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A City of Penticton economic development officer says all signs are pointing to an evolution in the Okanagan Valley’s food industry.
Colleen Pennington says trends in the wine industry are already beginning to trickle down into the valley’s food industry, and will only get more pronounced in the coming years.
“We’re going to see more interest in locally grown food and how that food gets from the farm to the table,” she says.
The Okanagan’s wine industry is booming, and continuing to grow ever-larger. Pennington says there are now 100 wineries within a one-hour drive of Penticton.
Many wineries, and the guests that visit them, place a high priority on locally sourced and organic food, and Pennington says that focus is starting to change the local food landscape.
The wine industry drives food tourism, she says, and that tourism naturally spills out beyond wineries to local restaurants. As restaurants start to embrace the desire for more local food it begins to affect the entire supply chain.
“We are seeing the growth in the number of wineries, of course … but we’re also seeing a growth in the whole supply chain around it,” Pennington says.
She says her office has counted 120 firms that currently service the area’s wine industry, a number she say is “sort of a harbinger” of the maturation of the industry.
As the region grows and tourism becomes more year-round and tied to food “it will change the landscape as well,” she says. A prime example of that trend in action is “Restaurant Week,” which is happening right now in Penticton.
During Restaurant Week, which takes place from Feb 17-26, local restaurants are showcasing some of their best, locally sourced menu items and donating proceeds from their sales to local charities.
Organizers of the event say one of the main goals is to give local chefs a chance to show off some of the work they are doing with local products.
Pennington says the growing demand for local food is also evident in the region’s farmer’s markets.
More than 5,000 people an hour going through Penticton’s markets during peak summer season, something she say “is a reflection of demand for local food.”
She guesses that in five years that demand will develop much more prominently, and points to local businesses like Front Street Brasserie and The People’s Crafthouse as some of the early examples of the changing “food and beverage culture” in the region.
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