Our story

Front Door Organics made its first delivery — just six fresh boxes in the High Park neighbourhood! — in June 1997. Since then, we continue to expand our delivery area, have hired nine employees, and now deliver almost 700 fresh boxes of high-quality organic produce and groceries to Toronto homes each week. We continue to grow as more and more people discover the benefits of eating certified organic food, and the convenience of having it delivered right to their front doors.

As we get bigger, however, FDO still retains its personal, hands-on approach. Owner Angela Donnelly — who now runs the company with partner JJ Sheppard — brings an absolute love of organic foods, as well as a lifetime’s worth of retail and wholesale experience with organic produce, to the company. In addition to managing FDO’s office and dedicated staff, Angela participates actively in FDO’s day-to-day operations, researches new sources of organic products and cultivates relationships with local farmers. JJ, a long-time vegetarian and environmentalist, joined FDO in 2000 and can still regularly be found on the road, delivering and managing efficient routes. She brings her wealth of experience with small, family-run businesses to FDO, and has helped us to focus on long-term planning and shrinking our environmental footprint. She's also a wicked trumpet player, so don't miss the chance to catch her around town in various local bands.

FDO continuously strives to improve, adapt and expand our services in response to our customers’ suggestions. Over the years, we’ve added a range of high-quality grocery products to our list of organic produce. We’ve opened our warehouse doors to customer pick-ups, continue to find interesting recipes for the produce we deliver, and work hard to support Ontario organic farmers by including as much locally grown produce as possible in each fresh box. Most recently, we’ve given our clients the ability to completely customize their fresh boxes via the new CUSTOM fresh box option.

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Our philosophy

At Front Door Organics, “100% organic” also means:

• building relationships with local farms
• offering local products
• community involvement
• fair wages and benefits for employees and suppliers
• gender parity
• diversity
• environmental sustainability

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Our farming friends

The closer to home your food is grown, the less it has to travel to reach your plate, thus reducing the impact of its production on the environment. Front Door Organics works hard to support Ontario organic farmers by including as much locally grown produce as possible in each fresh box.

We have built strong relationships with many local farms and distributors, and work closely with them as we plan the upcoming season. We support Ontario organic farmers’ right to fair wages and working conditions. Some of our farming friends include:

• Pfenning's Organic Farm in Baden
• Everdale Environmental Learning Centre, near Guelph
• Greenfields Organic Farm in Campbellville
• Dolway Organic Gardens in London
• August's Harvest in Stratford
• Maranatha Farms in Orangeville
• Deerfields Nursery in Hillsburgh
• Weth Mushrooms in Goderich
• Plan B Organic Farm near Branchton
• Feast of Fields in St. Catharine's
• Mazak Farms in St. Thomas, and
• Wilz Farm in Wellesley

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Our Buying Practices

• Front Door Organics will carry only third-party certified organic grocery products except in rare cases where no certified product exists. In these exceptions, we will purchase the product containing the highest content of certified organic ingredients, avoiding any "red light" uncertified ingredients including but not limited to rice, corn, soy, canola, wheat, potato, sugar, and coffee.


• Whenever possible, Front Door Organics endeavours to provide local products over non-local products provided the local product is certified organic and is of comparable standard to a non-local product. In some instances, where a local product costs substantially more than a comparable item we may chose to carry two options for our customers, while advocating in favour of the local option.


• Front Door Organics will label both Ontario and Canadian-produced products so that you can make informed purchases.


• Because of the high environmental costs associated with the aviation industry, FDO will not purchase any products that travel by air during their journey to our warehouse. (As the David Suzuki Foundation notes, aviation is the mode of freight transport that produces the most CO₂ emissions. It presently accounts for 4-9% of the total climate change impact of human activity — a disproportionately large impact given the size of the industry. Since 1990, CO₂ emissions from international aviation have increased 83%.)


• Whenever possible, Front Door Organics will purchase and support Fair Trade products over and above other products, provided the Fair Trade product is certified organic. In some instances, where the issue of Fair Trade substantially affects the cost of an item we may chose to carry two options for our customers, while advocating in favour of the Fair Trade option.


• From time to time, Front Door Organics may purchase T3, "Certified Organic Transitional" fruits or vegetables to support the furtherance of organic agriculture. Otherwise, all fruits and vegetables we purchase will be third-party certified organic.


