it would take to start up their own business, and what it was that they should do for that business. A recession hit and it was determined that this was not the time to start out on their own. By 1984 they were ready, and armed with the idea to begin importing Dutch food they embarked on this new journey, clearing space in their garage in anticipation of the first shipment. 

Their first couple shipments arrived in a wooden crate and they were hooked on the idea of making this business grow. By 1986 it was clear that with the growth of the business they needed to find a bigger space for their products, and so they started the journey of finding a proper warehouse. A succession of warehouses progressed as they outgrew each one and they started bringing in more and more products each year. 1991 was the year when they took a giant leap of faith and Peter quit his full time job as a baker and went full time into Royal Import, while also holding on to a part-time job delivering bakery equipment throughout Alberta. This part time job also helped him to build his customer base and the business grew bit by bit.

By 2005 the business had multiple employees besides Pete and Theresa, and it was in this year that Scott Winkelaar joined the crew. He started off as a shipper, and moved up steadily from there. As the business grew Pete continued on with sales while Scott learned the ins and outs of the business and ran the office end of the business. Then, looking to the future of the business, and after growing it for so many years,  Pete decided it was time to pass the reins. He looked at Scott as the future and saw that he would do a fantastic job with the business.

In 2022 Scott’s brother, Warren (who is Pete’s son-in-law), saw the opportunity that Royal Import could be, and together they decided to buy the business. Since then there have been some changes, the website has been launched, and the brothers seek to do their best by their customers each day.