How La Tablée des Chefs Is Turning Waste into Meals

Jean-François Archambault, Founder of La Tablée des Chefs | @David Curleigh

In Canada, a paradox exists. While millions struggle to access fresh, nutritious food, perfectly good meals are discarded by restaurants, hotels, and catering companies. Food banks operate under immense strain, often lacking quality ingredients. At the same time, an invisible barrier—fear of litigation—prevents many food providers from donating surplus meals.

But where others saw an intractable problem, Jean-François Archambault saw an opportunity.

During his decade in hotel management, he wrestled with an uncomfortable truth: vast amounts of food were going to waste while communities went hungry. Reflecting on the values instilled in him through his family’s community work, he knew he couldn’t stand by idly. In 2004, he walked away from his career at the prestigious Fairmont Queen Elizabeth in Montreal and founded La Tablée des Chefs—a game-changing organization that connects the food industry to the fight against hunger.

“I was successful,” Archambault recalls, “but it was like, at the end of the day, I was taking off that suit, putting it back in the closet, and then being Jean-François at home, and I hated that. I needed to wake up and feel I was whole.”

The leap wasn’t easy—but it was fueled by belief and mentorship. “That sense of purpose came to me very strongly when I met my wife—and she gave me confidence,” he shares. “Having her by my side and believing in me really helped. And then some key business people, one in particular who became a mentor—she was the Executive VP of HR at National Bank of Canada—really pushed me to do something.”

He recalls preparing to hire La Tablée’s first employee after raising $150,000, only to have a moment of clarity over breakfast with his mentor. “I told her I stopped the hiring process,” he says. “She asked why, and I said, ‘Because I’m going to do it. Nobody else is better than me to do that.’ That’s where it all started.”

Breaking Down Barriers to Food Recovery

Archambault’s first challenge was to dismantle a system built on fear. Working alongside legal experts, he uncovered an overlooked solution: Good Samaritan laws. These laws protect food providers from liability when donating food in good faith. By educating businesses and industry leaders on these protections, he flipped the script, shifting mindsets from risk aversion to social impact.

In provinces like Alberta, vague food safety regulations still prevent large quantities of safe, untouched food from being recovered. Archambault is working with pro bono legal partners to change that. “We could double the amount of food that we recover if we clarify the definition of served food,” he says.

Next, he forged powerful partnerships with industry heavyweights, such as Montreal’s Bell Centre, home to the Canadiens hockey team. His vision: a streamlined system where surplus food is retrieved, repurposed, and distributed to those in need—at scale.

“What I really want to do is change the mindset of the industry on looking at food waste—and looking at food that can be recovered that is not recovered,” he says. “To really engage in maximizing all the opportunities we have as an industry. I’m talking about the hospitality industry coming together to prioritize this—and getting the industry around to change.”

He emphasizes that many workers in the industry already want to help—they’ve simply lacked a system that makes it possible. “The industry is not aware that a lot of hotel and convention spaces employees are all for this,” Archambault says. “But they’ve been stopping to think it's possible. And I’m here to make that possible.”

A key milestone came when Marriott Canada stepped up. “When we signed the agreement with Marriott Canada, the president at the time said, ‘I want this in my 260 hotels,’” Archambault recalls. That really helped accelerate the change. Thanks to that kind of leadership, word spread quickly within the industry.

Through these partnerships, La Tablée des Chefs has built an operational backbone that makes food recovery seamless for hospitality teams. Using a data-driven platform, the organization coordinates surplus food collection and meal distribution with precision. Restaurants, hotels, and caterers donate prepared meals, which are then labeled, packaged, and delivered to food banks and shelters based on real-time demand. The result? A sustainable, systemic solution to food insecurity—one that empowers the industry to act with both efficiency and compassion.

“We have 400 hotels or venues doing this across the country and serving 3 million meals annually,” he explains. 

Beyond Charity: Empowering the Next Generation

La Tablée des Chefs’ culinary training programs

But Archambault knew that simply providing meals wasn’t enough. To truly address food insecurity, he needed to empower communities to feed themselves.

Enter La Tablée des Chefs’ culinary training programs. Through initiatives like Kitchen Brigades and Cook Up Your Future, the organization is teaching vulnerable youth how to prepare high-quality, low-cost meals—building self-sufficiency where it’s needed most. From schools and youth centers to juvenile detention facilities, their culinary education initiatives are equipping young people with essential life skills—and a pathway to a brighter future.

“We’re in more than 350 public high schools with chefs coming into schools every day,” says Archambault. “We’ve educated over 75,000 youth through food education and food literacy.”

In 2018, the Quebec government made a major investment in the program, allowing it to scale even further. La Tablée des Chefs now runs an e-learning platform and a culinary school, ensuring that its impact reaches far beyond the kitchen. 

The Ripple Effect: A Global Movement

In its first 15 years, La Tablée des Chefs has provided over 20 million meals to food-insecure communities.

In its first 15 years, La Tablée des Chefs has provided over 20 million meals to food-insecure communities, partnered with more than 400 hotels and venues across Canada, and trained young people in more than 350 public high schools and foster care programs across seven provinces. But Archambault’s ambition doesn’t stop at Canada’s borders.

Today, the model is being tested in France, with plans to expand into culinary schools across Canada. By fostering a new generation of socially conscious chefs, La Tablée des Chefs is proving that food is more than just sustenance—it’s a vehicle for social change.

That impact was powerfully demonstrated at the President’s Cup PGA tournament at the Royal Montreal Golf Club.“There were 30 small kitchens on the course feeding tens of thousands of people,” Archambault recalls. “We partnered with Proof of the Pudding, the PGA’s caterer, and recovered 22 tons of food that fed over 120,000 people in six days.”

The quality of the food, he says, is often what surprises people most.“We opened one aluminum container, and it was these lamb chops—pink, perfect,” he says. “Would you eat that tomorrow? Absolutely. That’s the kind of dignity this brings.”

The Future of Food is Ethical, Sustainable, and Equitable

Jean-François Archambault’s work isn’t just about feeding people—it’s about transforming the way we think about food. It’s about reimagining a food system where waste is no longer the norm, where chefs wield their expertise as a force for good, and where communities are empowered to take control of their own nutrition.

“We are the missing link into making that food accessible to the front line,” he says. “And that’s really what I want to continue to do.”

This is what happens when passion meets purpose. And this is how one man—and a growing movement of compassionate chefs and business leaders—are rewriting the future of food in Canada and beyond.