The City of Thunder Bay had recently put into action its Thunder Bay and Area Food Strategy, which seeks to scale up the purchase of local/Ontario-grown food for four daycares and three long-term care facilities for whom the city procures food for. 

The city met the 2% benchmark with ease, and this baseline report outlines next steps in meeting the 10% and opening opportunities for increase of local food by public sector buyers, while also presents the findings from the first task in developing the local food service model for the City of Thunder Bay.

The report focuses on two components of said task:

"1. Conducting a detailed assessment of current NW Ontario/Ontario food purchasing processes and products, price points, and available inventory at each of four municipally funded day care centres and three long-term care facilities to establish a baseline of local food purchases.

2. Confirming stakeholder issues through a standardized data collection process in order to develop baseline measurements and track increases in local foods procurement (i.e. a system for benchmarking results)."

Read Local Food Model For The City Of Thunder Bay Broader Public Sector Institutional Procurement

The City of Thunder Bay has also published its procurement plan, which outlines the challenges of local food procurement, it's model for procuring locally, and procurement activities the city has conduct.

Read Institutional Local Food Growing Forward: A Procurement Plan.

Lastly, Thunder Bay has created a procurement and resource guide for purchasers of all stripes, offering tips, suggestions, tools and templates to simplify local food purchasing.

Read Institutional Local Food Procurement: A Field Guide For Managers And Cooks.