• With household and personal care products, Front Door Organics will look for the most certified organic product on the market, while considering environmental sustainability equally. Where possible, we will rely on third-party certifiers like the eco-logo and will look for products free from known carcinogens, petrochemicals, perfumes, and toxins. We will look for vegan certified products where available and will purchase only vegan household and personal care products. Where two products meet these criteria equally, we will weigh cost and place of manufacture against one another as the final deciding factors.


• While we do our best to thoroughly research all the products that we carry, it is inevitable that exceptions to these practices will occur. Producers change their formulas and new products become available all the time. If a product is brought to our attention as an exception to our practices, we will make a decision to discontinue it on a case-by-case basis, evaluating whether an equally valid alternative exists and whether we feel the product genuinely undermines our integrity.


• We endeavour to provide as much information as possible for customers to make their own choices about the products we have selected.

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Our referral rewards program

Our business grows primarily through word of mouth from satisfied customers. To thank our customers, we have established a Referral Rewards program: for each new customer you refer to us, you’ll receive a treat in your next fresh box!

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Our community

Front Door Organics feels that businesses have an integral role to play in the communitites that support them, communities in which they have a presence, and communities in need.

Each week, Front Door Organics donates a fresh box to the Anduhyaun Women’s Shelter. Some of the organizations we like to support also include The Daily Bread Food Bank, Casa Canadiense (supporting Canadian-Nicaraguan solidarity), Field To Table & FoodShare, Feast of Fields, The Sierra Club, Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), Red Maple Foundation (publishers of THIS Magazine), World Wildlife Fund, Rights & Democracy, The Toronto District School Board, People With AIDS, Sketch (working arts for street-involved and homeless youth), and local schools, among others. Each holiday season, we invite our clients to help us donate fresh boxes to communities in need throughout the city.

You can catch us as participants and/or sponsors at community, organic, education, and arts events around the city, such as the Vegetarian Food Fair, LGBT Pride, CKLN, Dusk Dances, The Jamboree, The East York Choir, The Little Folk Festival, Disco Dyke Divas and other musical performances, the Friends for Life Bike Rally, and more. Read up on where we’re at in our weekly newsletter, which comes in each box.

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Our guarantee

Front Door Organics completely guarantees the quality of every item in your fresh box. If any item doesn’t live up to your expectations, please give us a call at 416.201.3000 or send an email to info@frontdoororganics.com. We’ll replace that item with something of equal or greater value in your next fresh box. If an item that you purchased in addition to your fresh box does not meet your quality requirements, we will refund the exact amount that you were originally charged.

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Our privacy policy

Front Door Organics understands and respects the importance of your privacy; protecting your personal information is an important part of our business. We are committed to responsibly collecting, using, and disclosing your personal information, in as open and transparent a manner as possible.

Identified Purposes

Front Door Organics collects and uses your personal information to:

• correctly deliver products to your home
• be able to contact you, often at more than one location, and
• be able to charge you for our service and products.

Please be assured that:

• We collect only the information about you we need to provide you with and charge you for our services.
• We share your information only with your consent.
• Our storage, retention, and destruction of your personal information complies with existing legislation and privacy protection protocols.
• Our privacy protocols comply with privacy legislation, and the law .
• Every staff person in our operation is committed to ensuring that you receive the best quality service.

At Front Door Organics, Angela Donnelly acts as the Privacy Information Officer. All staff members who come in contact with your personal information are aware of the sensitive nature of the information that you disclose to us. They are all trained in the appropriate uses and protection of your information. Do not hesitate to discuss our policies with Angela or any member of our office staff.

Consent

Your knowledge and consent of FDO’s collection and use of your Personal Information is critical. We rely on your voluntary provision of Personal Information to our customer service staff in person, via the Internet or on the telephone as an indication of your consent to our existing and future Personal Information practices. FDO will not share your Personal Information without your consent.

Limiting Collection and Retention of Personal Information

If we require Personal Information for any other purpose, we will notify you of the new purpose, and subject to your consent, that new purpose will become an Identified Purpose. FDO will collect Personal Information only as long as necessary for the fulfillment of the Identified Purposes.

Accuracy and Safeguards

FDO will maintain your Personal Information as accurate, complete, and up-to-date as is necessary for the Identified Purposes.

We will protect your Personal Information by security safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information. Safeguards will vary depending on the sensitivity, format, location, and storage of the Personal Information.

If you are not satisfied with FDO’s response to a privacy-related inquiry or complaint, you may contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada during business hours at 1-800-282-1376 or at www.privcom.gc.ca.

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