Natural Foods

In 1986, when Potsothy Sallapa moved to Toronto from Sri Lanka, he was already an expert in farming. “I grew up on a farm and I had no business savvy, but I used to grow vegetables and take them to the market and sell them. That was my skill,” Potsothy says. So one day, when he was shopping in a vegetable store in Kensington Market, he asked if they needed any extra hands.

The owner hired him on the spot and Potsothy worked there for nine years. “I did everything from cleaning up to packing and receiving orders to picking up produce from farmers,” Potsothy recalls. Soon, all of those farmers became his friends  – and eventually, when he opened his own natural foods store, his customers.

After a stint selling vegetables at a market on the Danforth, Potsothy found space for rent on Augusta Avenue, back in his old hood. Using his hands to build whatever he needed, Potsothy took it over and opened an organic food store with a rooftop garden for growing fresh vegetables. Next, he wanted to open his own greenhouse and create a workers’ co-op, but for that, he needed a bigger space.