Getting Real About Food And Kids

So yesterday, I attended the Leaders Summit in Montreal hosted by the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI).

One of the presentations that really caught my attention was by David Farnell, CEO and founder of Real Food for Real Kids, a small Toronto-based outfit that caters meals to childcare centres, elementary schools, and campsuses. All meals are made from whole, natural and organic ingredients, fresh from scratch, every day!

As the story goes, the business started about six years ago when Farnell’s son Max had to go to a daycare centre and Farnell was unhappy with the food being served there. So Max started bringing his own home-cooked food and soon all the other kids wanted it and soon enough Farnell and his wife began supplying food for all the kids.

Since then this enterprise has grown into a $4,000,000 business with 50 employees that caters to over 100 childcare centres, elementary schools, and camps to feed 5000 kids in and around Toronto.

Farnell draws on 29 local growers and producers for all his ingredients including Faul farms, a beef supplier in Ayr, Ontario, who maintains a closed grass-fed cow-calf herd raised on real corn silage.

Not surprisingly, Farnell earned substantial kudos from the audience for his success and it certainly seems that he has found a neat niche that works for him.

As Farnell said, “we help children and their families celebrate real food and instill lifelong healthy eating habits.”

Way to go David…

AMS
Edmonton, Alberta