Ovaltine Cafe partners with non-profits to feed community members

Hungry patrons packed the wooden and red leather booths in the Downtown Eastside’s iconic Ovaltine Cafe earlier this month for a free chicken dinner complete with roast veggies, potatoes and pumpkin pie.

In mid-February, locals were welcomed to the classic 1940s-era diner for the Ovaltine’s inaugural free community dinner. The event was co-organized with the non-profit DTES Emergency Supply Hub (DTES Hub) and Kilala Lelum, an urban Indigenous health cooperative.  

“It just came about in such an intentional and wholesome way,” Evan Reeks, operations manager at the DTES Hub told Vancity Lookout. According to Reeks, nearly 100 meals were given out to community members over the course of the evening. Based on that success, another free community dinner is already being planned, currently set for 6 p.m. on March 22.

The inspiration for the event came from Grace and Rachel Chen, the mother and daughter co-owners of the Ovaltine, who have run the restaurant as a local neighbourhood sanctuary since 2014. 

“Grace approached us at the Hub and was curious about how she could do more for the community,” Reeks said, adding that Grace already does a lot for her neighbours. 

The Ovaltine serves some of the last affordable dine-in meals in the city, offers low-barrier jobs to patrons, and forges strong connections with regulars, many of whom even call Grace “mom.” Some customers will even come up and tell Grace they love her, Grace told Vancity Lookout. Those connections are what make the Ovaltine more than a typical restaurant, she said.

Rachel, Grace’s daughter and co-owner of the Ovaltine, said that even middle-income families are struggling to make ends meet and put nutritious food on the table these days. “We really see the food insecurity going on in recent years, especially in the Downtown Eastside,” Rachel said, who also works as a community food coordinator at a local neighbourhood house. “We just want to make sure that everyone has a warm meal at the end of the day and doesn’t go to sleep hungry.” 

The event was held strategically at a time when money was likely to be tight for many in the neighbourhood. The week or two before “cheque day,” the last Wednesday of the month when government income assistance cheques are released, is often when people aren’t able to afford” luxuries” like a warm, well-balanced meal, Reeks explained. 

Even though free food in the neighbourhood is not necessarily hard to come by, the majority of what is on offer is high-sugar, high-carb, processed foods, Reeks said. “That has a place, but it isn’t nutritious. I believe that nutrition is one of the base forms of harm reduction… if you’re filled with all the things that you need… you’re going to subconsciously make better choices for yourself.” 

The DTES Hub started out in early 2020 as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, collecting and distributing personal protective equipment like masks, hand sanitizer, and other medical supplies in the neighbourhood. As public attention shifted away from the pandemic, the Hub expanded to offer weather gear and seasonal clothing, hygiene supplies and food products, among other resources. To date, Reeks explained, the DTES Hub has rescued more than 4 million pounds of food from the landfill and supported over 2 million meals. 

The DTES Hub is based near Main and Hastings, just across the street from the Ovaltine Cafe. For Rachel and her mom Grace, it makes the collaboration a natural fit, as they both strive to give back to the community that has given them so much. 

The Ovaltine is no stranger to hardship in recent years, including a temporary shutdown during the early pandemic and a suspected arson in 2023 that damaged the back of the cafe and forced it to close for repairs for nearly seven months. 

During that time, community members helped to fundraise and donate money to the restaurant to keep the Chen’s business afloat. 

“We pretty much live paycheque to paycheque, so if we don’t open the door today, there’s no income generated for our family,” Rachel said. “But [during that time], the community of people who probably has the least in our city, are the ones that are the most generous and so willing to help… it really meant a lot to us.” 

With the recently approved rezoning of the Downtown Eastside and the looming threat of redevelopment, Rachel explained that the future of the Ovaltine Cafe feels exceptionally precarious these days.

In December 2025, city council passed sweeping zoning changes that would significantly increase allowable density and reduce affordability requirements for new housing developments in the Downtown Eastside. 

The impact of “upzoning,” allowing for more density and market-rate housing, is that properties in the neighbourhood are likely to experience an increase in land value due to the expanded development potential, according to housing researchers. Higher land values would, in turn, incentivize current building owners in the area to sell their properties to developers. 

The Chens are on a month-to-month lease, and they would be left with little recourse if the building’s owner decides to sell. “We feel almost hopeless, that there’s really nothing that we can do… but we’re just riding it one day at a time,” Rachel said. 

For those who are looking to connect with the community and find the best deal in town, Rachel invited folks to come to the Ovaltine and “see what this neighbourhood is really all about. It’s really not as scary as they say.”

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