2024 President's Luncheon

Description

​GCACC PRESIDENT’S LUNCHEON PANEL DISCUSSION – “INSPIRING SCALE”



** PLEASE WELCOME OUR PANELISTS! **

Sarah Bennetto O’Brie n is the CEO and founder of The Handpie Company, located in Albany, PEI. 

    Sarah’s fiery passion for cooking lead her to the East Coast for the     first time in 2006 when she took a risk and traded her truck for a plane     ticket to venture to our small Island to pursue an Applied Degree in     Culinary Operations degree at the Culinary Institute in Charlottetown. It     didn’t take much for her to decide that she wanted to share her love for     local food and stay on the Island. 
    Over 10 years later, she introduced Handpies to Islanders and tourists;     and we are all eating them up! The Handpie Company is a growing     business because of the amount of genuine love and local goodness     that she fills within each savoury pie. You can find her handpies in     multiple locations across the Island, including more recently in Sobey’s     grocery stores.

Willem Vannieuwenhuyzen is originally from Holland, and moved to PEI with his family in 1982.

    In 2001, Willem and his brothers Rit and Phillip took over the family     farm and changed the focus to growing organic speciality potatoes and     tulips. Their tulip fields have become a destination and attraction, in     addition to a unique product line.
    Over the last two decades operations have really expanded and Vanco     has been lucky to attract a very capable staff of individuals who grew up     in the farming industry to help them carry out the work of a large, busy     and diverse farm with operations across the province.
    As a farming family the brothers enjoy sharing their work with their     children. Their children started young, riding along in the “buddy seat” of     tractors, often catching a nap as their dads work. Now they work on the     farm on their summer breaks from highschool and university.