The Village Grocer Feeding the Community for 35 Years

By Karen Sample and Janet Morley

Founded in 1986 by Evan and Cathy MacDonald, The Village Grocer has been a fixture in the Markham community as a purveyor of quality foods for almost 35 years. It has been in its present location at 16th Avenue in the Unionville neighbourhood of Markham for about 11 years. Originally started as a small butcher shop, with six employees, the company has evolved into a multi-department food retailer with approximately 140 employees, including eight full-time butchers.

Today, The Village Grocer incorporates many of the departments found in large chain stores and a few that are unique. While the meat department is still central to the business, the company boasts an in-house bakery, a produce department, a café, a floral department, a deli, sushi bar and a garden centre. Additionally, catering is offered for events of all sizes from small, intimate lunches or dinners to weddings. There are event rooms available for rent above the store, cooking classes are offered, and a pizza department where customers can find ready-to-eat or par-baked pizzas to enjoy.

As if that weren’t a well-rounded enough line up, The Village Creamery makes ice cream on site with locally sourced cream. The flavour list is exceptional, including Apple Crisp, Buttertart and Persimmon along with many other interesting combinations as well as the standard favourites of vanilla and chocolate and seasonal offerings like Candy Cane, Eggnog and Pumpkin Pie.

Thomas MacDonald, son of Evan and Cathy joined the family run business after realizing that he wasn’t enthralled with the career path he had chosen. His heart was in the family business, serving and building the Markham community. MacDonald says he couldn’t see himself working in finance, so he decided to give the family business a year and never left. Today he is involved fully, making almost daily buying trips to the Ontario Food Terminal at 3 am to get the best quality produce, writing the store’s newsletter, cooking in the store’s kitchen, and embracing all aspects of the hands on, customer service-oriented business his parents built.

Customers and quality have always come first at The Village Grocer with the two chasing each other amicably. With a focus on old-fashioned quality products and customer service, word-ofBrad Fletcher (left) and Thomas MacDonald (right). mouth attracts new customers with a broad product assortment and consistent focus on quality to keep them coming back. And it’s not just giving good service and sticking to Old World butchery practices, it’s creative thinking, always moving forward with new products whether carefully thought out or the product of circumstances. MacDonald recalls the story of how The Village Grocer came to be known for their flank steak. At the time, the store didn’t really sell them, but a customer had requested flank steak, so they brought some in and were left wondering what to do with the rest of them. “Nobody would come to our store for flank steaks, so we made a marinade from my grandmother’s recipe, trimmed them up and they sold ‘like that’,” recalls MacDonald. Today the store literally brings in flank steaks by the skid as they are one of their most popular cuts.

The commercial channel of the business has a product line called The Village Kitchen which supplies about 35 stores with handmade goods from frozen entrees to baked goods and meat products. Everything is still made from scratch right down to squeezing lemon juice from fresh lemons instead of buying bulk lemon juice for their lemon meringue pies. Recipes are based on those that Cathy MacDonald and her mother Doreen Parker used when they ran a separate catering business as Evan got The Village Grocer on its feet.

Brad Fletcher, President of The Village Grocer believes that the organic growth the business has seen over the last 35 years is due to a constant, unwavering focus on high-quality products and in building clientele by giving back to the community through both generous donations and support of Markham Stouffville Hospital and other organizations and through connection with their clientele through their weekly newsletter. Thomas MacDonald says that between his visits to the Food Terminal and all his other regular store duties, he takes time to write as personally as possible and it pays off by building dialogue with customers.

It is not always as easy as good customer service and quality products though. There are challenges, especially in the butchery Village Grocer meat plant employee part of the business where there is a shortage of skilled labour tends to some smokehouse products. coming up through the ranks, and government regulations become

Fletcher says there are three fundamental challenges that Village Grocer and most smaller butcher shops are facing today. The first of these issues is the labour shortage and labour succession difficulties that face many industries who employ skilled trades workers. Part of this Fletcher puts down to the appeal of tech jobs to young careeroriented people. Another factor he feels is important, is that Canada is lagging when it comes to promoting and facilitating training for the butcher trade itself.

The company is trying to find creative ways of locating employees to fill positions domestically, and even internationally, but the solution is not clear at this point. Fletcher says, “There is a fundamental challenge facing the meat trade currently. There are plenty of people that you can put behind the counter in a service role, however a true butcher counter needs a balance of service and skilled labour to operate successfully. Core knowledge, customized trimming at the counter for customers, operational skills and business management are diminishing with little succession in sight”. “We need entry level opportunities in Canada where young people can go to learn about the trade, build career interest, find externship opportunities with an appetite to learn more from a master butcher or educational institution to build a life-long career. At present, we don’t have a lot of meat processing options for education development.” To get a productive educational program reignited, Fletcher believes that provincial and federal governments must better engage with educational facilities like Fanshawe and George Brown College that have a well-known reputation in the culinary arts.

The second fundamental challenge facing the industry, Fletcher believes, is the pricing disparity that’s starting to occur. “Beef is getting exorbitantly expensive, and I think right now we’re at the point where we’re turning off consumers who we see seeking out other protein options as supplements. If we don’t address this before long, we may turn a lot of people into non-beef eaters. Alarm bells should be sounding with suppliers because there are huge declines in the purchases of beef right now. We’ve seen this everyday in our store for a number of months.”

The disconnect between expectations of government and realities of the small-time butcher is what Fletcher sees as the third fundamental challenge. He sees O.M.A.F.R.A. coming in with highly educated inspectors with advanced degrees in food science and endless resources that do not match with current skill sets in the plants. While increased food safety is in everyone’s best interests, there needs to be alignment between expectations and abilities and more support to manage when changes are required. “Small independent butchers are not able to keep pace with the new science. The disparity is driving experienced butchers into retirement. With declining patience, and few succession options, we are all faced with a serious dilemma.”

To find this alignment, Fletcher believes that mutual education is required to avoid the demise of small-time butchers’ country wide, “The smaller meat counters and specialty meat processors are not going to be around much longer at this rate. The corner butcher and processor will eventually give way to the mass producers where they have the luxury of a laboratory and full-time food science staff. It’s all going to end up in their hands and that’s unfortunate, because the fabric of the country is built on the back of the entrepreneurs and small businesses.” In Fletcher’s eyes, the future for smaller independent butchers is not going to be bright unless the government refrains from pulling back resources and invests in initiatives to find ways to help smaller butchers meet ever-increasing government standards instead of blindly raising standards that only larger plants have the resources to fully address.

Despite the challenges presented by the current economic situation and difficulty with recruiting appropriate candidates for senior positions opening due to attrition, With over 65 years of The Village Grocer has outgrown its current location. MacDonald and Fletcher are looking to a brighter experience, Master Butcher John Plesac trims liver for customers. and bigger future for The Village Grocer with plans to expand The Village Kitchen side of the business with a second location. The new production only location will open by spring 2023 to meet growing demand and to broaden their commercial channel with an increased product assortment.

The growth of The Village Grocer, both recent and over the years comes back to the strong relationship with the community – a family business giving back to the community drives customer loyalty which enables the company to further support the community which enables the business to grow.

When Fletcher first stepped on the scene five years ago, he questioned the amount of support going into the community from a fiscal perspective. He says, “I sort of had my hand slapped,” and was told, “No, that’s what we do here.” Five years later he understands its all about building and connecting with customers and the community at large. “Whether it’s been through the hospital, multiple community-based charities, schools, or sporting leagues, The Village Grocer has long been involved with the community.” It has really resulted in a mutual respect that has created loyal and consistent customers but also a sensitivity and awareness to customers needs on our behalf.”

In fact, the customer bond that The Village Grocer builds with their clientele is so strong that they find customers who have moved out of the area will make the trip to come back to shop at their favourite store. MacDonald tells the story of a couple that moved to Niagara on the Lake who told him they’d be back occasionally. He saw them in the store one weekend and figured they were stocking up to get them through a few weeks until it was convenient to return. It turns out the couple makes the drive from Niagara to The Village Grocer every weekend to do their shopping. MacDonald says, “I don’t think there’s a bigger compliment.”

Brad Fletcher

4476 Sixteenth Avenue Unionville, ON L3R 0M1

www.thevillagegrocer.com v

illagekitchen@rogers.com

(905) 940-0655