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APRIL/MAY 2023 • VOL. 83, ISSUE 2
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Canadian food and beverage manufacturing saw strong sales in 2022: FCC
Farm Credit Canada’s (FCC’s) latest Food and Beverage Report found the national food and beverage manufacturing sector saw strong sales growth in 2022 despite a challenging environment.
Sales increased 10.6 per cent to $156 billion in 2022, but margins were tighter due to increases in prices of raw materials, labour shortages, and supply chain disruptions. Additionally, sales volume only rose modestly (under one per cent).
“It is difficult for food and beverage manufacturers to pass on those increased labour and material costs,” said J.P. Gervais, FCC’s chief economist, in a media statement. “Gross margins as a per cent of sales fell to their lowest level in over 20 years in 2022. While margin trends vary based on industry, we do anticipate an overall improvement to gross margins in the coming year.”
Imported good sales outpaced domestic
Inflationary pressures meant Canadians scaled back on purchasing premiumpriced products. Manufacturers of locally made, bespoke CPGs couldn’t cut costs due to market pressures. Consumption of foreign-made products outpaced domestically manufactured goods for the first time after the pandemic. Additionally, the increasing diversification of the Canadian population meant people were opting
for brands and products from countries of origin than locally produced ones.
“Despite inflationary pressures, we continue to see Canada’s food and beverage sector adapt and innovate to meet the changing market demands,” said Gervais. “The sector remains healthy and has a positive long-term outlook.”
Modest sales growth is expected in 2023 at 2.2 per cent to $160 billion. For a copy of the full report, visit www. fcc-fac.ca/en/knowledge/economics/ food-and-beverage-report.html.
Who’s Who
The food and beverage processing industry is the second largest manufacturing sector in Canada. In this issue of Food in Canada, we honour some of the movers and shakers in the industry. While some of them are pioneers in the industry, others are challenging status quo.
Marie-Eve Royer made history earlier this year by becoming the first Canadian-born president of Bimbo Canada. To develop home-grown talent, Mark Taylor, president and CEO of Lactalis Canada, launched Lactalis Canada Next Ventures, an internal crowdsourcing innovation program to bring to market new products.
Doug Alexander, vice-president of sustainability and government relations at Belmont Food Group, is wellknown for his advocacy work and for mentoring next-generation leaders in
Nithya Caleb
Canada’s meat processing sector. As board members on numerous industry associations, Alexander has made it a personal mission to help where he can.
Mondelez Canada’s president Karla Schlieper’s farming roots have shaped her outlook to life. A naturally curious person, Schlieper credits her eternal thirst for knowledge for her corporate success.
In December 2022, Carlsberg made a significant acquisition. It bought Waterloo Brewing for approx. $144 million. The acquisition has bolstered Carlsberg’s domestic production.
Carlsberg Canada’s managing director Anders Rud Jørgensen will be spending a better part of 2023 ensuring a seamless integration of the two companies.
I’d also like to highlight Ratana Stephens, CEO and co-founder of Nature’s Path, one of the pioneers in organic foods. Her journey highlights some of the challenges organic food companies faced in the early days, be it ingredient sourcing or garnering shelf space.
The inaugural 2023 edition of Food in Canada’s Who’s Who celebrates the contributions made by food and beverage processing industry leaders to the Canadian economy. If you’d like to nominate someone for the next edition, please contact me.
Nithya Caleb ncaleb@annexbusinessmedia.com
Pepsi unveils new visual identity
Pepsi reveals a new logo and visual identity system, the first update of the iconic Pepsi globe logo in 14 years. The new design, which includes a bold typeface, updated colour palette and a signature pulse, will span across all physical and digital touchpoints, including packaging, fountain and cooler equipment, fleet, fashion, and dining. The new logo and visual identity pay homage to the brand’s rich heritage while taking a big leap toward the future. Pepsi will roll out the new look this fall.
News> file
Up Vertical Farms unveils first hands-free vertical farm
After nearly a decade of research and development, Up Vertical Farms commences operations at Canada’s first ever hands-free vertical farm in Pitt Meadows, B.C. Up Vertical Farms employs a high-density growing technology using recycled CO2 and a proprietary lighting technology to grow leafy greens.
McCain Foods invests $600M in Coaldale, Alta., plant McCain Foods is making a substantial investment in Coaldale,
NEW PRODUCTS
Alta., doubling the size of its facility and output. The expansion will include wind turbines and solar panels, providing 100 per cent renewable electricity to the Coaldale site. Two new production lines will be created, which will double the workforce at Coaldale to 485.
Mirabel and VÔG unite under new brand name
The multi-generational family business, which operates four greenhouse complexes in Quebec, across 30 hectares, introduces a new direction as Cultures Gen V. The new Gen V brand will permanently replace the former Mirabel and VÔG brands. Gen V products include hydroponic lettuce, organic cucumbers, peppers, and mini cucumbers produced locally, all year-round.
Multivac launches new traysealers
The new Multivac traysealers are compact, feature intelligent machine control, and can be integrated into a wide range of production environments. The machines can run trays from a varied materials including paper- and fibre-based as well as plastics. The range of applications extends from ‘sealing only’ to modified atmosphere packaging and vacuum skin packs. www.multivac.com
FDA deems Good Meat’s cultivated chicken is safe
Good Meat, the cultivated meat division of food technology company Eat Just, receives a “no questions” letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as part of one of the agency’s first pre-market consultations for a new kind of meat, poultry and seafood made from cells. The letter means that the FDA has accepted the company’s conclusion that its cultivated chicken is safe to eat. This clears a crucial step in bringing Good Meat to restaurants and retail in the U.S.
Canada gains full access to Japanese beef market
For the first time in two decades, Japan is reopening its doors to Canadian processed beef. In 2022, the Japanese market for Canadian beef and beef products had an estimated value of $518 million. The development also removes the last restrictions on Canadian beef that Japan put in place in 2003 after the discovery of a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in Alberta.
Liquid level detector from Dynatrol
The Dynatrol CL-10GH CIP liquid level detector is used for high-, mid- or low-level point detection of liquids or slurries. Food and beverage industry applications may include fructose, corn syrup, sugar liquor, oils, slurries, fruit and vegetable juices, and plant-based waters. The detector provides rugged construction with a sensitive transmission of vibration energy. This GH CIP level detector has no floats, diaphragms, packing glands or moving parts. The detector requires no field adjustments. It is compliant to NEMA 4x washdown duty for the food and beverage industries. If needed, corrosionresistant coatings are available. www.dynatrolusa.com
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YMaking sense of big data in food safety
Dr. Amy Proulx
ou can’t control what you can’t measure” is an adage. Whether quoted from Peter Drucker or W. Edwards Deming, the principle is sound. Food safety and quality managers need to integrate controls into their system, and to control the system takes measuring and collecting data. But what do you need to measure? How much data do you need to collect?
In the era of automated sensors, PLCs, and interconnected enterprise management systems, it’s tempting to collect every bit of data. But why collect them all? I’ve worked with companies interested in finding all the things they can measure, and they end up with spreadsheets of millions of numbers that merely fill up storage instead of creating action for quality. Observational data, when used strategically, should turn into visual tools that help inform decision-making. Meaningful and actionable measurements will have a positive impact on the product and help reduce errors and waste.
Meaningful measurements
Every measure should have a purpose for improving the product’s safety or quality. Each product and process have unique characteristics, so it’s important to have product developers, operations, machine operators, quality and food safety specialists, packaging, shipping, and consumer feedback teams communicate to identify where and how quality is achieved. Each of these members of the manufacturing team have different insights into how the system maintains or loses quality. It’s the food safety and quality manager’s role to make sure those conversations happen. While it’s tempting to take as many measures as possible with automation, frequency must be coupled with ability to act. Real-time measurements are great
if they are linked to some sort of control mechanism such as a SCADA controller that automatically adjusts the system, or a mechanism like optical sorter that removes non-conforming product. If a human needs to interpret and intervene in the quality control process, make sure the frequency of measurement corresponds to the ability to trace and control the affected product, and intervene appropriately.
Making sense of measurements
Statistical tools and spreadsheets, such as those shared publicly by ASQ (www.asq. org/quality-resources/seven-basic-quality-tools), can help visualize data. Statistical process control charts are particularly
Meaningful and actionable measurements will have a positive impact on the product and help reduce errors and waste.
useful. They allow for observation of the natural variation that occurs in food products and processes. No system is perfect. There is always some variation, which is described as “common cause variation”. Special cause variation refers to a system that’s losing control. These terms were championed by statistician, Lloyd Nelson. The Nelson Rules help interpret when a process is losing control. Control charts can be used for all sorts of measures, from evaluation of ATP results in sanitation and monitoring microbiology total plate counts, frequency of different attributes or defects to tracking moisture and energy efficiency
of operations. Some organizations will create spreadsheet templates or macro tools to help catalogue this data efficiently. Many ERP systems are building this type of analysis into their base programs.
Measuring in the qualitative space
Qualitative measures, such as colour, flavour, consumer attitudes, and workforce morale, contribute to quality. There are creative ways to convert qualitative measurements into numerical systems, such as frequency tables, colour space charts, or Likert scales.
Creating solutions
Automation can collect data for quality and food safety, and statistical tools can help visualize the information, but competent humans are the decision-makers. It’s important to use root cause methodology, take time to investigate and see the big picture of all the interconnected systems causing quality and food safety issues.
In root cause analysis, factors related to measurement, materials, personnel, environment, methods, and machines are investigated for their contributions to quality. Many quality practitioners also add finance and management to the root cause. Each of these factors is questioned and investigated objectively to find opportunities for improvement.
Humans are best suited to seeing the big picture and interconnected aspect of quality factors. Don’t let numbers overwhelm the system. Make sure your organization stays in control by using the right numbers and analyzing them well.
Dr. Amy Proulx is professor and academic program co-ordinator for the Culinary Innovation and Food Technology programs at Niagara College, Ont. She can be reached at aproulx@niagaracollege.ca.
I25 years and counting: Milestones in Canadian food regulations
Gary Gnirss
have been writing this column for 25 years. One of my first articles was about the creation of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in April 1997. Happy 26th anniversary, CFIA!
The creation of CFIA was a profound achievement. It set the foundation for statutory changes that culminated in the consolidation of federal food laws under the Safe Food for Canadian Act (SFCA) and Safe Food for Canadian Regulations (SFCR).
Prior to CFIA, foods in Canada were governed by numerous federal departments. This hampered the delivery of predictable services to industry. It also was an obstacle to a single vision of food safety. While the ministers of agriculture and agri-food and health govern CFIA today, the agency provides a focal point for federal oversight of food safety and animal and plant health.
