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The quick read: Five Central Okanagan food businesses are in Toronto this week, showing off at Grocery Innovations Canada, one of the country's leading grocery trade shows. Cabin 5, UMAMI Crave the Fifth, Little Creek Dressing, Mindful FÜD and Planty of Nosh are staffing the Okanagan pavilion, backed by the Central Okanagan Economic Development Commission, with a chance to land shelf space with retailers across Canada.

Five Okanagan food makers have taken their products to the national stage.

This week, the five businesses are exhibiting at Grocery Innovations Canada in Toronto, one of Canada's leading grocery and specialty food trade shows, with support from the Central Okanagan Economic Development Commission.

The companies, Cabin 5, UMAMI Crave the Fifth, Little Creek Dressing, Mindful FÜD and Planty of Nosh, are sharing the COEDC's Okanagan pavilion, meeting retailers from across the country as they look for new markets beyond British Columbia.

Why Toronto, why now

Getting in front of national buyers is the hardest step for a small food producer, and it is also the most expensive.

The COEDC says that is exactly the barrier its pavilion is meant to lower, and the trip is paired with Accelerate Okanagan's Market Diversification Fund, delivered with support from the Economic Trust of the Southern Interior, which matches investments up to $10,000 to help businesses reach new markets.

Export Navigator also partnered with the COEDC to run two pre-event workshops, giving the exhibitors practical strategies for trade show success and buyer engagement before they hit the show floor.

As COEDC economic development officer Nji Mbitaownu put it, connecting local producers directly with national and international buyers is about turning potential into opportunity, opening doors to new partnerships and expanding market reach.

In the makers' own words

Stephanie Gaudette of UMAMI Crave the Fifth said the show lines up perfectly with her goal of introducing the company's gluten-free, plant-based sauces, soup mixes and power bowl sides to Eastern Canada, and that without COEDC support it would have been very difficult to explore those markets.

Venessa Stonehouse of Mindful FÜD said getting in front of buyers across the country is not easy as a small business, and that she was grateful for the support to share what her company is building alongside other Okanagan businesses.

Deb Helbig of Little Creek Dressing said building relationships is the key to success, and Marie-Claude Lanctot Mills of Planty of Nosh said direct conversations with retailers and distributors help a small business understand how it fits in the Eastern market.

Why this matters

This is how a regional economy grows without a government program doing the growing for it.

Five private businesses made products people want, a local economic agency helped them afford the trip to the buyers, and a modest matching fund stretched their own investment further.

Kelowna's designation as a UNESCO City of Gastronomy gets mentioned a lot, but designations do not sell dressing.

Founders standing in a Toronto trade show, shaking hands with buyers, do.

If even one of these five lands a national listing, the jobs and the supply chain stay right here in the Central Okanagan.

That is a win worth reporting, and worth repeating next year.

Sources: Central Okanagan Economic Development Commission, October 28, 2026; Accelerate Okanagan.

Photo credit: Photo by Anne Preble on Unsplash