CFIG’s incoming chair Erin Higdon is passionate about the grocery industry
While many indie grocers are bitten by the grocery bug at an early age, a career in the industry wasn’t always in the cards for Erin Higdon.
After studying business and economics at Memorial University in her home province of Newfoundland, Higdon joined the team at PricewaterhouseCoopers in St. John’s. From there she embarked on a nearly eight-year stint as a business analyst for a mining company in Labrador City.
But, by 2014, with a young family (husband Adam and daughters Olivia and Georgia), the urge to move from the mainland of the province back home to the island became too strong to resist. “As fate would have it, I learned about an opening at Atlantic Grocery Distributors (AGD) from my father who actually grew up with its owner, Dave Powell,” says Higdon. After a successful interview with Powell and the general manager at the time, Higdon secured a role as director of finance for the company, which is headquartered in Bay Roberts, N.L. with a second location in Port aux Basques.
“I was completely new to the industry and I had everything to learn,” says Higdon. “And it’s actually hard for me to believe it’s been 10 years already.”
A passion for the food business
While it was an unexpected opportunity that led Higdon to the grocery business, she was quickly wooed by its fast-paced, dynamic nature. “It’s had my heart ever since. Working with independents in the food industry, no two days are the same,” she says. “People also like to joke that I love to eat, so going to work surrounded by delicious products to sample is the cherry on top.”
Over the past decade, Higdon, a chartered accountant, has climbed the ranks at the Powell Group of Companies, within which AGD is the largest unit. Part of the senior leadership team, Higdon is vice-president of business strategy for the Powell Group as well as general manager of AGD. “The relationships I’ve built along the way are definitely the best part of my job, and a close second is the opportunity to daily be a part of building something special,” says Higdon. “I’m grateful to have been invited by Dave and family to be a part of the team that gets to set the course for this proud Newfoundland grocer and wholesaler, creating the strategy and not simply executing against somebody else’s plan.”
Today, AGD is the largest wholesale distributor to independent operators in Newfoundland and Labrador, servicing the entire province as well as the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon and the eastern shores of Quebec. It is also the primary distributor to several of the province’s Indigenous communities. In all, the company serves more than 2,000 retail and foodservice businesses. “We pride ourselves in being a one-stop distribution centre, housing over 20,000 grocery and foodservice products,” says Higdon.
READ: Greening the supply chain
The Group also operates two full-service grocery stores—one in Bay Roberts, the other up the coast in Carbonear—under the Powell’s Supermarket banner. Higdon says the entire operation is rooted in grocery. “We began as grocers,” she says, proceeding to explain how the company has grown under Dave Powell’s entrepreneurial leadership: When he needed a wholesaler to supply his stores (and other independents), Powell began a wholesale distribution company; when he needed a competitive price on bread, he began a commercial bakery (Golden Crust Bakery); and when he needed a cost-effective and reliable way to service his fleet of trucks, he opened a garage, Dave’s Tirecraft & Service Centre.
“The thing that we don’t know how to do here is do one thing at a time, and I think that’s an independent trait; we’re always up to something, we’re always pursuing the next big opportunity,” says Higdon. The company has operated with that mindset since the beginning. “Dave’s father, Herbert J. Powell, passed on the philosophy that ‘in business you continually have to march forward because if you stop, the guy coming up behind you is going to trample you.’ And so, we never stop,” she says.
Recent initiatives from the company include expansion of the Group’s Golden Crust Bakery and the relocation of its Atlantic Restaurant Supplies business to a newly renovated space with a state-of-the-art test kitchen and increased warehouse capacity. Higdon says the investments were made to keep its commitment to its retail and foodservice customers to provide everything they need to operate their businesses. “And we’re always scouting the next great location to expand our exceptional Powell’s Supermarket offering,” she adds.
Of course, operating a food business in a province like Newfoundland comes with its own unique set of challenges with which to contend. “While we pride ourselves in being from The Rock, the higher costs of operating on an island in the North Atlantic is our reality,” says Higdon. Relying on products being shipped over long distances—via roads and water or even air—coupled with unpredictable weather conditions resulting in delays (“Ferry routes can be cancelled up to four and five days at a time,” says Higdon) can impact the quality and shelf life of perishable items. This results in increased costs when these products need to be discounted or tossed out. Out-of-stocks present another challenge.
“To mitigate those risks presented by our weather and location, here at AGD we practice a long-time strategy of carrying, where possible, higher than normal inventory levels of non-perishable and long shelf-life food items,” she explains, adding that at AGD’s primary warehouse the main freezer has more than one million cubic feet of frozen storage space. The strategy and investment in storage capacity has paid off, allowing AGD to respond to long product lead times and anticipated delays. “It has also allowed us to deliver on a greater than 90% average fill rate to our customers, even during the most disruptive supply chain conditions of the last few years,” says Higdon.
Advocating for indies
This month, Higdon will be taking on a new challenge. After six years serving on the board of the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers (CFIG), she’ll be stepping up to the role of chair, taking over from Pattison Food Group’s Jamie Nelson. As chair, she’ll be working to make things better for independent grocers across the country.
READ: Jamie Nelson on championing independents
“Personally, I’ve always had strong convictions regarding our responsibility to be part of necessary change in our industry, and to be a part of the change that we want to see,” Higdon says when asked why she was taking on the role of chair. “Being a member of CFIG and then the board and later the executive, has provided me with that opportunity and the opportunity to take on the role of chair is an honour, but we will be led by the collective direction of our [board and CFIG] team.”
One of the issues Higdon and CFIG will be focusing on in the year ahead stems from a recent Competition Bureau report that recommends the government do more to support indie grocers. “We’re going to bring forward recommendations on ways [the] government can ensure independents not just remain on the playing field, but also improve their future position.” She adds the focus will be on pressing the government on programs that recognize the unique challenges of independents, rather than seeking ways to attract foreign grocers to the country.
Another area of focus is the perennial issue of interchange fees, (the fee paid by merchants for every credit card transaction). “We’re going to continue to push for the reopening of this issue and the necessary reductions in the fees charged to independent grocers,” says Higdon, adding that they’ll be impressing upon the government the importance of putting dollars back in the pockets of independent grocers to ensure their future.
READ: Independent grocers criticize Ottawa's deal to lower interchange fees
Of course, getting the grocery code of conduct across the finish line will be top of mind for Higdon and CFIG in the months ahead. Years in the making, the industry-led code—designed to promote predictability, transparency and fair dealing in the industry—overcame a major hurdle this summer when Walmart Canada and Costco finally signed on.
“We’re grateful and encouraged that we now have a written and industry-supported grocery code of conduct but there, of course, remains a lot of work that still needs to be done. Now, we must ensure the code does what it was intended to do and ensure that the code works for our members,” says Higdon, adding that CFIG will be focusing on education and support for its members. “It’s no good for it to be a code that sits on the shelf; it needs to be a code that goes to work for the betterment of our industry.”
Higdon says through its work to advocate for a grocery code of conduct, the team at CFIG has done a “tremendous” job in raising the profile of the Canadian independent grocer. “One of my goals is that we maintain that momentum and use it to drive other necessary change around other important issues impacting independents,” she says.
Despite the challenges and complexities of operating a grocery business today, Higdon is optimistic about the outlook for independents.
“Canadians are looking for partners they can rely on and trust. Independent grocers are positioned incredibly well to meet that need. So, despite the headwinds we face, through our ties to the communities we serve in all areas of the country, customers know what we stand for and feel connected to our stories,” says Higdon. “We need to be proud of our unique position within the market and continue to tell our story.”
This article was first published in Canadian Grocer’s September/October 2024 issue.