Federal food laws
It’s important to note that foods today are governed, federally, by both the Food and Drugs Act (FDA) and Food and Drugs Regulations (FDR), as well as the SFCA/ SFCR. There is a bit of duplication of federal food standards in FDR and SFCR. This has not gone unnoticed. CFIA plans to modernize this framework. It is likely that in the not-so-distant future, food standards will be consolidated in a single document that will be incorporated by reference by both SFCR and FDR This is part of the vision that led to the creation of CFIA. While the establishment of CFIA in 1997 was a significant milestone, the impact of SFCA/SFCR
CFIA provides a focal point for federal oversight of food safety and animal and plant health.
on governance of food is unparalleled in Canadian history. SFCA received Royal assent only in November 2012. SFCR was registered in May 2018. The two came into force on January 15, 2019. The last of the transitional provisions under SFCR happened at the end of 2022 only. It has indeed taken a long time to consolidate and modernize federal food laws, but the result is worth the grief and time, as Canada now has a much more robust food safety system.
Milestones
Over the lifespan of CFIA, there have been other major modernization milestones. Mandatory nutrition labelling came into force in 2003. These food labelling rules were some of the most
prescriptive Canada has ever seen. A transition period of three to five years was offered. By 2007, prepackaged foods in Canada were required to include a nutrition facts table (NFt), when applicable. Enhanced food allergen, gluten source and sulphite labelling became law in 2011, but offered a two-year transition period. In 2016, nutrition, ingredient and allergen labelling were modernized. A five-year transition period was offered but it was extended until December 14, 2022 (with additional extension till December 14, 2023, for few straggling products) due to the pandemic. Then in 2022, another watershed period ushered in new rules for supplemented foods and front of package (FOP) nutrition symbols. The new FOP rules have a transition period, which ends on December 31, 2025.
In July 2022, CFIA finalized the Food Product Innovation rules.
The future of food regulations in Canada will have many new chapters.
CFIA has begun working on its food labelling modernization (FLM) initiative. Proposed rules were published in Canada Gazette I in June 2019. However, CFIA elected to complete only the “housekeeping” portions of the initiative due to COVID-19. CFIA plans to reintroduce FLM but hasn’t provided a timeline for that. It is important to remember SFCA/SFCR was designed to be the first step in modernizing food labelling, so expect more modernization.
Gary Gnirss is a partner and president of Legal Suites Inc., specializing in regulatory software and services. Contact him at president@legalsuites.com.
TSustainability takes centre stage for a sweet future in confectionery packaging
Carol Zweep
he confectionery industry is highly competitive, and product differentiation through packaging is essential to attract and retain customers. However, in recent years, there has been a growing trend toward wellness and sustainability, which is leading to changes in packaging.
Confectionery is often given as a gift or to celebrate special occasions, thus requiring premiumization. Product differentiation can be achieved through unique container shapes, designs and textures, as well as the use of attractive graphics.
Packaging design and materials are evolving to reflect the changing consumer demands for wellness and healthy lifestyles. Smaller portions are being offered to cater to consumers who want to indulge in moderation, and the packaging emphasizes using ingredients that are ‘clean’, natural, organic, and fair-trade.
With greater awareness of the impacts of plastic packaging waste on wildlife and the environment, it is not surprising the top trend for confectionery is sustainable packaging. Consumers are looking for eco-friendly packaging, and brand owners are responding. Alternative to traditional petroleum-based plastics is compostable/ biodegradable and plant-based plastics. Also, the use of recyclable material and the integration of recycled content is increasing. Packaging reduction or light weighting are other means of reducing waste. Reusable and refillable packaging options are increasingly being offered as well.
Sustainability goals
Many large confectionery companies have set sustainability goals for their packaging. One of Nestle’s sustainability goals is to have 95 per cent of its packaging designed
for recycling and reduce virgin plastic use by one-third by 2025. For example, Nestle UK has changed the foil wrappers for their Quality Street candy line to recyclable paper wrappers. Kit Kat packaging in Japan has replaced plastic wrap with sustainable matte paper that can also be made into origami. The Smarties brand
Packaging design and materials are evolving to reflect the changing consumer demands for wellness and healthy lifestyles.
now uses recyclable paper.
Mars also aims to contribute to a circular economy. They have replaced virgin plastic with a mix of recycled plastic in their Kind snack bar packaging.
Mondelez is driving toward net zero waste packaging with initiatives like reducing the box volume of Napolitain biscuits, removing hard-to-recycle PVC plastic windows from Cadbury Favourites boxes, and introducing a cardboard-only pack format for Cadbury Easter Inclusion Shell.
One must consider the implication of material and design changes to packaging. Does the new material have the same handling properties, heat seal properties, moisture, and oxygen barrier? Intensive work is put into the development of new materials and coatings. In some cases, changes in printing and the adaption of existing packaging equipment may
be required. Product safety and quality are paramount. To this end, extensive prototype testing is performed along with evaluation throughout the supply chain. The product’s package integrity and shelf life must be evaluated to reflect real-life scenarios such as transportation and warehousing in various environments and retail and consumer handling.
Innovations
The increasing demand for sustainable, eco-friendly packaging materials and innovative packaging designs will drive the future of confectionery packaging. Brands will continue to develop new packaging materials that are biodegradable, compostable, or plant-based while exploring new packaging formats that can be recycled or reused.
Edible packaging is one potential innovation area for consumable wrapping or coatings around confectionery. It eliminates package waste and could provide additional functionality such as antimicrobials, vitamins, antioxidants, and nutrients. Incorporating nanotechnology into edible packaging could enhance its functionality. Smart packaging is another innovation area, which can provide realtime information about the product’s freshness, safety, and quality. This could include technologies such as RFID tags, QR codes, or NFC chips that allow consumers to track the product’s journey from farm to table.
By incorporating sustainable packaging, companies can meet changing consumer demands as well as contribute to a healthier planet.
Carol Zweep is food consulting manager for NSF. Contact her at czweep@nsf.org.
WHERE PROCESS MEETS PROGRESS
Process Expo showcases all aspects of the food and beverage processing industry. This can’t miss event is your opportunity to discover the latest advancements, equipment, and technology — all under one roof. SCAN TO REGISTER NOW!
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OPPORTUNITY in new sweets and indulgences
We’re seeing a trend toward low, no-added sugar confectioneries
— BY MARK JUHASZ —
The past few years have had a major impact on how people think about and purchase food. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly raised awareness about the importance of strong immune systems, and one’s diet in relation to that. In 2022, inflation across the global economy was particularly acute on food prices, and what has been termed the ‘cost-of-living’ crisis made consumers even more careful about their grocery purchases. Add to this a wave of policies in jurisdictions around the world that are regulating unhealthy quantities of high fat, sodium, and sugar content in products. Regulations are seeking to address epidemic cases of obesity, diabetes and a range of dietary-related alignments and conditions. For example, titanium dioxide, used to whiten or brighten foods, is prohibited in the E.U. This has created a demand for functional and efficient alternatives. A recent study from the journal, Nature Medicine, suggests the artificial sweetener erythritol may have a link to increased cardiovascular risk, even though the results remain inconclusive and context specific.
The World Health Organization has published manuals on taxation policies
Manufacturers
on confectionery for countries to promote healthier diets. Leading confectioners like Mars-Wrigley are responding in stride with major product reformulation initiatives. The range of reduced, low and no added-sugar products available has grown significantly in recent years. The thing is, consumers want healthy products that are also tasty. Traditional cane sugar has certain texture, taste, and mouthfeel functionalities that no one alternative can easily replace.
NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENTS
In addition to the drive toward healthy indulgence in the confectionery sector, conscious consumer choices favouring environmental-friendly and ethical products is finding its way into the category. Front-of-pack ethics is translating into tangible partnerships between confectioners and organizations working to restore and enhance ecosystems in the regions where food ingredient commodities are produced, for example, with biodiversity
are reformulating products and experimenting with new ingredients to offer consumers healthy and tasty confectionery.
protection related to cacao, sugar, coffee, or vanilla production. Provenance also serves a role for some consumers, who are seeking ingredients such as Sicilian lemons, Australian orange, Sri Lankan cinnamon, or Madagascar vanilla.
The innovation happening in confectionery is also about strategically thinking which ingredients need to be replaced to still provide a satisfying and tasty experience, while meeting health benefit demands at a reasonable price point, not an easy task. As noted, sugar replacement is a highly contested area. While some alternative sweeteners like allulose, xylitol and aspartame have lower calories and glycemic indicators, they have had mixed reception in terms of consumer taste and texture response. Natural sweeteners from vegetables, tubers and plants are being utilized from monk fruit, honey, stevia, coconut, date, agave, chicory root, carrots, and berries, for example. Fruit-sourced frutafit inulin, and frutalose oligofructose are designed to reduce sugar content, increase fibre and, potentially, serve as a gut prebiotic.
Additional ingredient replacements in functional confections include replacing saturated fats with healthier alternatives. Some of this is in the form of plant oils, whether sourced from coconuts or avocados, for example, as a substitute for butter, or almond or chia seeds to add a creamy texture as a source of unsaturated fat to product formulations. Confectioners are using whole and ancient grains to add fibre (to enhance satiety or support weight management) and essential nutrients to products that are replacing refined and highly processed flours and starches. Albeit these shifts toward new ingredients are not without supply chain and price challenges and fluctuations. Production costs and consistency of availability require continual vigilance of consumer and market reception to new product formulations.
INNOVATIVE PRODUCTS
The multi-faceted opportunity for functional
and better-for-you confectionery would suggest a sweet spot between indulgent pleasure and health, without compromising either. The sector has witnessed significant growth in confectionery launches with health claims, such as enriched vitamins, minerals, or natural plant extracts to boost an aspect of well-being. Functionality in confections can range from fibre and vitamins to different ingredients and no-animal products.
In terms of specific examples, chocolate and candy confectionery is a well-established category. Good Day Chocolate is a fair-trade dark bar developed to help with sleep and energy. Eat Gold Organics have a functional chocolate bar to support women’s menopause and libido. Sourse chocolate bites are infused with vitamins to improve mood, skin tone, and sleep. Jojo chocolate have hemp protein and fibre. Unreal makes low-sugar, dark chocolate alternatives. Chocolate brands have also promoted carbon-neutral, dairy-free, and plant-based versions of this classic indulgent snack. In the category of gummies, adaptogens such as ashwagandha are being used by Grummies. WonderDay gummies by Plant People have infused functional mushrooms into their products for improved energy, immunity, and stress-relief. 8Greens candies deliver the equivalent amount of vitamins as cups of broccoli and spinach, and Natrol Sleep+ gummies focus their product on immune-boosting and calming formulations for adults and children. According to a recent report,
by mid-decade, global gummie vitamins could reach $9.3 billion in sales.
Amidst a health-centric set of signals in the confectionery sector, finding the right balance between indulgence and self-care seems more important then ever. Add to this price inflation, challenging supply chains, and the difficulty of deciphering between what consumers say and actually do at the check-out counter. Classic sweets like a candy bar or piece of rich chocolate can satisfy emotional balance. Sugar and chocolate are well-established, mature markets with dynamic innovation within them. The current developments within the category, whether dairyfree, plant-based, or low-sugar are variations that seek to reduce guilt, or aid in supporting market health signals, but confectionery is as much about enjoyment, pleasure, and satisfaction as it is about healthier lifestyles. It will depend on the product, and the consumer across the healthy, functional, better-for-you, and indulgence spectrum, whether considering caloric intake, nutritional content, ingredients, price, or ethics as a decision-making point. What is certain is that the confectionery category has a great opportunity to put out great tasting, delicious and satisfying new products in the market that innovate with new ways of redefining where health and pleasure meet.
