At Fan/Joy, we are known for our malleability, adaptability and for building international flavours with local ingredients. We partner with local farmers, growers and suppliers (in Wellington County) who provide us with the freshest, delicious and locally grown produces throughout the year. Our menu is seasonal and rotates at least 4 times a year both to minimize the environmental impact of global supply chain and to allow our customers to have a new taste of the harvest that gives them exciting experiences of trying new food that they may not have ever tasted before. Education and exposure to the best of our Canadian food, changing with the seasons, is at the root of eating better and THAT is at the root of better physical and mental health.

Furthermore, we hate seeing food going to waste. We track our food inventory carefully to ensure that at the end of the day, no food is unutilized. We do this by adapting our recipes and creating new “Chopped Canada” style menu items with our basket of ingredients at hand, into delicious and healthy meals. This resourcefulness can be taught in our culinary classes and in fact, is what won our Founder Chef Pam Fanjoy the reputation as Food Network’s Chopped Canada Championship in 2016. It is simply a core practice that is embedded in our everyday.

We believe that having access to a healthy, nutritious diet should be a human right and that safe, affordable shelter is fundamental for a healthy life. As demonstrated with our Gourmet to Go meals and our Fan/Joy Junior Chef programs, we believe that there is a critical importance to every citizen having dignified access to healthy food if they are to fulfill their potential and give back to their communities overall well being. As such, we are committed to use all platforms that we have to provide nutritional education to our customers, friends, community and partners.

Pivoting and strengthening our vision

2020 has been a year of transition and constant pivoting to adapt to the new reality of a global pandemic. Since the first shutdown in March 2020, Fan/Joy has adapted its model and vision to not only be able to survive this unprecedented crisis, but also offer immediate services to our Community and especially youth and family in need.

In parallel, our involvement in several business acceleration initiatives and our success in earning rewards and recognitions at the local and national level has enabled us to refine our business model, validate the relevance of our pivot and position us to fully implement our vision in 2021.

We would like to thank once again all our partners, supporters and mentors for their support throughout this unnerving year.

Making sustainability a priority 

In this year of pivot, a strong realization came to mind: that Fan/Joy was more than a food business and indeed a Social Enterprise with a bigger mission and strong values around sustainability and circularity.

Those values have always been at the core of our activities but never formalized and embedded as integral part of our strategy. This is now done with the recruitment of a Social Impact and Sustainability Manager in August 2020 and the completion of a full sustainability assessment of our operations, setting the stage to implement a full sustainability framework in 2021.

We are a proud member of the Smart Cities Our Food Future initiative and cannot be more thrilled to be part of this community and have joined 10C shared space as a member.

Partners

Canadian Community

Creating a safe and inclusive work environment

Fan/Joy challenges mainstream social biases to ensure that we deliver a discrimination free workplace that celebrates all employees as they are, regardless of gender expression, gender identity, and sexual orientation. We have a safe, inclusive workspace that realizes the full potential of all our employees.  In 2020, Fan/Joy was also certified by the Canadian LGBT+ Chamber of Commerce (CLGCC) as a proud LGBTQ+ owned business.  As leaders in gender equality, we also provide Diversity Training for management and staff teams throughout both the hospitality industry and the mental health sectors.

Creating a safe and inclusive work environment

Fan/Joy challenges mainstream social biases to ensure that we deliver a discrimination free workplace that celebrates all employees as they are, regardless of gender expression, gender identity, and sexual orientation. We have a safe, inclusive workspace that realizes the full potential of all our employees.  In 2020, Fan/Joy was also certified by the Canadian LGBT+ Chamber of Commerce (CLGCC) as a proud LGBTQ+ owned business.  As leaders in gender equality, we also provide Diversity Training for management and staff teams throughout both the hospitality industry and the mental health sectors.

Earning a Living Wage

As part of our commitment to building better communities while supporting the restaurant industry, Fan/Joy became certified as an Ontario Living Wage employer in January 2020.  We care about our staff and believe in investing in the wellness and future of both our employees and our community.

Earning a Living Wage

As part of our commitment to building better communities while supporting the restaurant industry, Fan/Joy became certified as an Ontario Living Wage employer in January 2020.  We care about our staff and believe in investing in the wellness and future of both our employees and our community.

We recognize that our operations have an impact on the environment. Through our environmental policy, we are striving to minimize our footprint and find the best practices.  Always on the edge of innovation, Fan/joy often is dreaming up new ways to lead within the restaurant industry to experiment with initiatives that will turn the heat up for change that is good for all.  

We are committed to use 100% of recyclable or compostable packaging by 2021 and are progressively training our staff to embrace environmental initiatives in their daily job. 

Supporting local farmers

We are fortunate to be located in a leading edge rural community where farming and innovation combine to provide the best quality produces all year long. We pride ourselves to partner with local organic farmers to get the best local vegetables and supplies from season to season. Our menus are seasonal and align with Nature’s schedule.

Exploring new diets with less environmental impacts

We know that when more people choose to even reduce their meat intake moderately, there can be a corresponding reduction of the carbon footprint of our meals, largely due to the meat industry. Exploring alternative meatless options is our goal, no shaming, just education and delicious innovative food being offered so join us to be part of this movement.   As we expand Fan/Joy to have locations in 2021 in the Guelph and Kitchener Waterloo communities, we have set the goal to have 50% of our sales of Gourmet to Go meals to come from Vegan and Vegetarian offerings by the end of 2021.

Over the years, Fan/Joy has become a landmark member of the community by supporting various initiatives, associations and institutions and holding many fundraising events for many causes close to our heart that reflect our core values. We also participate actively from coast to coast across Canada to promote and celebrate Canadian cuisine educating while doing fundraisers so that our customers will learn about our farmers and how their food choices impact the creation of a new food economy that can truly make a difference.  

In addition, our Fan/Joy Junior Chef Impact Fund is our way to give back to our community by making our services available to youth and families that could use a hand up with a financial bursary.

Our Junior Chef Culinary Life Skills programs are more than an innovative alternative therapy. They provide a holistic educational tool where youth are able to discover the power of food, explore new skills they may not know that they have.  Families also learn how a healthy diet can support them both feel better emotionally while also feeding their brain to actually learn better with better focus, concentration and thinking skills. Whenever useful, we collaborate with teachers, coaches, or other mentors to set our Junior Chefs up for success at school and in life.

We believe that mental wellbeing, as much as healthy food and having a shelter, are basic Human Rights and we are convinced that counselling should be available, affordable and accessible as a tool for individuals to conquer poverty so they can build a healthier life. We serve individuals without discrimination and strive to create a nurturing environment for youth to express their unique abilities.

Interconnected with food security, building community in order to defeat poverty is one of Fan/Joy’s goals. We collaborate with several organizations to build innovative programs that efficiently and accurately aim to reduce the hardship of poverty on people, inspiring hope that change can begin just a meal away.