OrganicLives CEO Preet Marwaha thanks community for support after fire damages building

As the rain fell this morning, the CEO, Preet Marwaha, stepped outside with his wife Amarit for a moment to thank the community for the tremendous support that has come his company's way through Facebook, Twitter, and emails.

"We're not sure what is going to happen right now," Marwaha told the Straight. "We're obviously worried for our team—for their jobs right now. There is so much for us to think about and to sort out."

In addition to running its own restaurant, the company makes and distributes sustainable, fairly traded food to companies such as Whole Foods and YYoga.

The company's location at 451 Granville Street inside the Chopra Yoga Centre remains open.

Marwaha said OrganicLives has 60-some employees, of whom around 30 work at the fire-ravaged building at 1829 Quebec Street.

Marwaha has been on the board of RawBC and has been associated with the World Wellness Project and the Safe Planet Campaign.

At the recent opening of the YYoga in Kitsilano where OrganicLives supplies healthy treats, Marwaha described his company this way: “We’re an organization that’s really dedicated and committed to supporting organic, sustainable, fairly traded food that’s good for the body and good for the planet.”

A notice on the front door of the business at 1829 Quebec Street states that it's closed until further notice. Updates will be posted on the OrganicLives Facebook page, where information will appear on the reopening of the restaurant.

Follow Charlie Smith on Twitter at twitter.com/csmithstraight.