Innovation

Market Fresh’s Mission Statement is the first thing you come across upon visiting their website: ‘Your Local, Fresh and Wholesome Gourmet Market. We are Passionate about Food and Community!” From their Mission Statement, we can easily extract their innovation that lays in their business model. They’ve been able to craft a competitive advantage by primarily supporting Wellington County business and connecting them with consumers to provide the freshest variety of quality foods. They cut costs on transportation and eliminate much of the waste and pollution in the process. “There’s not that many independent grocery stores left in Canada. It’s a very centralized market. You know, the big three - Metro, Sobeys, Loblaw’s, account for a huge proportion of the amount of grocery stores in the country. So to be an independent you need to do something that sets you apart. We are probably one of the only independent grocery stores from Hamilton to London who still does their own bakery from scratch.”

“We have a saying here that price is really important to people but the perception of quality is everything.” Initially, Market Fresh started off only providing fresh locally sourced produce. They built their brand on quality and saw how positively they were accepted into the community. By means of the success they found over the years, they expanded and took over the neighboring bakery and butcher shop bringing Market Fresh to where it is today. “We very much take it that we are people’s special treat. We have a saying that we really like to use - “retail theater”. This idea that people are coming in for the experience. They don’t just want to buy cheese. They want to talk to somebody to hear about the cheese they like and what they think is really good. This experience of people getting so excited that they have to share it - that’s what makes people keep coming here. It’s infectious. We tell you a story about food.”

Without their community engagement, Market Fresh wouldn’t be doing nearly as well. They run events throughout the year like Organic Week, or Fair Trade week, which brings food to life in a social environment. We as the consumers are also involved in the creation of their innovation when we choose to take part in these events or engage in their social media. Not surprisingly even the University is involved with Market Fresh; “We try to draw a lot of attention to products like University of Guelph honey. They’ve got one of the best bees studies programs in the world. Besides campus, we are, as far as I know, the only other place where you can buy the honey. So all of the honey that is a by-product of the studies is excellent quality and it's sustainably harvested, humanely harvested, and we are very happy to be selling a product like that.” Lastly without the high-quality farmers in the area of Wellington creating this closely linked network Market Fresh wouldn’t be what it is today.

Inspiration

The initial inspiration all those years ago must have come from an underlying passion for fresh food. Obviously, food sourced locally is fresher which impacts quality, the added bonus of attracting consumers that want to support local farmers is just the cherry on top. “So there’s that little bit of understanding and quid pro quo that we support Wellington county business and carry their products and in turn, they support us by being shoppers here personally and sending their friends and family towards us and that's definitely how we have been able to grow as fast as we have. It is a very good relationship and our best customers are people who sell products here in the store. So it’s been a winning strategy for us so far.” They’ve been able to grow tremendously through organic word of mouth by providing a high-quality product and buying experience with that added benefit of being able to support local growers and feel like a contributing part of the community.

The punchline of Market Fresh’s mission statement claims “We are passionate about Food and Community!” and they deliver on this promise in spades. “We do a lot of our own events. So for example, every year we do Fall Food Fair and during those events we get about 5000 to 6000 people over the weekend and we try as much as we can to exclusively highlight local producers. If there’s a local producer who came up with their own bone broth brand, we focus on them. Or organic milk - we would focus on them. “ Being able to connect people who devote their lives to delivering the highest quality food and consumers who are equally as passionate about the food they feed their families is beautiful and a big inspirational factor pushing Market Fresh forward.

Overall impact

Market Fresh builds their business model around the philosophy of “Be local. Buy local”. They are striving to create a quality grocery shopping experience for their customers while trying to provide business growth for local growers and farmers. They choose to buy their products locally in order to give back to the community of Wellington County and create partnerships that allow both the business and the local community to thrive. Their innovation has allowed them to build strong routes within the local community and separate themselves from their competition. Because large grocery stores, like Metro, hold so much market share, small grocery stores need a niche in order to separate themselves. They need a way to stand out. Market Fresh has successfully done that with this innovation. By keeping their operation focused on the local community they have been able to create more of a connection with their customers and give them a different shopping experience than other grocery stores.

They are able to help benefit the local society by buying from businesses in the Wellington County Area, helping to keep the businesses in their community running. In turn many of their suppliers will shop at Market Fresh and help spread the word about what the company is trying to do.

Market Fresh has also been able to impact the local environment in a positive way. They choose not to buy from those producers who are notorious for using pesticides and creating immense amounts of emissions. Working with local growers has enabled them to decrease their impact on the environment. Transportation is far less when they buy local as opposed to buying imported products, which need to travel farther distances (usually by truck) creating more emissions. Customers obtain value by getting organic, home-grown foods and Market Fresh reduces their impact on the environment. A win-win for both parties.

Because Market Fresh implies their “Be local. Buy local” philosophy they have been able to impact the local society by providing profitable business partnerships with local growers in the Wellington County Area. This allows for smaller local businesses to thrive and be successful in the extremely competitive market of food production.

Market Fresh may not strictly use small-scale farmers for all their produce, but they do their best to incorporate the local farming community as much as they can. “When we talk about local growers, you can look at a company, like Martins Apple Farms, for example. They are local, they provide us with apples, it is a very good quality product, but they are a mega-farm with over 300 acres of orchids. They are a huge apple grower. However, we still find opportunities for people to come in and give us their product but they few and far between”. The reasoning for not always using small-scale farmer is that they simply don’t provide enough quantity. The increase in business that Market Fresh has seen in recent years has called for an increase in produce coming into the store and small-scale farmers simply can’t keep up with the numbers.

