Save-on-Foods to focus on innovation, sustainability, local sourcing and waste reduction as it moves east from B.C.
Canadian grocery retailer Save-On-Foods is continuing its eastward expansion across the Prairies but company officials at a recent workshop in Saskatoon declined to say how many new stores would be opened.
Based in Langley, B.C., the 103-year-old company is a household name among grocery consumers in British Columbia.
The company now has a total of 160 stores in Western Canada, including 112 in B.C., 38 in Alberta, five in Saskatchewan, three in Manitoba and one in Whitehorse.
Additional stores are currently under consideration but details of the locations have yet to be made public.
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“We’ve actually increased our store count across the West by about 25 percent” over the past five years or so, said Julie Dickson Olmstead, Save-On’s director of public affairs and corporate services.
“We have (added) probably somewhere in the neighbourhood of 8,000 new team members in the last few years,” she added.
“We know that consumers have an almost unlimited range of choices when it comes to where they buy their food … so we make sure we do business the right way.”
In a presentation to agri-value workshop attendees, Dickson Olmstead said Save-On hopes to differentiate its brand by adopting policies that focus on customer service, innovation, sustainability, local sourcing, waste reduction and other values that resonate with today’s grocery buyers.
A key part of the company’s expansion strategy is to connect with the community in which it operates and to offer services and products that match the ethnic, demographic and linguistic character of the markets it serves.
Store layouts and product offerings vary from location to location, Dickson Olmstead said.
In 2016, the company tweaked its operating model by opening new retail outlets in vacant buildings that are retrofitted and refurbished, an option that reduces operating costs and is reflected in lower product prices.
Dickson Olmstead called Save-On’s retrofit locations “the ultimate form of recycling,” a concept that appeals to environmentally conscious consumers that support recycling and are concerned about waste.
The company also encourages store managers to source food locally, a practice designed to support local growers and processors, reduce food waste, limit transportation costs and keep the company’s carbon footprint in check.
“Supporting local is really the only way to go for us and it’s a big part of our sustainability promise,” Dickson Olmstead said.
Save-On’s new stores also use smart technologies aimed at reducing energy consumption.
Waste reduction is another key goal.
Through internal recycling initiatives, Save-On diverted 17,600 tonnes of cardboard from landfills in 2017 and 450 tonnes of plastic in the form of bags, films and containers.
A decision to charge consumers for plastic grocery bags reduced plastic bag usage by 38 percent last year, or about 71 million bags.
“Consumers are paying attention to this issue and they want to do their part to contribute to a solution.”
Dickson Olmstead said Save-On has recently committed to reducing food waste in its operations by 50 percent before 2025.
The company has already initiated a number of pilot projects aimed at accomplishing this goal, she said.
Save-On Foods is a division of Overwaitea Foods, a Jim Pattison company.
Save-On opened two new locations in Saskatchewan last month, one in Prince Alberta and one in Saskatoon.
