Not only is Sobeys taking action to be a more sustainable business, we are making it possible for our customers to adopt more sustainable lifestyles through the products and services that we offer. Together we can support our communities with local sourcing. And we can support healthier choices through our Compliments private label products, fresh food offerings and the advice we offer in Inspired magazine and at Compliments.ca.
Local sourcing
Local sourcing
Our commitment to the communities that we serve, including local growers and producers, is part of a heritage that dates back 102 years to our roots as a small meat delivery business in Stellarton, Nova Scotia. Today, Sobeys Atlantic works with hundreds of local growers and producers, and purchases hundreds of millions of dollars worth of locally produced food annually. While we are proud of our progress across the country, we are continually working to expand our assortment of locally grown or produced products and to promote these products and local suppliers in our flyers and in-store point-of- sale materials.
Consistent with this commitment, in 2008 Sobeys Atlantic introduced the Choose Atlantic program, a multifaceted campaign aimed at strengthening our relationships in the communities where we live, work, learn and play by expanding our local supplier network, and building awareness of locally grown and produced products. In its first year, this program helped Sobeys Atlantic increase purchases of Atlantic Canadian produce by more than 25%.
At Sobeys Ontario, the commitment to local sourcing has produced encouraging results:
- Over 90% of all poultry and pork across the region’s store network is now procured from Ontario federally inspected producers,
- 95% of the vegetables are procured from Ontario farms in the peak June to September season, and
- 66% of other fresh and frozen meat is procured from Ontario suppliers while a further 26% is procured from Canadian suppliers.
The Ontario region’s procurement teams work with producers on product innovation in a variety of areas, such as storage techniques to extend the shelf life of products and prolong the Ontario product offering past the traditional growing season. For example, the region is currently working with apple growers to bring Ontario apples to our customers year-round and peach producers to improve shipping and packing techniques to ensure our customers receive the best quality product.
In addition to purchasing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Ontario grown or raised products every year, Sobeys Ontario works closely with Foodland Ontario, the province’s program to promote Ontario producers, to develop marketing and merchandising programs for Ontario products. To further increase consumer awareness and knowledge of Ontario products and build upon Foodland Ontario’s efforts, we have introduced the “Ontario Fresh Pick” program into the region’s Foodland and IGA stores and launched a “Grown in Ontario for Sobeys” program.
Through such efforts, Sobeys Ontario is helping Ontario growers provide their products to Ontarians and capture opportunities to expand their products into other regions.
Our local sourcing efforts are not restricted to Atlantic Canada and Ontario. All of our regions have programs in place to promote locally grown or produced products to continuously seek for ways to increase their assortment of locally sourced products. We buy local first when we can be sure that our food safety and quality standards are met and the supply is consistent, reliable and competitively priced.
We know through our own research that local sourcing is an important factor for our customers in the purchase of fresh foods, with fruit and vegetables, bread and bakery products, freshly prepared dishes, milk, eggs, meat, fish and poultry. At the same time, our customers are becoming increasingly conscious of the importance of sustaining local economies, especially small producers. Buying local also reduces the environmental impact of transporting goods long distances.
To ensure we continue to increase our sales of locally produced goods, we are in the final stages of developing an integrated sourcing strategy within which each operating region will build more local opportunities into their individual business plans.
