About the NEW Londonlicious Festival
Growing Chefs! Ontario presents Londonlicious: A local food festival featuring fantastic local restaurants, showcasing the best locally grown products and spotlighting what is unique and delicious in London, Ontario!
The Londonlicious festival was relaunched in 2023 with the aim to assist in the recovery of the Food Service industry, which was rebuilding after the impacts from a global pandemic. The goal of Londonlicious is to support local restaurants, growers, farmers and suppliers, and strengthen relationships between local agri-food businesses.
The Londonlicious Festival was previously recognized as a finalist for the 2023 “Culinary Tourism Event of Year” by the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario and the Culinary Tourism Alliance. We are exceptionally proud of this accomplishment in our first year running the bi-annual festival! As we move forward with Londonlicious planning, it will continue to evolve as we continually introduce new ideas. Growing Chefs! is extremely excited and honoured to be partnering with so many amazing restaurants and returning festival attendees as Londonlicious enters this next phase.
That next phase carries our larger ambition. Middlesex County and the region around it make up one of the richest agricultural areas in our Province. It is a landscape of farmers, growers, millers, cheesemakers and producers whose craft is the quiet foundation of every great meal served here. Our vision for Londonlicious is to make that abundance impossible to miss: to grow the festival into a true culinary destination, where locals and visitors alike come not only to eat well, but also to taste the character of this region and celebrate the people who cultivate it.
To get there, we’re building Londonlicious out, beyond the plate. Alongside our support and collaboration to restaurants who are seeking to support the local food economy, we’re introducing NEW ways to experience local food with curated events, hands-on experiences, and packages that pair a memorable meal with a weekend spent discovering our amazing city. We will be spotlighting the growers and suppliers behind each dish, so the journey from field to table becomes part of the story diners carry home and we’re deepening the relationships between our restaurants and the local suppliers that supply them, because when our whole local food system grows together, everyone at the table, and every business behind it, is stronger for it.
Growing Chefs! Ontario is a registered charity based in London, Ontario. We unite Chefs, growers, educators and community members through integrated food education projects. Our Mission: To change the way children, youth, families and the community learn about and develop healthy relationships with food. The Growing Chefs! Vision is to build a healthy, empowered community that is engaged with our food system. For over 17 years, Growing Chefs! Ontario has proven itself as a leading organization in Ontario, creating and providing impactful hands-on cooking and food literacy programming for schools, children, youth and families. Over 110,000 children and youth across London and area have participated to date.
Growing Chefs! Ontario is a registered charity based in London, Ontario. We unite Chefs, growers, educators and community members through integrated food education projects. Our Mission: To change the way children, youth, families and the community learn about and develop healthy relationships with food. The Growing Chefs! Vision is to build a healthy, empowered community that is engaged with our food system. For over 17 years, Growing Chefs! Ontario has proven itself as a leading organization in Ontario, creating and providing impactful hands-on cooking and food literacy programming for schools, children, youth and families. Over 110,000 children and youth across London and area have participated to date.
This year, Growing Chefs! Ontario has also been recognized with two awards at the 2025 Excellence in Agriculture Awards, presented by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness. Our team proudly took home both the Minister’s Choice Award and the Education Excellence Award! We’re so incredibly proud of our team’s accomplishments and we are deeply grateful to the Ministry for this recognition — and to our community, partners, and supporters who help us continue to grow and share the power of food education. Together, we’re building a healthier, more connected, and resilient local food system for generations to come.
We also operate two innovative social enterprises which help offset our overhead and administrative costs and account for over 55% of our annual income:
An established hot lunch program out of our commercial kitchen called The Beet Café. This past year, we provided over 125,000 hot and healthy lunches to our school and camp partners.
We host a variety of public and private events (for adults) at Growing Chefs! Headquarters at 460 King St (the old home of The Auberge du Petit Prince Restaurant).
As a charitable organization, having the ability to generate our own income through these social enterprises has decreased our reliance on traditional forms of fundraising such as government grants, and has been instrumental to our financial sustainability.
How This All Ties Into Our Mission at Growing Chefs:
We’re not just festival organizers. We’re food educators. At Growing Chefs! Ontario, our mission is to increase food literacy and connect people with local food systems. We believe:
- Food education is a powerful tool for equity, sustainability and self-empowerment
- Every restaurant can be a classroom; its very own place of learning
- Storytelling, sourcing, and service all shape how people experience food
By aligning Londonlicious with this mission, we’re aiming for longer-term impact:
- More informed and engaged diners
- Stronger, more visible restaurant-community relationships
- A city that understands how food systems impact our lives and celebrates food as a shared cultural experience, not just a commodity
To learn more about Growing Chefs! Ontario, our Food Education Programs for children and families, our unique Event Space and our School Lunch Program – visit www.growingchefsontario.ca
Andrew Fleet (he/him)
Executive Director & Co-Founder
Growing Chefs! Ontario
460 King St., London, ON N6B 1S9
226-700-2061
andrew@growingchefsontario.ca
growingchefsontario.ca
Connect with me on LinkedIn
Jennifer Wyant (she/her)
Executive Administrator
Growing Chefs! Ontario & Londonlicious.ca
460 King St., London, ON N6B 1S9
519-679-4769
jen@growingchefsontario.ca
growingchefsontario.ca
Connect with me on LinkedIn
If you believe in building a food secure community and you'd like to support us, please consider making a donation to our School Food Education Fund.
Andrew Fleet (he/him)
Executive Director & Co-Founder
Growing Chefs! Ontario
460 King St., London, ON N6B 1S9
226-700-2061
andrew@growingchefsontario.ca
growingchefsontario.ca
Connect with me on LinkedIn
Jennifer Wyant (she/her)
Executive Administrator
Growing Chefs! Ontario & Londonlicious.ca
460 King St., London, ON N6B 1S9
519-679-4769
jen@growingchefsontario.ca
growingchefsontario.ca
Connect with me on LinkedIn