Mark Juhasz is CEO and founder of Harvest Insights. He has more than 20 years of experience in the agri-food industry. He can be reached at www.harvestinsights.com.
Good Day Chocolate products are designed to help with sleep and energy levels.
Success factors when hiring newcomers
BY JENNEFER GRIFFITH —
Ithink most of us would agree there are serious labour challenges in Canada’s food and beverage manufacturing industry. Food Processing Skills Canada’s (FPSC’s) labour market information tells us the industry needs to add approximately 50,000 new people between 2020 and 2025. We know that seven in 10 employers are facing recruitment and retention challenges, and 40 per cent of businesses lack a dedicated HR department or staff.
The workforce is also ageing with one in four people set to retire in the next 10 years. The situation is most dire in Atlantic Canada. Additionally, talent attraction has been a long-term challenge across all of Canada. A survey conducted by Food Processing Skills Canada found that only three in 10 people would consider work in the industry, which is particularly concerning for the meat and poultry sector, given only 16 per cent of their workforce is under the age of 30.
having difficulty filling job openings. As we know, a high volume of unfilled positions can restrict a company’s output, leading to lost revenues for businesses and the industry.
However, the labour shortage is not unique to food and beverage manufacturing. Statistics show Canada’s unemployment is running at an all-time low and there are record high job vacancy numbers. Employers can’t expect employees to simply work more to fill the need, so where are the workers going to come from?
Last year, the Government of Canada launched its biggest ever expansion of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, and employers have responded with an increase of applications to fill Ontario jobs. With the Ontario job vacancy rate averaging a very high 5.3 per cent, it is no surprise that there is a sense of urgency.
The job vacancy rate, which expresses the number of job vacancies as a percentage of labour demand, provides insight into sectors and industries that are
Assuming a direct relationship between total net revenue and total employment, a single unfilled position in the food and beverage manufacturing industry could cost businesses as much as $190 per day in lost net revenue. A 2020 Food Processing Skills Canada (FPSC) employer survey found food and beverage manufacturers had an average of six vacant positions.
With over 7,600 establishments (excluding those without employees) in food and beverage manufacturing, industry-wide losses from job vacancies could total up to a staggering $8.5 million in net revenue per day. Assuming the level of vacancies is constant throughout the year, the $8.5 million per day becomes $3.1 billion per year.
To help address the worker shortfall, the Government of Canada announced large commitments to immigration in November 2022 with 465,000 perma-
The role of immigration in addressing labour market challenges —
Immigrants make up about 30 per cent of the workforce in food and beverage manufacturing.
nent residents in 2023, 485,000 in 2024, and 500,000 in 2025. The plan also brings an increased focus on attracting newcomers to different regions of the country, including small towns and rural communities.
This is positive news for the industry. Newcomers often have the experience to fill vacant positions and the motivation to move to Canada to work, settle, and raise their families.
Currently, immigrants represent about 31 per cent of the sector’s workforce, which is five per cent higher than the overall Canadian labour force. Of the 31 per cent, nine per cent are recent immigrants arriving in Canada within the last five years.
With increased immigration comes new opportunities for Canadian employers and jobseekers. However, it’s important for employers to be aware there are key success factors for immigrants and employment such as access to settlement services for integration into Canada socially and economically. It’s also important for employers to make a commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion principles and to provide training in multiple languages to ensure successful onboarding and essential skills.
FPSC offers online skills training to support employers and
new hires, many of which are available in several languages. The organization’s re-launched Canadian Food Safety Readiness program is also helping newcomers prepare for a job in the industry before they arrive in Canada. Our partnership with Focus Humanitarian Assistance will upskill Afghan refugees in Turkey with fundamental food and beverage manufacturing training and then pair them with Canadian employers as part of an integration strategy into Canadian society.
To assist Canadian food and beverage manufacturing employers with a better understanding of immigration streams including the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, FPSC has created a new resource called Immigration Navigation Boot Camp. This five-part interactive webinar series offers important information on Canada’s immigration system, available programs, and foreign recruitment and settlement practices.
There are exciting new opportunities for employers and jobseekers with immigration. Now is the time to become better informed and assess the potential for your organization.
Jennefer Griffith is the executive director of Food Processing Skills Canada.
A global leader in the art & science of Concentrated Dairy & Speciality Flavours
A great tasting & easy to use range of dairy and non-dairy flavours available for wide array of food applications.
An area for growth and innovation in beverage manufacturing
— BY JACK KAZMIERSKI —
Alcohol sales dropped in volume by 1.2 per cent in 2022, according to Statistics Canada. This was the first decline since 2013-14, and the largest decline in over a decade.
The drop in alcohol consumption seems to coincide with a rise in the popularity of non-alcoholic beverage sales in Canada. According to a 2022 survey by Future Market Insights, “The global non-alcoholic beer market is expected to surpass a valuation of US$43.6 billion by 2032, expanding at a 7.8 per cent CAGR.”
Non-alcoholic beer is the fastest growing segment of all the non-alcoholic beverages. Mitch Cobb, co-founder and CEO of Libra Bev. Co., says his company launched their first non-alcoholic beer in 2020, “and saw tremendous success. In the first year-and-a-half, we launched five different styles of non-alcoholic craft beers. From 2021 to 2022, we saw a 300 per cent growth in sales.”
Health benefits
Earlier this year, the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction released new guidance on the consumption of alcohol and health, warning that less is better. Health is a key motivator behind the Dry January movement, which has helped shine the light on non-alcoholic beverages.
“People are starting to pay more attention to their health and wellness and they’re recognizing that alcohol doesn’t play a part in helping them be healthy,” says Cobb. “They’re looking to reduce their alcohol consumption.”
Steve Abrams, co-founder of Harmon’s Craft Brewing in Toronto, says his company is seeing a lot of “35- and 45-yearolds with families and responsibilities” getting into non-alcoholic beverages. “They love beer, but sometimes it just doesn’t make sense to have one. We know that 80 per cent of all non-alcoholic
The global non-alcoholic beer market is expected to worth more than US$43.6 billion by 2032.
1.2%
For the first time in over a decade, alcohol sales dropped in volume by 1.2 per cent in 2022.
customers still drink alcohol, they’re just slowing it down.”
Jeff Popiel, president of Village Brewery, Calgary, Alta., says non-alcoholic beverages have seen “triple-digit growth for several years.” One of the reasons is health.
“Non-alcoholic beer is low-carb, low calorie, low sugar, and, of course, low alcohol.”
Popiel explains consumers may also be using non-alcoholic beverages to “regu-
Photos courtesy Libra Bev. Co.Brewing
late their blood alcohol differently. Perhaps they must drive, so they’ll have one real beer and one non-alcoholic drink. They can go to a party and have what looks like a beer, as it’s a high-quality beverage, and they can still fit in socially.”
Better beer
Non-alcoholic beer has come a long way. “Ten years ago,” Cobb explains, “there was a real stigma about non-alcoholic beer. It didn’t taste good.”
Abrams agrees. “For decades, non-alcoholic beer was awful,” he says. “It used to be, what I call, ‘penalty box beer.’ In other words, you were punished for drinking it. It tasted like wet newspaper.”
Fast-forward to the 2020s, and much has changed. Non-alcoholic beer is more appealing to the palate than ever before. “We brew the beer to 0.5 per cent alcohol,” Abrams explains. “We’re not running it through machinery to extract the alcohol. Instead, we’re using new strains of yeast, and that’s been the big breakthrough that has allowed us to replicate various styles of beer.”
He says the secret to making non-alcoholic beer taste as good as real beer is part science and part art. “You can add all the hops you want, and make different styles of beer,” he explains, “and you can get the recipe to where it tastes like a regular beer.”
The challenge, of course, is convincing consumers
that today’s non-alcoholic beer won’t put your taste buds in the “penalty box.”
Brewing technologies
Popiel explains that making a good-tasting non-alcoholic beer is all about the process. “Brewing is an age-old art,” he explains. “You have four ingredients, and it all comes down to how you choose to use those ingredients.”
This means a traditional brewery wouldn’t necessarily have to invest in new equipment to make non-alcoholic beer. Popiel says his company brews their non-alcoholic beer in the same brew house and the same kettles as their regular beer. They just have a proprietary process to make their non-alcoholic products appealing to the palate.
Profit and potential
Abrams says there’s more profit in non-alcoholic beer, as it can not only be sold in places where regular beer can’t, but also “you don’t have to deal with the same
Mitch Cobb (left), Serena Ryder (third from left), Deb Coleman (fourth from left), and Mike Hogan (right) along with the whole Libra team.
Jeff Popiel
channel in Alberta when selling regular beer. Now, they’re shipping nationally, which has increased distribution costs. Additionally, they also had to invest in new advertising methods.
Social lubrication
Andreas Düss, co-founder and CEO of Auralis Botanical Brewing, which specializes in non-alcoholic beverages made from mushrooms, says all non-alcoholic beverage manufacturers are working to satisfy the need of a very niche market. “I think the space we’re all playing in is social lubrication without alcohol,” he says.
taxation,” he explains. “There’s no excise tax or alcohol levy tax. Brewers in Canada are fighting tooth and nail to stop all the tax layers from going up.”
Abrams adds he also needs less ingredients, which reduces costs. “When it comes to ingredients like malt, you don’t need as much when you’re making non-alcoholic beer because it’s not fermenting to the higher levels,” he says. “So it’s absolutely less expensive to make, and potentially more profitable.”
For Village Brewery, the cost to make non-alcoholic beer is “on par” with regular beer brewing. “The difference is the cost of selling and distributing it,” he adds, “which makes it less profitable.”
The brewery used a centralized liquor distribution
When a non-drinker goes out with friends, Düss adds, he may find himself wondering what they’re going to drink. “Am I going to sit there nursing a glass of water while they’re having a couple of beers?” he adds. “We offer an alternative to alcohol, and we say, ‘You can still enjoy yourself with the people you care about, and you won’t feel like the odd one out who sits there with a glass of sparkling water.’”
Getting back to health benefits, Düss explains, “You can drink something that’s interesting, but the benefit is that you can wake up in the morning and remember everything; you didn’t -embarrass yourself or throw up in the taxi; you didn’t say anything you’ll regret; and you can even go to the gym. That’s the problem we’re solving.”
Auralis Botanical Brewing uses mushrooms as the main ingredient in its non-alcoholic beverages.
Chef Mike McKenzie and Andreas Düss, founders of Auralis Botanical Brewing.
Mike Cuch, Rob Doyle, and Steve Abrams, founders of Harmon’s Craft Brewing.
