the Stir
Empowering local people to access, grow, create, and market local food.
The Stir is the food hub for the Kamloops region, providing facility rentals, business mentorship and support to help local food entrepreneurs reach a wider market than they would otherwise be able to break into.
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A project of the Kamloops Food Policy Council and member of the BC Food Hub Network, The Stir is much more than a building. Our food hub is a network of shared kitchen facilities, support, and resources spread out across Kamloops and the surrounding region. Acting like a mycelium - a network of microscopic strands connecting mushrooms and the surrounding ecosystem - we work collaboratively to connect and strengthen our regional food system.
The Stir Phase One:
In phase one of our food hub we helped fund the new Gardengate Training Centre with a state-of-the-art commercial kitchen shared between Stir Makers and Gardengate’s horticultural therapy program. We also supported the Kweseltken Kitchen, a mobile food processing trailer that services rural indigenous communities.
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The Stir Phase Two:
The Stir is the second phase of the Kamloops food hub project. Located at 185 Royal Avenue in the heart of the North Shore, The Stir has two areas of focus: its Stirfront community spaces and a full-scale food processing facility, The Stir Kitchen.
The Stir Kitchen focuses on food preservation methods, such as canning and dehydration. Our facilities can help a small-scale sauce producer scale-up their business from a few dozen jars per day to over 1000 jars per day, giving them more time to work on their business, rather than in it. For more details on what our kitchen offers, check out our Stir Maker page.
​The Stir also provides ample opportunities for community connections around food, with its Stirfront. Located right off the bustling Tranquille Market Corridor, it's easy to attend workshops, peruse our seed library, or pick up CSA boxes and meat orders in our Stirfront space. Whether enjoying our beautiful public parklet, or attending community food-based events at our riverfront courtyard, The Stir brings our community together over the sharing of good food!
The Stir Phase Three:
In phase three, The Stir is strengthening our local food system by increasing our capacity for both local food processing and local food aggregation and distribution. The better we are able to feed ourselves from our own backyard, the more resilient our community will be in the face of global uncertainty and climate crises.
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We have secured funding in partnership with a local Indigenous fishery cooperative, Authentic Indigenous Seafood, to improve The Stir warehouse, and have constructed a large-scale walk-in freezer and dry warehouse storage. This partnership also includes ground transportation to distribute Kamloops-made products from our Stir Makers to various locations in BC.
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Phase three expands the use of our Stirfront space for food retail pop-ups, promotional events, and as a pickup location for online orders and third party vendors.
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In order to implement our local food distribution system, we hired a full-time Distribution Manager in the spring of 2023.
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Interested in what we do? Become a mushroom supporter to help us build a resilient local food system. ​
OUR TEAM
Working collaboratively to build a resilient and empowered local food system.
KENT FAWCETT
Food Hub Manager
Kent Fawcett is the Food Hub Manager and face behind The Stir. He is a highly skilled food entrepreneur and founder of the award-winning food processing company Local Pulse. He’s here to help local food businesses and up-and-coming food entrepreneurs along their journey using his own path as a guide.
Food is a labour of love for Kent. Passionate about food and sustainability, he thoroughly enjoys working with prospective food entrepreneurs at The Stir to turn their dream products into a “made in Kamloops” reality
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JAMES MAINE
Distribution Manager
James Maine is our Distribution Manager. He is a food systems professional with a background in remote supply chain design and implementation, culinary arts, and sustainable tourism. James is dedicated to the ideology of food and food equity as a core building block for the foundation of community and culture. He is keen to contribute to the ongoing history and objectives of food evolution and security with the Kamloops Food Policy Council.
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Miranda Barnett
Food Hub Coordinator
Miranda is passionate about fostering connected communities through the sharing of local food and beverages. She has 12 years of experience working in restaurants and has most recently moved on from a general management position with a local cafe.
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Miranda completed her BSc in 2020 at the University of Saskatchewan where she developed a deeper understanding of the threat of climate change and our need to develop systems for sustainability. She looks forward to becoming a positive force for change in building a more resilient and secure food system.
You can find her at The Stir upkeeping the facilities and supporting our Stirmakers Reach out to Miranda to learn how to become a Stir Maker and get cooking!
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Naya Macaulay
Communications Coordinator
Naya has always been passionate about food and its critical, overlooked places within societies and cultures.
Her dream is to open a sustainable coffee house and roastery while working in partnership with local food access organizations to supply meal programs.
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After graduating from Thompson Rivers University in 2024 she became interested in nonprofit work. The KFPC values resonated with her immediately, inspiring her to join the KFPC team.
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Naya supports The Stir with social media, digital marketing and coordinating rentals of our indoor and outdoor event venue spaces.
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