Our Social Enterprise Bakery
We get asked all the time - where are our delicious Real Food Bars and Loaded Oats made? We are always excited to tell folks about the amazing production partners that we've been working with since 2014.
In the very beginning (2012), MwL founders Sheena & Kathy baked every bar themselves, after-hours at a friend's cafe. With Kathy expecting her first baby in 2013 and Sheena in 2014, it was time to find a company that we could trust to make our foods for us. As a small business owner it's hard to imagine someone else putting the same love & care into producing your products, but our dreams came true when we were approached by the folks at The Flowercart Group.
The Flower Cart Group is a community of social enterprises serving a dual purpose – working to provide employment training opportunities that enrich the lives of participants, and adding value for local food businesses. It was a perfect match, and since embarking on our partnership with Flowercart, our bars have never been yummier, more consistent, or made with more love.
The team at The Flowercart Group's commercial kitchen is small and highly skilled - many of the staff who started making our bars almost 3 years ago are still in our kitchen today! And with Made with Local's growth, it feels AMAZING to know that every boost in our sales really translates into more meaningful work for at-risk folks, here in our community.
Our Loaded Oats instant oatmeal is produced at another organization called DASC, in Dartmouth, NS. DASC employs dozens of people in the Halifax/Dartmouth area with a range of intellectual disabilities. The clients at DASC work in supervised teams to mix up the yummy ingredients, fill bags, and lovingly pack our Loaded Oats into cases for distribution to our 60+ Atlantic Canadian retailers. We love the team at DASC and are so happy to be part of their programs!
The three values that drive everything we do at Made with Local are:
LOVE | NOURISH | COMMUNITY
It's our mission to inspire people to think about LOVE as an essential ingredient in foods. By committing to work with social enterprises, supporting folks in at-risk communities and using the best local ingredients - we can guarantee that our Real Food Bars & Loaded Oats contain 100% of your recommended daily intake of love <3
