Spud Supports Local Restaurants with Expertise on Ready to Eat Meals and Products

Spud , the online Grocery Store has been a supporter in the local community since they have started and they put their heart on their sleeves to deliver some of the freshest products to customer’s homes. They currently service – Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, Thompson Okanagan, Calgary, and Edmonton.

During the pandemic, the team at SPUD has been working alongside local restaurants to launch their ready-made meals with packaging and labeling that is food-safe and retail-ready. These meals are now available to SPUD’s customers; however, SPUD is not requiring an exclusive listing. Their restaurant partners now have product options that they can list on any retail shelf around the country, giving restaurants further distribution channels, and providing consumers with more possibilities when it comes to restaurant quality products for home meals. 

Working with SPUD’s product developer, restaurants and local businesses are able to easily navigate the food labelling requirements at no cost to the brand. 

“We wanted to help restaurants broaden the sales of their local products, says CEO Peter van Stolk. We know what a difficult time this is for small businesses and particularly restaurants, so we decided to use our expertise to help these businesses become shelf-ready, not only for our customers, but also for other grocers and distribution services. Located under the Restaurant tab on SPUD’s home page, Greater Vancouver’s restaurant partners include among numerous other newcomers: Old Bird, Kokomo, The Garden Strathcona, Jamjar, Nuba, Rocky Mountain Flatbread, Dosanko, Mile One Eating House and Chambar.

At Nuba, Darragh McFeely reported “We are restaurateurs, and had done some meal kits in house, but the precise labeling was all new for us. SPUD has provided great support, giving feedback on our packaging, support on putting together nutritional information and barcodes, and greatly simplifying the process of going to the wholesale market.” 

Laura Scarr, Director of Product Development at Pemberton’s Mile One Eating House, was already in the process of developing a wholesale product program before connecting with SPUD, but still had many questions to navigate when it came to knowing how to label their products to comply with CFIA rules. “We often use a variation of ingredients in our recipe’s, especially as we work with local farms, ranches, fishermen and artisans, as the exact items can vary seasonally. The mushrooms in our BC Mushroom Chili include assorted wild and cultivated BC mushrooms depending on what is available” she mentioned.  ”When I had questions like this, SPUD’s consultant, Roger LaRochelle, had clear and thorough answers for me, responding right away to my calls and emails. We were able to get our products on the shelf far more rapidly than we had planned, due to his responsiveness. We are very thankful for the support and knowledge that SPUD have been so generous and openly sharing.”