Businesses

CL Web Developers

CL Web Developers is a Victoria, BC-based company offering design, hosting, SEO, and much more! We share over 40 years of experience and passion working in the technology and marketing industry. We have expertise in many areas including web development, digital marketing, systems administration, and much more.

Question: How are you supporting other local businesses?

Answer: CL Web Developers was founded in 2018 by creative and innovative individuals who care deeply about entrepreneurship, collaboration, and technology. Over the years, we …

Beet Box Veg

Beet Box Veg serves conscious comfort food. Everything is 100% plant-based, made locally. All our products are made in-house, from our hot sauce and Ceasar dressing to our pickles and vegan mayo. Our West End location offers quick-serve, dine-in, take-out, or order delivery. Our sister restaurant in Chinatown is Juke Fried Chicken, providing fried chicken, ribs & cocktails – dine-in, take out or delivery.

Question: How are you …

Kula Kitchen

Kula Kitchen is a plant-based food producer in Vancouver, B.C. They create Afrocentric, plant-based, nutritious food rich in flavour. Kula means eat! which was inspired by the food culture in Kenya, where sharing food with the community is an integral part of everyday life. Founder, Asha Wheeldon, immigrated to Toronto from Kenya as a young teenager, where she was introduced to West African, Caribbean, and Middle Eastern cuisine and culture. 

After moving to Vancouver, she was inspired to …

Squamish Water Kefir Co.

Squamish Water Kefir Co. was founded in 2015 by Sabrina Horlyck and Kristin Campbell, both self-proclaimed health nuts who had long suffered from their own nagging gut issues until they found relief from adding fermented foods into their diets.

The first batch of water kefir was brewed in Sabrina’s kitchen while she was studying at the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition on a personal quest to cure her intestinal issues. She was quickly amazed by the results …

Love Me Some

Evania Foods and their Love Me Some™ brand encompass convenient functional foods without compromising quality and delicious taste. Founded by Charmaine Ng, an entrepreneur, mother, and Food Scientist, Charmaine is dedicated to a real solution for healthy snacking, leaving customers with guilt-free indulgences. Love Me Some™ vegan seed crackers are made with no added sugars or preservatives and are naturally gluten, trans fat, cholesterol, and nut-free. The main functions of these deliciously seedy crackers are to increase energy, boost memory, …

Barakah Eats

Barakah Eats is a family-owned and operated business based in Surrey, B.C! The company manufactures frozen, gourmet, South Asian influenced ready-to-eat meals that can be heated in minutes. Their products are certified halal, meaning they follow Islamic laws and are prepared with meat raised without antibiotics and grass-fed beef. Also, the product line includes vegan and gluten-free options, with spice levels ranging from mild to hot for the whole family to enjoy! The meals are made free of preservatives and instead are …

Lita’s Mexican Foods Inc.

Lita’s Mexican Foods began in Vancouver, B.C, at home in the kitchen in 2015. The family-run business shares their passion for recreating authentic Mexican meals, snacks, and desserts into easy-to-prepare 100% plant-based products. Lita’s products can now be found in several grocery stores across Western Canada and as far as Ontario. They are committed and certified as vegan, organic, and plastic negative. As they grow they continue to stand by their commitment to the …

UMAMI Crave the Fifth

Your Seasoned Chef Inc, owned by sisters-in-law Joanna Best and Stephanie Gaudette, is the Kelowna BC-based producer of UMAMI Crave the Fifth Dressing, Dip and Finishing Sauces and Ready to Cook Grain Blend Soup/Salad Kits. UMAMI Original Dressing, Dip and Finishing Sauce, known previously as the “cider vin”, was actually created by Chef Justin Best, Stephanie’s brother and Joanna’s husband. Joanna & Justin both attended culinary school in Atlantic Canada and started their careers by cooking their …

Justo’s Plant-Based Dips

Justo’s Plant-Based Dips began with Justin getting crafty in the kitchen, exploring new and out-there dip flavours that had yet to be seen on the market. He started delivering his homemade dips in paper cups to friends and family via an Instagram page and the feedback was fantastic! The people couldn’t get enough of these beyond tasty plant-based dips!

Justin brought the idea to some of his best friends, each with their own valuable skill set, propelling the …

Dyana’s Aji

Dyana’s Aji began when the Gonzalez Biagi family immigrated from Colombia to Canada in October 1999. Aji is the Spanish word for ‘pepper’, and the name of a traditional condiment often made with a combination of tomatoes, onions, and cilantro which people use on everything including meats, rice/pasta dishes and soups. Dyana would make this mixture to accompany most of their family’s meals to keep a reminder of home in the fridge. 

One day, Dyana and Carlos (Dyana’s husband), received …

Panela Lemon

Panela Lemon was founded on Marilyn’s deep passion for a healthy and natural lifestyle and the belief that delicious treats don’t have to sacrifice health. She learnt the art of baking from her mom, so her healthy treats have in them the special ingredients of heart and home. Combining her value for health and her learned skills, Panela Lemon was born. 

