Canadian Retailer - Summer 2015 - 39

Health-The ever-increasing attention on nutrition,
combined with an aging population that's more focused on their wellbeing, is spurring interest in healthier meals and snacks.
Sustainability-People want to make responsible
choices. "Consumers look for products that are environmentally-friendly and consider them to be superior,"
says Catherine Shaw, Senior Director of Marketing for
Bernardin, which focuses on home canning products.
Experimentation-Consumers seem eager to try
new things. Canada's multicultural nature and our increased knowledge (due to everything from travel to
food TV shows), have helped to expand the national
palate. "Foodies are more common," says Marie-Noëlle
Cano of Sobeys Québec. "People want milk, eggs and
butter but also something special."
Among the Grand Prix finalists, the trends often overlap, including in the staples that Cano mentions. Take
Nutrinor's Organic Nordic Milk. It's produced from just
15 farms that were carefully selected and certified, guaranteeing a specific origin (north of the 48th parallel), an
animal diet rich in northern forage crops (which give the
milk a unique taste), and sustainable practices.
Even with a commodity like milk, says Pomerleau,
there's a place to stand out. He says consumers are
drawn to the innovation narrative: "You need a real difference and you need a story behind your product."
That's especially true when your product is genuinely
novel. Stephen Cheung, President of NuPasta in Markham, Ontario, recently launched a pasta made from
konjac. While foods derived from the konjac root are
consumed widely in Japanese households, their usual
forms and tastes are unfamiliar to most Canadians.
Cheung notes that konjac foods have many health

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benefits (low calories, rich in fibre, gluten-free). He
says that for innovations like NuPasta, the marketing
challenge is amplified-like introducing a new mode of
transportation vs. a new model car with different features. "Our prospective consumer will demand a lot of
information," says Cheung.
The urge to be surprised and delighted is a powerful
impulse to tap into, adds Ignatio Jimenez, Project Manager for Industrie Gastronomique Cascajares in St-Hyacinthe, Quebec. He says today's consumers have the
tools and inclination to research, analyze and compare.
"If you want your product to be in their options you
need to have enough clear information for them to
choose you," says Jimenez. "One of the most positive
trends in our industry is people willing and desiring to
learn about food. The consumer is more open minded
than before."
consumers want it all

The forces drawing consumers to innovation vary,
but Grand Prix participants sense little interest in
tradeoffs. Jimenez says consumers want convenience
without compromising quality, and quality without
compromising price. Consumers want it all, and ultimately "something they feel good about eating and serving," says Grand Prix juror Mijune Pak of Vancouver,
founder of the blog followmefoodie.com.
Meeting all those needs is a delicate balance for
manufacturers and retailers-and to Russ Rimmer, GM
of Olympic Dairy in Delta, B.C., it's a matter of survival.
His company introduced a Chia Yogurt last year, a new
ingredient for the category. "Innovation is the recipe
that permits us to still be in business," says Rimmer.
Some products can compete well on their brand name

Summer 2015 | canadian REtailER

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Canadian Retailer - Summer 2015

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