London Inc. April 2022 - 12

Upfront Food Services
MAKING
UGLY FOOD
BEAUTIFUL
For Ugly Local, the time
is ripe for tackling food
waste - one cosmetically
challenged vegetable or
fruit at a time
OVER THE PAST two years, significant
cracks
in the food system have
started to show. Some, like the bare
shelves symptomatic of supply chain
interruptus, are new creations of the
Covid era; others, like unaffordability
and food insecurity, are longstanding
concerns that are suddenly nipping at
the middle class.
All the while, food waste continues to
be a major problem - some estimates
suggest that nearly 60 per cent of all
food in Canada ends up wasted. Much of
that waste is also completely avoidable.
Enter the 'ugly food movement,'
and launches such as Ugly Local
(www.uglylocal.ca), a business founded
in early 2021 by Londoners Barbara
Greiff and Robbyn Lindsay that operates
out of the Somerville 630 building
in Old East Village. The pair met working
in the produce industry and saw a
lot of that food waste happening right
at the source.
" We would be very disappointed
when we would have to send back
number two grade vegetables, " says
Lindsay, referring to the Canadian
Food Inspection Agency classification
of slightly damaged produce.
" And then one day, Robbyn came
in and she said, 'What do you think
of Local Ugly ... or Ugly Local?' " says
Greiff. " Right away I loved Ugly Local,
and it just went from there - we just
started calling, and in April 2021 we
started filling orders, and that's where
it really began. "
12|londonincmagazine.ca|APRIL 2022
Ugly Local founders Barbara
Greiff and Robbyn Lindsay
" I JUST WANT TO DO WHAT I LOVE. AT
THE END OF THE DAY, I HAVE NEVER
BEEN SO SATISFIED WITH MY WORK "
-Robbyn Lindsay
The business of Ugly Local itself
takes different forms: it's part online
grocery delivery service, part produce
market and part community grocer,
but always centred around the idea
that while our food system might be
an efficient profit engine, there are
increasingly obvious gaps in its ability
to serve people. But by reorienting
their business around preserving ugly
produce and making it last, they aim to
help close some of those gaps.
Living and working in OEV, both can
see how the growing gaps impact people.
Grocery stores have closed in the
downtown, leaving food deserts in their
wake. For someone living in the city's
core - a senior on a fixed income, for
instance - accessing food downtown
can be both difficult and costly.
" If you're in OEV and you can walk
here, that's who we're aiming for, " Greiff
says.
By selling produce that was otherwise
destined for the landfill or to be re-processed
into packaged goods, savings
can range " anywhere from 30 to 50 per
cent, " says Greiff. By washing produce
themselves and storing it in better ways
( " those plastic containers are horrible
for berries, " says Lindsay, by way of
example) they can keep their own over
http://www.uglylocal.ca
London Inc. April 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of London Inc. April 2022