Marilyn immigrated to Canada from Columbia in April 2014. When she moved to Canada, she had the …

Susgrainable

Susgrainable is a social enterprise that first started as an entrepreneurship project as part of the MBA program at UBC. A fellow student colleague of Marc’s worked in the beer industry and commented on how much spent grain was being produced and found there to be a lot of food waste. Marc saw an opportunity to divert food waste in the beer industry by turning unused barley into an upcycled barley flour, then later …

Artisan’s Way Organics

Artisan’s Way Organics is a small-batch chocolate and nut food manufacturer based in Madeira Park on the Sunshine Coast. Their food products include Arriba Raw Chocolate and Better Butters Nut Butters, including chocolate bars, peanut butter cups, and nut butters free of refined sugars and preservatives. All of their products are organic and non-GMO, and almost all are vegan, with a few exceptions where they use organic, raw, unpasteurized honey. All of their nut butters are vegan.

Owner …

EMKAO Foods

EMKAO Foods produces premium quality, traceable and sustainable cocoa ingredients. These include Vegan 70% Dark Chocolate Chips, Natural Cocoa Powder, Cocoa Husk Tea, Cocoa Nibs, Cocoa Butter, Cocoa Liquor, and Raw Cocoa Beans. They source their beans from villages located in Cameroon, Equatorial Africa, where they work with smallholder farmers to harvest the best quality cocoa beans.

Their story dates back to 1892 when cacao was brought to Cameroon from the tropical regions of South America. Over a …

Soul Bite Food Inc.

Soul Bite Food Inc. is a social enterprise that produces delicious vegan dishes from traditional recipes based out of Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Their line of award-winning vegan comfort food is designed for retail and service. Why vegan comfort food? We wanted to enrich British Columbia’s tastes with our recipes. Our cabbage roll recipe is over a hundred years old. We couldn’t afford meat in the Balkans, where I’m from, so we learned everything you need to …

Kettle & Hive

Kettle & Hive is an Indigenous-owned local business based out of Victoria, B.C., and semi-finalist of the 2021 Pow-Wow Pitch. Trish and her husband work together full-time in the company to make Citron Tea, a fresh twist on an old favorite – Lemon honey Tea. It’s a unique concentrated herbal tea mix, made from fresh lemons and honey, and it’s as simple as a spoonful into hot water!  Naturally caffeine-free It is both soothing …

The Workshop Vegetarian Cafe

The Workshop Vegetarian Cafe is a group of chefs, artisans, bakers, nutritionists, educators, personal trainers, and outdoor enthusiasts. It’s a family-run business, with many recipes coming from the family. They source the highest quality, organic, local, and natural ingredients they can find and are passionate about bringing their customers plant-based and vegan meals that are easy to prepare and rich with mouth-watering Japanese flavour. 

Their healthy and hearty plant-based foods reflect the healthy lifestyle of North Vancouver, with its …

iHeart Fat Fudge Foods Inc.

iHeart Fat Fudge is excited to launch their new brand Mindful Monk that makes functional foods with ingredients proven to lower blood sugar levels and increase healthy fat intake for energy and absorption of certain nutrients. Our foods provide an excellent source of vitamins, polyphenols, antioxidants, and minerals, help aid digestion, and support a healthy microbiome! After her firstborn child, owner Alice Grey decided it was time for a lifestyle change. She started eating a …

Motherlove Ferments

Motherlove Ferments was born out of a passion for fermentation. They are a business caring deeply about health for both people and the planet, crafting each product with this in mind. They believe “what we put into our bodies directly impacts our energy levels and how we feel and packaging affects the environment around us.” 

You can count on their fermented beverages to be brewed with all organic ingredients, no artificial anything, and a high probiotic count. Harnessing …

Tayybeh

Tayybeh began as an initiative that organized ticketed pop-up Syrian dinners across the Lower Mainland, with proceeds supporting newcomer Syrian women chefs. Right from the beginning, its mission was to provide stable employment opportunities for Syrian newcomer women. A challenge all refugees have in common is community integration and social belonging. It is always more difficult to start a new life in a new place when you don’t speak the language. Tayybeh works to support this transition both financially …

Brightside Foods

Brightside Foods is a frozen food brand based in Vancouver, founded by the folks who brought you Bandidas Taqueria. They make vegetarian and vegan meals that are quick, convenient, and incredibly tasty! Their collection includes Bandidas classics like the Habanero Hot Sauce and Cornbread, as well as some original creations like the ever-popular PintoPocket and two new burritos. “Brightside Foods, a selection of handy and delicious meals to keep in your …

Kindred Cultures

Kindred Cultures started as a family kitchen project. Founder and owner Lyndsay is a busy mom of two kids. When her youngest son started suffering from eczema and asthma at 15 months old, and prescriptions and hospital visits weren’t improving his conditions, she set out on a mission to find something that would bring relief to him. This was the beginning of her journey in understanding the benefits of probiotics and gut health. Through her research and …