The changing seasons of Canadian climate hold a big part in this availability of some products as well. However, Market Fresh prides themselves on their ability to accept products from local "mom & pop" growers whenever they are available.

Market Fresh’s innovation of buying from local growers has also decreased their carbon footprint because of the suppliers they choose to work with. The local growers are selected by Market Fresh as suppliers after they satisfy Market Fresh’s quality standards, beliefs, and values in terms of creating produce. This means that these companies are typically local growers that produce organic products that are free of harsh pesticides. Pesticides that are used by large growers help with creating mass quantities of product, but have detrimental impacts on the environment because the pesticides damage local water supplies and groundwater. By choosing to stick with smaller scale operations and organic growers Market Fresh is able to decrease the amount of impact they have on the environment. Transportation distances from local growers are also lessened as opposed to importing produce from foreign countries, like most other major superstore grocery stores do. The decrease in transportation times has decreased the amount of carbon emissions released into the environment. For simple example of this would be, getting spinach from a grower in California, USA opposed to a local grower in Guelph. The California product will have to travel across the country and will cause a greater release of carbon emissions. Whereas getting spinach from a grower that is 20 minutes away will significantly decrease that impact.

This innovation has had both short term and long term impacts on the business. In the short term spectrum, the Market Fresh was able to connect to the local community in Guelph and the surrounding areas. This allowed them to become a homegrown Canadian business that cared for and gave back to their customers and their community. By incorporating themselves in the community, they were able to build strong relationships with their customers. These customers found value in what Market Fresh was doing and this allowed Market Fresh to retain these customers for long-term.

From a long-term perspective, the biggest impact this innovation has had can be seen from a competitive standpoint. In a market that is controlled by large corporations such as Metro it is hard for smaller grocers to stand out. Market Fresh has been able to separate themselves from the competition and provide value to their customer base on a personal level. This allows them to retain returning buyers and spread their business to the surrounding townships. Customers that shop here believe in the business model and enjoy being part of the movement. This is more than a grocery store to these customers.

“We’ve had to develop our own relationships with wild harvesters and local growers who are there every day picking the stuff and as soon as they are done picking it - they hop into their van and bring the product right to the store. And people love these things. So it had a huge impact on our business in terms of both profitability and bringing a broader variety of people into the store”

Business benefit

The innovation of buying produce from locally sourced growers has provided multiple business benefits to Market Fresh such as increased number of customers, word of mouth marketing, and customer loyalty. Market Fresh is able to create sustainable business partnerships with produce growers in the local Wellington County area. These growers, in turn, become customers themselves and buy products in the grocery store. Having these growers become customers has organically created a portal for word-of-mouth marketing for Market Fresh. The growers tell their friends, families and colleagues about Market Fresh’s innovation and business model which allows the word to spread.

Many people in the local community love the concept of giving back to that community. Customers are proud to shop at a place where the food has been grown locally. They are happy to talk about the story and spread the word about the business. Market Fresh has built the foundation of their business on this concept and it has allowed their business to grow very efficiently in the local community.

“There’s that little bit of understanding and quid pro quo that we support Wellington County business and carry their products and in turn they support us by being shoppers here personally and sending their friends and family towards us and that's definitely how we have been able to grow as fast as we have”. This quote is a great example of how word of mouth has allowed the business to grow in the local area.

Through this innovation, Market Fresh has been able to benefit society on a small scale but it has been very effective in that. Because Market Fresh values buying from local farmers and growers they have been able to impact the local community in a positive manner. They encourage local businesses and entrepreneurs in the Guelph, Kitchener, Waterloo and Wellington County areas. They have been able to provide sustainable revenues to these growers in a very competitive market. Because the surrounding rural townships are great places for farming the positive outlook that Market Fresh has created could help increase the amount of agriculture in the area. Farmers may become interested in growing more crops if they can get business from Market Fresh and sell all their produce. Helping these businesses has helped keep the community strong and allows for positive economic growth to continue in the surrounding areas.

Social and environmental benefit

Because Market Fresh values buying from local farmers and growers they have been able to impact the local community in a positive manner. They encourage local business and entrepreneurship in the Guelph, Kitchener, Waterloo and Wellington County areas. They have been able to provide sustainable revenues to these local growers in a very competitive market. Because the surrounding rural townships are great places for farming the positive outlook that Market Fresh has created could help increase the amount of agriculture in the area.

When it comes to the environmental benefits of this innovation the biggest stand out is the decrease in Market Fresh’s carbon footprint on the environment. Many of the smaller scale local growers that supply produce to Market Fresh will use a much lower level of chemical pesticides because they are not producing in mass scale production. Using less pesticides means there will be less pesticides ending up in the local water systems and soils. The contamination of water sources and soils is a growing concern in today’s society. Market fresh is reducing this risk with their innovation.

Because Market Fresh chooses to get their produce from local growers they do not need to transport their products nearly as far. If Market Fresh were to get their produce imported, say a grower in California, the produce would need to travel across the country to get to the store. If multiple shipments are required throughout the year the carbon emissions only increase. By buying locally the transportation impact is decreased by a large margin. This lowers Market Fresh’s carbon footprint on the environment.

“We try to stick with the 100 km range. So Guelph, Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and the rest of Wellington County is what we try to focus on”.

Interview

Gary Hallman, Store Manager