Our Team
About Us
As you maneuver through a highly competitive and challenging food sector, Farm Food Drink has a team of industry leaders to help you grow your business and be sustainable for the long haul. Whether you need market research, business planning, marketing, or all three teams, we can help you better connect with your customer and get the right things done to grow your business.
Much of our success has come at the grass roots level, rooted in our client and food industry connections. We share a social purpose with our food business and social enterprise clients in growing regional food systems and local food economies.
We are exclusive to the agri-food sector and serve only small to medium food and farm companies. All of our team is empowered and enriched by the values, passion and work ethic of our clients, this fuels our work. That’s why “Doing good work with good people doing good things (with food)” is our true mission.
Meet some of our team...
Greg has decades of proven industry experience in business development, strategic planning, and marketing. With a background in big business and a social purpose to develop local food economies, Greg has one foot in a dress shoe, one in a gumboot. Although ultra confident in both worlds, his passion lies with small food and farm companies. Greg excels at and loves the collaboration process, using the first-hand experience of our client’s vision, products, and operation to form their strategy for market growth and sustainability. This two way, sharing and learning process is what fuels his ongoing journey to grow BC’s local food economy.
Venture-Capital Ready Project Manager
Sheena is the hub for all client and Farm Food Drink activities, and excels at managing all the details. She coordinates the many campaigns, projects, and plans while liaising with clients, coordinating government and industry players, and wrangling our team of specialists to ensure all are heading to the right field. A strong communicator, Sheena loves to work with all these strong personalities, and is motivated to help clients tell their story and make their vision a reality.
As Creative Director for Farm Food Drink and our lead graphic designer, Tammi guides branding and marketing projects for both clients and FFD. She brings 20-plus years of creative leadership to bridge our clients’ unique stories and products to connect with their customers. With brand elements, positioning strategies, and creative designs, Tammi is a source of brilliant ideas. Her mantra - Good Work for Good People!
Bonnie uses her marketing and social media expertise to develop marketing strategies, communications and implementation plans for small farms and food processors. These plans outline key tactics and positioning statements that connect with the end consumer. Growing a food forest on her third of an acre, Bonnie understands the challenges of what’s involved to work the land and wants to help farmers and food processors build a sustainable business.
Kerry brings over 30 years of communications experience to the Farm Food Drink team. Her background in journalism introduced her to the corporate world of public affairs, which in turn spurred her interest in communications scholarship. Leaving Alberta for the cherry and plum orchards of the central Kootenays, she’s subsequently learned about the power of grant writing, the primacy of food production in western Canada, and the extraordinary community-minded spirit of rural BC.
Salik leverages his interdisciplinary background in biotech and business management to help small food producers and processors maximize their value. His desire to uplift the local ag-food sector stems from his passion for community empowerment through education, and his belief that local food systems are at the heart of sustainable development. With a diverse cultural exposure and a broad spectrum of experiences, in market research, agriculture consultancy and post-secondary teaching and research, Salik brings a global perspective, deep understanding of intercultural communication and a scientific approach for small farmers and businesses aiming to achieve sustainability and profitability.
Dave has spent the last decade strengthening the local food system, exploring food sustainability as a student, activist, teacher, entrepreneur, chef, and farmer. Now he channels those skills while working on Farm Food Drink business planning projects, where he helps clients develop strategies to navigate difficult markets, expand to reach a sustainable scale, develop new products and/or processes, and refine their production economics.
Karla constantly finds herself inspired by the stories of local businesses, and continues to find creative ways to help them market their uniqueness within tight budgets. Her approach to marketing strategy often blends with her strong understanding of good sales strategy. Having transitioned from a career in journalism to a career in marketing over a decade ago, her experience spans across numerous marketing disciplines. Karla’s passion for supporting local businesses began long before her career in marketing, and you will often find her strolling through downtown cores looking for great local finds, and sampling all the best local eateries and breweries. Bonus: Karla’s previous work with a Kamloops-based local farm/produce retailer has furnished her with fresh insights and understanding of storytelling and promoting local produce, farms, and food producers.
Venture-Capital Ready Administrator
Self-described as a “dog with a bone” when it comes to organizing Farm Food Drink’s many workshops and projects, Heather is a former food entrepreneur with direct experience in the Canadian food industry. Previous owner of a 4th Avenue café in Vancouver, an independent fabric designer, and the originator of Gone Crackers gourmet crackers, she has moved on to a less frenetic life as a gardener, fermenter and Farm Food Drink Assistant Co-ordinator in Campbell River, BC.
With over 20 years of leadership experience in the food, tourism and hospitality industry, Dawn has developed a solid network of business relationships and an extensive toolkit of resources to help other owners thrive. Her strength is in making things happen — she is a connector, builder and problem solver. She is passionate about local food, business development & marketing strategies, and is always looking for new ways to approach a situation. As a strategic advisor, Dawn works with small business owners to generate ideas and develop creative strategies to facilitate growth. She is a writer, restaurateur and business consultant who has always been passionate about food, cooking, and culinary adventures.
With a degree in digital media and journalism, Chas Danielson has a keen understanding of how to leverage social media to help small businesses thrive. Her passion lies in using creative strategies and trend-driven content to boost visibility and engagement for companies that might otherwise go unnoticed. Chas combines a natural flair for storytelling with data-driven insights to develop social campaigns that resonate with audiences and drive results. While adept at navigating the fast-paced world of online trends, her true passion is helping local businesses build a lasting presence in their communities. Chas is dedicated to empowering these companies, one hashtag at a time, using her unique combination of expertise and enthusiasm to ensure they get the traction they deserve.
Sylvia brings her multi-faceted talents to Farm Food Drink as a food processing mastermind and an expert in Canadian food quality management and regulatory compliance. What that means is that if you’ve got a technical challenge, be it a manufacturing, quality, product development, safety or regulatory compliance issue, she can fix it. Her previous work with food manufacturers (processed fruits & vegetables, meat and condiments) led her into work in the product development field; she expanded that knowledge into food safety, quality management, and workshop facilitation. She is owner/consultant to Foundtree Product Design, and in her spare time she can be found wild-crafting, growing and extracting herbs for her cosmetics line, Forage and Soothe Herbal Essentials.
Rob spent 20 years at a large, successful BC food distributor, growing from a territory sales rep to the Director of Sales, Marketing and Procurement. From there he shifted gears, helping a well-established Vancouver food manufacturer restructure its business for long term growth and prosperity. Currently, Rob is a managing partner with a small Vancouver Island based food brokerage, representing a number of food producers. Sharing experiences, solving challenges, and working with Farm Food Drink over the past several years has been a joy; collaborating on ideas and strategies helps small BC food producers get through their next steps. Change, challenge, and opportunity is always happening in the food industry, and connecting food processors with food retailers is never dull.