Teen Chef Club Canada - The Kootenays’ Newest Social Enterprise
In 2021, former bakery owner turned culinary business advisor Mandi Lunan and Trail & District Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Erika Krest noticed an alarming trend— young people were no longer entering the fields of culinary arts, agriculture, and foods. And some of them weren’t even learning how to cook at all.
Together, Erika and Mandi created an innovative, first of its kind program to solve this problem. Empowering those 12-18 years old to shop at their local market (Rossland, Trail, Fruitvale), create meals based on a monthly theme, and to participate in zoom cooking classes hosted by local foodies and professional chefs such as Chef Barrie Elliott from Fernie Catering Company.
This low barrier program is unique as it empowers youth to participate in their local markets as active consumers, and to learn about and cook foods they are interested in at home. The program's first cohort ran in the summer of 2021.
It was immediately a hit.
The program curriculum was extended to 3 years for those who wished to return, with the monthly challenges intensifying each year. At the completion of the third and final year, youth receive their Foodsafe certification so they can enter the industry immediately, be it part time at an after school job or full time as a professional. To date, the program has high overall satisfaction rates from members and parents alike and has been praised by industry organizations and professionals.
Other communities took notice, and in 2023 the “Teen Chef Club” model was licensed to an organization in the Northwest Territories for use among their teens, where it was also a success.
The club produces results, among them a 2023 member now running a bakery in Chilliwack, another who has just completed her first year of culinary school at Selkirk College, in addition to the many who have gone on to obtain part time employment in culinary fields in the community while attending school.
Teen Chef Club Logo by Christina’s Creations in Castlegar
Thanks to a Social Enterprise Business planning program facilitated by Community Futures East Kootenay and the Impact Toolbox, in 2026 the Kootenay Teen Chef Club has evolved into “Teen Chef Clubs Canada”, one of the first social enterprises in Trail and District. With Logistics Director Erika Krest of the Trail & District Chamber of Commerce and Mandi Lunan, Facilitating Director, the social enterprise will license and deliver the Chef Club Program business model to community organizations who wish to facilitate their own clubs in their own communities using a proven, successful model.
As of this writing, Teen Chef Clubs Canada has been announced as a nominee for the Good Food Innovation Awards as a Community Food Innovator, joining a national community of leaders recognized for shaping Canada’s culinary identity, an incredible honour.
For more information on bringing a Chef Club chapter to your community, please get in touch with the Trail & District Chamber of Commerce.
You can see what the members are cooking up at Teen Chef Club Canada on Facebook and Instagram.
About the Author
Mandi Lunan founded a bakery and ran it for over a decade, then evolved into a food business advisor. She relocated from Ottawa to Warfield in 2020 having never been to the Kootenays.