Peter Richmond

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[00:00] SPEAKER_00: It's Vancouver's podcast on the Canada's podcast network
[00:06] SPEAKER_00: Angela Bernard coming to you from Canada's podcast where you can listen discover and engage
[00:11] SPEAKER_00: We're on location here at the Vancouver Island Economic Summit and I'm super excited to have Peter Richmond here with me from
[00:18] SPEAKER_00: 49 parallel grocery. Thank you. So you're in the retail sector
[00:22] SPEAKER_01: Absolutely in the food sector
[00:24] SPEAKER_00: Tell me a little bit about your entrepreneurial journey
[00:26] SPEAKER_01: Well the company actually started in 1977 when yeah my mom and dad was born by the way
[00:35] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a few years ago celebrating 42 years in business already this year
[00:39] SPEAKER_01: So my folks always wanted to own their own business
[00:42] SPEAKER_01: So they had been looking for quite a while my dad loves to tell the story of how he got into the grocery business because he was
[00:49] SPEAKER_01: Actually 15 looking for a job. He loved cars. He was a car
[00:54] SPEAKER_01: Free we had about 17 cars before he was the age of 17. Oh, I know always working on cars
[00:59] SPEAKER_01: So he thought he would work in the gas station business or the car business
[01:03] SPEAKER_01: But the grocery store was paying a dollar two an hour the gas stations were paying 50 cents an hour
[01:08] SPEAKER_01: So there you go he went into the grocery business because he could have twice as many cars
[01:14] SPEAKER_01: Helen loved with the business was produce manager by the time you 17 spent his life in the lower main line moving around to learning a lot about the industry
[01:22] SPEAKER_01: But it always wanted to own his own store and then in 1977 the opportunity arose to
[01:27] SPEAKER_01: purchase the 49th Probe of the grocery and management which had been operating there since about the 40s
[01:33] SPEAKER_01: Been around for quite a bit of heritage. Yes. Yeah, it started off in the front of somebody's house
[01:40] SPEAKER_01: They started off actually as a coffee shop gradually became the place to grab
[01:45] SPEAKER_01: lunch and also some supplies and then the supply thing took off and
[01:49] SPEAKER_01: So when my folks purchased it in 77. Yeah, it was a small
[01:52] SPEAKER_01: 2,000 square foot grocery store with six employees and now we have four locations with
[01:58] SPEAKER_01: 275 employees so wow fortunate to grow with the community
[02:03] SPEAKER_00: And let's talk about you have four stores and what are the communities?
[02:07] SPEAKER_01: So they're in ladiesmith shamanis cedar and duncan and are you a primary grocery
[02:12] SPEAKER_00: Retailer in each of those we are we we you know, we're a community grocer
[02:17] SPEAKER_01: But we have everything we have butcher bakery and
[02:20] SPEAKER_01: Deli and we produce department so full service grocery store, but we are smaller our stores range from
[02:27] SPEAKER_01: Actually 5,000 to 22,000 square feet. Okay, so you know smaller footprint
[02:33] SPEAKER_01: But we have something like 28,000 items in the store from 450 suppliers
[02:39] SPEAKER_01: So we try to have that variety of selection of customers are looking for
[02:43] SPEAKER_01: But we're really
[02:47] SPEAKER_01: Focused on the customers that are
[02:49] SPEAKER_00: So obviously you had come from entrepreneurial blood
[02:54] SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna say it's a long stretch from the first store at 2,000 square feet to 275 employees
[03:01] SPEAKER_01: What has been what's that been like for you? Well, it's been exciting. I so I actually spent a
[03:07] SPEAKER_01: number of years in Vancouver so I went and got my CPA and CPA
[03:12] SPEAKER_01: Worked with earns in young and Canadian forest products over there before I returned to the family business and an exciting time
[03:17] SPEAKER_01: Which was going from one store to two?
[03:20] SPEAKER_01: Okay, it's right when my you know my folks needed help in that jump
[03:23] SPEAKER_01: It's like going from one baby to two all of a sudden you're running in two different directions
[03:28] SPEAKER_01: So I came back at that time and like I say we've been we've been fortunate to grow with those communities and now expand
[03:35] SPEAKER_01: To forest or
[03:37] SPEAKER_00: Okay, but so
[03:39] SPEAKER_00: As a moment two kids where I think you know you two kids you have you can have a hand on each one
[03:44] SPEAKER_00: I wonder how people ever have more than two children, but now you're at four now or four. Yes
[03:49] SPEAKER_00: What what how has that changed the amount of time or investment or how how what's described the scaling process?
