Celebrating One Year Since the Reopening of Our Flagship Café on Salt Spring Island

One year ago today, we reopened our renovated café in Ganges on Salt Spring Island. While it’s safe to say that this past year has not been without its challenges (thanks, COVID-19), we are proud that our café has been able to support local producers, artists and charitable organizations during this challenging time.

As a company, we believe in having a positive impact on the world around us, which is why we have put in place a number of initiatives that benefit our customers, our community and our planet.

Here are some of the initiatives that we are most proud of:

1. All of our coffee is organic and fair trade.

We source, roast and serve coffee that is grown without the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. We also pay producers a fair price for the coffee plus an additional premium that goes towards their community.

2. Our leftover food is donated to the local food bank.

We donate unused food that is still in good condition to Second Harvest – a food recovery program associated with the food bank on Salt Spring Island.

3. Proceeds from our cup charge are donated to charity.

Since January 2021, we’ve donated over $4,000 to Harvest Food Program, which runs a food bank and community farm on Salt Spring Island.

4. Our milk, cream and yogourt is 100% organic.

We source all our dairy from Avalon Dairy in Burnaby.

5. Over half of our produce is organic.

We have been able to source 55% of our produce from organic farms like Harbour Farms Organics and are looking at how we can increase that number even further.

6. All our meat is local.

We source all our meat from Berryman Brothers in Victoria and Two Rivers in North Vancouver.

7. All our baked goods are made in house.

All our baked goods – from croissants to our nutrient dense Avocado Brownie – are made on site by our in-house baker, Kate Bragg.

8. Local artists can exhibit their works in our café.

We host a rotating exhibition of local artwork and profile the artists on the café’s social media channels. If you are a local artist and would like to have your work displayed, please let us know.