September 4, 2015 – Victoria, B.C.- 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 six 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 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 nice 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 Country Grocer in sourcing more.”
Localize labels feature a quick-response (QR) code that allows customers to find out more about specific products with their smart phones. These labels also highlight the place of production and business ownership, assigning a score between 0 and 10, with 10 being considered the most local. The labels can be found next to products in all food departments, highlighting both local and regional products.
Two local producers who are part of the Localize vendor community and can be found in Country Grocer stores are Hardbite Chips and HapiFoods Group.
“We greatly value the relationship that we have with local food retailers like Country Grocer, and the consumers they serve. By participating in the Localize program we are giving the consumer a strong and consistent tool to help them identify locally grown and produced foods in store,”said Kirk Homenick from Hardbite Chips in Maple Ridge.
Corin Mullins from HapiFoods (maker of Holy Crap cereal in Gibsons) agrees,“We’re excited that more British Columbians will be able to easily identify BC made products in the grocery aisle with the Localize program’s signage.”
Localize labels can now be found in Country Grocer stores in Victoria, Cobble Hill, Nanaimo, or Lake Cowichan.
© 2024 Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers
