From Toronto’s favourite holiday cookie to the world: Mary Macleod’s Shortbread expands to the UAE and Panama

Family recipes, premium ingredients, and global ambition are helping Mary Macleod’s Shortbread, recently named Toronto’s favourite holiday cookie, find new fans around the world. The Toronto-based, women-owned company has been a holiday staple in Canada for decades. Now, thanks to strategic planning, government support, and the Trade Commissioner Service (TCS), its handcrafted cookies are reaching shoppers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Panama for the first time.

For a business whose busiest season has always been December, seeing their cookies on shelves overseas during the holidays marks a meaningful milestone.

Founder Mary Macleod opened Canada’s first dedicated shortbread shop in 1981, baking through the night to keep up with demand. Her all-butter, small-batch recipes soon earned a loyal following and partnerships with premium retailers.

Her daughter-in-law, Sharon, joined the business in 2010 after a 19-year career in banking.

“It was a delicious cookie, and I wanted to take it to more Canadians,” she says. “I also wanted to support the family business and spend more time with my kids.”

Under Sharon’s leadership, the business transitioned from a Queen Street storefront to a production facility focusing on wholesale and e-commerce. Today, about 30 staff make every cookie in-house, and the company maintains its women-owned, diverse-certified status—something Sharon is deeply proud of.

Her daughter, Jasmine, recently became the third generation involved in the business.

“I kind of grew up in the business,” Jasmine says. “Now I get to carry on my granny’s legacy, and I’m reminded of her every day.”

In 2015, the company’s export journey began through the Trade Accelerator Program (TAP), recommended by their bank. Sharon describes the program as pivotal.

“It had us really sit down and develop all the parts of our export plan—what products, which countries, which consumer. It was incredibly thorough.”

She admits that, at the start, exporting felt like something only larger companies did.

“We thought global expansion was something for companies with whole departments for this,” she says. “TAP and the TCS made it feel possible for a small family business like ours.”

It was also Sharon’s first introduction to the Trade Commissioner Service, whose support she would rely on over the next decade while expanding into the United States, Europe, and beyond.

The company strengthened its international credentials by obtaining the BRC food safety certification, widely recognized by global retailers. Additionally, CanExport SMEs funding helped them attend trade shows and undertake market development activities that would otherwise be difficult to fund as a small business.

“As a small business, marketing and trade shows are always the last things you have dollars for,” Sharon explains. “So the CanExport support really helps.”

The company began expanding into the United Arab Emirates after the Grocery Innovations Canada show in October 2024, where the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness (OMAFA) sponsored UAE buyers and arranged business-to-business (B2B) meetings with buyers recruited by the TCS. There, Sharon met Rania Hassan, a Trade Commissioner based in Dubai.

Rania introduced the company to a distributor already working with Canadian brands and experienced in handling local regulations and retail outreach.

“We needed a partner who can develop the market because we don’t have boots on the ground,” says Sharon. “Having the Trade Commissioner Service find us the right partner is really what we needed.”

The company shipped its first order to the UAE in Spring 2025, followed by a holiday-focused shipment featuring their signature gift-ready tins and embossed gold packaging. Their cookies are now available at Grandiose Market, on Amazon UAE, through Noon, and distributed to Union Co-Op.

For a small Toronto bakery that once sold mostly to local regulars, seeing their shortbread in Dubai was a powerful moment.

“As a small family business, every new market feels huge to us,” Sharon says. “Seeing our cookies on a shelf in Dubai felt a bit surreal—like, wow, this actually happened.”

The UAE is also a strategic fit for their broader diversification goals.

“We’re very Christmas-dependent,” Sharon notes. “In the UAE, there are sales opportunities that are not Christmas. Gifting around Ramadan is huge.”

Following their breakthrough in the UAE, Mary Macleod’s Shortbread made another major international step—entering Panama. During a buyer delegation to SIAL Toronto 2025, organized by the TCS, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and with a B2B meeting program sponsored by OMAFA , Sharon met buyers from Riba Smith, a high-end Panamanian supermarket chain well known across the region.

With guidance from Luis Cedeño, a Trade Commissioner in Panama City, they received support on securing an apostilled Certificate of Free Sale, an official document that confirms a product can be legally sold in Canada and is recognized by authorities abroad. By leveraging a freight consolidator already serving other Canadian brands, the company shipped its first order in spring 2025.

“When I visited Panama, I saw the store and thought, ‘This is fantastic, but I have no idea how we’d get our product here,’” says Sharon. “Then the Trade Commissioner made the connection.”

Riba Smith’s regional influence means their cookies may soon catch the eye of buyers from neighbouring countries.

International growth brings challenges, including logistics, climate-specific packaging, shelf-life requirements, and regulatory hurdles. Over time, the company has extended shelf life to 12 months on some products and adapted packaging to withstand hot, humid climates like Panama’s, while maintaining the brand’s luxury look and feel.

Their next targets include Japan, Singapore, and other Asian markets, where Toronto’s diverse customer base has already shown strong appreciation for their quality.

Sharon’s advice to other Canadian companies is to start with a solid export plan and then tap into the ecosystem of support: TAP, the TCS, and programs like CanExport SMEs.

“The TCS has absolutely saved us money—just by connecting us with the right people and them telling us the answers to the questions we didn’t know we needed to ask,” she says.

Looking to diversify your exports? We help Canadian companies of all sizes succeed in international markets through export advisory services, funding, accelerator programs, and tailored support at trade missions and events. 

A solid diversification strategy can help you build long-term stability and global success. You can expand your client base and navigate challenges such as: 

• unexpected changes in market access
• exchange-rate fluctuations
• shifts in foreign-government policies

Explore resources from the TCS and our partners to do business with the world.