About
Promoting collaboration over competition.
Kitchen Connect
Endless Possibilities
Kitchen Connect is an initiative of the charity the Victoria Community Food Hub Society, with the mandate “Good food for all.” We are a commercial kitchen that strives to support local food entrepreneurs, make connections with local farms and suppliers, host community workshops and events, and facilitate kitchen skills training and work experience.
Our kitchen is located in the Mustard Seed Food Security Distribution Centre in Victoria. It’s a neat food-focused space that’s also home to the Mustard Seed, a charity that rescues over 10,000 pounds of food each weekday from local grocery stores and donors and distributes it to social service agencies, the South Island FarmHub, a local produce aggregator and distributor with an online farmer's market wholesale and home delivery program, and Flourish! School Food Society, which makes and distributes school meals and offers school food literacy programs.
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The vision for Kitchen Connect began in 2021, and we officially opened our doors in October 2023. There are currently over 20 Makers who use the kitchen space, from food trucks to catering companies to bakers and tea blenders to ice cream and hot sauce makers, as well as farmers, community groups and cooking classes who rent the space on an as-needed basis.
Makers are able to source local ingredients through FarmHub, store and prepare their foods in Kitchen Connect, and sell through FarmHub's online market all from the same warehouse space; growing a flow of truly local food to our community.
Good Food for All
Our Mission
To promote a healthy and sustainable food system in the Capital Region.
Ensuring that our food system provides healthy food to the most vulnerable people in our community and works to increase their resources, food skills, and social connections for a healthier food secure future.
The Vision
Kitchen Connect will bring together facilities, equipment, training, and services to grow and strengthen the local food economy.
How We Are Different
The model strives to further innovative collaboration between food rescue initiatives, local farmers, and food processors.
What We Do
We aim to support food processing entrepreneurs, farmers, social innovators, marginalized populations, and community members through shared access to infrastructure, programming, and resources.
The Victoria Community Food Hub Society (VCFHS) was incorporated as a Charity in 2013.