HOME TO ONE OF THE LARGEST FOOD AND BEVERAGE ECOSYSTEMS
BY JANE DUMMER, PRESIDENT, JANE DUMMER CONSULTING
Brampton is one of the largest food and beverage ecosystems in Canada. Supported by industryleading technology, top-quality products and talent pool, there are over 60 direct food and beverage manufacturing facilities employing more than 8,500 people. The economic activity associated with these facilities creates more than 13,000 additional indirect “spin-off” jobs in upstream and downstream industries (e.g., agriculture, packaging, logistics) across Ontario and more than 6,500 additional indirect jobs elsewhere in Canada. There are several success stories in the City of Brampton, let’s explore four examples.
ALIMA FOODS INC.
Gibraan Ali, president, Alima Foods Inc., describes, “Brampton is a well-located, newer city that offers a certain freshness we believe is unmatched by other cities in the Greater Toronto Area. It is situated in a prime location, with easy access via major highways. Brampton is a diverse city, which offers a great opportunity for products that appeal to those that enjoy Caribbean flavours influenced by Indian cuisine. We specialize in Caribbean food, particularly items from Trinidad and Guyana. Our specialty is Roti, and in this segment, we have an item which is our best-selling product, Parathas. A paratha is an Indian/North African inspired flatbread. We have grown from two employees to over 40 employees. We launched an online store to meet the growing demand for home delivery. We have seen an increase in sales 100 per cent year over year.” alimas.ca
IN CANADA
COKE CANADA BOTTLING
Coke Canada Bottling operates Canada’s largest integrated soft drink manufacturing and distribution facility in Brampton, which employs nearly 1,400 people. Todd Parsons, CEO of Coke Canada Bottling, explains, “Coke Canada Bottling is a family-owned Canadian business with close, local connections with the communities in which we operate. With a history of more than 20 years of operating in Brampton, the Brampton Coke Canada facility is the largest in Canada. It contributes close to $200 million to the local Brampton economy, making and packaging 100+ different flavours of products on five production lines. Building a strong relationship with the City of Brampton, the city’s economic development team, and the Brampton Board of Trade is vital to our growth journey. At Coke Canada, we believe diversity is our superpower. We continue to be active leaders in contributing to the development of a stronger Brampton business community and operating in Brampton allows us to be active agents of change.”
cokecanada.com
CARDINAL MEATS
Brent Cator, owner and CEO, Cardinal Meats explains, “As a leader in the protein manufacturing industry, the City of Brampton is very supportive of our business and future growth plans. We moved our facility to Brampton in 2011. Our location gives great access and proximity to suppliers and customers both in Canada and the USA. But moreover, as a food processor, a talented workforce is critical to our success. Brampton has a quality talent pool of potential new staff including new immigrants who want to succeed at their first jobs in Canada. As we continue to grow our business with industry leading innovations like our Natural Texture Forming technology in the burger category and our proprietary Safe Sous Vide™ line of fully cooked proteins that are ideal solutions for our customers, we have also been able to increase our production capacity with a recent 33,000 square foot expansion. The City of Brampton’s economical development team support was crucial to that process.”
cardinalmeats.com
MCKAY FOODS INC.
Brampton Venture Zone (BVZ) is a purpose-driven, non-equity incubator launching early-stage technology startups in Brampton. Brad McKay, founder of McKay Foods Inc., says, “As a health care logistics start-up company, I’m very pleased with BVZ. It offers well-thoughtout programs and mentorship for the 18 successful companies who make it through the application and vetting process. Specifically, the support for how to build and run a business is top-notch. The location of Brampton offers access to high-quality tech employees from the Waterloo to Toronto, Ontario corridor. The physical innovation hub located in downtown Brampton has created an innovation cloud for the city.”
The City of Brampton represents one of the most important locations for food and beverage facilities in North America. Investing in Brampton’s food and beverage sector creates a one-stop shop for innovation in manufacturing, processing and support industries in the North American supply chain. investbrampton.ca
Enzyme solutions = better shelf life, texture
Baked goods manufacturers seek clean label solutions to prevent staling, mitigate cost increases and improve efficiencies — BY
JANE DUMMER —
Enzyme technology is a must-have solution in baking today. It provides a consumer-friendly label solution while increasing shelf life, reducing waste, and decreasing costs. Enzymes work on a molecular level providing chemical reactions to improve shelf life and provide freshness. Bakeries need to have a comprehensive interpretation of their formulations, the processing environment and desired outcome to implement the best enzyme solutions. Working with ingredient suppliers, bakeries have access to enzyme solutions to create longer-lasting products that are less likely to be discarded due to staling and spoilage.
Jonathan Aleong, research & development manager, Puratos Canada, explains, “Enzymes are used to extend the shelf life of breads and baked goods primarily through texture modification. The main cause for loss of freshness is staling, which is a process that involves the recrystallization of starch, otherwise known as retrogradation. Previously, emulsifiers were the main tool used to combat the staling process. However, enzymes are now the solution of choice. They are clean(er) label and highly effective at maintaining the texture of baked goods. At Puratos, we have observed an increased demand for clean(er) label solutions for shelf-life extension to reduce food waste, as it also helps to mitigate cost increases and improve efficiencies at all levels of the food supply.”
Yanling Yin, director research development & applications for Bakery, Corbion (Lenexa, Kan.), adds, “Enzyme technologies are commonly used in the baking industry to extend the shelf life of breads and baked goods. Enzymes are natural catalysts that can break down and modify various components in dough, leading to improved dough handling, better texture, and increased volume. Certain enzymes can
also break down starch to slow down its retrogradation to maintain product softness during shelf life. The modification of starch or protein can lead to the production of various flavour compounds that enhance the taste of baked goods.”
Troy Boutte, PhD, vice president – innovation, AB Mauri North America describes, “Shelf life extension started many years ago with emulsifiers to boost typical freshness to about five days. However, starting in the mid-1990s with the advent of modern enzyme technology, shelf life has steadily increased to the point where now we are more limited by mold growth than staling. Some baked goods currently have a shelf life of more than two months. While anti-staling enzyme technology was used mostly in yeast-raised goods initially, it is commonly utilized in chemically leavened products with good effect.”
Shelf life extension examples
Aleong says, “Our Intens Freshness 2-30 and ActiFresh, are examples of enzyme-based solutions that
Enzymes minimize food waste by improving a product’s shelf life.
Enzymes allow hamburger buns to stay fresh longer while maintaining their texture and flavour.
have been specially designed to extend the freshness of breads and cakes from days to weeks, helping to reduce waste and providing a superior eating experience. A little bit of enzymes can go a long way, with even a modest improvement in shelf life yielding a tremendous impact on food waste. For example, we have helped a customer extend the shelf life of a high-volume bakery item for just one additional day that resulted in the prevention of more than half-a-million kilograms going to landfill and equated to annual cost savings of over $1 million.”
Yin offers sandwich bread and food service hamburger buns examples. “A sandwich bread made without enzymes typically has a shelf life of three to five days. By using an enzyme blend, the shelf life of sandwich bread can be extended to seven-10 days. In some instances, up to 21-28 days while maintaining the texture and flavour of freshly baked bread. Most quick service restaurants use frozen hamburger buns after thawing for use in each location. Without extended shelf life (ESL), the buns become crumbly and dry after thawing for a day. With ESL enzyme solution, the buns can stay moist and soft for more than five days,” she says.
Boutte identifies, “The initial implementation of anti-staling enzymes was in the 1990s. Before anti-staling enzymes, somewhere around 15 per cent of yeast-raised baked products were returned as stale. After anti-staling enzymes were introduced, the return rate dropped rapidly to only four or five per cent and is even lower now. Ultimately, more of the bread was being eaten and not going to waste. The effect was so significant that flour millers saw flour production decrease. This, of course, meant fewer wheat fields had to be fertilized and planted for wheat production, resulting in less packaging waste and fuel used for shipping.”
Enzymes solutions reducing food waste
Aleong explains, “Waste can occur at all stages of the bread or baked good life cycle, whether it’s during manufacturing, distribution or at home. Enzymes have a proven track record to be able to extend the shelf life and improve processing, helping to minimize waste at all stages. They are a necessary tool for combating food waste, improving sustainability, and meeting the needs of the increasingly health-conscious consumer.”
Abby Ceule, senior director of ingredient solutions, Corbion, describes, “Enzyme technologies have significant potential to reduce food waste, ensuring that food is consumed before it spoils. It’s worth noting that enzyme technologies are not a silver bullet. They should be used as part of a larger approach to reducing food waste. By working closely with ingredient suppliers, bakeries can access expertise, quality assurance, innovation, and supply chain efficiency, verifying the right ingredients and achieving the desired functional and sensory properties in their baked goods.”
Boutte concludes, “In the past 20 years, enzymes have gone
Enzyme technologies have significant potential to reduce food waste, ensuring that food is consumed before it spoils.
— Abby Ceule
from nice-to-have to must-have. This is due to their functionality and favourable consumer perception. Enzyme use is a prime example of sustainability. We can treat 1 million lb of flour with 1 or 2 lb of pure enzymes despite enzymes being diluted for ease of use. A typical emulsifier system would require 5,000-15,000 lb to treat the same amount of flour. While enzymes and other ingredients require the use of agricultural material and energy for production, enzymes require far less and do not put pressure on the food supply. Overall, enzyme use greatly reduces carbon footprint including energy used for manufacturing and shipping.”
The plant-based movement is down, not dead
Big players may be falling, but innovation is ongoing
— BY MONICA FERGUSON —
Arecent survey by Chefs Plate found Canadians, in a typical week, eat vegetarian protein alternatives more than pork and seafood (seven per cent for plant-based protein versus five per cent pork and four per cent for seafood.) This data shows how our food habits are evolving and that vegetarianism and flexitarian diets are continuing to rise.
Plant-based proteins have also been identified as an economic driver for Canada with the potential of becoming a $25 billion industry by 2035.
Although these numbers seem promising, the plant-based movement has indeed slowed down. Since 2019, Beyond Meat stocks have dropped by a staggering 82 per cent. Several novel food companies in this space like Merit Functional Foods and the Very Good Food Company have shut shop.
Apart from a chilly investment climate that has made it challenging for start-ups and SMEs to raise crucial funds, the plant-based food movement suffers from a socio-cultural disconnect with the larger Canadian population.
Sectoral challenges
Similar to Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods came out of the gate with the vision to sell plant-based foods to meat eaters. Indeed nine out of 10 people who eat Impossible products are meat eaters, according to a company report.
Dana McCauley, CEO, Canadian Food Innovation Network, explained, “Almost all other brands who came out with plantbased meat and dairy products continued to go after this segment that is already happy. They crowded the market terribly and created a new category, which is good, but they created the category in the section of the grocery store where the people who would be naturally predisposed to their products don’t go. Vegetarians simply don’t go to the meat and cheese section.”
This has created a market where meat eaters are overserved, and vegetarians underserved. McCauley explains that for the plant-based food market to thrive, it is crucial to understand the consumer.
