Montréal, November, 18, 2015 – Metro is pleased to announce that some 62 new grocery products from 13 Montérégie suppliers are making their debut today in 48 of the region’s Metro and Super C stores.
Metro’s Local Purchasing Program is aimed at offering as many regional products as possible on the shelves of its network of stores and to increase their visibility, in order to meet the demand of customers, who more than ever are seeking out products from Quebec and from their region. It is also intended to assist suppliers in their business development efforts among Quebecers as part of a large chain.
Thanks to the cooperation of Expansion PME, the organization behind the campaign La Montérégie, le Garde-Manger du Québec, a regional tour was organized during which the purchasing team met with suppliers who are interested and in a position to sell their products at Metro, in order to discuss their products, their labelling, their prices, their merchandising, etc. This process has resulted in several local suppliers being discovered and in assisting them in their efforts leading to their products making it onto the shelves of Metro stores.
“I would like to point out the efforts that Metro has made in order to make it easier to get products from the region onto its shelves and to make them shine, including providing them with a prominent place in-store and supporting agribusiness in this. “This project with Metro allows participating farmers to develop their business, which benefits the economic activity of the entire region and that is the economy of the entire region which comes out winner.” said Pascale Beauregard, coordinator of La Montérégie, le Garde‑Manger du Québec.
“Our goal is to increase the in-store presence of a distinctive selection of products grown in a region, at a competitive price for our clientele. To do so, we don’t hesitate to provide personalized support to each one of those partner-suppliers” said Christian Bourbonnière, Senior Vice President, Quebec Division, for Metro. “Benefiting from their experience and equipped with better tools, businesses that want to grow with Metro see their development increase rapidly, with some even moving on to distributing throughout the network.”
Launched in May of 2013, Metro’s Local Purchasing Program rests on three guiding principles and is aimed at making Metro a prime showcase for regional products; a privileged partner of Aliments du Québec; the main ally of innovative Quebec suppliers. So far, the implementation of the program in Lanaudière, Chaudière-Appalaches, Centre-du-Québec, Estrie and the Lower St. Lawrence, Outaouais, the Laurentians and Montérégie has enabled more than 827 new fresh and grocery products from 133 suppliers to make their entry in 141 Metro and Super C stores in their region. Metro’s Local Purchasing Program can be viewed on Metro’s website. The 2015 Corporate Responsibility Update is available at metro.ca/responsibility.
Metro Inc.
With annual sales of over $12 billion and over 65,000 employees, METRO INC. is a leader in the food and pharmaceutical distribution in Québec and Ontario, where it operates a network of more than 600 food stores under several banners including Metro, Metro Plus, Super C and Food Basics, as well as over 250 drugstores under the Brunet, Metro Pharmacy and Drug Basics banners.
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Information:
Geneviève Grégoire
Communication Advisor
genevieve.gregoire@metro.ca
514 643-1000 ext 2055