What helps to predict the success of a business? If they listen to the people and give them what they want.

It sounds simple, but so many business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs reside in their own bubbles, drinking their own kool-aid until it’s too late.

Harvest Community Foods, on the other hand, was born from the opinion of the people in the Chinatown-Strathcona community, where residents voted on how they wanted to utilize the space the business is currently operating in.

We want a local foods grocery, they said; and so, they got a local foods grocery.

We had the pleasure of having a conversation with Chef and Partner Gabriella Meyer, where we got to learn more about the business and the duo behind this local mainstay. Both Chef and Partner Gabriella Meyer and Owner Chef Andrea Carlson have left a memorable footprint in Vancouver’s culinary scene, with Gabriella’s resume including time at iconic locales like C Restaurant, Bishop’s, and Burdock & Co.

Chef Andrea Carlson’s dedication to home-grown ingredients is evident through her career milestones, such as her work at Sooke Harbour House, where organic ingredients were grown on-site, and at Tofino Botanical Gardens, where she created a scratch kitchen garden; many more may have heard of Chef Andrea’s infamous 100-Mile Menu at Raincity Grill, which uses only foods and wine that are grown, raised or processed within a 100-mile radius of the restaurant.

Not just any local foods grocery, but one where the community could enjoy signature noodle soups made with fresh veggies and meats in a homemade broth and purchase chef-crafted Community-Supported Agriculture boxes filled with curated local farm produce to contribute to a sustainable local production and consumption cycle. With Chef and Partner Gabriella Meyer at the helm managing day-to-day operations and Owner Andrea Carlson being a big supporter of local food systems, Harvest Community Foods is a shining example of the many merits of Community-Supported Agriculture.

Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) is an alternative, locally-based economic model of agriculture and food distribution. Harvest Community Foods is committed to supporting CSA by offering seasonal, fresh, local produce in their CSA boxes (commonly referred to as share boxes). The boxes offer a cornucopia of in-season fruits and vegetables from local farms found in Vancouver's backyard. Because Harvest knows that not all seasonal vegetables are familiar to customers, they provide a peek at upcoming box selections in their bi-weekly newsletter, paired with a custom recipe developed by Chef and Partner, Gabriella Meyer. Harvest Community Foods’ Harvest CSA Boxes offers innovative chef-crafted Community Supported Agriculture shares of bi-weekly farm produce, available year-round as a single purchase, for multiple weeks or an entire season.

With the Harvest CSA Boxes, they are raising awareness for previously little-known local farms, which are now rising stars on the radar of numerous restaurants.

We had the pleasure of having a conversation with the duo behind this thriving business, Chef and Partner Gabriella Meyer, and Owner Chef Andrea Carlson. Both have left a memorable footprint in Vancouver’s culinary scene, with Gabriella’s resume includes time at iconic locales like C Restaurant, Bishop’s, and Burdock & Co.

Chef Andrea Carlson’s dedication to home-grown ingredients is evident through her career milestones, such as her work at Sooke Harbour House, where organic ingredients were grown on-site, and at Tofino Botanical Gardens, where she created a scratch kitchen garden; many more may have heard of Chef Andrea’s infamous 100-Mile Menu at Raincity Grill, which uses only foods and wine that are grown, raised or processed within a 100-mile radius of the restaurant.

P: Pendulum Magazine

G: Chef Gabriella Meyer

P: Chef Andrea and yourself have known each other for over 12 years and both of you are avid proponents of the locavore movement. What were the circumstances that drove the two of you to come together to manage Harvest Community Foods?

G: I had been traveling on and off for about 10 years, whenever I was back in Vancouver I would work for Andrea. When she needed someone to manage Harvest full time, she asked me to take over. Andrea has taught me so much about the locavore movement and I’m so proud of what we do here at Harvest.

P: Whenever people hear the term “locavore”, most of them tend to think of initiatives that support local farmers and suppliers. Do you believe there is a greater scope behind the movement than just that? What kind of message are you using to get buy-in from consumers? How will supporting locavore benefit everyone in the community?

G: Working closely with regional farmers is one of our favourite parts of what we do. We love to share with guests the benefits of eating local organic food through Harvest’s CSA program, which provides accessible fresh produce to our guests and supports our local food system.

P: A huge component of supporting the locavore movement is establishing good relationships with local farmers and suppliers. How do you maintain quality relationships with the farmer/suppliers you work with? How has that connection evolved since you took over Harvest Community Foods?

G: I have been so lucky to work in restaurants that have always supported local/organic farmers. From my first kitchen job at C restaurant to Bishop’s and Burdock & Co, I have had the chance to meet many of our local farmers and have great respect for the produce they supply us with.  Through our CSA program, I get to interact quite regularly with the farming community; curating the CSA bags is always so much fun and delivery day is like Christmas!

P: Harvest Community Foods originally began as a community project. How has the project evolved over time?

G: Harvest was originally opened in April 2012 by landlord, Michael Leung. Six months later the space was taken over by Chef Andrea Carlson and her partner Kevin Bismanis and transformed the space into Harvest Community Foods. Along with the public initiative on the use of the space, the public also voted on the name of the space as ‘Harvest’. The public partook in what they wanted in the community and voted for the space to serve as a grocery store that served local foods. Since then, it has expanded to a noodle shop serving the Chinatown / Strathcona community.

P: Diving a bit deeper into the share boxes offering, are Harvest CSA Boxes customizable depending on household size? What sort of information can people expect from the CSA bi-weekly newsletter?

There is one size of CSA bag. If a customer wants a particular item or ingredient, they can contact us by phone or email. Guests can get a sneak peek of ingredients to come in the CSA bags when they sign up for our bi-weekly newsletter, along with product features and our ‘Supplier Spotlight,’ where we profile a local farmer or supplier that may be lesser known to the public.

P: Can you share with us some marketing initiatives that you have recently executed or are planning to roll out in the near future to promote Harvest Community Foods?

We have expanded our house-made retail products to cater to different palates. Think fresh-baked goods, yogurt and granola, jams, honey, pickled vegetables, chicken broth, and even frozen burdock and pork dumplings served at our sister eatery, Burdock & Co every Monday at ‘Disco Dumplings.’

P: Other than your hard work who else do you have to thank for the business' current success?

G: Our amazing staff, some who have been here for up to four years, and our customers that continue to support us.

P: What is your long-term vision for Harvest Community Foods?

G: I would love to see a few more Harvest pop-ups in the city, as well as expanding our line of house-made products. 

The hard work of the Harvest Community Foods team has already helped to transform how their surrounding community’s diet and food consumption behavior - with every signature noodle soup, every additional CSA box distributed, the team is garnering more support and generating more awareness of how we can together build a more sustainable (and tasty) culinary scene in Vancouver and beyond.

Photos by Leila Kwok