For several weeks now, restaurants, retail stores, and small businesses have been closing their doors across our country, laying off thousands of workers as we all respond to the Coronavirus pandemic. Rather than thinking of themselves, the owners of two food service companies on the Sunshine Coast have been reprogramming their entrepreneurial skills, making dinners to help others.
Stephanie Heins and Tim Bedford are owners of one of those small businesses ordered closed as a safety measure by BC’s Chief Medical Health Officer while we all fight to control COVID-19. They had no sooner locked the doors at their Drift Restaurant in Gibsons when they began working on a plan to produce and provide thousands of restaurant meals to people on the Coast impacted by this medical crisis. They have teamed up with Wheatberries owner Mark Yellowley to form Sunshine Coast Food Services. Together they are cooking and freezing many specialty entrees, ready-made meals that will be available for sale on the Sunshine Coast.
In order to achieve this they needed a food partner, and Gibsons IGA owners Susan and Bob Hoy have stepped up in a huge way. You might say they are Guardian Angels of the Response Plan. They had been looking for ways to help people, talking with restaurants owners like Drift and Wheatberries, when out of the blue a big food supplier in Vancouver called, asking Bob for help. “This supplier called me and said, ‘Bob can you help me? My warehouse is bursting with food that was supposed to go to restaurants that are now closed. Can you use it?’ I called Tim and told him this is what we have been waiting for, and within twelve hours we put together a massive amount of food. I told Tim, everything we have been discussing, we can do it now.” Not only did the Hoys provide the food, a massive amount bought at less than wholesale prices, but they also put up the seed money to put into play the community food plan they had discussed with Drift and Wheatberries. The food donation from the IGA cost the store owners $5,000, a purchase that would sell for $30,000 retail.
So Sunshine Food Services Response was born, and the Drift owners began preparing their ready-to-go meals. Yellowley got Wheatberries kitchen staff going at the same time. Bedford says it is going to be win-win in three ways, “There are going be top quality pre-made frozen meals that people can take home. They will help people who can’t get out of the house and those who may have lost their jobs and may be hurting financially. The Food Bank will benefit, because we will send every fifth meal we prepare to them. And as this catches on, we hope other restaurants will join in with their own dishes. This will allow their chefs and some of their kitchen staff to get some work in this difficult time.”
The meal choices range from steak to vegan. Pop them in the oven and they are ready in about thirty minutes. The full-course premium selections include beef tenderloin, rib-eye steaks, baby back ribs, pulled pork, salmon, vegan, and braised beef short ribs with mac and cheese; several other options are also available. It is hoped other restaurants and their chefs will join the initiative with their own unique dishes.
A thousand meals have been made,and two hundred more are planned each week after that for the next three to four months. The meals, which are listed on menus for $18 to $25, have been selling in the Gibsons IGA for $7.99. Some of the proceeds will go to support the cost of labour and extra food, with at least a dollar of every sale going to Sunshine Coast Community Services and the Food Bank. Stephanie Heins says, “Our passion is to feed those in need, those who can’t go out because of COVID-19, and people who have any issues with food security at this time.” Bob Hoy thinks the social initiative is going to be a success for all the right reasons. “It is going to help seniors, people in need, those who need a really healthy meal, people in the restaurant industry who can’t work, the Food Bank. It is a win-win.”
Stephanie and Tim also own Ginger Jars in Gibsons, a small company that gives edible, ripe, otherwise wasted food a second chance. Ginger Jars is also a partner helping the Food Bank. They reclaim food that would otherwise end up in the landfill, turning it into soups, salad dressing and barbecue sauce while it still has its full nutritious value.
Other partners in addition to the IGA are selling the meals. They can also be purchased at The Butcher and Good Acres Market in Gibsons. Persephone Brewery is storing the food for meals in it big cooler.
It is a difficult, scary time for everyone, with jobs and personal freedoms lost, and the uncertainty of what is ahead as we fight the Coronavirus pandemic. The Sunshine Coast Food Services Response Initiative is a good example of what small communities and the good people who live there can do in times of strife to make a positive difference.
For more information click on SCFS Response on Instagram and Facebook or go to scfsresponse.ca.
Words | Brian Coxford
