Coffee, jam and cheese could be coming to ByWard, Parkdale markets
Matthew Pearson, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: March 6, 2017 | Last Updated: March 6, 2017 4:03 PM EST
Local coffee roasters, cheese makers and jam producers could soon be invited to sell their products at the ByWard and Parkdale markets.
The city is proposing to expand the criteria for its outdoor markets to include a new “microprocessor” category. Microprocessors are considered small-scale, local producers who are “actively and directly engaged in the transformation or processing of an agri-food product” intended for consumption.
The agri-food category is currently limited to fruits, vegetables, plants, roots, seeds, cereal and cereal products, mushrooms, eggs, meat and fish, poultry and game, and dairy, honey and maple products.
But adding microprocessors will help revitalize the markets and better align them with other farmers’ markets, said Shannon Kenney of the markets’ management team. “We’re catching up,” she said, adding the current rules have forced the ByWard and Parkdale markets to turn away would-be vendors for the past several years.
Kenney’s report, to be considered Tuesday by the finance and economic development committee, says microprocessors will broaden the existing range of products and enhance the markets’ ability to attract both new vendors and a stronger customer base.
Microprocessors could also help both markets generate additional revenue, depending on how many new vendors are recruited.
Paul Foster, who runs Poppa-Bean Coffee Company out of his family’s garage in Vars, said he’d welcome the chance to set up shop at such a historic tourist attraction.
“The ByWard Market is the big show,” Foster said.
Foster started selling coffee at farmers’ markets in Cumberland and Metcalfe in 2007, and moved to the Ottawa Farmers’ Market at Lansdowne Park about two years ago.
Last year, he and three part-time employees roasted and bagged about 15,000 pounds of coffee, some of which was sourced directly from farmers in Honduras and Cuba.
There are immense risks to starting a business and startup costs are high, Foster said. But being able to sell at farmers’ markets gives people a platform to grow their businesses. “It’s a really good idea,” he said.
Michael Sunderland, whose Michael’s Dolce line includes jams, marmalades, sriracha and barbecue sauces, and various syrups, agreed.
He produced about 400 jars of jam per week last year and says farmers’ markets accounted for a quarter of his annual sales.
“It would be a fantastic new adventure to have these venues to sell at,” he said.
Several shops in the ByWard Market already carry his products, so it’s not a location he would consider. But the Parkdale Market is quite appealing, Sunderland said. “I’m on board for that.”
The current definition of local includes products produced or grown in Ottawa, the counties of Prescott Russell, Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, Leeds and Grenville, Lanark, Renfrew and the Outaouais.
If council agrees with the proposal, microprocessors could be in place at the ByWard and Parkdale markets as early as May.
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