With the gradual opening of restaurants and local small businesses from the restrictions that were imposed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new sustainable non-profit venture has been launched to aid small businesses that were adversely affected and prop up services that performed above and beyond over the last 15 months.
On June 15, Marche Commun, a local sustainable non-profit delivery platform and social innovation project, was officially launched at a new pop-up store called Sugar-Mamie, a pop-up cake pop bakery located at 5171 St. Laurent Boulevard in the Plateau Mont-Royal district. This project, which has received financial assistance from the provincial government, with additional support from the federal government and Concordia University, was created by COVID-19 Help Hub, a non-profit that was established during the pandemic as a response to aid vulnerable members of the population through food delivery and other vital programs.
Astrid Arumae, Executive Director of Marche Commun, was present at the launch along with Outremont federal Member of Parliament (MP) Rachel Bendayan and Pierre Arcand, provincial MNA for the riding of Mount Royal-Outremont, to announce that Marche Commun is a platform that will be open to restaurants, bakeries and cafes in the Plateau, and will use the services of longtime bicycle delivery group “Chausseurs Courrier”, so that these small businesses will continue to survive throughout the rest of the pandemic and beyond, as well as keep profits in the pockets of those local restaurants and help to ensure that these bike delivery workers will get a better wage, especially during a time when delivery apps like Uber Eats and Skip the Dishes are dominating the food delivery business.
These goals will be realized through a $20,000 marketing campaign, as well as giving $1 per pickup order and $2 per delivery order and credit card transaction to benefit restaurants and delivery workers.
Ms. Bendayan, who was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Small Businesses at the time when the pandemic began, is proud that federal government programs like rent subsidies, emergency loans and the Canada summer jobs program, has help tremendously to get local businesses such as restaurants link up to non-profits like Marche Commun towards being sustainable and profitable once more.
“Restaurants operate with small profit margins, because many multinationals take a huge cut of those profits. Now with these support programs, non-profits can help run things with a business mindset that can not only help these restaurants survive in the future, but also help related businesses – such as bike delivery services — that can benefit the environment, too,” she said.
For more information, go to www.marchecommun.com.
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