Serving up vaccines to underserved communities

When PC parent Kirk Tobias launched Fleets Coffee in early 2020, a global pandemic was about the last thing he thought he had to worry about as a new start-up venture.

After a few months of trying to make a go of it, he decided to dust himself off and pivot his business to give back to the community during an unprecedented time.

When vaccines first became available in the spring of 2021, getting them into the arms of underserved communities and industrial locations was proving to be a big challenge. It was here that the most COVID-19 cases were popping up and these communities had the least means to address it. And this is where Tobias’ idea began.

In April, he posted on LinkedIn and tagged numerous government officials, including the Premier of Ontario and the Prime Minister of Canada, making his pitch. His vehicles contain fridges and freezers—which could hold tens of thousands of vaccines—and he was willing to donate the vehicles, drivers, gas and insurance. The only thing missing would be the vaccines and the health care workers to administer the shots.

“Eventually, I was lucky enough to connect with Rocco Rossi, president and CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce. He believed in what we were trying to do and introduced us to some people at the Ontario Hospital Association. That’s how we met the folks at Michael Garron Hospital, who decided to partner with us,” he explains.

Throughout the summer, the medical team from Michael Garron brought their own coolers with temperature controls that could be constantly monitored by the pharmacy technicians on board. One truck was able to do between one to four pop-up clinics per week.

“There are two types of pop-ups: mobile and fixed,” Tobias explains. “In fixed pop-ups, we went to a hot spot area or outside a school or community centre and people came to us. The team administered anywhere between 800 and 1,400 jabs on those days. In a mobile pop-up, they chose buildings known to have a lot of COVID cases and vaccinated everyone willing to get a shot. Those pop-ups administered 200 or 300 jabs a day across two or three stops. We loved it because we knew we were the perfect solution for this kind of vaccine clinic.”

Now that most adults have received at least one dose, Tobias has further reimagined his business with the launch of a Jab & Java campaign, with a goal of delivering 15,000 free cups of coffee as a small incentive to overcome vaccine hesitancy in Toronto and surrounding areas. At their first event in late June, they served more than 760 coffees and are now well on their way to reaching their goal.

“At times, it’s been so difficult to find positive things to focus on. But every single needle we help get into an arm puts us one step closer to the end of COVID,” says Tobias. “Seeing how appreciative the frontline medical workers are is so emotionally rewarding, not to mention the people receiving the vaccines. This has been a huge light for me in a bleak, dark period.”

photo by Ebti Nabag

Kirk Tobias sold his technology company and in 2018 began working on an idea that paired his knowledge of algorithms with his love of coffee. The result: a cashless mobile coffee shop that ensures customer orders are ready without any delay or lineup, outside GO Transit stations across the GTA.