Our Team

Navigating the competitive and challenging food sector can be complex, especially as businesses grow and face new decisions.

Farm Food Drink works alongside farm and food businesses to support steady, long-term growth. Whether you need market research, business planning, marketing support, or a combination of all three, our teams help you connect with your customers and clear, practical next steps.

Much of our success is rooted in grassroots relationships and strong connections within the food industry. We share a social purpose with our clients, working together to strengthen regional food systems and local food economies.

We work exclusively in the agri-food sector, supporting small and medium-sized farm and food businesses across Canada. The values, care, and dedication we see in our clients guide how we work and shape every project we take on. For us, "doing good work with good people doing good things (with food)" isn't a slogan, it's what anchors everything we do.

Meet some of our team...

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Rob McCowan

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.

Silvia Chong

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.

Hannah Franes

Hannah is passionate about supporting small food businesses through high quality design that reflects each businesses unique context.

With a degree in Communication Design from Emily Carr University and experience working with small food businesses she blends her creativity, locally food knowledge, and design expertise to produce impactful work.

Originally from a small town in Interior BC, Hannah now calls New Brunswick home, blending diverse design influences into her projects. Her work emphasizes clear, user-friendly design and continuous learning to keep her ideas fresh.

Chas Danielson

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.

Dawn Postnikoff

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.

Edith Yiu

Edith Yiu brings extensive project management experience to her role in research planning and coordination at Farm Food Drink. She has led complex, multi-stakeholder projects across financial services, academia, and the food sector, guiding work from early scoping through delivery and real-world application. Edith holds a Master of Food and Resource Economics from the University of British Columbia, grounding her work in a strong understanding of food systems and resource decision-making. She works with clients and teams to shape research questions, brings the right expertise to each project, and translates research into insight that supports practical, confident decisions. Fluent in English, Cantonese, and Mandarin, Edith is known for her calm, structured, listening-first approach.

Karla May Karcioglu

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.

David Basu Roy

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.

Salik Hasan Aslam

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.

Kerry McArthur

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.

Bonnie Chomica

Bonnie draws on her expertise as a marketing professional to support Farm Food Drink and their food-business clients to develop marketing strategies, communications and implementation plans. As an experienced workshop leader and facilitator, she professionally manages meeting structure and conversations to ensure a quality experience for participants. Bonnie also supports women-led ventures in her own marketing business with an emphasis on building brand messaging and gaining market visibility.

Tammi Hall

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!

Sheena Gnos

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.

Greg McLaren

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.