The journey that our food takes to get from the farmers who grow it to our plates generally relies on large, complex supply chains that, if disrupted, can have a catastrophic effect on food supplies and result in a crisis.

We saw this happen in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Labour shortages, operational disruptions, supply and demand inconsistencies, all of these things drastically impacted our entire food system resulting in the many empty supermarket shelves, excessive food waste and intensified the already dire issue of food insecurity in our country.

It’s in moments like these that we really see how fundamental it is to build a robust and strong local food economy, something that has been the driving force behind 100km Foods since the very beginning.

Prior to COVID-19, 100km Foods was exclusively a wholesale local food distributor, serving over 500 of southern Ontario’s top restaurants, hotels, retailers, and professional sports teams since 2008. We help Ontario farmers gain access to large, urban markets, and chefs gain access to delicious, farm-fresh food. In turn, consumers get to enjoy this amazing food at local restaurants, hotels, and retail stores.

Like many businesses in the food and hospitality industry, we at 100km Foods felt the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic instantly. With sudden mass restaurant closures that resulted in 95% of our sales vanishing overnight, we had to quickly adapt and figure out how we were going to pay our farmer partners, move the product already in our warehouse, and stay afloat financially during the unpredictable months and potentially years to come.

Expanding the business to provide retail customers access to high-quality, source identified, local food while also supporting local farmers and producers was always in the plan for Grace Mandarano and Paul Sawtell, the founders of 100km Foods.

One positive thing that has emerged from this pandemic is that more people are now becoming more conscious and cognizant about knowing where their food is coming from. Food transparency and traceability has become top of mind for consumers.

With the slogan “know where your food comes from”, 100km Foods has always specialized in food transparency, source identifying every product we sell so that consumers know exactly who and where their food is coming from.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Market at 100km Foods has become a reality very quickly.

The Market at 100km Foods delivers delicious, farm-fresh food from a network of 100+ local farmers and producers to residents across Toronto and the GTA.

We have carried the same values of social responsibility and community from our wholesale branch of the business to retail. Since we launched The Market at 100km Foods, we’ve worked together with multiple different organizations in the community to support those facing food insecurity amidst the pandemic.

We partnered with Meal Exchange to provide weekly good food boxes to students facing food insecurity to help carry them through the pandemic.

We are also partnering with the Feed Scarborough Project and FoodShare Toronto to help support the work with these incredible organizations fighting food insecurity.

We’ve also recently partnered with Uber Eats to provide local restaurants with a credit to spend on local food from our network of farmers and producers who have both been hit especially hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The importance of community and collaboration, this year’s theme for Terroir, could not be more evident given how vital cooperation, partnership, and community support has been during the pandemic in ensuring that we continue to be resilient and come out of this stronger than before.