Grocers need to be more accountable to themselves and the public A grocer code of conduct is coming to Canada. The United Kingdom and Australia, where grocer oligopolies exist, have a similar code already. This is great news for consumers; in fact, it should be considered a minor miracle. It all started in 2020 when…
Most thefts are by people driven by desperation, negligence, or a mixture of both Grocery theft has always been a major problem, but with food inflation as it is, shopkeepers now fear the wrongdoers more than before. In December, some Ontarians visited stores in Trois-Rivières, Que. to steal $4,000 worth of meat. In Sherbrooke, Que.…
The campaign is powerfully symbolic and will show that grocers in our country do have a heart
There have been calls for Canadian grocers to voluntarily freeze prices for some main staples as we weather the current food inflation storm. The first grocer in the world to do this was more than six months ago. Since then, many Western economies have seen grocers freeze prices, including German giant Lidl and the well-known…
Almost 24 per cent now cutting back on food purchases, almost 70 per cent of whom are women
While inflation is showing signs of dissipating, food inflation appears to be on a totally different path. Food inflation has outpaced our general inflation rate for over 12 months now. Statistics Canada just announced that the food inflation rate for retail was 10.8 per cent and 7.4 per cent in food service. Canada ranks third…
Evidence of ‘greedflation’ is weak at best
By Sylvain Charlebois and Samantha Taylor Accusations of gouging in the food industry have reached an all-time high. According to a recent survey, 68 per cent of Canadians believe food corporations are taking advantage of the inflationary cycle to increase prices, and it’s not just in retail. Class-action lawsuits have been launched against the beef…
Flexitarians have decreased risk of heart disease and Type 2 diabetes and reduced risk of cancer
For a number of years, I talked about becoming a vegetarian. I could see the health and environmental benefits, but completely removing meat seemed a bit extreme for my tastes. I recently discovered flexitarianism, a vegetarian diet where one eats meat occasionally. I limit my intake of meat and seafood, but I can still enjoy…
The food we buy is always changing, so keeping customers engaged with brands is challenging
Sobeys recently decided to dump Air Miles and start its own loyalty program. Empire Co. Ltd., Sobeys’ parent company, is joining the Bank of Nova Scotia and Cineplex as co-owners of the Scene+ program. This move by Sobeys is no coincidence. As we brace for higher food prices and cope with a post-COVID-19 workforce still…
Saturated fat in beef, and pork: bad. Saturated fat in dairy products: nothing to see here
It looks like we will see different symbols on food packaging soon, telling us whether a food product at the grocery store has too much fat, sugar or sodium. Health Canada is likely going forward with a policy requiring front-of-package nutrition symbols on foods high in saturated fat, sugars and sodium. It will provide clear,…
Consumers used to love to hate these machines. But things have changed
Self-checkouts have long been an unloved tool in the world of retail. In the beginning, nothing worked as it should, especially at the grocery store where an order for 20 items brought a new form of despair. But even if the mere presence of self-checkouts bothered many consumers, Canadians have apparently befriended them in some…
Move raises questions about motive and why the announcement was so quiet
All eyes are on inflation these days, especially at the grocery store. Food is the one thing we need every day and the food choices we make matter a great deal to our budget. To know what's going on with food prices, we turn to Statistics Canada for details. But without fanfare, we just learned…