About the Hub
The Halifax Regional Food Hub is an active and emerging project that seeks to build and strengthen Nova Scotia’s local food system by connecting local producers throughout mainland Nova Scotia to wholesale buyers in Halifax, Dartmouth, and adjacent communities. The Hub will provide services that include aggregation, storage (dry, cold and frozen), online ordering and payment processing, order fulfillment and delivery, and a rentable commercial kitchen. Wholesale buyers will include community organizations, institutions and independently-owned food businesses.
Why a food hub? We engaged people throughout the food system who identified challenges such as a lack of infrastructure and distribution to support local producers, and opportunities for further collaboration and networking within the local food system. This is especially true for small to medium sized producers not having an economically viable channel to sell to wholesale buyers. The Halifax Regional Food Hub aims to address this gap by designing a cost-effective distribution model to support and connect producers to wholesale buyers. By supporting local producers, building Nova Scotia's local food infrastructure, and creating efficient channels for food distribution, the Halifax Regional Food Hub will increase Nova Scotia's economic resiliency, food security and food sovereignty.
The first five phases of the initial work plan are highlighted in the Final Report. This report justifies the need for a Halifax-based food hub focused on distribution, storage and aggregation, and informs the next phase: implementation of the business plan. To view our March 2023 Executive Summary Draft click here.
A hub and spoke model The Halifax Regional Food Hub uses a hub and spoke model that allows for greater efficiency, collaboration and scale of impact to connect and support producers, buyers and food hubs throughout mainland Nova Scotia. Products produced in rural regions will be transported to one central location in the population-dense Halifax region, where they can be aggregated, stored and distributed to wholesale buyers.
Who We Are
The team for this project includes a working group composed of organizations with a mission of supporting food security and food sovereignty, and a consulting team (Flourish Community Development Co-operative) composed of community economic development experts. The working group represents stakeholders throughout the food system, including: food producers, wholesale buyers, food system intermediaries (e.g. other food hubs, local food distributors, et al.), nonprofits and community groups.
Ghita Rhammaz (she/her)
Ghita Rhammaz, Owner of Novalea Kitchen Inc, a shared commercial kitchen serving as a hub for small food businesses in the north end of Halifax. Known as Novalea Kitchen and Market, they offer kitchen rental, Moroccan meals to go and catering as well as some groceries.
Ghita Rhammaz, has a background in business management and accounting and has been involved in many community projects and organizations such as Clayton Park association, NSICC and others to help bring the communities together.
Our Board Members
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