Eatdrink #63 January/February 2017
The LOCAL food and drink magazine serving London, Stratford & Southwestern Ontario since 2007
The LOCAL food and drink magazine serving London, Stratford & Southwestern Ontario since 2007
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№ 63 | <strong>January</strong>/<strong>February</strong> <strong>2017</strong> www.eatdrink.ca 21<br />
Dave Cook at home with his faithful bulldog Buck<br />
Much of that accomplishment has been<br />
based on internal collaborations with longtime<br />
vendors and enterprising business<br />
owners like Jeff Pastorius, co-owner of On<br />
the Move Organics, The Root Cellar and<br />
London Brewing Company, Luis Rivas of<br />
True Taco, Rick Peori of All ’Bout Cheese,<br />
Philippe Lehner of Habitual Chocolate and<br />
Yam Gurung of Momo’s at the Market.<br />
In more recent years, the OEVBIA and its<br />
advisors have been working on an economic<br />
development plan to generate synergy<br />
and growth by kick-starting initiatives that<br />
capitalize on the success of the FAMWF as<br />
an informal food-business incubator and<br />
local agri-food hub.<br />
The London Food Incubator<br />
Recently, Cook established the London<br />
Food Incubator in the 14,000-square-foot<br />
Sommerville Building (formerly Somerville<br />
Paper Box Limited) at 630 Dundas Street.<br />
Building on the strategy of developing an<br />
agri-food sector for the OEV retail strip,<br />
Cook refurbished and utilized the existing<br />
infrastructure for shared space. Culinary<br />
entrepreneurs are able to set-up and<br />
develop in much the same way vendors<br />
mitigated start-up risks and grew their food<br />
businesses at the FAMWF.<br />
In the initial stage, Cook has provided<br />
space for small business incubation and<br />
food start-ups, the Old East Village Grocer<br />
(OEVG), and The Fire Roasted Coffee Co.<br />
café and production facilities. This project<br />
was initiated in part by the need for new<br />
roasting and packaging facilities for Fire<br />
Roasted Coffee, which had outgrown its<br />
premises at the market.<br />
The OEV Grocer is an independent<br />
grocery store that offers healthy and<br />
affordable food products, and doubles as a<br />
retail training space, providing customized<br />
training opportunities to persons with<br />
disabilities. The project received one<br />
of the first loans from Verge Capital,<br />
a London-based loan fund for social<br />
enterprises. It is a project of ATN Access<br />
Inc., a not-for-profit registered charity that<br />
provides opportunities for individuals with<br />
disabilities to gain access to employment,<br />
reach their educational goals, and improve<br />
the quality of their lives.<br />
Businesses like Heather Pirsky’s Naturally<br />
Vegan, Kim Banma’s gluten-free bakery<br />
Urban Oven, and David Glen’s Glen<br />
Farms Herbs and Preserves jumped at the<br />
opportunity to set up shop in the London<br />
Food Incubator. Joining these start-ups is<br />
Meals on Wheels, a non-profit providing<br />
food education and a delivery hub where<br />
volunteers pick up hot meals and distribute<br />
them to hundreds of households across<br />
London.<br />
If specific sets of traits are necessary to<br />
becoming a serial social entrepreneur and<br />
prospering as a visionary, risk tolerance,<br />
ambition and drive seem to be at the top of<br />
the list. You also need tenacity, intuition,<br />
and the ability to communicate your vision<br />
effectively. Cook is a creative problem<br />
solver, adventurer and a true polymath who<br />
has an innate ability to not only see the<br />
larger picture but recognize new and viable<br />
business opportunities.<br />
BRYAN LAVERY is eatdrink’s Food Editor and Writer at<br />
Large.<br />
NICK LAVERY is owner of Take5 Digital, a London-based<br />
video production company. Reach him at nick@t5digital.com.