Ontario's 626 Long-term Care (LTC) homes are responsible for the care of approximately 77,000 residents with diverse medical needs. LTC homes within the province employ more than 100,000 individuals including registered nurses, personal support workers and dieticians. The LTC sector is heavily regulated by the provincial government, and individual homes must adhere to the Long-term Care Homes Act (2007). These regulations include guidelines for funding related to staffing costs, programming and raw food budgets and clear requirements for reporting on such spending. Given strict budgeting guidelines within the sector, it is often assumed that spending habits, particularly related to food are rigid, with limited opportunities to diversify menus or food procurement practices. While funding and staffing are important considerations, this research has sought to explore food procurement practices in LTC, with a focus on local food purchasing. Working with 14 publicly funded LTC homes, this research analysed food purchasing budgets and spend both before and after a local food purchasing priority was set. It was determined that once a local food purchasing priority was set, budgets did not increase to meet food purchase targets, aspirational targets were exceeded and resident perceptions of food quality increased. The impacts of local food are often studied from the lens of food security and sustainability of the agri-food sector at a more small-scale level; however, this research situates local food within the broader public sector, demonstrating opportunities for a significant shift in our conceptualisation of local food purchasing.