Innovation

Reggie Olson, the founder, owner and head chef of Scratch Box Gastro Truck, has been working in the restaurant industry for 27 years. His biggest innovation is being sustainable and 98% gluten-free, the 2% being their non-gluten-free bun options. Opening in 2021 in Stittsville (Ottawa), Olson stated he started his business almost accidentally because he was tired of large corporations not caring about their waste and impact on surrounding communities. 

The main Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that Olson follows are No Poverty, Zero Hunger, Decent Work and Economic Growth, and finally Responsible Consumption and Production. By having his "free days" and his partnership with Operation Come Home, an Ottawa-based social services organization, giving back to local youth and his community is a significant part of his business. Zero Hunger goes hand-in-hand with the aforementioned No Poverty SDG. Scratch Box has 1-2 days a year that are completely free to anyone who attends. They also join other local companies to participate in six to seven charity events each year. 

In regards to SDG 8, Decent Work and Economic Growth, Olson believes in giving "youngsters" a chance. He gives fair wages to all, not following any student wage guidelines. He believes in helping people gain valuable skills and learn the usefulness of hard work. Responsible Consumption and Production is probably the biggest deal in his business. Olson shops for food three times a week to maintain freshness, sourcing local ingredients from grocery stores and bakeries, not from large food distributors. He focuses largely on food portions, as well as the quality and quantity of the food they sell, not just one over the other. 

Inspiration

Chef Reggie Olson has been in the restaurant industry for a long time, working for big corporations and running different restaurants throughout his career. He discussed his experience working for one "monster corporation," and he began to realize that people just didn't care about their work, their surroundings, or their communities. He noticed astronomical amounts of food waste and a lack of quality, and the careless environment began causing him to care less. Once he left that job and started at a different company, he rediscovered his love for cooking and for quality. 

Unfortunately, COVID-19 began shutting restaurants down everywhere, which caused Chef Reggie and his spouse to discuss opening a food truck. He shared that "[they] started just kind of joking around, saying maybe a food truck one day; [his] spouse and [him], [they] just kinda started looking around, and then one came up at a really good price, so [they] bought it." Once the food truck was purchased, Olson began planning his business with a mindset; he wasn't going to follow the rules he saw in big corporations. He went into his business with community, quality, and doing the right thing as priorities. 

Chef Reggie discussed the importance of sustainability and social responsibility, whether it makes a huge impact or not, as he stated, "if I don't do it, nobody's gonna do it either. So I try and be a leader in that sort of thing to try and help out as many people as we can." Olson was unaware of the UN Sustainable Development Goals until this interview, when he realized he already participated in multiple goals. 

Overall impact

The impact of Scratch Box Gastro Truck's use of the SDGs has helped both short-term and long-term in the community and the business. 

Short-term effects can be related to his partnership with Operation Come Home. As was previously mentioned, giving back to his local youth is a big part of his business. There are, at most, ten employees working under the company at any given time. Olson is committed to providing as many opportunities as possible to as many people as possible when they are in need of jobs. This could be considered short-term due to the constant rotation of employees, as he is trying to help young people get on their feet. He also sources his ingredients locally and sustainably, supporting local businesses such as grocery stores and bakeries, and providing fresh food in the community.  

Long-term effects are focused on the lack of waste coming from Olson's business. He takes pride in how little is thrown away and ensures that he buys only as much as is needed and never more. From another point of view, he discussed how when they first opened up back in 2021, he was finding "half the container in the garbage of food." This made Olson realize that the portions he was selling were far too large and cut a chunk of what was being served to shrink any waste. Over time, this will be sure to help reduce consumption and production waste. While he is a small business, even a little bit will make a huge impact and hopefully inspire more companies to do the same.

Business benefit

Chef Reggie's participation in the "Decent Work and Economic Growth" and "Responsible Consumption and Production" SDGs benefits both his business and his community alike. As briefly mentioned earlier, Olson does not follow guidelines such as student wages because he believes everyone should receive fair compensation for their hard work. He also believes "everybody deserves a shot no matter what," so upon opening his second food truck he had a total of nine employees, which for a food truck is a lot, but he wanted to provide job opportunities for people. 

By hiring "youngsters", he not only provides job opportunities, but he teaches them valuable life skills and lessons they can carry on with them throughout their careers. Reggie stated "I'd love to open up a larger restaurant one day, and then this way, we can employ more people", which goes to show how important the eighth SDG is to him. Because Scratch Box cares about their employees and community, people enjoy working there and people consistently request Chef Reggie for charity events. 

Additionally, Olson participates greatly in the twelfth SDG, Responsible Consumption and Production, which also benefits the business and environment. One of Chef Reggie's big rules is that food waste needs to be under 2%, and he achieves this through continuously shopping for fresh ingredients in smaller quantities, as opposed to buying in bulk and freezing backups. One main reason he does this is to maintain freshness and quality which benefits his customers who receive the best value for their money, and benefits his business because when people leave happy they're likely to return as loyal customers. He also reduces food waste by providing proper meal portions, so people finish the food they pay for and are left satisfied without throwing out any leftovers. 

Social and environmental benefit

Scratch Box's commitment to the four previously mentioned SDGs that they follow can all be linked to how they are benefiting society as well as the environment. With Olson in particular, it all stems from his love of cooking, and his desire to be sustainable as well as responsible. Chef Reggie participates in many charitable events, wherein he ensures little to no waste occurs and that no one goes hungry, which benefits his business as well as society and the environment.

As aforestated, Scratch Box Gastro Truck hosts one or two “free” days every year as part of their contribution to the “Zero Hunger” and “No Poverty” SDGs. On these days, they prepare loads of food and allow people from the community to come get food for free. This is beneficial for those who may not be able to afford to eat out of the house and is a simple and heartwarming way to spread goodness throughout the community. 

They also contribute to Zero Hunger and No Poverty through their six or seven charity events each year. Reggie and his team love to give back and help people as much as they can before running out of money completely. Part of these charity events is his partnership with the aforementioned Operation Come Home, which takes in homeless youth and helps them get their GEDs, jobs, and homes. When Olson used to work downtown, he would take his staff to volunteer with this organization and provide food for those in need, and now he takes a day out of each year to provide 100% of the profits to this organization. 

Benefiting society through their commitment to being certified gluten-free (98%) has been a passion of Olson's. He mentioned how cross-contamination can ruin a person's life in less than an hour and how, by training the younger staff he employs, they can work hard to ensure celiac safety is maintained. Through training and sharing his knowledge, he is spreading good behaviours and lessons to the younger generation of workers. 

Interview

Reggie Olson, Owner, Chef