Burger It Forward campaign returns for second year in support of community food banks

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Canada Beef and provincial beef cattle farmers and ranchers partner with select restaurants across the country to raise funds for food banks.

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From February 1-29, 2024, more than 200 restaurants across the country are participating in the Canada Beef Burger it Forward campaign aimed at relieving the growing food insecurity in Canada.

Now in its second year, this national campaign seeks to support local restaurants under inflationary pressures while also raising funds for food banks regionally and nationally.

This year, restaurant registration has nearly doubled across Canada with restaurants participating in all provinces, outside of Quebec.

Each participating restaurant will feature a select burger for the campaign. For every campaign-featured burger purchase, Canada Beef will donate the equivalent of one meal to Food Banks Canada, up to a maximum of 20,000 meals (based on Food Banks Canada’s meal metric: $1=two meals). As well, provincial cattle associations and/or partners such as Atlantic Beef Products Inc., and Dairy Farmers of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have made commitments to regional food banks with either ground beef donations or cash contributions.

Joyce Parslow, executive director of consumer marketing at Canada Beef says that in 2023, Food Banks Canada identified that food bank use rose to the highest levels in Canadian history, up over 78 per cent since 2019.

“Fresh meat is in demand at food banks but harder to access than non-perishable donations,” says Parslow. “Ground beef is nutrient-dense, easy to prepare, and is familiar across many cultural cuisines so its valued by many food bank clients. Through the ground beef and cash contributions from the beef partners in the Burger It Forward program, we’re helping put meat on the table for those in need.

Burger It Forward runs from February 1 to 29, 2024. Visit burgeritforward.ca for more information, including features on all the Burger It Forward burgers, a map of participating restaurants and more.

Canadians are also encouraged to share snaps of their experience enjoying Burger It Forward burgers on Instagram using the hashtag #BurgerItForward and tagging #lovecdnbeef.

This article was first published in Volume 4 Issue 1 of ABP Magazine (February 2024). Watch for more digital content from the magazine on ABP Daily.