Feast ON Restaurants in Waterloo Region

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BY ANDREW COPPOLINO | Updated October 2023

Initiated by the Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance (OCTA), Feast ON is a certification program that recognizes businesses — and that would be mostly restaurants – committed to sourcing food and beverage grown and produced in Ontario.

According to the organization’s website, the Feast ON initiative supports local economies and Ontario’s farmers and producers in order to continue to build a “local food identity” at the same time putting dollars back into our communities and reducing the impact on our environment, according to Agatha Podgorski, Community Manager at Culinary Tourism Alliance.

“Over the past two-and-a-half years, we’ve had over 120 restaurants achieve the certification and this number is continuing to grow. What’s more, last year restaurants in the program collectively spent over $17 million on Ontario grown and raised product. That’s $4 million more than the year before that. We’re finding an increase in the procurement percentage from businesses year after year, which means what we’re doing is working.”

In order to gain Feast ON certification, businesses must meet the standards of 25 percent annual Ontario food and beverage purchases. They pay to be part of the program and must show that they have maintained the participation levels to remain qualified.

There are currently about 100 Feast ON-designated restaurants in the province, with more working toward certification.
In Waterloo Region, the following restaurants are Feast ON certified:

Bingemans Catering
Borealis Grille and Bar
Cambridge Mill
Crowsfoot Smokehaus
Graffiti Market
Jacob’s Grill
Lancaster Smokehouse
Langdon Hall
Little Mushroom Catering
S&V Uptown
The Stone Crock Bakery
Udderly Ridiculous Farm Life
Willibald Farm Distillery & Brewery

The Culinary Tourism Alliance also certifies Food Purveyors who make local a priority. In Waterloo Region these purveyors include:

Flanagan Food Service
Stemmler’s Meats
Udderly Ridiculous Inc. 
Willibald Farm Distillery & Brewery

There are no doubt more to come as it takes time and logistics for restaurants and food businesses to build and maintain a qualifying program. But it will add up to dishes full of delicious Ontario ingredients.

Feast ON certification indicates that the restaurants and producers support local food systems, so you can support them too.

SEE WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING IN WATERLOO REGION. CHECK OUT THE LOCAL BUZZ!

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