In the Spring of 2024 we will be re-launching WAWWE on our new farm (pictured above!) with increased capacity and improved process, so that we can sustainably provide meals to more Saltspringers!

WAWWE accomplished so much during our 18 week pilot - just look!

• Delivered 40,000 planet-friendly meals with electric vehicles
• Washed and reused over 72,000 jars
• Provided employment to over 35 islanders including 12 students
• Nurtured hundreds of Saltspringers with healthy local foods
• Donated hundreds of meals to community services that fed Saltspringers in need
• Signed up over 3% of all Saltspringers to our planet-friendly weekly meal service
• Purchased a 12 acre farm to grow food for 500+ Saltspringers per week, significantly increasing local food security. The farm was previously used to grow hay to be shipped off island.

You may or may not know, but WAWWE is a Social Enterprise. 

This means that as a business, we are not profit driven. Instead, our primary goal is to serve the common good. Our mission is to create a fully circular, nearly waste-free, food system for Salt Spring Island - then replicate this model in Victoria, and Vancouver, and then as far as we can go.

We are so proud of what we have done so far, and of this team that makes it happen. Team WAWWE is the best - every. single. person. 

Now we need the time and space to focus on this new phase of growth. Read about it below to learn more about our exciting plans!

We are incredibly grateful to all of you for your wonderful support as we have launched this initiative. We hope our deliveries felt as nurturing to you as they did for us. We felt blessed to provide our community meals that healed both our bodies and the planet.

If you would like to be more involved, have ideas, skills or time to contribute, or simply want to receive updates send us a note at help@wawwe.ca, and leave your number if you prefer to chat.

With love and gratitude,
David 

WAWWE - THE NEXT PHASE

Why are we temporarily pausing this community service? 

Our idea for WAWWE was to start small, and prove out the model with a small group on Salt Spring. Would a healthy local meal service be popular? What would it take to really put it into action? If we could sustainably feed 10% of the population on Salt Spring we’d then take the model to Victoria and Vancouver and as far as we could.

We have proven that there is significant demand for the service. Just though word of mouth we had over 3% of the Salt Spring population on the meal service or signed up on our waiting list ready to join when we had capacity. 

What we’ve struggled to prove is that we can deliver this service in a financially sustainable manner. But as the weeks went by we have grown and developed new and better systems to get amazing food to your door, and to wash and reuse all of those containers each week.  We have identified some key parts of the system we can change that will make this initiative even more amazing, and we are busy making this changes in advance of our Spring 2023 launch. 

1. Centralizing operations - Operations were spread across multiple locations. Centralizing all operations at the new farm will significantly lower costs by saving all the inefficiencies associated with continually moving food, dishes, supplies and equipment between the locations. 
2. Improving equipment - Transitioning to have the chefs use large kettles, skillets, combi ovens, dicing & peeling equipment, and filler wands will enable us to produce more delicious food each week and extend the service to everyone on the waitlist.  
3. Growing our own food - Over the coming year we are planning to build out over 14,000 sq.ft of greenhouse growing space and plant 2-4 acres of field crops. Seedlings are already being moved to the farm. Not only will this give us great farm to table quality but we are also anticipating food cost savings and significantly less waste.
4. Obtaining proper delivery vehicles - Right now, we have a fleet of small vehicles, as there are no 100% electric delivery vans on the market. By Spring 2023 we anticipate these being available, which should bring down our delivery costs by over 30%.
5. Developing recipes and customization features - Adding more choice into the service to better meet the varying dietary needs of meal service subscribers has been a big topic of conversation, and we will be putting these changes into action. 

All these improvements have great potential for making WAWWE not only a customer and workplace success, but also financially sustainable for the long run. 

 

Why is WAWWE a Social Enterprise? 
I thought you just made convenient delicious meals.

As a Social Enterprise, WAWWE aims to support humanity’s shift into a healthy relationship with food. 

The industrial food system is broken and the harm it creates is accelerating at a scary rate. The nutrient-poor, calorie-dense, high-sugar refined food it pumps out is causing most of the illnesses seen by doctors today. The devastation it wreaks on the environment, air, and water is absolutely horrifying. 

Most people understand all this, yet find it very difficult to switch to a planet-friendly diet. On a personal level we’ve struggled with this for years and kept resorting to what was familiar and convenient. WAWWE was founded to help solve this problem, and let people effortlessly switch from a destructive system to a planet-friendly regenerative one with the click of a few buttons. We believed that if the service was affordable, delicious, nourishing, saved time, and it improved individual, community and planet health, then switching would be a no-brainer and dead easy! 

We are putting funding and people power behind the WAWWE initiative that we see as crucial to our health - for our bodies, our community, and our planet. 

So how can I help?
If you would like to be more involved, have ideas, skills, financial resources or time to contribute, or simply want to receive updates, email us.