Nanaimo Bakery & Cafe

Visit the Nanaimo Bakery website

In an effort to support innovation and to provide a sustainable income source for new, client centered programming, in mid 2021 ICCS moved into the realm of social enterprise, with the creation of its new social purpose subsidiary Rising Hope Services, Inc., which in turn acquired the Nanaimo Bakery and Café. This iconic Nanaimo business, originally named the Nanaimo Bakery and Confectionery Ltd. has been a Nanaimo institution for decades, providing baked goods and light breakfast and luncheon options for Nanaimo residents.

Rising Hope Services has been set up as a separate entity from ICCS. This means that though Rising Hope is a ‘subsidiary’ or affiliate of ICCS, its operations and that of its component companies (like the Nanaimo Bakery and Café) are entirely separate from the day-to-day operations of ICCS, and it is governed independently with its own management team and board. The long term intent is for this separate social purpose entity to contribute profits from its revenues back into ICCS programs.

In its operations, Rising Hope/The Nanaimo Bakery and Café draw inspiration
from the work of ICCS and is keeping this centre at the heart of its work. Hopes for the social impact of Rising Hope and the Nanaimo Bakery are threefold:

1. To generate revenues back to innovative ICCS programs responding to clients’ real needs – like Project Rise

2. To act as a host to work placements from programs like Project Rise

3. To serve as a community meeting space – more than the sum of its parts – allowing people across the community to come together and share not just a coffee and pastry, but an idea, a hope – or a new horizon.