La Tablée des Chefs: Power of communities coming together to effect change

Contributing to communities is in the DNA of the convenience industry. We see examples of it every day, in good times and in bad. Whether it is during floods and forest fires or supporting important causes like food insecurity or critically ill children.

The companies that are members of the Convenience Industry Council of Canada (CICC) are strong believers in the important role that they play in the communities they serve. They don’t do this work to be publicly recognized or celebrated, they do it because it matters.

It was therefore fitting for CICC to host an individual at the National Convenience Industry Summit who shares our industry’s commitment to giving back. Like so many of our members, Jean-Francois Archambault believes in the power of communities coming together to effect meaningful change.

Jean-Francois is a beautiful human being devoting his life to fighting food insecurity. Too many Canadians live paycheck-to-paycheck and rely on food banks, social assistance and the generosity of friends and family to survive. Jean-Francois dreamed of feeding people versus landfills with the massive amount of food wasted in the hospitality sector.

Jean-Francois's story is inspiring and remarkable. He leaves his successful career in hospitality to form La Tablée des Chefs, a non-profit organization whose mission can be summed up in two ways. Feed today to fight against food insecurity and educate youth for tomorrow to develop their food autonomy.

What La Tablée des Chefs has done should be studied around the world. In twenty years, they have distributed more than 15 million cooked meals and contributed to the culinary education of more than 50,000 youth by developing their food autonomy through various educational programs.

And what Jean-Francois teaches all of us is following your heart, understanding the fragility of our time, and dreaming and doing is what inspires change.

CICC was honoured to play a small part in sharing this incredible story at our National Convenience Industry Summit last month in Montreal. Our conference host, Tony Chapman, and host of Chatter that Matters, interviewed Jean-Francois for a live podcast. The end product is nothing short of inspiring and remarkable.

Unlike most of the valuable content at the Summit that you have to be there to benefit from, we are thrilled to be able to share this moving podcast.

Have a listen, find out why a Montrealer is wearing a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey, and a tissue or two at the ready.