Vegetarian, vegan, lactose-free or gluten-free? Whatever your dietary restrictions may be or if you’re just trying to make some changes to your eating habits, finding the right spot to dine isn’t easy. The EthicalTree is now Ottawa’s go-to website for finding the right place to eat to meet your ethical standards and dietary needs. HC had an exclusive interview with Kelsea, cofounder of EthicalTree, to find out how they are making ethical eating in the capital easier for everyone.
Her Campus uOttawa: How did the idea for EthicalTree ‘spark’? Where was the need for an ‘ethical’ restaurant database for Ottawa?
Ethical Tree: My co-founder, Frank, actually started thinking about this idea 4 years ago when he had a hard time finding businesses in Ottawa that sold Fair Trade products. Then, at the beginning of this year he became vegetarian and faced the same problem, but this time he decided to do something about it. Siavash and I got involved soon after because we were excited to solve the same problem, and we knew it was a major problem for many consumers in Canada, 33% of which are either vegetarian or are actively reducing their meat consumption, 31% of which prefer Fair Trade when possible, and 58% of which buy Organic products every single week.
HCuO: What are your criteria for an ‘ethical’ place to eat?
ET: Currently, we have four criteria that we will be adding on to as we grow. Our criteria right now are Vegan, Fair Trade, Organic, and Women-owned businesses. A business has to adhere to one or more of these criteria in order to be included on the database. We plan to include many more ethical criteria going forward, such as locally-sourced, eco-friendly, accessible and more. We understand that every single consumer has their own understanding of what “ethical consumerism” means, and we want them to be able to find businesses that align with those specific ethical criteria that are important to them personally.
HCuO: How many restaurants in Ottawa have you categorized as ethical?
Ethical Tree: So far we have over 300 listings in our database. Any EthicalTree user can sign up for a free account and add new ethical businesses that they know of in Ottawa. We’d like to encourage consumers to create an account and help grow the ethical consumerism movement in Ottawa by adding new businesses and writing reviews for businesses as they visit them.
HCuO: Would you say Ottawa has a growing number of restaurant options for people who want to eat ‘healthy, vegan, ethical, etc’?
ET: It has been a very pleasantly surprising task to find new restaurants, cafés and bakeries that follow one of our ethical criteria. Every week we discover several vegan, vegetarian, Fair Trade, Organic, and women-owned businesses opening in Ottawa. These categories of businesses are growing rapidly as consumers demand products that fit their values.
HCuO: Could you make some recommendations for a uOttawa student who wants to eat ethically but is on a budget?
ET: We’re actually going to be starting a blog for this reason! One of our first blog posts will be “Veg* meals under $10” to help consumers discover new affordable places.
HCuO: Are there any EthicalTree “must eat here” or “top 3” restaurants you would recommend?
ET: There are hundreds of amazing places in Ottawa, it’s too hard to choose just one! However, we have been keeping a close eye on a lot of trending places and we regularly update it!
HCuO: What is next for Ethical Tree? What will we see from you in the upcoming months?
ET: EthicalTree is on a mission to become the go-to resource for any consumers who want their purchases to align with their ethical values. You can expect to see many more ethical criteria being added so we can be useful for more and more consumers. We have very exciting and ambitious plans for growth, including building mobiles apps and expanding far beyond Ottawa.
Readers can follow our journey on any social media platform below, and if anyone is excited by this project and wants to get involved, we’re always adding to our growing team and are particularly looking for people with skills in website development, app development and graphic design at this time – just shoot me an email at kelsea@ethicaltree.com!
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