[03:57] SPEAKER_01: Yes, yeah, no absolutely you can't make those those moves until you have rather rate people on on the team
[04:03] SPEAKER_01: Okay, it's a help to help make that jump because yeah, you're right. There's only so much time
[04:09] SPEAKER_01: But I do I am fortunate. We are in a smaller region. We're not looking to expand you know across the province
[04:15] SPEAKER_01: Right thing I can get to each door within 20 minutes from my office
[04:18] SPEAKER_01: Thanks, so it is a nice little area where you know, there's still a lot of face-to-face
[04:23] SPEAKER_01: meetings and we're not skyping or anything we do everything face-to-face still old school and
[04:29] SPEAKER_01: So like I say fortunate in that we are still close together, but you need the people in order to to scale things
[04:36] SPEAKER_01: and understand how we want to treat the customer that we know the way we've done it right from day one and
[04:43] SPEAKER_00: The the communities right that we're that you're working and so we've got latest myth and cedar and Duncan and schmators
[04:48] SPEAKER_00: Those are not very big towns. No, no, no, no, how big would they be? What kind of population are we talking?
[04:54] SPEAKER_01: Well, so yeah, cedar and schmannis would be around 3000. Okay, so very you know smaller role ladies with his about eight or nine thousand people
[05:02] SPEAKER_00: So do you kind of you know, dispel the myth that you can be a functioning
[05:09] SPEAKER_00: medium-sized business in our
[05:10] SPEAKER_00: Our
[05:11] SPEAKER_01: Big business. No, absolutely. We're certainly in an industry of giants and yes
[05:17] SPEAKER_01: We've been lucky like I say to grow with our community and serve them
[05:21] SPEAKER_01: You know, we we have a lot of interactions with our customer every day. So we are always there
[05:27] SPEAKER_01: Talking to our customer understanding what to know what needs are changing and what's happening
[05:32] SPEAKER_00: The boutique experience right which is really it's a gift when you discover it
[05:38] SPEAKER_01: Well, it is and you know we feel that customer interaction is important still we really do
[05:43] SPEAKER_01: We're not even looking at things like self-checkout
[05:46] SPEAKER_01: Doesn't interest us at all so we want to have that customer service feel
[05:50] SPEAKER_01: We want to thank the person for coming in and spending their dollars with us or our dollars and
[05:56] SPEAKER_01: We want to have the full service so like I say blitzer baker
[06:00] SPEAKER_01: Candlestick maker
[06:02] SPEAKER_01: All that in the store because you know that we're gonna have a candlestick maker in store
[06:05] SPEAKER_01: We need shops right we feel that that service is important
[06:09] SPEAKER_01: It's we don't want to see that leave so let's talk about vanku broil
[06:13] SPEAKER_00: I like the bit. I mean did you
[06:16] SPEAKER_00: What do you do personally what why is vanku broil in such a rich place to do business for you?
[06:21] SPEAKER_01: Oh, well, I obviously I grew up here
[06:23] SPEAKER_01: I did spend 13 years away in the big city
[06:25] SPEAKER_01: But I was very glad that it was time to come back to the family business
[06:31] SPEAKER_01: Obviously the I'm a bit of an outdoor enthusiast so you know
[06:34] SPEAKER_01: There's so much to do here on the island and we really are fortunate to live in such a beautiful place
[06:39] SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna prop hook a prod what do you do? What's your recreation?
[06:43] SPEAKER_01: You know, I mean a lot of hiking a lot of hiking and you know
[06:47] SPEAKER_01: I've been at it for a number of years I'm 56 now and there's still a lot of places
[06:52] SPEAKER_01: I haven't needed to
[06:54] SPEAKER_00: How long does it take you to get on a trail from say work or from your house?
