Behind the Kitchen

Our kitchen was born out of necessity. Before the opening of the Better Bite Community Kitchen, the meals for the New Dawn Meals On Wheels program were provided by community partners. After seeing growth in the ageing population of Cape Breton and increased client demand for Meals On Wheels, we were limited in our ability to source the large number of meals necessary to support the program.

Additionally, we were seeing an increased need for therapy-specific diets such as diabetic- and cardiac-friendly meals. We decided to take on meal production for ourselves and to customize meals for our clients through our own menu. Once we had a functioning Meals On Wheels kitchen, it was an obvious next step was to begin culinary education and training programs.

In the past year alone, Better Bite Community Kitchen prepared over 12,569 meals for New Dawn Meals On Wheels and hosted over 1,300 program participants at our free workshops, events, and programs.

The Good Food Bus

Being a community-centric organization, we are always looking for new opportunities and community-led projects to support or partner with. In 2019, Meals On Wheels and A Better Bite were approached by the Island Food Network and United Way of Cape Breton to act as the community host for a Cape Breton Mobile Food Market pilot (The Good Food Bus). This project has allowed us to broaden our service and expand our reach across the island.

The Good Food Bus officially launched on September 6, 2019. The pilot had 8 locations and we went to each location every three weeks. After successfully serving 837 customers over the three-month pilot, we are thrilled to continue to run the project into the winter months.

The Convent and the Better Bite Cafe

As we kick off 2020, we’re growing again. We are excited to announce that in the Spring, Better Bite Community Kitchen will expand to The Covent. With access to a larger, customized kitchen we will be better equipped to serve our Meals On Wheels clients and even open our own café.

The Better Bite Café will provide members of the community fresh, healthy meals and snacks. Revenue generated from the café will be reinvested into our Meals On Wheels and Better Bite programming which goes toward our goal to provide programming, events, and workshops at no cost to participants.