Header 33b Industry
Header Wine Barrels
Header Buy Local
Header Employ 110K
Header Buy Local Vegetables
Header Chicken and Asparagus

In their own words…

I worked my way up from a line worker to a supervisor. It’s part of my job to remind my team that they have every opportunity to do the same. ”

Julie, Afternoon Supervisor at Grand River Foods.

Food processing is the second largest economic engine in Ontario…it offers stable and reliable employment. It doesn’t boom and bust.”

Craig Richardson, President of Grand River Foods

I am proud to work in an industry where I get to work with many different people who are passionate about what they do. Our work feeds the province, the country and more and more, the world.”

Jane Graham, Executive Director of the Alliance of Ontario Food Processors.

The Food and Beverage industry is so important to the continued wealth of Ontario; anything that improves this sector will help the province.”

Kim Turnbull, Chair of the Agricultural Adaptation Council

From product developers to marketers to operators of the newest and cutting edge technologies, the food and beverage processing industry has a variety of flexible and interesting careers that you might not have even known about!”

Rob Anderson, V.P. Operations, Bonduelle North America.

Industry snapshot

We are... the largest customer for Ontario farmers, buying the vast majority of their production.

We are... the second largest manufacturing sector in Ontario; a $33 billion industry employing over 110,000 directly and at least another 100,000 people in related industries.

We are... the third largest food cluster in North America. Ontario is a leader in safe, high quality food products for consumers worldwide. Ontario is easily accessible to the entire North American market and within a one-day drive of over 140 million consumers.

ontario's food and beveage processing industry

We are... investors. Ontario food and beverage processors invested over $900 million in capital expenditures in recent years.

We are... innovators. Innovation and quality are the foundation of the industry and we are developing new, high quality products that improve the health and wellbeing of consumers. You can find our products in grocery stores, bakeries, wine retailers, restaurants, butcher shops, ice cream shops and more.

We are... exporters. Ontario's food and beverage sector exports more than $8 billion worth of products, over 40 percent of the value of Canada's total food and beverage processing shipments.

We are... Provincewide, in communities large and small. There are more than 3,000 food processing businesses in the province, of which 700 are located in rural communities.