Taking Action

Explore Our Work:

Food on the Move

Food on the Move is our mobile, affordable fresh food market. We co-host the markets with six community centres and post-secondary institutions in St. John’s. We open our market doors to community members who shop for fresh produce, chat, and share recipes. Partner organizations also join us to bring their services, including the library and public health. Together, we create vibrant community spaces and welcoming shopping experiences.

Three Food on the Move customers hold up their haul of produce in cloth and paper bags, smiling.

2025 Highlights

  • Fine-tuning operations to serve more community members and grow sales

  • Keeping a bi-weekly schedule all year, making it easier for customers to include us in their shopping plans

  • Adding the College of the North Atlantic to our monthly schedule and reaching a new group of people

By the Numbers

60
Markets

 $27,961
in sales

 2496 transactions

The fresh produce! The prices are amazing and, as a student, I don’t have a lot of spare money to spend on fresh produce
— Food on the Move Customer

Sharing Our Gratitude

  • Our market hosts at community centres and post-secondary institutions. Their constant support is at the heart of this project, which wouldn't be possible without them.

  • Our partner organizations, with a special shoutout to the NL Public Library and NL Health Services. They help make our markets a vibrant community space that’s about more than buying food. 

  • Molly Feehan and Emma Duffett (students at Memorial University). They completed a customer survey for us this fall and captured fantastic feedback.

Learn More

Video: Food on the Move 3rd anniversary market

VOCM: Open Line with Paddy Daly (January 12, 2026)

Western NL Food Hub

The Western NL Food Hub is a weekly online market selling local products. We work with producers to fill our market with vegetables, cheese, fish, and more. Customers fill their carts with items from different producers. The Food Hub serves as the logistics and distribution point. This includes marketing, packing customer orders, and deliveries. Our goal is to have local food on every plate and support food producers in our region.

A man in a green hoodie with a ball cap and sunglasses poses smiling in front of, literally, enough potatoes to feed an army.
A bus pan of freshly harvested carrots, beets, and green onions.

2025 Highlights

  • Signing a three-year lease at our new 62 Broadway storefront and beginning renovations for a built-for-purpose Food Hub space.

  • Reaching more people by expanding our pickup locations to the Stephenville area and offering home delivery from Corner Brook to Deer Lake. 

  • Working more with community organizations and schools to get local food on the menu at events and workshops.

  • Welcoming Jay and Meghan to the team and collaborating with Vicki at the new Avalon Food Hub in St. John’s.

By the Numbers

Over 2600
registered customers

 235 orders
delivered to doorsteps

$174,149
in local food sales

Sharing Our Gratitude

  • Rasheed and Samantha for their countless contributions to the Western NL Food Hub over the past two years. Their presence helped shape the Food Hub into the friendly, welcoming place it is today.

  • The People of the Dawn Indigenous Friendship Centre for partnering with us to bring more local food options to the Stephenville area.

  • Qalipu First Nation and Bayview Academy for supporting the local food movement. We especially loved partnering with the school on their November Dinner! 

  • Our eight pickup location hosts, from Gros Morne to St. George’s to Deerlake, for continuing to support the Food Hub and welcome our customers into their spaces.

A back-on view of the Western Food Hub with its colourful wrap and Food First NL logo applied.

Our electric van’s new wrap added some colour and flair to our deliveries in 2025!

Learn More

Government of NL: Well-Being Week NL promotional video

CBC: Farmers and their customers expand connection on Newfoundland’s West Coast with Food Hub (December 10, 2025)

Avalon Food Hub

The Avalon Food Hub is our newest social enterprise. Building on the Western Food Hub’s success, it brings the model to the St. John’s area. The Food Hub is open to families, businesses, community partners — anyone who wants to buy and enjoy local foods. Our goal is to have local food on every plate and support food vendors in our region.

2025 Highlights

  • Launching the Avalon Food Hub and watching it grow! We moved quickly to embrace this unique opportunity to support local producers and food vendors.

  • Growing a broad network of growers, vendors, and partners to build a Food Hub that works for our communities.

  • Hiring Vicki, our Program Coordinator, and building an Avalon Food Hub team to bring the social enterprise to life.

  • Creating a welcoming home at Our Table that fits with the space’s other uses, the neighbourhood, and the community at large.

By the Numbers

159
orders

3
ordering cycles

472
registered customers by end of 2025

Picking up my Food Hub order is one of the things that makes me happy in today’s world
— Food Hub Customer
A fall man in flannel and a ball cap poses with a shorter woman in a black blouse in a conference room. Both are smiling and wearing lanyards.

Vicki and Richard met for the first time at the NL Young Farmers’ Forum and joined the Sustainable Food Distribution panel discussion.

Sharing Our Gratitude

  • Our amazing local vendors for taking the plunge and joining us on this new adventure. Their enthusiasm buoys us through all the bumps along the way. A special shoutout to the vendors representing diverse cuisines and new immigrant businesses.

  • Our wonderful customers for showing up, buying in, and sharing your love for local food.

  • The Western NL Food Hub — especially Richard — for being so supportive, offering advice, and sharing wisdom.

  • Charlotte, who always brings creative ideas, easy laughs, and a willingness to jump in. We’re lucky to have her on the Avalon Food Hub team.

