Chef TJ, Ono Vancouver
This week, we continue our Spotlight series and shine a light on the incredible Chef TJ Conwi. If you have dropped off produce or picked up meals from COHO Commissary, you may have met this cheerful soul. Read on to learn more about what he is doing to curb food insecurity and food waste in our city.
Vancouver Food Runners: Tell us about your professional career and your journey to cooking hundreds of meals for community partners across Vancouver each week.
Chef TJ: I’ve been a chef in Vancouver for over 23 years and climbed up the culinary ladder, all the way to being Executive Chef at Delta Vancouver Suites by Marriott. I now have a Kitchen Consulting company, Ono Vancouver. I focus on helping small businesses, including non-profits, improve their kitchen systems. Just before COVID, I helped set up the kitchen and learning systems for an initiative to help bring healthy food and teach students within the VSB called LunchLAB. When COVID started, I began thinking about those same students and their families and their access to good food, especially the ones that rely on the school meal program for their only proper meal of the day at school. So, a group of chefs and I started cooking surplus food from suppliers and restaurants looking to have an outlet for their expiring food. We’ve kept cooking since then and have been able to help over 10 charities in Vancouver with quality, nutritious, chef-made meals including through the VSB for vulnerable kids and their families. To date, with the help of VFR and other charities, we’ve been able to cook 180,000+ meals and divert over 5 tons of surplus food, and feed those that need it the most. VFR:
What motivates you to give back to your community in this way?
TJ: I grew up in Manila and have seen first-hand how kids like me with single parents struggled to put food on the table. Knowing that food-insecurity occurs in Vancouver as well, I wanted to help, especially recent immigrants, refugees and our aboriginal communities. I knew that I had the skills not only as a cook, but as someone that has organized food for large banquets of thousands and that I would be able to affect food insecurity.
VFR: How did you find out about Vancouver Food Runners? How is our partnership important to your community-focused work?
TJ: I was able to participate in the School Food COVID Task Force set up with the city of Vancouver during the beginning of the pandemic, and that’s where I met Tristan Jagger (VFR Founder) and her team. Our partnership is very important because, as a non-charity business, I don’t have access to grants or any funding allocated to help pay for food or transportation. I rely on surplus food and delivery from VFR to be able to provide for the charities we support.
VFR: Do you have a favourite Vancouver Food Runners “moment”?
TJ: My first pick-up from VFR included over 150 Litres of yoghurt that Yen Bros. Foodservice gave to me during the start of COVID! It was pretty crazy but, thanks to VFR, it didn’t go to waste, and they were able to find a home for it. Also, during a snowy day two weeks ago, I had to figure out how to distribute about 200 meals worth of food when the street by our area was closed due to a big fire. With Chloe’s (VFR) help, we figured it out. It was an adventure including me rolling a cart across the street in snow. But the volunteers picking up were all so upbeat and helpful throughout the whole thing!
VFR: In your opinion, how can others in the food industry, particularly chefs and businesses owners, get more involved in supporting those in need in Vancouver?
TJ: Make it easy for them to give. They all have busy lives, but if you set them up so that they are able to just give without any hassle, they will. As hospitality industry professionals, it is ingrained in us to serve people and we will give back, given the chance. Especially if the only thing they have to do is what they’re already passionate about: cooking and sharing food. VFR: COVID-19 has placed a significant strain on the food industry, particularly for restaurants and caterers.
How can we support this industry right now?
TJ: Help raise their profiles, especially the non-chain, independent restaurants. They are the pillar of our communities and they have been around to help the same people that we are helping now.
VFR: Anything else you'd like to add?
TJ: It’s been great being able to team up with VFR to be able to bring food to those in need and help curb food waste. I honestly don’t know if I would have the same impact fighting food insecurity in Vancouver if I didn’t have VFR to help me. You and your volunteers’ dedication to helping the community gain access to good, nutritious, food is what Vancouver needs, especially during these tough times.
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