In 2025, Sprague Foods celebrated its 100th year with a big garden party in the beautiful Crystal Palace in Picton. Long-time residents of the Bay of Quinte are no doubt familiar with the Sprague name, since it has been around so long. Long-time residents may remember a time when the region had a large number of canneries. That number diminished until only Sprague Foods was left by the 1990s.
Sprague Foods has remained in the region to this day, supporting the agricultural sector by buying from local farmers, thus helping Canada’s food sovereignty and food security – along those lines, they regularly contribute to the local food bank.
Sprague Foods is also a local employer. They have over 50 employees at their facility in Belleville, and they recently hired three graduates of Loyalist College.
Rick’s Pivot
In recent years, we’ve transformed from a commodity canner to a thriving consumer brand, and that’s been the big change. Keenan Sprague, Vice President
Sprague Foods is remarkable in that it is still being run by the Sprague family. Its presence in the Bay of Quinte began with Keenan’s great-great-grandfather. At first, they provided products to private labels. Then, knowing how unstable it is to only sell to other businesses, they decided to create their own label and sell directly to consumers.
From there, the evolution of their product was driven by Rick Sprague, Keenan’s father, who is chef, food engineer, and recipe developer at the company. He developed the latest line of high-quality products and then set out to ensure they were canned in such a way as to not need additives. He invested in the kind of equipment that would preserve the well-balanced flavours. The flavours and textures found in a pot of soup Rick makes in his kitchen are the same textures and flavours when that pot of soup is scaled to 100,000 cans a day.
Rick’s pivot was a long-term project and not without its setbacks. But the Sprague family persisted, and now they continue to be firmly established here, providing not just a great product and many jobs but also doing business with the logistics companies that serve the manufacturing and food processing sectors.
Rick’s product line of beans, chilis, and soups were sold successfully in local stores for 10 years. In the last four years, their product has been taken up by major retail chains. Sprague Foods now sells their product in all 10 provinces and all 50 U.S. states. They are the only organic soup cannery in Canada.
A Long (and Delicious) History in the Bay of Quinte
It was through family that Rick gained the know-how and love for recipe development and for the business. He cooked with both his grandmothers, and he was helping around the family business – helping pile cases – from when he was five years old. Keenan joined the family business five years ago and manages the commercial side of the operation.
Learn more about Sprague Foods and how the Quinte Economic Development Commission (QEDC) supports food processing in the Bay of Quinte.