“There is an article once a week asking, ‘Is plant-based a bust?’ And the answer is, ‘Absolutely not’. Selling plant-based to people who already eat animal products is saturated, yes. There is too much choice there. But the opportunity still exists to sell to veg-
Since 2019, Beyond Meat stocks have dropped by a staggering 82 per cent.
etarians and vegans.”
In Dana McCauley’s chapter, Market Drivers for Barriers for Plant-based Protein Foods in the textbook Plant Protein Foods, she explains that adults who make the decision to give up meat generally find products mimicking the shape, flavour, and texture of animal protein distasteful.
“They chose a meatless lifestyle because the idea of eating meat is abhorrent. This consumer is much more likely to choose an old-fashioned veggie burger, complete with chunks of beans and corn, over a facsimile product that mimics the taste and texture of beef or chicken.”
Consumer pain points
This information signifies that there is still a massive opportunity to serve the vegan and vegetarian markets. While vegan and vegetarian foods have been around for centuries, the mainstream movement of plant-based foods and the products coming to market are focusing on aping ‘meat’, but only with limited success. The industry needs more time to address consumer pain points of taste, texture, and affordability, as well as find its niche in the global food panorama.
“Consumers are purchasing plant-based foods for human and planetary health, and animal welfare, but taste is critical to repurchase. Through technology and advancements in ingredients companies are bringing products to market that are better than ever to meet consumer demand,” said Leslie Ewing, executive director, Plant Based Foods of Canada.
Ewing predicts that as the demand for food increases and consumer eating patterns evolve due to the availability of innovative options, improvement in taste, texture and economic and climate impacts, plant-based foods will continue to grow.
To be clear, Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods aren’t the only players in the plant-based sector and their performance isn’t a reflection of an entire industry. Based in Calgary, Alta., Lovingly Made Ingredients is utilizing Canadian-grown crops to make textured plant-based proteins and starches. Toronto-based New School Foods has created a whole-cut plant-based salmon and closed a $12 million seed investment round with funders including Lever VC, Hatch, Good Startup and Blue Horizon Ventures. B.C.’s own Yoggu is making plant-based yogurt free of refined sugars and fillers and instead contains nutrients, probiotics, and healthy fats. There are plenty of other new technologies such as precision fermentation and cellular agriculture creating additional offerings.
“The extent of innovation that is occurring and the number of new products coming to market is phenomenal,” said Ewing. “ESGs, now table stakes, are translating into commitments to carbon neutrality, upcycling, and mitigating waste. Our industry is innovating at an incredible pace and accomplishing this in a sustainable way is at the forefront for our members. New tech-
nology is making diverse exciting products available to producers and consumers that taste better than ever before and can now be found in every category in the grocery store.”
The plant-based industry is impacted by the current financial climate just like many other industries, but consumer interest remains high with two-thirds of Canadians stating they eat plantbased foods at least several times a month and 71 per cent of Canadian consumers sharing a positive view of the plant-based foods they are consuming, according to Leger research.
“The meat industry has been around for a very long time. They have efficient and effective supply chains that go from producers and packing houses to wholesale and retail that just doesn’t exist today for plant-based foods. It’s just a function of how mature the ecosystem is and it’s a function of the volume of products that’s being moved, but all of that’s emerging and changing now,” said Bill Greuel, CEO, Protein Industries Canada.
Gruel explains that in Canada, we are seeing a significant investment in ingredient manufacturing to produce protein concentrate isolates. “The strategic imperative for the industry right now is to increase the volume of ingredient manufacturing that feeds directly into the food processing sector and the development of new products that are available to consumers.”
The global plant-based food market is expected to reach $250 billion dollars by 2035. It is widely acknowledged that our current food system will be insufficient to feed a growing world population that’s expected to reach over 9 billion by 2050.
“As food security, environmental considerations and sustainability continue to be guiding lights for global food policy, the plantbased foods sector with its potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from food production, and lower land and water impacts is well positioned to offer solutions,” said Ewing.
Nine out of 10 people who eat Impossible products are meat eaters.
A LEANER OLYMEL IN THE WORKS
Canada’s largest pork processor is consolidating operations
—
BY MARK CARDWELL —
Few heads of major Canadian food manufacturers can match the pedigree, experience, and energy of Yanick Gervais, president and CEO of Olymel.
A one-time elite amateur athlete and a licensed chartered accountant who grew up working in his family’s sausage business—a business he bought into right out of university and ran for a decade before selling it to and joining Olymel in 2016—Gervais, a 43-year-old husband and father of three teenage girls, manages to stay lean and fit while running the fortunes of Canada’s largest pork and poultry processor.
“I work out and play golf and hockey once a week in an Olymel garage league,” said Gervais. “It’s important for me to exercise regularly to stay in shape and perform at the highest possible level. My workouts are in my agenda the same way as my kids’ games or recitals and my other meetings.”
Who better then to lead a new strategy
that aims to trim fat and make operations leaner in a company with nearly 15,000 employees making food products at 30 plants in five Canadian provinces for both domestic and export markets.
Earlier this year, Olymel announced it will permanently close two pork processing plants in the Montreal area, eliminating 170 jobs. The company made a similar move in November 2022, when it announced the definitive closure of its pork processing plant in the Quebec farming hub of St-Hyacinthe on February 17, 2023, killing 107 jobs. The announcement came on the heels of news in October 2022 that Olymel, the largest division of the Sollio Co-operative Group, was eliminating 177 management positions, most of them in Quebec.
In a sit-down interview with Food in Canada at Sollio’s annual winter meeting in Quebec City in late February 2023, Gervais said the 454 jobs cut over the past five months are part of a major re-organization of Olymel’s workforce in the fresh pork sector.
Olymel, Canada’s largest pork and poultry processor, is restructuring its operations.
“Our goal and strategy is to optimize and consolidate,” said Gervais. “We need to better leverage our brand with less assets and less costs. That’s what we’re trying to achieve.”
A perfect storm
According to Gervais, the operational challenges facing Olymel are the result of a perfect storm of elements that were brewing for years and finally came to a head due to the pandemic.
Chief among them was a need to mesh and streamline the jumble of assets that Olymel had accumulated since 2005 through its acquisitions of large companies and household brand names like Lafleur, Flamingo, Pinty’s, Tour Eiffel, F. Ménard and La Fernadière. The latter was a sausage maker in Trois-Rivières that was founded by Gervais’s grandfather and was Olymel’s biggest retail competitor when it was acquired in 2016.
Gervais, who became co-owner and CEO of his family’s business right out
of university in 2005, first joined Olymel as vice-president of La Fernadière. In 2018, after a six-month leave of absence to spend time with his family and ponder his future, he returned to Olymel as VP of operations.
“I love this industry, I love eating,” said Gervais. “I’ve done sales. I’ve done everything, but I’m really more of an operations guy. I like optimizing. I like production lines.”
He spent the next three years working closely with the company’s late president, Réjean Nadeau, who died just weeks after falling ill in October 2021. Gervais was immediately tapped to replace him.
“I was lucky enough to be part of all the decisions and to see him act,” Gervais said of his predecessor. “Réjean was very human as a leader and close to the people at Olymel. And he was the one who built the company with all the growth.”
When he took over as president and general manager of Olymel 18 months ago, Gervais said the restructuring plan was already in place to help deal with the many impacts that the pandemic had wrought on the pork industry. They ranged from an acute labour shortage and market and supply chain disruptions to raw material price inflation and global economic conditions.
The Chinese angle
“There was a big spike in 2020 when the China market was crazy,” said Gervais. “They didn’t have access to hogs anymore because of African swine fever, so they had slaughtering but not a lot of deboning and processed food capacity. They needed raw material and were on the hunt and buying everything from everywhere on the planet.”
At the same time, he added, the pandemic made it tough for Olymel, which relies on pork for 75 per cent of its business (the roughly 1 million chickens it pro-
cesses every week accounts for the other 25 per cent), to find workers for its processing and packaging plants.
Against all odds, Gervais said China managed to rebuild its pork farm system by 2021, resulting in a sudden, enduring glut in world pork markets.
“That was the beginning of all the craziness in the pork sector,” said Gervais. “There was too much supply, and everything crashed regarding fresh pork prices. And we still didn’t have access to workers at the time because the programs for foreign workers were inactive.”
“It was kind of a reset,” he added. “There’s kind of a shrink right now as far as pork production is concerned. And it’s not just us here. In Britain, they’re down 20 per cent in hog producing and slaughtering, and it’s same thing in Spain and Denmark.”
At Sollio’s annual meeting in February, the Co-op’s president Ghislain Gervais (no relation to Olymel’s president) blamed the group’s staggering loss of $338 million in 2021-2022 on its fresh pork operations.
“We had to change the way we look at and do things, so that we can consolidate and optimize our operations,” said Gervais. “That’s why you’re seeing some blending flows in different segments (such as fresh, bacon and hot dogs).”
Hard decisions
He said Olymel’s recent plant closures and job cuts, though painful, are necessary evils.
“We have some expert sites that are able to do things better,” he said. For example, the production of hams at the two facilities in Blainville and Laval, which are a 10-minute drive apart and slated to close on April 28, will be transferred to what Gervais calls Olymel’s “topnotch facility doing hams” near Quebec City.
Similarly, the operations at the now-shuttered pork processing plant in St- Hyacinthe, which ended its packaging and deboning activities last summer, have been absorbed by other facilities.
Half of the plant’s workforce has also been relocated, said Gervais, and efforts are ongoing to retain all other workers whose jobs have been eliminated. He added that Olymel has increased salaries and benefits to help meet its staff needs. The company is also relying more on foreign workers, who already account for about 15 per cent of the company’s workforce.
“We’re always looking for opportunities to better serve our customers and do it more efficiently,” he said. “Nothing is off the table. As a team, we have to look at things. Not necessarily plant closures, but at least try to optimize the model again, do something else in another plant to try to be better at we do.”
Chicken processing only accounts for 25 per cent of Olymel’s business.
Yanick Gervais
WHO’S WHO 2023
PEOPLE-FIRST PRES. LEADS BIMBO
Bimbo Canada’s first Canadian-born head Marie-Eve Royer values teamwork and collaboration the most — BY MARK CARDWELL —
For Marie-Eve Royer, president, Bimbo Canada, success in the bakery business boils down to one key ingredient: Her employees.
Bimbo Canada is the nation’s biggest bakery with nearly $1.4 billion in annual sales from 18 brand-name bread and snack products.
“We bake fresh daily and ship across the second biggest country on Earth. It’s a fastpaced business with a complex supply chain that requires teamwork and collaboration to be successful,” she explains.
Royer learned the power of collaborative effort early in life. Born and raised in a close-knit family in the rural Quebec City suburb of Saint-Nicolas, now part of Lévis, she was an eager learner and an active participant in school, notably serving as class president en-route to enrolment in the world-class commerce program at Montreal’s McGill University.
“It was always clear to me that I would go to university and get into business,” said Royer, whose father was an engineer and mother a nursing instructor. “I love working with people in a fast-paced environment. At the end of the day, it’s all about the people around you and the team you’re with.”
Recruited into a three-year leadership training program by Maple Leaf Foods upon graduation in 2000, Royer quickly fell for the fast-paced, dynamic world of consumer packaged food products.
“It was an amazing program that allowed me to build relationships across different
kinds of products and places and people,” said Royer, who trained in Toronto, Montreal and London, U.K., where she met Nipun Sharma, who soon became her husband and father of her two boys.
Canada Bread
Back in Canada, she joined the company full time, settling in as regional sales manager for Quebec with Mississauga-based Oliveria, the pasta division of Maple Leaf subsidiary Canada Bread. “I’m a salesperson,” said Royer, who worked her way up to national vice-president retail sales in 2009, a position she held for three years and led her back to Montreal. “Sales is where my heart is.”
In 2012, Royer was named vice-president-sales of Canada Bread, which owns
famous Canadian brands like Villagio, POM, Dempster’s and Vachon, a revered Quebec bakery that was founded 100 years ago in Sainte-Marie-de-Beauce, a 40-minute drive south of Quebec City.
Both of Royer’s parents grew up there. Her maternal grandmother worked seasonally at Vachon’s to decorate the company’s Christmas holiday logs, which are still a popular retail item. Her mother also worked at Vachon’s part time as a student.
Royer stayed on as Canada Bread’s VP of sales after Mexican multinational Grupo Bimbo bought the business from Maple Leaf Foods in 2014. Four years later, she was promoted to national sales VP of Bimbo Canada, and was then named senior vice-president, business transformation, in 2020.
Responsible for aligning commercial sales and supply chain functions in a company with 16 bakeries, 11 distribution centres and 4,300 employees, Royer created and led high-performing teams that implemented transformative strategies to cut costs, increase efficiency and boost sales.
“We pride ourselves on quality and service,” said Royer, who learned in November 2022 that she would succeed Joe McCarthy as president of Bimbo Canada on January 1, 2023.
“Thousands of independent operators visit our facilities every day (and) some trucks travel eight hours to deliver fresh bread to Canadians every day. It takes teamwork and collaboration to make that happen. For me, it’s a privilege to work with the people around me.”
Mark Taylor focuses on innovation, nurturing internal talent, and optimizing infrastructure — BY
TREENA HEIN —
Leadership in modernization and employee engagement, financial acumen, and a humble outlook—this is just some of what Mark Taylor brought with him from the U.K. in 2018 when he became president and CEO of Lactalis Canada.
“Whilst my job title is president, I’m a big supporter of servant-leadership,” Taylor says. “I work for a great team of people. It’s not just about the products, but also about putting employees first and the opportunity to have greater and greater impacts across society. My team and I take that very seriously.”
Food production was always a part of Taylor’s life. During his youth in rural England, he worked on all sorts of farms during school holidays. By the time he’d finished high school, he was helping run farms in both the U.K. and overseas. After university, he worked for several dairy companies in the U.K. (and outside dairy, in software), then joined Lactalis to run the company’s U.K. and Ireland operations in 2014.
“It was a great experience, and I had the opportunity to contribute to larger aspects of our food system as well,” Taylor says. “In 2012, I helped draft the U.K. Agriculture and Food Strategy, and also worked with Innovate UK, which supports research in food, medicine and environment. It was all very enjoyable and rewarding.”
During those years, Taylor also finished the University of Cambridge Natural Capital Leaders Program and served as chair of HRH The Prince of Wales Dairy Action Group Committee (part of the Rural Action Program), which works to build resiliency in food production and rural communities.
From U.K. to Canada
In 2018, Taylor was offered the opportunity to lead Lactalis Canada (then Parmalat). He has overseen three acquisitions since. Lactalis Canada now employs more
than 4,200 employees across 30 plus operating sites including 19 manufacturing facilities. Lactalis products can be found in nine out of 10 refrigerators across the nation.
Under Taylor’s leadership, Lactalis Canada continues to win new product awards and invest in its infrastructure and people. The company is also working to build a more resilient supply chain, reduce environmental impact and build even stronger employee engagement.
One example is the Lactalis Canada Next Ventures, an internal crowdsourcing innovation program to bring to market new products, processes, technologies, or business models.
“There were 120 great ideas last year under our inaugural theme of waste reduction, which is fantastic,” says Taylor. “We also have the Lactalis Canada Community Enrichment Fund, a program for employees to make meaningful impact in their local communities.”
Taylor also continues to help shape the Grocery Code of Conduct for Canada and serves on the board of Food, Health and Consumer Products of Canada, and the Grocery Foundation. He was recently appointed to the Kids Help Phone’s Feel Out Loud campaign cabinet, one of the largest movements for youth mental health in Canada’s history.
“It’s very important to me and our leadership team that we continue to live our purpose to enrich and nurture the lives of Canadians, while meeting consumers needs and constantly innovating,” Taylor says. “We are proud of our progress, with more to come.”
Mark Taylor
F&B Mergers and Acquisitions Landscape
Overview
M&A deal activity in the food and beverage space remained relatively steady quarter over quarter, with 73 deals announced in Q4 2022 compared to 71 in Q3. Overall, there were 310 deals announced in 2022, a decrease of 64 transactions year over year. Transaction volumes in Q4 2022 were lower than the previous year, with 73 deals announced compared to 85. Q4 2022 marks the 10th consecutive quarter with over 70 deals announced in the North American food and beverage space.
2022 Deal Activity
Q4 2022 saw several significant North American deals in the alcoholic beverages and ingredients spaces. Notable transactions within these areas include PAI Partners’ acquisition of Savory Solutions Group from International Flavors and Fragrances Inc. and Campari Group’s acquisition of Wilderness Trail Distillery LLC. Alcoholic beverages, nonalcoholic beverages, better-for-you, ingredients and confectionery/ snacks categories were the most active in terms of deal volume, representing 70% of total transactions in the quarter.
M&A activity in the food and beverage sector in 2022 was predominantly driven by strategic buyers (including companies primarily owned by private equity investors), with strategic transactions representing 81% of total deal volume. Of the 310 deals announced over the year, 242 (78%) were completed by privately owned buyers.
Deal flow in Q4 2022 increased marginally quarter over quarter, demonstrating the inherent resilience of the food and beverage industry despite several economic obstacles. The combined effects of interest rate hikes, stable, yet high levels of inflation, trade sanctions, and overall market uncertainty have contributed to the sustained hesitancy among strategic and financial buyers. To maintain margins, companies within the food and beverage industry continue to offset the high input costs associated with these macroeconomic challenges through price increases, causing retail prices to rise at historic rates. Despite higher financing costs and volatile equity valuations for public companies, M&A activity has remained steady within the food and beverage space because of the essential nature of the underlying goods and the abundance of dry powder and excess capital on the balance sheets of private equity firms and corporations. As 2023 progresses, we believe these factors will continue to serve as the main drivers for M&A deal flow within the food and beverage industry.
250+ completed M&A transactions in the past 5 years
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A FAMILY BUSINESS
Sam Cheaib and his children are aggressively moving Lagoon Seafood to the centre of the Canadian seafood map — BY
TREENA HEIN
—
Positivity, passion, and perseverance—these are among the top values Sam Cheaib has demonstrated for 30 years as he led the expansion of Lagoon Seafood from Quebec to the rest of the country.
He also passes on these values to his children, two of whom are active in the business. His son Michael Cheaib is Lagoon Seafood’s business resource manager, and his daughter Amanda Cheaib manages analytical technology and manufacturing processes. But all three of them, along with other family members, are also taste testers as new value-added Lagoon products enter the market.
Sam started the business in 1992 as a small fish-selling operation. His natural curiosity to see where his efforts led and a desire to build a bigger venture caused him to diversify offerings.
“He came from Lebanon where there are many varieties of fish and he saw that there was a gap in Montreal,” explains Michael. “He was inspired to take action, and the rest is history”.
Sam started with small warehousing and distribution activities. Fast forward 30 years, Lagoon has BRC-certified processing plants and warehouses in Lachine and Granby, Que.
In Granby, a lab for new product development was also added in 2019. There, food scientists and chefs are hard at work every day to expand the value-added line.
“We have about 20 items now and we are working on many more,” says Michael. “Overall, we have farmed and wild-caught products, frozen and fresh, foodservice, and retail. This flexibility has been a great
strength for us. We import from many countries around the world, process, and package here, but our biggest pride is making and distributing Canadian products.”
With the value-added products, the goal is to make those taste like they are homemade. Lagoon also sells gourmet appetizers and meals, such as tuna tartar, octopus rolls and fish bites in many flavours.
“Our team has put in so much effort, a lot of passion, and energy into every single product,” says Michael. “It’s a fun process with trial and error, but it’s a great feeling when you get it right. We develop our own products specifically for our customers. We appreciate our interactions with them and producing something they’ve envisioned. We’re trying to be a one-stop shop of product development, manufacturing, and distribution.”
As the company moves forward, Michael
says Sam continues to be a strong and inspiring leader. “There are always challenges in business, but he shows us how to persevere and deliver a vision,” he says. “It’s thanks to him that I’m loving this business. He has always given us the space to learn, ask questions, and grow. It’s been a very positive experience.”
Editor’s note: Due to scheduling conflicts, Sam Cheaib wasn’t available for an interview.
Above: Sam Cheaib with this daughter Amanda and son Michael. Right: Sam Cheaib
MENTOR FOR ALL
Doug Alexander of Belmont Food Group believes in sharing and empowering industry colleagues —
BY TREENA HEIN —
Giving back is a key hallmark of Doug Alexander’s career. Since 2021, he’s been vice-president of sustainability and government relations at Belmont Food Group. Belmont is part of about 60 independently run companies owned by Premium Brands, a Canadian food manufacturer and distributor.
While Doug ‘gives back’ in many ways to a wide range of people every day, including Belmont staff and those he connects with while working with several critical food industry organizations, he’s always on the look out for those who others might ignore.
“Education and certification are useful and certainly something to be proud of, but life experience, skills, and the ability to learn as you go are also very important,” he says. “We, as companies and industries, lose out when we don’t recognize and appreciate those with so much to offer, but didn’t have the opportunity to go to school, or not yet, for whatever reason.”
Doug’s own journey in the food industry began after high school. He took a year’s break to work and reflect on his future before returning to study science. “It came back to food,” he says. “It’s stable. People have to eat.”
He worked at Canada Packers, among other firms, and learned about trust in making deals, trust that goes beyond the deal, and the value of true partnership.
“That’s the food industry, and it’s a privilege to work where there is trust and people are good,” he says. “I love this industry. It’s challenging at times, but the
Doug Alexander
I love this industry. It’s challenging at times, but the industry has been good to me and given me a good life. I like to give back. Helping others is the most important part of my career.
industry has been good to me and given me a good life and I like to give back. Helping others is the most important part of my career.”
Indeed, his greatest achievement is watching those he’s helped grow and become successful individuals.
“People gave time and energy to me and made me feel important, and I wasn’t
important,” he says. “They made a huge difference, and I can do that for others.”
The advisor
Currently, Doug is chair of the Agricultural Adaptation Council board, and vicechair of the Innovation Advisory Council at the Canadian Food Innovation Network. He also sits on the boards of Food and Beverage Ontario and Meat and Poultry Ontario. Through these associations, he can help those in government understand the industry and make it better.
“I can also bring the experience of large corporations and offer small companies advice and tips about resources,” he says. “We break down silos and work collaboratively and reap the benefits of a more cohesive industry.”
Doug is now in his 36th year in food processing, and says that as long as he feels healthy, is providing value and feels valued, he will continue. He definitely feels valued at Belmont.
“We have an incredible culture, and we refer to ourselves as ‘we’ because we know we’re all part of the team,” he says. “We not only care for our people, but also the environment and our products. That, at our company and across the industry, requires innovation and being more collaborative, with employees, customers, experts. We all get better when everyone contributes.”
At Belmont, that means more value-priced products that are innovative and appreciated by the consumer.
“Food is an experience,” says Doug. “It’s not just nutrition. It has to be something you enjoy, and it’s hard to make a better burger than we do.”
CURIOUS ABOUT PEOPLE, FOOD
Mondelez Canada president Karla Schlieper embraces diversity as key growth driver — BY MARK
As vision statements go, Karla Schlieper’s personal take on business and consumers reflect her respect and appreciation for people and the planet.
“I’ve always looked at business as an opportunity to serve people in a better and more sustainable way,” said Schlieper, the Brazilian-born president of Mondelez Canada, maker of iconic snack food brands like Ritz, Christie, Cadbury, Oreo, and Dad’s. “I see business as end-to-end and integrated, and I believe you must start with what consumers want.”
Schlieper’s holistic approach to life and commerce first took root on her family’s farm in the mid-west part of Brazil, where her German immigrant grandfather first grew coffee. Her father still grows crops and raises cattle there.
“Seeing things grow in front of me made an impact,” explained Schlieper, who was born near Curitiba in southern Brazil. “(The farm) is still the place that I go to rest and recharge.”
She credits her mother for both the strong character and positive outlook on life that she shares with her older and younger sisters. “She opened opportunities for us to see what the broader world had to offer,” said Schlieper. “It would have been easy to stay at home, but she incentivized us to go and see the world.”
It was through her membership in the Rotary Club, one of the largest community service groups in Brazil, that Schlieper got her first chance to travel: a year-long student exchange program to the United States. “I love to learn about different cultures,” she said. “I’m a very curious person, which drives a lot of what I do.”
After returning home, Schlieper, a Catholic, enrolled in the business administration program at Mackenzie Presbyterian Institute, a private, 150-year-old university in Sao Paulo, the biggest city in Brazil and the 12th largest in the world.
CARDWELL —
At 17, she also landed a student internship at Unilever, and joined the British multinational consumer goods behemoth full-time in the marketing department after graduating in 1994.
“The role spoke to my passions for learning, understanding the business itself, getting to know the customers and how to add value to the business,” said Schlieper, now 49.
Over the next 18 years, she rose through the ranks of Unilever, becoming a regional and/or global manager
In January 2022, Karla Schlieper was appointed as president of Mondelez Canada.
I’ve always looked at business as an opportunity to serve people in a better and more sustainable way.
and marketing director of top soap and food brands like Lux, Dove, Fab Cleaning, Knorr and Arisco. She also picked up a post-grad marketing degree and an MBA at the University of Michigan along the way.
“I thrived because there were many ways to learn about different cultures and consumer backgrounds, all aspects that speak to how I approach life and business,” said Schlieper, who spent three years at Unilever’s head offices in the United Kingdom before returning home to Brazil in 2011, when she met and married her husband, Daniel.
She also left Unilever and spent two years as marketing vice-president of Flora, a subsidiary of Brazilian meat processing giant JBS Group that makes cosmetics and home care products.
“After 17 years at Unilever, which is a very structured organization, I wanted to try something different,” said Schlieper. “Flora had an entrepreneurial mindset for a new business. It was an amazing opportunity to exercise different muscles.”
In 2013, when her first son Raphael was born, Schlieper joined Mondelez International as business unit director of beverages, then biscuits. After serving
as president, biscuits, for Latin America (a two-year stint that started in 2017, when her second son Theo was born), she became president of Mondalez Southern Cone division, which handles operations in Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay. In January 2022, she was named president of Mondelez Canada.
“I was eager to come to Canada,” said Schlieper, who arrived during a $250-million upgrade to Mondelez’s four manufacturing facilities in Ontario that aims to both fuel growth and consolidate its brands’ positions.
In addition to spending time with her leadership team and “encouraging them to think differently so that we can continue to learn and grow as a company,” Schlieper is enjoying life in Canada with her husband, who is working in pet nutrition, and her children, who are enrolled in local schools.
“I was told to embrace the winter (so) the kids are learning to skate. We took our first skiing vacation this winter,” she said. “It has been fun getting to know the culture in Canada and meeting people. It’s all about appreciating the differences in others that enable us to grow.”
This year, Chips Ahoy! turns 60.
Mondelez celebrates Chips Ahoy!’s 60 th anniversary with a new flavour.
Keto Friendly
Together, let’s bring keto ideas to life
Consumers are seeking out foods, lifestyles and behaviours that align with their personal health values. Within this, the keto friendly lifestyle has proven to be a strong player. In fact, the keto market is expected to accelerate to almost $15 billion globally by 2027 1 . Today, 12% of consumers participate in some form of keto friendly eating behaviour and this is projected to grow to 23% in 2023 –that’s more than a 90% increase. 2
A wide array of conventional flourreplacement ingredients and blends have emerged to support these keto friendly market trends. However, the majority are nut-based flours which can add additional manufacturing and allergen complications. Through Ardent Mills proprietary research, we’ve learned that 41% of consumers who currently engage in keto friendly
eating, or plan to, have a strong overall preference for a wheat-based keto flour, compared to nut-based flours (29%). 2
Ardent Mills is here to help bakeries and CPG companies take advantage of this growing opportunity. Driven by extensive research, our team of experts have developed a complete line of keto friendly flour blends that are made from grains and fibres that help provide the right balance of nutritional profile, eating experience
and texture that consumers desire – no nuts involved. The blends have been formulated to replace conventional flour in your signature formulations and will run on existing equipment, which allows you to get new products to market faster.
We’ve proven this success. When an up-and-coming US based bread startup was searching for a way to break into the booming keto friendly market, they called on Ardent Mills to be their hands-on supplier. Their goal? To develop keto friendly bread products that met the startup’s unique style, maintained a competitive price-point, and matched the premium quality and great taste of their existing product line. The result? A curated, individualized approach with end-to-end product development that grew to become 60% of the company’s total revenue.
Want to learn more? Read our in-depth case study to see how we can help you meet your keto friendly goals.
Read the Case Study
1 Mintel Purchase Intelligence
2 Ardent Mills Proprietary Study 2022
* Any Keto or Keto friendly claims are the responsibility of the manufacturer
Together, let’s bring keto friendly ideas to life
The keto market is expected to grow to almost $15 billion globally in 2027,1 and Ardent Mills is helping bakeries and CPG companies alike take advantage of this growing opportunity. Our lineup of keto friendly flour blends have been formulated to replace conventional flour in your signature formulations — on your existing equipment — to get new products to market quickly. Let’s innovate what’s next.
Visit ardentmills.ca/keto-friendly today.
MEETING CHALLENGES HEAD ON
Conagra’s sales VP Leslie Mackay uses her sports experience to tackle issues
in the boardroom —
BY MARK CARDWELL —
In business as in life, Leslie Mackay has always loved a challenge. Take her latest job as vice-president of customer leadership organization with Conagra Brands Canada, the largest international unit of the $17-billion American CPG giant.
In addition to leading and supporting a national sales team of 37 managers across three sectors—retail, foodservices, and private brands—Mackay connects with customers to better understand their needs and shares that feedback internally to help drive innovation and growth.
“As things go faster and change, the challenge is to stay ahead of those changes,” said Mackay, who took up her new duties last summer. “But I love working with people, being able to collaborate, problem solve and inspire, if I’m lucky.”
Luck, together with hard work, experience, and a never-say-die attitude, have played major roles in the many successes Mackay has enjoyed both in and outside the boardroom.
Role of sports
Born and raised in the Ontario village of Palermo, Mackay grew up playing competitive sports. She excelled in volleyball, field hockey, badminton, and softball. She helped her high school team win a provincial championship in softball. She
also played for nearby Burlington in the Canadian National Championships in 1994. “I’ve always enjoyed that level of competition,” said Mackay, a second base outfielder who still plays ball at the age of 46, albeit in a co-ed solo pitch league like the one in which she met her husband, Jeff Mackay.
Mackay’s childhood dream of becoming a meteorologist vanished soon after she enrolled in a prerequisite math and sciences program at Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont. “I was passionate about tornadoes and weather, but chemistry and I just didn’t get each other,” she said.
Kimberly-Clark
She then switched to business and marketing and began working in a slew of service industry jobs as a student, from serving food in a senior’s home and waitressing to making sandwiches at Subway and selling cell phones to people entering Canadian Tire stores.
It was that latter job, where she won a regional sales award, that helped Mackay to land a full-time job after university as a field sales rep with the Canadian division of American multinational personal care products giant Kimberly-Clark (K-C).
“I really connected with the people and their corporate values,” said Mackay, who started as a sales merchandiser with a geo-
graphical territory in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). She went into stores and built displays and helped put up shelf tags.
Over the next 19 years, Mackay worked her way up the company ladder, serving a variety of increasingly senior leadership positions in account management, sales, and marketing. When she took maternity leave in 2018 to have the first of her two children—Alex, four, and Sabrina, 18 months—Mackay was K-C’s senior director of national marketing and sales strategy and was likely headed for relocation to another part of the world.
Eager to stay in the GTA near her family and new child, Mackay accepted an executive headhunter’s invitation for an interview with Conagra Brands. “I really connected with the people and the corporate values,” said Mackay. “And they were willing to wait until my son was seven months old.”
Hired as market development director in early 2019 and promoted to VP of sales six months later—a position she held until last summer’s promotion—Mackay said she has learned to appreciate and enjoy the high levels of local content in the Canadian food industry.
“A lot of the food is sourced here, created here, and ideated here based on Canadian consumer tastes and trends and the science of what consumers are looking for. There’s more flexibility and freedom to create based on what the opportunities are here,” she said.
New to Canada, Anders Rud Jørgensen is used to change and taking on new challenges
— BY JACK KAZMIERSKI —
Anders Rud Jørgensen is a Carlsberg man, through and through. After graduating university, he worked for the oil giant Shell for a few months before joining Carlsberg.
Jørgensen has been with the company for more than two decades and has taken on greater responsibilities over time.
“I started as a management trainee with Carlsberg around 22 years ago,” says Jørgensen, who now serves as managing director of Carlsberg Canada. “What I like about the industry is that’s it’s constantly evolving. We’re dealing with many routes to markets. We need to be strong and agile. We’re working in a constantly changing environment, and I like that.”
Change seems to be a constant in Jørgensen’s life. Before moving to Canada in January 2022, he was based in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he was the head of Carlsberg’s export and licence business in Southeast Europe, Asia, and Oceania. Further back in his Carlsberg career, he worked out of Brussels, Belgium, and Mönchen Gladbach, Germany, where he was responsible for other markets.
Moving to Canada
Jørgensen and his girlfriend moved to the Greater Toronto Area just over a year ago, and he says they’re both enjoying their time in Canada. His adult children, however, remain in Denmark where they are studying. Moving to Canada, Jørgensen says, wasn’t
much of a culture shock for him or his girlfriend. He jokes that all he had to do was put on warmer clothing. “There are differences between Europe and Canada but not to the same extent as some of the other markets I have dealt with,” he explains.
Although he’s been to two hockey games, Jørgensen says he still prefers soccer. “I don’t think I would do very well on ice,” he laughs. “But I do enjoy watching the game very much.”
An evolving market
In March 2023, Carlsberg’s acquisition of Canada’s Waterloo Brewing was finally closed. Jørgensen says that this $144 million transaction will require much of his attention in the months to come. “I want to see this through to make sure we have a successful integration,” he adds.
Jørgensen says he’s seen the industry change over the many years he’s been with Carlsberg, and that the Waterloo Brewing deal will help Carlsberg to diversify and expand market share.
“We have been watching the market for cost pressures as they evolve, and we ultimately decided that Waterloo will secure our long-term growth,” he explains. “They have a portfolio that will complement our international portfolio quite well.”
Carlsberg Canada will also benefit from localizing production.
“Local sourcing will eliminate high sea freight costs, mitigate damages, secure longterm robustness of our supply, enable commercial flexibility in terms of packs, limited editions. Also, speed to market for innovations will drive additional growth,” he explains.
Carlsberg’s international beer and cider portfolio is highly complementary with Waterloo Brewing’s portfolio of craft and local beers and ready-to-drink (RTD) products, and the joint company will be able to compete in more segments nationally.
Personal plans
Although the Waterloo deal will take up much of Jørgensen’s time and energy, he says that he plans to travel a bit to see the diverse parts of Canada.
“I had a chance to go to Alberta for a week during the summer,” he says. “The nature is stunning. We also plan to go further West this year, as well as East next year. So, we basically have plans to see most of this beautiful country.”
Anders Rud J ø rgensen
WORKING TOWARD ORGANIC UBIQUITY
Getting organic food into every household is the goal of Nature’s Path CEO Ratana Stephens — BY JACK KAZMIERSKI —
Growing up in India, Ratana Stephens, CEO and co-founder of Nature’s Path remembers her father running a very successful food manufacturing business. Little did she know at the time that the food industry was in her DNA, and that her passion for excellence would lead her to starting one of Canada’s most successful food companies.
Her husband and business partner, Arran Stephens, also has roots in the food business. “Arran’s father, Rupert Stephens, was an organic berry farmer, and my father was in [the food manufacturing] business. So, it really is in our DNA,” she says.
Organic endeavours
In 1968, Stephens’ husband started what was likely the first organic vegetarian restaurant in British Columbia, if not all of Canada. “We both worked very hard, but something in the restaurant business did not satisfy us,” she recalls.
Three years later, Stephens and her husband launched a natural food store and grew their business to include two locations, a manufacturing facility, a bakery and two warehouses. They ended up selling this business in 1981.
In 1990, Nature’s Path was born, and soon Stephens and her husband were in the cereal business. They initially worked with a contract manufacturer to make the cereal, and Stephens says that things were going well for a year or so.
Ratana Stephens Our vision is to get quality organic food into every home. We’re not there yet, but it’s a goal we are inching toward.
“Then, one day, Arran came to me and said, ‘I have doubts about whether [the contract manufacturer] is really using organic ingredients,’” she explains. “When my husband confronted him, he said, ‘Arran, what is organic? What does it even mean?’ That’s when we realized we needed our own factory.”
Their new factory was supposed to be a turnkey operation, but Stephens and her husband soon realized that making cereal isn’t as easy as it might seem.
“Our goal was to make good cereal, but things didn’t work out as planned,” she
recalls. “The machines didn’t work, and we did not have the knowledge we needed.”
Much of the food Stephens and her husband produced during what might be called their trial-and-error phase went to waste. “We threw out tons and tons of ingredients and we made many pigs and farm animals very healthy,” she laughs.
Eventually, with the right equipment and the right people in place, they found themselves on the path to success. In 1992, they decided to sell the restaurant business and focus their attention on Nature’s Path.
Leaving a legacy
Although the challenges have been overwhelming and the difficulties plentiful, Stephens says that building this business with her husband has left her feeling fulfilled and satisfied.
Now, both she and her husband are ready for the next generation to take over the family enterprise.
“Two of our four children are working with us,” she says. “We are not for sale. We want this to be a legacy Canadian company. We’ve worked in the food industry for some 50 years. It’s time to hand things over to our future leaders.”
Stephens says that currently, 70 per cent of the company’s total sales come from the United States, 27 per cent from Canada, and the balance from over 40 other countries.
“Our vision is to get quality organic food into every home,” she says. “We’re not there yet, but it’s a goal we are inching toward.”
Mark Rinker and wife Joelle breathe life into a 204-year-old mill — BY JACK KAZMIERSKI —
Mark Rinker and his wife Joelle are co-owners of Arva Flour Mills, located in the community of Arva, just north of London, Ont. They bought the business in October 2021, with absolutely no prior industry experience.
Rinker, however, has a personal connection with the mill. “My dad had a business right across the highway from the mill,” he explains. “I knew that the mill had a unique history. In fact, we’re the oldest water-powered flour mill in North America, and we’re Canada’s oldest continuously operated flour mill. We’re Canada’s sixth oldest business, and we’ve been in continuous operation for over 204 years.”
Prior to buying the mill, Rinker worked in management and sales in the pharmacy industry for the better part of 35 years. However, when the pharmacy automation company Rinker was working for was sold, he decided to turn the page and start a new chapter in his life.
“I retired from the company, and then eight days later this mill popped up for sale,” he adds.
Rinker says that his more than 35 years of experience in sales is helping him with his new venture.
“Whether you’re selling a bag of flour, cereal, or a piece of diagnostic equipment, it’s all the same,” he says. “Although I never sold anything food-related, I fig-
ured I had the skillset that would transfer over and allow me to succeed.”
Challenges
Although Rinker says he was right about having transferable skills, he admits that things haven’t gone as smoothly as he had initially hoped.
“Soon after we took over the business, war broke out in Ukraine. Since we buy our flour on the spot market, the price of grain doubled for us overnight,” he adds. “We had to eat some of those costs. We couldn’t pass them on. We’re competing with national brands that buy on the futures market and their prices were locked in.”
That challenge, however, proved to benefit Rinker since it forced him to develop new products. “We started thinking about how we could make the flour work harder for us,” he explains. “So, rather than just putting it in bags, we started to use our flour to make different types of dry mixes, and they ended up selling extremely well.”
Red River Cereal
Eight months after purchasing Arva Flour Mills, Rinker purchased Red River Cereal. “This iconic hot cereal was invented in Winnipeg in 1924, but had been discontinued,” Rinker says. “I could clearly see a fit for a nearly one-century-old brand to come home to a two-century-old mill. So we contacted Smuckers Canada who owned the brand, and we
came to an agreement that made sense for both sides.”
Despite some setbacks and challenges, Rinker says that when he looks at his five-year plan, he’s right where he thought he would be two years in. Having developed a host of new products (including a new gluten-free flour), and having resurrected the Red River Cereal brand, Rinker says he is now focused on production and distribution.
“When it comes to hitting our targets for our five-year plan,” he says, “that’s going to require a combination of growing our products under the Arva Flour brand and under the Red River Cereal brand, while also increasing the distribution points for both. I’m confident we’re well on our way to achieving our goals.”
Mark Rinker
EMERGING LEADER IN PET NUTRITION
Although only at the start of her career, Natalie Asaro, nutrition manager at B.C.-based Petcurean Pet Nutrition, has already had a significant impact in the pet nutrition sector.
One way in which she demonstrates this is through her thorough and dedicated approach to research. In 2018, she graduated with a master’s degree in companion animal nutrition from the University of Guelph, Ont.
“During my last year of a general biology degree, I stumbled across a pet nutrition course, which was a relatively new offering to the university,” she explains. “I signed up for it and a few days in, I realized that pet nutrition was a passion. I decided to do a master’s degree focusing on energy metabolism in cats. We researched a way to estimate the net energy density of cat foods and were the first to publish research on this topic.”
Not only did Asaro impact the sector through publishing several scientific papers on her research, but also, with the support of Petcurean, this research is going to be continued.
“With matching contributions from an NSERC Alliance grant, Petcurean is partnering with the University of Guelph to support further discovery research into feline energy metabolism,” she shares. “Petcurean has always been involved in research and sharing results that will benefit the whole industry and research community. It may sound cliche, but it’s
Petcurean is partnering with the University of Guelph to support further discovery research into feline energy metabolism.
a company that puts pets first, no matter what. I’m so pleased to be part of this continued support of research and it’s exciting that the work that was started during my graduate studies will be developed further.”
The value of mentorships
Asaro is also making her mark on the pet food industry through her continued education and outreach activities. She spends a lot of time on knowledge translation directly to customers at events and directly
to the media through conferences, radio shows, industry publications, and podcasts.
In 2022, Asaro was featured in the inaugural edition of the ‘Women in the Pet Industry’ series in Pet Food Processing Magazine. This recognition is very important to her, she says, not only on a personal level, but also because hearing about her career can motivate other young women within, or not yet in, the industry.
This leads us to mentoring. Although she has had limited opportunities so far to mentor others, Asaro is eager to do so because of her own positive experiences.
“Dr. Jennifer Adolphe, who had my position at Petcurean prior to me, was a wonderful mentor,” she says. “She helped me build my knowledge, skills and confidence and I was therefore ready to fill that position when she moved on in 2021. Some of my team members who report to me are also my mentors, as are others outside the company, and I will actively mentor others throughout my career. I love what I do and it’s a wonderful industry. We all have the same goal of trying to make life the best we can for pets.”
Speaking of pets, in her role overseeing Petcurean’s Go Solutions and Now Fresh product lines since 2021, Asaro has been instrumental in extending Go Solutions with two new formulas: one weight management and joint care formula and another for digestive health.
“We are very pleased to have these available to pet parents,” she says. “They address the top two concerns that pets are facing in terms of their health.”
Natalie Asaro is a nutrition manager at Petcurean — BY TREENA HEIN —
