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Lifestyle Essentials

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Achin’ for Bacon

Local producers sustained Julianna Mimande as a restaurateur. Now she’s returning the favour >

Feeding the Tiger

Mostly ignored by Alberta food processors, India presents an enormous – and for now, wide open – market opportunity >

Mousetrap 10

Smart Food Shipping

Edmonton is remote, as big cities go, which presents a challenge for area food processors that have to get their highly perishable products to larger markets to the south. The problem spurred nine food processors that might otherwise consider themselves competitors to form the Food Processors Logistics Research Council and initiate the Freight Consolidation Project, whereby the members combine their individual shipments into larger loads that qualify for preferred carrier rates.

“Consolidation isn’t something new, but it doesn’t happen because most processors don’t want to ship products with their competitors. This is simply a smarter way of doing business that stresses collaboration and gives these small to medium-sized processors access to distant markets cost-effectively,” says Brian Dumsday, senior associate of QGI Consulting, which manages the project.
Under the program, processors such as Sunrise Bakery Ltd. and pizza-maker Crust Craft Inc. no longer pay “less than truckload” rates because they pool their small shipments into one larger load that is picked up by the carrier and delivered to customers in Calgary and Vancouver. The pilot project, which started last June, has cut carrier costs by an average of 36% for the participants. There are now three loads moving to Calgary and Vancouver each week, which is improving the market competitiveness and long-term expansion opportunities for the companies involved.

The pilot has been so successful the council is looking into establishing a common warehouse in Edmonton and hiring a market representative in the U.S. Northwest. And others want in too. “We have already started to get interest from Calgary food processors,” notes Dumsday. “It’s a simple process that can be repeated in virtually any community.”

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A Taste of Alberta

Take a look around your neighbourhood grocery store -- you'll be quick to discover local brands that are making it big >

Gringo Goes Wild

Alberta's Marketer of the Year is taking a bite out of his competition in the fast food world >

Double Shade of Green

What is clear...is that more consumers are willing to pay more for a healthier slice of bread with a dollop of a preservative-free jam >

Turning Up the Heat

Since wowing New Yorkers in a hot sauce taste-off in the Big Apple earlier this year, the Simmons family’s phone at their Lethbridge home has been ringing a little more insistently these days.
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The Cup that Cheers

At Characters Fine Dining in downtown Edmonton, the waiter presents before us a boxed tray of loose tea blends as if it were an exquisite tray of desserts. The selections have names like “Life is Beautiful,” “Chai-Ish” and “Happy Dreams” and their aromas linger as we make our choices.
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