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 and emotionally, offering the staff a sense of community, while providing an opportunity for them to utilize their existing skillset to make a living and flourish in their new homes.
In addition to catering services for offices, universities, receptions, private dinners, and weddings, Tayybeh now offers a great selection of authentic products like dips and spreads, heat-and-eat frozen meals, ready-to-grill items, and products on popular meal kit programs for customers to enjoy delicious authentic Syrian cuisine from the comfort of home.
Question: How are you supporting other local businesses?
Answer: Everything we do is local! In all of our operations, Tayybeh is synonymous with Vancouver. All of our products are made locally and sourced from local ingredients. Whether it’s our halal meats, vegetables, or produce, companies in the Lower Mainland have been providing us with the delicious ingredients that make Tayybeh’s food locally sustainable. In addition, all of our partnerships as a company have been with other local businesses. From the design of our packages and the distribution of our products to our sales, every step of Tayybeh’s operations is made possible with the support and collaboration with local businesses. Our packaged products (dips & spreads, frozen meals, and pita chips) are BuyBC certified, with greater than 90% of our production BC-based (dips, frozen meals, and pita chips). We really try to source locally whenever we can. For instance, our pita chips are 90% locally sourced.
Even our financials are managed by Vancity, with whom we have worked since day one of Tayybeh. We love how they support the community, newcomers, and women. We also use Cooperators as our local insurance provider and our accounting is done by a small local firm. Most of Tayybeh’s packages come from Richmond-based Moche Paper & Packaging.
Question: What social and environmental practices are you proud of?
Answer: We actively choose to work with environmentally-conscious local businesses. Since launching in 2017, Tayybeh has maintained consistent measures to help protect the planet. These include using a minimal amount of packing per order, packaging our food in containers that are recyclable and reusable, and cooking with delicious vegan ingredients to provide meal options that are not only vegan and vegetarian friendly, but environmentally aware, too.
Our company’s philosophy is to support and work with local BC-based companies whose values align with our commitment to environmental consciousness, many are fantastic companies on the cutting edge of cutting waste with incredible novel models. For example, we work with Nada Grocery as a caterer and food processor. Over 90% of our catering services go to local offices, organizations, and institutions. We work with local companies JARR and Livlite to offer package-free grocery delivery to our customers. In our attempt to reduce food waste, we have also partnered with Canadian company Too Good To Go whose objective is to ensure no food is lost.
Follow @tayybeh.syrian on Instagram: