Co-CEOs Jeff York (left) and Jean-Louis Bellemare
At a time when many food retailers are scrambling to discover the next innovative concept, Farm Boy has stayed the course with a strategy based on a fresh market shopping experience and a best-in-class focus on customer service. That approach has helped the company grow from a 300-sq.-ft. one-store operation formed in 1981 in Cornwall, Ont., by Jean-Louis and Colette Bellemare, into a flourishing business boasting more than 23 stores and 3,200 employees across southwestern and eastern Ontario. Co-CEOs Jean-Louis Bellemare, company founder, and Jeff York, who came on board in 2009, are implementing an ambitious five-year growth plan. “We’re putting all of our emphasis on Ontario, and planning to triple our presence in the GTA in the next three years,” says York. Within five years, he predicts, Ontario could see 50 Farm Boy stores. “We want to be a $1-billion company in the next five years.”
THE FARM BOY WAY Farm Boy isn’t a grocery store, insists York. “It’s a fresh-food experience which is part of our DNA.” He isn’t exaggerating. Bellemare, whose father was a produce wholesaler, grew up in the business. “We expanded Farm Boy one department at a time, and we maintained the same philosophy in each department, with a focus on well-priced, extremely fresh food,” says Bellemare. Now Farm Boy has five produce buyers – two in Toronto, two in Ottawa and one in Montreal – and daily deliveries to each store across the chain.
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September | October 2017
All photos taken at Farm Boy’s Ottawa-Westboro location
The original concept has evolved into a fresh-food business model that caters to a variety of time-starved customer needs. “We’re there when the customers need us, not when we need them,” says York. “So if they want fresh food to prep and cook at home, we have it. If they want it prepared and ready to cook, it’s there for them. And if they want hot foods they can take home, we have it.” Farm Boy’s flexible food offerings allow it to respond more quickly to changing customer demands. Prepared foods are one example. It’s a growing market for Farm Boy and a major focus for the company’s expanding roster of chefs, overseen by executive chef Josh Drache. Most of Farm Boy’s meals are created at the company’s Ottawa commissary. A group is dedicated to developing recipes for prepared meals and products for the company’s private label.