Local, regional, and hyper-local food suppliers and farmers are about to get a lot more attention at Country Grocer stores on Vancouver Island. Customers in 6 Country Grocer stores will now be able to identify 4266 products from 111 producers that are made, grown, or raised closer to home with red Localize shelf labels.
We’re proud to partner with Country Grocer with whom we share a commitment to food transparency and a desire to support a healthy community of regional food business. Country Grocer opened the doors to its first store in Nanaimo BC in December 1984, then called Food Country. Since the beginning, their values have driven their operations and set the foundation for successful expansion throughout Vancouver Island and Salt Spring Island, which include: offering quality food at reasonable prices, supporting the community, and investing in knowing their customers in order to best meet their needs.
“We’re an Island-grown company so this program is a great fit for us. We especially appreciate how easy the program is to use. It’s great that we can make it easier for our customers to identify local products on our shelves. It’s all about sustainability and helping each other in our community” says Country Grocer Director Peter Cavin.
Meghan Dear, Localize’s CEO is very excited to partner with Country Grocer, “When grocery stores like Country Grocer support local food production, they are helping to sustain an entire community network of farmers, processors, and small businesses. We make it easy for customers to find these local products and assist grocers in sourcing more.”
Independently owned businesses tend to land the highest scores on the Localize rating system. The ability to celebrate and promote small, regional companies that have made their way into grocery stores is central to what we do.
If you call Vancouver Island home, be sure to pop into the Country Grocer to see the program in action. Look for Localize labels in-store to find out where a food product was made, grown or raised, where the business ownership lies, and how local it is on a scale of 0 to 10.
