supermarket in blurry for background

Grocery store entry easier than ever

Even those with limited product volumes should explore these opportunities, business development specialist tells St. Jean Farm Days

It’s never been a better time to start a food-processing business. Where in years gone by there were nothing but barriers, now more grocery stores are keen to stock locally produced products, says a Manitoba Agriculture business development specialist. Gone are expensive listing fees to buy shelf space in stores, and you won’t find yourself

E-commerce internet shopping cart mobile phone app supermarket

Comment: The unavoidable death of ‘click and collect’

Consumers want to get food products delivered directly to their homes but they don’t necessarily want to pay for it

Grocers can no longer afford to wait for their money to show up at their stores. That’s a given. They need to go after it as well. E-commerce in the grocery business was barely a thought five years ago. Most of them did not want to cannibalize sales and decrease foot traffic. The primary idea


According to a recent survey, 66 per cent of Canadians have used self-checkout lanes at some point.

Comment: A painful experience

Why self-checkouts at the grocery store never seem to work properly

Some Canadians detest going to the grocery store. It’s repetitive, tiring, and quite unpleasant at times, especially when the store is busy. Picking up groceries and lugging them back home is work, something most would rather avoid. On the other hand, many of us do enjoy visiting food stores and discovering new products or new

plastic trash on a beach

Comment: All you can eat, including the packaging?

A strong case for taste and food safety will have to be made before consumers will be willing to eat their garbage

Within a year, single-use plastics and excess packaging have become public enemy No. 1. Everyone is talking about how our lives are overrun by too much plastic. A recent Greenpeace-led audit looked at waterways waste and companies involved. Much of the plastic trash cleaned up from Canadian shorelines this fall was traceable to five companies:

It remains unclear if consumers will pay more for food authenticity.

Comment: The blockchain party

Grocers are finally climbing aboard the blockchain initiative and consumers should rejoice

Walmart, the largest retailer in the world, recently notified its leafy green suppliers that they will need to use blockchain by the end of next year. Walmart is banking on its relationship with IBM to put pressure on the entire sector to comply with what consumers want from the food industry: more transparency. But others


Whither Canada?

Whither Canada?

Some say Canada's good reputation as a food producer fizzled

Is Canada still the producer of the world’s best food products, or is it time to rebrand Canada? That’s the point Camrose, Alta. farmer Gerald Pilger made in a recent column in Country Guide where he claimed the country’s reputation has fizzled in recent years. The purpose of the column was to get farmers to

Technological advances, coupled with our pursuit of convenience, have given us a lot more time to think about food in a different way.

Comment: Why are consumers going meatless?

The answer has something to do with the economy

We seem to be living in an era in which the pleasure of eating is quite simply overpowered by values-based narratives in food consumption. And this is happening at an astonishing pace. Vegetarianism and veganism are both coming into their own, allowing more people to “come out of the cupboard” to speak openly about and

Opinion: Amazon and Whole Foods – one year later

The blockbuster deal has forced domestic grocery giants to adapt quickly

One after the other, grocers are going virtual. All of them, at some point over the last 12 months, have announced some sort of commitment to an e-commerce strategy. Costco launched its home delivery pilot in Ontario, while Maxi’s, Loblaw’s discount stores in Quebec, were the latest to jump on the virtual bandwagon with their



Young man choosing oranges in the supermarket

Opinion: Food prices stuck in place

The economy is doing well, so why can’t Canadian grocers hike prices?

Retail food prices are not moving much these days. They are barely higher than last year, with a modest increase of 0.5 per cent. In fact, according to Statistics Canada, prices dropped overall by 0.7 per cent over the winter months. South of the border, U.S. grocers are dealing with the same issue. Since our