First Bites: June 2020

Perfect pairings at your door

Visitors to Naramata will know Upper Bench Winery and Creamery where, since 2012, Gavin and Shana Miller have offered perhaps the perfect pairings of wine and cheese. Like so many businesses, the onset of the pandemic meant they had to bring their products directly to consumers. Shana, who is the cheesemaker and works throughout the year to plan for restaurant demand, found herself with lots of cheese coming to maturity just as restaurants were being forced to close. “Besides restaurants, we’ve always had a direct-to-consumer model and have never wanted to go through wholesalers,” Gavin says. “This is our livelihood and our staff’s livelihood. We have to keep going.” They acted quickly to offer free shipping for all orders in B.C., with no minimum required. “We wanted to make it easier for people to try,” says Shana, acknowledging that a case of wine is a big commitment for someone who is unfamiliar with their products. Gavin says he’s hopeful the long-term attitudes towards buying wine online will change, admitting that pre-pandemic there was some reticence. “We’ve been heartened by the show of support.”

Upper Bench Winery and Creamery
170 Upper Bench Rd., S., Penticton, B.C.
upperbench.ca | 250.770.1733 | @upperbench

Restaurant quality at home

“In a way, we’re going back to our roots,” says Guy Dean, President of Organic Ocean as he explains how the company was set up by two fishermen selling directly to consumers on the Granville Island pier. More recently the company’s main business has been selling to restaurants, but all that changed in the wake of the pandemic. Now, they’re back to selling high-quality sustainably caught fish directly to consumers. With restaurants closed, the company created an online shop offering convenient and cleverly named consumer packs delivered within Metro Vancouver in refrigerated trucks. In doing so, Organic Ocean is keeping the supply chain going, keeping fishers and processors employed, while donating more than 1,200 pounds of frozen lingcod to organizations that offer meals to those who need a helping hand. “We truly believe that sustainably caught seafood has the ability to solve a lot of problems, from food security to obesity. In our opinion, the more fish we eat, the better off we’ll be as a society,” Dean says.

Organic Ocean
organicocean.com | 604.447.7300 | @organicoceanseafood

Return of the breadman

A scan of your Instagram feed will quickly show that the pandemic had many people making sourdough bread. For those who don’t have the time or the inclination to make it themselves, Zayne Heyes of Sourbros Bread offers the perfect solution — freshly baked loaves delivered right to your door. A trained chef, Heyes has been running a catering company for the last four years, but saw business dry up during the pandemic. The time was right to focus on the bread delivery side of the business he already had in the works. Using a 14-year-old wild yeast starter and a 24-hour slow ferment, Heyes shapes each loaf by hand. From a solely online storefront, he offers contactless delivery twice a week to homes in Vancouver and on the North Shore. “Even before the pandemic, I knew that I wanted delivery to be an important part of this business,” Heyes says. “It’s the milkman idea. It’s about giving customers a consistent source and creating that ongoing connection.” With no plans for brick-and mortar retail, Sourbros is committed to the delivery model and is looking to add a bread subscription to its offerings.

Sourbros Bread
sourbrosbread.com | @sourbrosbread