The Toronto-based dairy giant Gay Lea Foods has come out of the closet. It is a co-operative and proud of it.
Chief operations officer Michael Barrett told the annual meeting of the Canadian Co-operative Association June 18 that the 51-year-old dairy processor owned by 1,200 Ontario dairy farmers had tried to hide its co-operative origins and structure.
“We have disguised our co-op heritage and emphasized taste,” he told a session examining whether being a co-op could be a marketing selling point.
Barrett said the company is today embracing its co-op status, making it a core value of how it treats its employees and sells itself to the public and other companies.
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He said the key messages are that Gay Lea supports rural areas, treats people with respect and works through the Co-operative Development Foundation to support development projects abroad.
When vying to become a supplier to a company like McDonald’s, he said the sales pitch began with a photo of a Nepalese girl at a school supported by the CDF.
McDonald’s agreed to work with Gay Lea because it likes business partners with values, said Barrett.
When hiring employees, the Gay Lea interview begins with questions about personal beliefs and values.
“We hire the soul. We can train you for the role.”
His comments and enthusiasm set the audience buzzing with questions about how to use co-operatives as a marketing brand and why Gay Lea changed branding direction.
Barrett recounted a moment when he was in El Salvador.
“I heard people talking about how co-operatives are the future,” he said. “In Canada, we too often see it as the past. It is not.”
The result has been an awakening within the company.
Now it stresses support for rural communities where its farmer members live and it appeals to a growing consumer interest in local food by showing Gay Lea products come from milk produced on Canadian farms.
“We are looking to brand Gay Lea differently,” said Barrett.
It has developed the slogan, “The world is our community. Ontario is our home.”
And to reflect its global development support, the message is that the funding comes not to try to win consumer sympathy and business but because development reflects co-operative values. “Genuine. Not just generous.”
Barrett said wearing its co-op identity on its sleeve has been good for the company.
“Gay Lea has gone through a renaissance of rediscovering our co-op roots,” he said.
