Reflecting on grocery leaders’ pandemic-era challenges and triumphs
Five years ago, on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic.
The period brought about massive change. In the grocery industry, shelves were emptied, supply chains were disrupted and retailers were forced to adapt to keep frontline workers and shoppers safe.
As grocers navigated the upheaval, Canadian Grocer spoke to leaders about the challenges they faced and their hopes for the future. Read on to learn more about what they said in 2020:
Michael Medline
President and CEO, Empire Company Ltd.
On leadership: “COVID-19 taught me that anyone can lead in good times, but times of crisis show you what your leaders are truly made of. And I am so proud of all the leaders in our industry—including our competitors—especially the leaders in our stores and distribution centres. I also continue to be overwhelmed with gratitude for the constant collaboration with our supplier partners to help Canadians keep food on the table.
“When your business is turned on its head overnight, your values are one of the few things you can rely on without fail. Our values determined our priorities at the start of the pandemic and have helped us maintain focus. We set three priorities: keep our shelves stocked; keep our customers and teammates safe; and continue supporting our philanthropic causes and charitable partners. I’m so proud of how our team continues to keep a firm grip on these priorities. Our frontline heroes are true champions and I’m so humbled to work with them.”
Darrell Jones
President, Pattison Food Group
On merchandising: “By necessity, we are seeing the return of production and manufacturing of food and consumer goods to our country and we welcome this change… We believe that now is the time to put all of our collective weight and effort into supporting businesses that do business in Canada.
“We also believe mix assortment is going to change. Because of demands on manufacturing, there has been some natural elimination of product duplication in many categories. We think this will be a very interesting shift, as it will enable true product innovation to surface, which will be very well received by the consumer.”
Anthony Longo
CEO, Longo’s
On supporting staff: “The entire industry has learned many lessons, but perhaps the most important of these is putting our team members first and alleviating their stresses. Without a core team that feels respected, heard and valued, we will be missing the mark. As a family business, our team members are always first and that is why very early on we invested in progressive preventative measures. I know we all have a very promising future if the entire industry embraces those lessons.
“We also learned being open and transparent is critical. We made the decision from day one that that was going to be one of our core guiding principles during this crisis. We believe our team and guests have a right to know what we are doing and when we have issues.”
Giancarlo Trimarchi
President, Vince’s Market
On consumer behaviour: “For the last five to six years, the focus has been all on prepared meals and ready-to-make food for our customers. All of a sudden, the last eight weeks it is all about bringing them back to the basics.
“Root vegetables have done very, very well. We're selling parsnips and beets and rutabagas and squash—non-traditional items for this time of year. I think people are in the kitchen doing their different stews and soups.
“The big question that everyone is so uncertain about is, what habits from this are going to stick, and what habits are going to pass? They say a habit forms after doing something for 21 days in a row. We’re going to find out if that rule applies because so many people's habits have been fully broken. So, will they return to their old habits?”
Gary Sorenson
President and COO, Georgia Main Food Group
On the future: “History has shown that after facing difficult times humans adapt and often return to what is considered near normal. The comfort and familiarity of the past will often be the driving force of peoples' pursuit of a better future. The grocery industry has been at the forefront of change during the pandemic and has made tremendous strides in changing the way it operates in the name of safety protocols and efficiency. We may see many of these changes remain in place for the near future and some will perhaps stay with us forever.”
Digs Dorfman
CEO, The Sweet Potato
On online grocery shopping: “We were already in the process of investing significant time and resources into online grocery, but COVID-19 has really sped up our timeline. We were originally planning on launching our in-house delivery service in September, but now we're launching in June. As well, we've recently started a click-and-collect service and it's been a huge hit almost overnight, sometimes with phenomenally large basket sizes. We're dropping orders directly in people's trunks, which has been popular because of the increased level of safety it provides.”
Brad McMullen
President, Summerhill Market
On the future: “How the new normal will look is really a fascinating question. I believe there are a lot of smart people and investment dollars that are pushing into this newly defined space. I think there will be a snap back to our life before the pandemic, but many new conveniences and habits won’t be broken.
Grocers have a brand new swath of competitors they haven’t really seen before and will have to quickly adapt to this reality. The new normal will look like the best of what consumers have learned, combined with what we missed most during the pandemic. That may vary from region to region, and I think it will take quite some time to settle into what will be.”