Learn More

Avalon Hood Hub’s on Instagram!

The Telegram: 'Unique way to shop': Food First NL launches online farmers' market called Avalon Food Hub (October 10, 2025)

77 Charter Avenue Becomes Our Table

Our Table is a community and office space in Pleasantville, St. John’s, which we co-run with Stella’s Circle. The space features a flexible community and meeting area, large teaching kitchen, program storage, and reception. It’s a welcoming space for community members to gather, share big ideas, and enjoy delicious food. We look forward to seeing the space come to life in 2026.

A view of the main room at Our Table pre-renovation, with an empty back wall lined with tables.
A view of the main room at Our Table post-renovation: the back wall has been transformed into a kitchen, art is on the walls, and a fleet of chairs are arranged for a presentation with a podium set up.

Before (above) and after (below) our training room transformation.

2025 Highlights

  • Getting to know our neighbours and community members through our public engagement process. We loved hearing about their ideas on creating a space to gather and feel welcome. Their insights helped shape and inform the design phase.

  • Watching the physical transformation of Our Table! Throughout the year, the space came to life. Our contractors added kitchens, created training areas and cozy nooks, installed a walk-in cooler, and so much more. We reformatted the entire suite to create a more welcoming, vibrant, and accessible space for our staff and community.

  • Creating a long-term home for the Avalon Food Hub and Food on the Move. Our Table creates space for our programming to grow and more opportunities for folks in the area to eat with joy and dignity.

  • Building on our partnership with Stella’s Circle to create a solid foundation for Our Table as we animate the community space.

Designed With Intention

We intentionally designed Our Table to be welcoming and comfortable. This is reflected in our colours, fabrics, the soft curves of our furniture, plants, artwork, millwork, and padded chairs for all body sizes. We created spaces for people to take a break and connect.

During the design, we also stayed true to our values. We prioritized Canadian, sustainable, and socially responsible sources for our equipment, furniture, and finishes. The space also incorporates many new accessibility features. These include powered doors, gender neutral bathrooms, and sinks with wheel-under options.

A cut-out of the Our Table banquette seating and tables.
An arrangement of four archival photographs of the area surrounding Our Table/Charter Avenue that have been recoloured.

Sharing Our Gratitude

  • Inclusion NL and Autism NL for sharing their insights about how to make our space more welcoming and accessible for all community members.

  • City of St. John’s staff for working closely with us throughout the renovations. A special shoutout to Judy (Housing Manager) for being our go-to contact throughout, Randy (Public Works) for solving our plumbing-related mysteries, Paula (Civic Art Collection) for helping us find the perfect pieces, and Darren (Building Inspector) for helping us get to the finish line.

  • Our incredible contractors at SEA for going above and beyond with every aspect of their work, constantly keeping us in the loop, working around our schedules, and generally being great at sharing our space. Special shoutout to Ian, Laurie, Dennis, and Adam and Donnie from Prime Electrical.

  • The folks at MQO and Carvell and Helm for working with us to generate ideas, refine our vision, and see the full potential of the physical spaces at Our Table.

A woman places a sticker on a poster which reads, "What would you like to see offered in this space?"

Dotmocracy in action at the public consultation during last year’s Community Update.

Supporting Local Food Action

Supporting organizations and individuals across our province is a massive component of our work. Last year, we received 239 outreach requests from people across Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, and beyond. We shared resources, spoke with students, joined partnerships, and more. We also attended and/or gave 45 presentations, conferences, workshops, and community gatherings.

Our Regional Food Animators are a large part of how we respond to so many requests and continue community partnerships. They are our boots on the ground and point of connection for people in their area. They also share fantastic stories! Enjoy the following stories from the regions.

Two people play music in the background, with cabbage trimmings in a bag in the foreground.

Good tunes and good food happening at Bayview Academy! Students and staff joined us to make a tasty meal and have some fun.

Reconnecting With the Regional Wellness Coalitions

With staff in every region, last year was the perfect opportunity to revive our connection with the Regional Wellness Coalitions. The result was a solid anchor for new partnerships and opportunities.

For example, our connections in Western led to a cabbage roll kitchen party at Bayview Academy. In Eastern, we joined their webinar to talk about our community garden toolkit. This led to more meetings with aspiring gardeners.

It's no wonder that our participation has led to so many opportunities. The Coalitions are filled with people working towards similar goals, bringing enthusiasm and energy to the work. We’ll build on these new connections for years to come.

A freshly-baked bundt cake in the foreground of a cozy Christmas room, with decorated jars of cake mix lined up behind the cake.

Baking A Connection in Labrador

While planning a presentation series in Labrador, our Labrador Animator, Dana, wanted to do something hands-on. Workshops were the answer. Participants would make something delicious, low-cost, and easy to gift to their loved ones. Groups made citrus herb salt (great on game meats), holiday dump cake (no measuring spoons needed), and more.

During that time, a trend emerged. When participants gathered at the table to make food together, the mood lightened. Working together with food connected us. In a way, it’s similar to sitting and sharing a meal. It’s a moment of togetherness, filled with care, intention, and joy. We can’t wait to share more moments in 2026.