Feast On® is North America’s largest and longest running local food certification program that recognizes businesses across the food tourism value chain committed to sourcing Ontario grown food & drink.
The program aims to eliminate greenwashing and “local washing” by auditing local spend.
To become certified, businesses are required to provide proof that their procurement and/or production practices contain a minimum standard of Ontario-grown or produced ingredients.
What is local food?
We use Foodland Ontario’s consumer and industry approved definitions of Ontario food products.
Feast On®
The Feast On® Network
The Feast On® network is made up of businesses across the food service value chain. Explore the categories below and determine which one is the best fit for your business.
Hot tip: some businesses fall into more than one!
Restaurants + Experiences
Serving or selling local? A Feast On® certification proves to your customer that what they’re savouring really IS local.
Certified restaurants and experiences receive marketing exposure on our consumer channel, ontarioculinary.com, plus introductions to Feast On® growers, producers, and distributors to help increase their local spend.
Growers + Producers
These are the folks creating, growing, and raising local ingredients for the food service industry.
Certified businesses receive marketing exposure on our industry channel, culinarytourismalliance.com, plus introductions to Feast On® chefs and businesses to help build their customer base.
Partners
These are the commodity groups and sector organizations representing farmers across the province.
We work with partners on various projects and campaigns - let’s do something delicious!
Distributors
These businesses are the ultimate farm-to-table connectors.
Certified distributors receive marketing exposure on culinarytourismalliance.com, plus introductions to our network members to help build their customer base.
Meet our current members.
Our mission is to encourage more people to source and serve Ontario grown food.
Supporting our local economy builds our local food identity, it puts dollars back into our communities and it limits our environmental impact. Feast On® was started as a grassroots movement with support from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). Today, the program is largely supported by the industry that it serves.
In 2019, Feast On® Certified
businesses spent
$30,340,000
with Ontario farmers, artisans, and distributors to source locally grown and made products.
Year over year, we see an annual increase of at least
$5,000,000
spent on Ontario Food & Drink. That’s been the case since the inception of Feast On® in 2014.
The average percentage of Ontario food on a Feast On® restaurant’s menu is
54%
We see an average growth of 2% per year. Connecting chefs directly with farmers is a big part of this growth.
Case Study
How Avling Kitchen + Brewery
is Debunking Myths About The Cost of Sourcing
Local Food in their Menu Design
What Feast On® Members Are Saying
We believe
in the power
of the hospitality community to drive change.
Procurement.
Taking the extra steps necessary to work with small farmers and artisans in your community - as well as asking for Ontario products when dealing with your distributors - is the best way to increase demand and provide opportunities for our farmers. We facilitate introductions between businesses who grow, make and sell local food and those in the foodservice looking to purchase it.
We also audit the current procurement practices of restaurants to help them find ways to increase their local spend. Most chefs and procurement officers who go through our audit system are surprised by the results.
Participation.
We encourage participation and partnership in a big way. Through facilitated networking sessions, educational workshops and marketing rewards for businesses who support local food initiatives in their community.
We also work with destinations and government to provide marketing and event opportunities for businesses looking to grow their brand reach and meet other restaurateurs in the network.
Promotion.
We strive to tell authentic, engaging stories about our network - but more importantly, we push them to share the stories of the farmers, producers and artisans they work with far and wide. Chefs have a powerful voice and are in an ideal place to create meaningful change within our food systems.
Certified restaurants can also tap into our bigger marketing campaigns, use the logo on their websites, menus and windows, and participate in the social conversation using #FeastOn
“When you’re in a Feast On® restaurant, you know you’re eating local.”
— Chef Brad Long, Cafe Belong
Thank you to our official apparel partner
