FCPC launches new food and beverage cluster

Driving one of the Greater Toronto Area’s best kept economic secrets forward

TORONTO, April 27, 2015 /CNW/ – Food & Consumer Products of Canada (FCPC), with the strong support of our public and private sector partners, is pleased to launch the GTA Food and Beverage Cluster, an initiative aimed at making one of the region’s most significant economic drivers even stronger.

A Cluster strategy is a focused approach to regional economic development that is internationally proven to be one of the strongest avenues to increased business growth and new connections.

With close to 60,000 people in the GTA working in the sector every day, food and beverage manufacturing is the number one manufacturing employer in the region, larger than auto, and the second in North America – outside Los Angeles.

The time is now. We are absolutely committed to continuing to make the food manufacturing sectors one of the strongest in the world. And, the destination where companies from right here in our own backyard and from around the world, choose to invest.

Specifically, we are proud to announce a new information hub www.gtafoodcluster.ca that captures an annual labour market survey, food industry specific post-secondary program offerings, business support opportunities with government, academia and stakeholders and information to promote the economic clout of the sector.

Pictured from left to right are: Anne Sado, president, George Brown College; Norm Beal, president, Food and Beverage Ontario; Nancy Croitoru, president and CEO, Food & Consumer Products of Canada; Dan Magliocco, president, Mondelez Canada International; Janet De Silva, president and CEO, Toronto Region Board of Trade; Norm Kelly, Toronto City Councillor; and Winnie Chiu and Chef John Higgins, also from George Brown College, at a cooking demonstration at George Brown College’s Food and Innovation Research Studio (FIRSt).