How the Red Deer Food Bank Became a Social Enterprise Nobody Saw Coming - Mitch Thomson

They run a commercial kitchen with Red Seal Chefs. They operate food trucks and a catering company that books nearly 300 events a year. They have a culinary classroom open to the public. They grow their own produce year-round in hydroponic sea-cans and a greenhouse. They just added a mushroom farm. They run a market where clients choose their own products because the data shows it cuts waste by 30 percent. They serve a region of 20,000 square kilometres, six days a week. What kind of business is that? It's the Red Deer Food Bank. And Mitch Thomson rebuilt it. I toured this facility about nine months ago. My wife thought I was going to quit my job and volunteer there full-time because I could not stop talking about what I had seen. Today you're going to hear why. Mitch is the Executive Director of the Red Deer Food Bank Society, and this is not a charity episode. It's a conversation about what happens when someone takes a nonprofit most people associate with canned goods and drop boxes and builds a functioning multi-stream enterprise inside it. Andrew and Mitch get into the strategic thinking behind the social enterprise model, the September 2024 moment when Mitch posted photos of nearly empty shelves and said "this is as bad as it gets," what it actually costs to lead an organization that people depend on when they have nowhere else to go, and the question nobody has asked him: what a career spent this close to human fragility does to a person over time. This is one of the most important conversations about business, community, and leadership this show has had. Money isn't the main currency of a good life. This podcast gives you the tools to build a life of meaning and fulfillment. Free Ultimate Goal Setting Framework → thecurrencyofhappiness.com Subscribe on YouTube →    / @thecurrencyofhappiness   Instagram → instagram.com/thecurrencyofhappiness Support the Red Deer Food Bank → reddeerfoodbank.com | @reddeerfb Catering & Food Trucks → rdfb.ca | @rdfb_catering | @rdfb_kitchen49 Listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts → Search "The Currency of Happiness" If this episode hit home, share it with one person. Every share helps build what comes next.