New downtown grocer goes big on local, green

Ingredients Health Food, Apple Cafe a labour of love for owners, friends

Downtown’s newest grocery store and cafe opened Friday with shelves full of free-trade, organic, bulk and locally grown foods.

Ingredients Health Food and the Apple Cafe at 2031 Store St., next to Victoria Gymnastics, is targeting local workers, shoppers and residents at a time when new downtown condominiums are adding to the core’s population.

Greater Victoria’s grocery store scene is adapting to target niche markets.

That’s the way to win in this competitive sector, says the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers.

Owners Deanna Danychuk and Cindy Dreger figure their vision stands out.

Fresh produce is piled in cardboard boxes and customers are encouraged to bring their own containers and weigh them at the till.

And even though the $300,000 set-up cost was twice as much as estimated, the partners were smiling on Day 1. At midnight before opening, they realized “we forgot to get a float,” laughed Dreger.

Dreger and Danychuk met in Duncan working with in the health food sector and decided to launch their own business. “It’s an organic mix of what we have always wanted to see,” Danychuk said. Merchandise includes fresh and frozen food, Cobble Hill’s Drumroaster Coffee, skincare products, cleaning supplies and reusable bags.

They’ve spent months doing their own renovations and working with trades to prepare 465 square metres of leased space in an old brick building.

“Oh, man. It’s good to sit down,” said Dreger, taking a break on the bench seats next to the cafe. They’ve sanded recycled fir used on the walls, painted in the yellow, raspberry and teal colour scheme and created colourful designs with glass beads set in the concrete floor where a trench was dug to link up to city water.

For every $20 spent, a customer receives a 40-cent token to donate to charities at the store. Staff vote on which non-profits to support.

The store has created 21 new jobs, mainly part-time. Staff wear blue tie-died T-shirts with the word “tribe” on the back, chosen in a unanimous vote by employees, Dreger said.

Their kitchen is 99 per cent garbage free, says Danychuk, who takes scraps home to Cobble Hill for the family chickens and a pet pot-bellied pig dubbed Darling. Other items are recycled. “We make our own almond milk from organic almonds so there are no throwaway Tetra Paks,” Dreger said.

Brock McLeod, of Makaria Farm in the Cowichan Valley, delivered organic carrots and squash on Friday, saying that his land can grow more food than is currently purchased by buyers. “We are always excited to see new businesses that support local agriculture,” he said.

The cafe sells breakfast and lunch meals as well as snacks. A 12-once coffee is $2.50. A loaded Benny plate for $9 includes two eggs from free-range chickens, Hollandaise sauce,

caramelized onions, steamed kale, organic potatoes and yams. A flavourful quiche packed with veggies is $9.

Hours are 7: 30 a.m.. to 6: 30 p.m. on Monday to Saturday and 9: 30 a.m. to 5: 30 p.m. on Sunday.

www.ingredientshealthfood.com