Save on Meats is an iconic restaurant and butcher shop based in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, a neighbourhood notorious for being “Canada’s poorest postal code”. Entrepreneur Mark Brand employs a unique commercial strategy to improve the social well being of DTES, by not only feeding the poor, but also providing job opportunities to barrier employees. That is, Save on Meats employs those who would normally be overlooked because of their obstacles, be it drug addiction or ex con records. In addition, the social enterprise offers meal tokens of $2.25, in which it can be redeemed for a hot sandwich.To date, Save on Meats has been featured in numerous newspaper articles and TV shows like The Big Decision, Gastown Gamble, and Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, which is all free marketing. In this sense, the business has created a very strong brand identity.
A play on the saying “When Pigs Fly”, as Save on Meats strives to break down the employment barrier.
While Save on Meats has met with tremendous success, is the business really sustainable? Quite often, corporate social responsibility and profit collide.For Save on Meats, the answer is yes. Because of the social enterprise’s unique value proposition, partners such as Dragon’s Den’s Arlene Dickenson have offered a helping hand.