Every year, small business week celebrates entrepreneurs and their contributions towards building our future. This is that same week that marks the start of our RT | Foundation that’ll remain open for a month, so a great deal of businesses can apply.
The success of small businesses is a valuable facet in Canada’s economy. Small business owners take a chance on themselves and their product, they take their passions and use it to fuel their ambitions. With every application to the RT | Foundation, we’re able to read about every passion and diverse goals of sustainability.
We created the RT | Foundation because we were inspired by Herbert from Café Las Peñas in Costa Rica. He was the first RT | Foundation award recipient, and we created this initiative to help him upgrade his packaging with a custom design that represents who Café Las Peñas is.
In honour of Small Business Week, let’s look at some of our previous RT | Foundation winners.
2023
Found
In 2019, Leighton Walters moved from Australia, and headed to Toronto, Canada with a dream. Leighton wanted to create a café experience that didn’t just look and taste good, but one that feels good and does good too. A safe space for people to escape their daily lives and know that they’ve found a community.Leighton’s goal for Found is to be more than a coffee shop, starting with being an everyday opportunity to impact someone’s life for the better.Where to find them:
found.coffee @found.coffee.to
2022
Live On Chocolate
Stacey had set out to “create the best tasting, yet healthiest chocolate in the world that we can ‘LIVEON’ – it can be enjoyed every single day without guilt.” The messaging she wanted to incorporate in her packaging highlights the hard work going into her product, “The hard work of the cacao farmers who grow, pick, and dry the beans – the hard work that I put into turning those beans in magic for dietary restricted customers.”Where to find them:
liveonchocolate.ca @liveonchocolate
Chien Gourmand
Brianna Vu is both a full-time student and passionate entrepreneur from Montreal, QC. Her pup, Sidor, is the inspiration for Chien Gourmand – a sustainable company producing healthy and delicious food toppings for dogs.Chien Gourmand values canine well-being, eco-responsibility, and being passionate about the daily lives of our dogs and their food products. “Our products are designed for dog owners who want to improve and vary their dog’s daily diet at a reasonable price”.Where to find them:
chiengourmand.ca @chien.gourmand
2021
Northern Wildflowers Inc.
A family-owned business that aims to increase habitats for our pollinators and to support Canadian farmers and wild seed collectors. They donate a minimum of 1% of their annual sales to causes supporting urban food security, outdoor classrooms, and re-greening. They harvest their seeds at the wildflower farm in Whitefish, ON or they’re sustainably sourced from the wild.Where to find them:
northernwildflowers.ca @northern_wildflowers
We can’t wait for our 5th annual RT | Foundation to start up again, so we can read the adventures of all the small businesses applying.