Each term, UBC Food Services showcases the BC-based businesses that we partner with in our residence dining halls through our Local Supplier Spotlight series. David Speight, Executive Chef at UBC, is the driving force behind this initiative.
Our local supplier spotlight provides our students and guests with an opportunity to enjoy a variety of great tasting dishes, it allows us to invest our purchasing dollars in small scale values aligned local food businesses and it helps us advance our Food Vision & Values goals around local purchasing. It truly is a triple win!
David Speight, Executive Chef & Culinary Director, UBC Food Services
Collaborations between our chefs and our local suppliers can spark a new idea
One of UBC’s local suppliers, Vancouver-based seasoning manufacturer Grandpa J’s, regularly visits the campus. At one of those visits Nora Iliakis and Jenny Siormanolakis, Grandpa J’s co-owners and sisters, asked Amanda Réhel, Sous Chef of Residence Dining at Feast, what seasoning was used on the vegetables at the hot side bar. Chef Amanda explained that to keep the vegetables allergen-free, only olive oil, fresh herbs and salt and pepper are used. This led Nora and Jenny to develop a new allergen-free seasoning blend. They named it Sofos from the Greek word for wisdom.
Jenny Siormanolakis says the collaboration was mutually beneficial and that “from a place of knowledge came a little bit of business wisdom.”
Business is about listening to customers' needs and we listened to Chef Amanda explain the need for an allergen aware seasoning. We blended one and nailed it on the first blend. We were confident to send it back to the UBC chefs—and the rest is history. Sofos is now being used at UBC and is blended without adding any of the CFIA top 9 allergens.
Jenny Siormanolakis, Co-owner, Grandpa J’s
The science behind food innovations
Our local suppliers also collaborate with UBC food processing scientists or use UBC innovations to develop or refine their products.
The Plant Based Workshop uses the UBC-developed REV™ drying technology to make their product Noods shelf stable in a short amount of time. Vancouver-based EnWave Corporation, a UBC spin-off company, developed the technology based on unique dehydration techniques discovered by Dr. Tim Durance and his research team in UBC's Faculty of Land and Food Systems.
The Plant Based Workshop didn’t want to deep fry their noodles in order to maintain the “healthy” component to them.
At first, we freeze-dried our noodles but found the process to be quite slow. Then we discovered the REV technology to dehydrate our noodles, which is so much faster without having to fry them. And we keep the nutrients and quality intact! It is important for us to work with local companies as much as possible—even if the price point goes up.
Mayumi Bae, Co-owner and founder, The Plant Based Workshop
Vancouver-based Wamame Foods partnered with Dr. Anubhav Pratap-Singh to map the flavour and texture of real Wagyu beef in order to apply that to their product Waygu, a premium plant-based beef alternative.
At UBC, we are listening to these needs for innovation and working with B.C.-based companies to create new product innovations sustainably, and to improve the competitiveness of B.C. products on the world stage.
Dr. Anubhav Pratap-Singh, Associate Professor, Food Processing, Faculty of Land and Food Systems
In the dynamic world of university dining, where nourishment meets education, the relationships between local food suppliers and institutions play a pivotal role. At UBC, we take pride in serving the diverse dietary needs of our student community and partnering with local producers who share our commitment to sustainability and innovation.
About the Local Supplier Spotlight series
This initiative highlights one of our main values: working with and supporting our local community to nourish the students, faculty, staff, and visitors of UBC. Our goal is to enable and inspire a lifetime of healthy eating by cooking wholesome, sustainable, local, and diverse food for our community. We prioritize suppliers that are local, plant-based, woman and IBPOC owned. Learn more about our Vision and Values.
We extend a warm thanks to these local suppliers who brought their products to our campus and collaborated with our culinary teams to feed our students:
- Big Mountain Foods
- Brightside Foods
- Bonus Bakery
- Grandpa J’s Seasoning
- KULA Foods
- Living Tree Foods
- oomé
- Panela Lemon
- Pastaggio
- Save Da Sea
- Solecito
- Susgrainable
- The Indian Pantry
- The Plant-Based Workshop
- UBC Farm
- Wamame Foods
- West Coast Bannock
It was truly a pleasure to collaborate with you and your team, and to interact directly with the students. We are grateful for your support of our local business and the opportunity to showcase our Mexican products to the UBC community.
Andrea Blendl, Co-founder, Solecito Foods
On behalf of the entire Susgrainable team, THANK YOU for the opportunity to feature our brand and products within your residences. Similar to last year, we had a blast!! Thank you to all of your team for making us feel right at home while we shared our story with the students!
Marc Wandler, Co-founder & CEO, Susgrainable Foods
We appreciate how much effort is put into not only supporting local but the shift towards diverse, plant forward flavours!
Mayumi Bae, Co-owner and founder, The Plant Based Workshop
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