Former NHLer Teams Up With Sobeys To Save ‘Outcast’ Fruits And Vegetables
HALIFAX – Have you ever noticed that fresh produce at grocery stores all look the same? They all have a perfect shape, bright colours, and all are appetizing to the eyes. Of course, not every fruit and vegetable grows out of the ground looking perfect. The produce that doesn’t meet grocery store standards often end up thrown away, even if they are edible.
But a Halifax company, Outcast Foods, has recently partnered with Sobeys to reuse “misfit” fruits and vegetables into a health product. Sobeys has pledged to reduce food waste by 50 percent by the year 2025.
Outcast Foods was incorporated three years ago by former NHL forward TJ Galiardi and Dr. Darren Burke, whom Galiardi met while playing for the Colorado Avalanche. Burke sold supplements to pro athletes at the time, and the two became long-time friends. After Galiardi retired in 2017, the two decided to start a business together.
“The timing was right, and we wanted to tap into this waste issue,” said Galiardi. “Darren and I are both vegan and care a lot about the environment.”
The company uses a patent-pending process to dry fruits and vegetables, giving them an extra three years of shelf life. The produce is used in Outcast’s Plant Strong Protein products, which happens to be available in Sobeys and other stores. Other food companies also purchase Outcast’s creations to use as ingredients.
The deal between Sobeys and Outcast works perfectly for both parties. Normally, Sobeys would pay a tipping fee to dump food waste in a landfill. But Outcast takes the produce off their hands for no charge, giving the protein company free ingredients. Outcast also works with 15 different farms inside and outside Nova Scotia to use their unused produce.
“The stuff regarded as uglier misfit produce, it’s a huge percentage of farm yield,” said Galiardi. “That’s the majority of the product we get, is misfit, especially from the farms.”
“The channels that they sell into, they will not buy it unless it’s perfect. It’s a problem that I think we’ve created as consumers. We expect perfect produce at the grocery store…Everyone’s guilty of it. I’ll look at 20 apples to find the best one and don’t touch the other 19.”
Dr. Burke is from Nova Scotia, but Galiardi was born and raised in Alberta. When asked why he set up Outcast Foods in Halifax, he said there are plenty of advantages in doing business in the Maritimes.
“I didn’t know this beforehand, but the Atlantic provinces are the best place in Canada to start a business,” said Galiardi. “And Canada, as most people know, is way better than the United States. So, in North America, there’s probably no better place to start a business.”
“The government support is incredible. The work-talent is quite substantial, with the amount of universities around. People don’t realize how active the talent pool is.”