We’ve all heard it — with populations shifting from the country to the city, Canadians have become increasingly uninformed about where exactly our food comes from. This trend has seen a bit of a correction with the growth of farm-to-table movements and “buy local” trends, but when it comes down to it, most of us can’t name the farmer who grew the carrots on our dinner table or the grain in our morning bowl of cereal.
Dan Berezan, a former Calgarian who now lives on a ranch near Pincher Creek, knows that a lot of consumers want to feel more connected to their food, but may not find traditional farmers’ market shopping very convenient. It’s a problem that goes both ways — many farmers and ranchers realize that some customers are willing to pay top dollar for farm-specific food, but they don’t have the infrastructure in place to sell to them directly. Seeing a problem that needed solving, Berezan developed an “online farmers market” called CultivatR, which just launched this month at
cultivatr.ca.
“We always thought there was a disconnect between the people who produce our food and the end user,” Berezan says. “There are so many problems for producers who are trying to get their food to market — they want to try direct marketing but doing it on their own is expensive.”
There certainly are local producers who have figured out the marketing piece on their own — 7K Ranch, for example, holds seasonal “pick-up” events where customers can come out to enjoy a ranch lunch and pick up pre-ordered packs of beef, and vegetable growers like Shirley’s Greenhouse sell through traditional farmers’ markets and do community supported agriculture boxes — but not all farmers can or want to run retail operations. CultivatR provides a solution for food producers who don’t want the hassle of maintaining an online store.
From the customers’ point of view, unlike models that see producers unloading a half animal or big case of vegetables on customers, CultivatR specializes in reasonably sized packs or meats and produce. The platform works with local farms that are producing sustainable and naturally minded food and has already signed on producers like Steel Pony farms in Red Deer, Gemstone Beef in Gem, Alberta, and Lambtastic Farms in Vulcan. Everything is pre-sold to customers to reduce waste and lower costs — once producers delivers their goods to CultivatR, the orders are delivered directly to customers within the city of Calgary. The process is designed to be friendly to both producers and customers, which Berezan sees as the differentiator between CultivatR and other direct marketing methods.
“We want to create a local food community that allows customers to buy local products all year round,” Berezan says. “This is a made-in-Alberta solution that benefits both producers and consumers.
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After 30 years at 338 17th Ave. S.W., the much-beloved Cilantro restaurant has announced it is preparing to close its doors. Known for its idyllic urban patio and for importing Alberta’s first wood burning pizza oven from Italy in 1988, the restaurant was an ’80s game-changer for Calgary, thanks to its fresh California-style cuisine and mind-blowing wine list. The restaurant’s parent company, Canadian Rocky Mountain Resorts, decided it was time to let Cilantro go so it could focus on its other properties, including the Lake House, Banff’s Buffalo Mountain Lodge and Deer Lodge in Lake Louise.
Cilantro lovers still have a chance to sit on that glorious patio for one last pear and Gorgonzola pizza — the restaurant will remain open until the end of the summer. Reservations can be made at 403-229-1177 or
cilantrocalgary.com.
A little further west on 17th Avenue S.W., you may have noticed that Royale restaurant has a new look. The new contemporary coral and teal exterior signals a change within as well: the restaurant has moved away from French food towards a more eclectic cuisine that makes use of local Alberta ingredients. Ashley Cawdle, the restaurant’s new chef de cuisine, leads a back-of-house team comprised entirely of women.
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