Zoey Shamai, founder of Tonica Kombucha, which is celebrating 20 years in business this March.
Zoey founded Tonica in 2006 as the first commercially available kombucha brand in Canada, helping introduce and build a category that is now firmly established in grocery + specialty retail nationwide. With no outside investment and no formal business training, she grew the company from small-batch brewing within Toronto’s yoga community into a national brand now available in more than 2,500 stores.
Under her leadership, Tonica became a recognized Canadian success story, including a memorable appearance on Dragon’s Den, further cementing the brand’s profile and credibility as it scaled. As a former yoga teacher with a deep interest in health and fermentation, Zoey built Tonica around traditional brewing methods, ingredient integrity, and long-term thinking.
Today, Tonica operates out of its own certified organic and HACCP production facility in Ontario and offers a diverse portfolio of bottled and canned kombucha flavours. Zoey remains the sole owner of the business, overseeing production, distribution, and brand strategy – an increasingly rare model in today’s consolidated CPG landscape.
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