[06:58] SPEAKER_01: Oh, you know, they're not not lying at all. No, there's lots of good ones
[07:02] SPEAKER_01: Boy, I mean maple mountain to Zunei on and Duncan
[07:06] SPEAKER_01: Less than that less than half an hour and we're up in the
[07:09] SPEAKER_00: Sackley is pretty amazing right on our back door almost no commute
[07:13] SPEAKER_01: No, and there's an endless number of places like I say there's still so many that I can't believe we haven't been to
[07:20] SPEAKER_01: Fantastic. We love to travel to Fino. We love to camp in various places up and down the island
[07:25] SPEAKER_00: So I'm just blessed to do here. So a little bit of insight onto what makes Peter tech. How do you get a
[07:33] SPEAKER_00: Obviously hiking is probably one big one, but how do you keep
[07:37] SPEAKER_00: innovation and motivation and energized
[07:41] SPEAKER_00: When you're giving back so much to your customers and community and clients all the time
[07:46] SPEAKER_01: What what fuels you? Well, what fuels you is talking to the customer and understanding that there is change happening really
[07:53] SPEAKER_01: There is a lot of interesting things and exciting things happening. There's also
[07:57] SPEAKER_01: You know lines are blurring people can can there's online delivery and home shopping and
[08:03] SPEAKER_01: Home delivery and other things that are coming in that we have to adjust and always work for but
[08:09] SPEAKER_01: Really it's engaging to talk to people and see you know what issues are going through
[08:15] SPEAKER_01: Certainly people
[08:17] SPEAKER_01: One to eat healthier, which is a good sign
[08:21] SPEAKER_01: We still see the snack aisle is still growing, but we are encouraging of course
[08:25] SPEAKER_01: You know, we're trying to have what customers want in terms of healthier organic or gluten free or other needs that
[08:33] SPEAKER_01: You know people's diets are more variety work
[08:37] SPEAKER_01: very to all the time right
[08:39] SPEAKER_00: talking about
[08:40] SPEAKER_00: What are there any essential conferences or
[08:44] SPEAKER_00: Professional associations that you feel add value to you being business?
[08:49] SPEAKER_01: Absolutely. Yeah, we belong to the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocer. They've been a fantastic support for
[08:55] SPEAKER_01: Independent Grocer's across the country
[08:58] SPEAKER_01: I was fortunate to be on a small business sharing group in that forum for about 12 years or so and
[09:05] SPEAKER_01: Excellent sharing with other Grocer's across the country
[09:07] SPEAKER_01: As talking about
[09:09] SPEAKER_01: Similar issues that a little bit of this grappling with
[09:12] SPEAKER_01: Obviously, remembers of all our local chambers and commerce. They're good. I've been involved with the here
[09:19] SPEAKER_01: In the local lines we've been coming for five or six years now and it's always good networking lots to learn
[09:27] SPEAKER_01: And also
[09:28] SPEAKER_01: This is also has been very helpful to have a number of programs that that we've reached out to
[09:35] SPEAKER_01: we actually
[09:37] SPEAKER_01: Only hired an HR manager about a year ago. What yes, how many staff do you have?
[09:43] SPEAKER_00: 275 so has been managing all these people so before that
[09:46] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, doing great our managers
[09:49] SPEAKER_01: We were shared responsibility, but there was there are resources out there that can help you
[09:55] SPEAKER_01: You know, we we actually reach out to see if I be and and our industry people regularly for for certain questions
[10:02] SPEAKER_00: So it's been great fantastic. Well, let's take away a little bit into Vancouver Island economic lines
[10:07] SPEAKER_00: We're here at the summit. It's the annual event
[10:10] SPEAKER_00: One thing that has been quite topical amongst several food collaborators here is island good
[10:18] SPEAKER_00: Could you comment give us a little bit of comment insight on what that what that program is?
[10:22] SPEAKER_01: Yes, no, absolutely when we found out about what what the plan was a couple years ago now probably three years ago
[10:28] SPEAKER_01: um
[10:29] SPEAKER_01: We felt that that was a fantastic fit with our business. It's something that we had been
[10:34] SPEAKER_01: Trying to do for a number of years in terms of identifying locally produced items on our shelves and you know
[10:41] SPEAKER_01: Giving those stories passing those stories on to our customers
[10:44] SPEAKER_01: Because local people do want to buy local and it's a matter of getting them together
[10:50] SPEAKER_01: Um, so this opportunity of working together with other retailers and local producers we thought was a fantastic idea
[10:57] SPEAKER_01: We really didn't see it as competitive nature in terms of working with country motion or quality foods
[11:04] SPEAKER_01: Or thrifties now the other retailers are involved. We thought this was a fantastic idea for Vancouver Island
[11:10] SPEAKER_01: To let's all work together and market and educate
[11:13] SPEAKER_01: Our customers as to what is here
[11:15] SPEAKER_01: I'm hoping to see you know more more producers more become more foods. They will hear on the island
[11:22] SPEAKER_01: And we felt we're a good fit for the program too because we are smaller
[11:27] SPEAKER_01: You know some producers have trouble ramping up their supply to satisfy a big retailer
[11:33] SPEAKER_01: So we're a good fit in terms of
[11:36] SPEAKER_00: Somebody starting off and so island good really is a brand
[11:39] SPEAKER_00: Yes, we put on local products. How much more work has it been to implement the program in store
[11:46] SPEAKER_01: Really not not no no extra work. I mean to be honest
[11:50] SPEAKER_01: We were already signing those items right and and again to find them and talking about them
[11:55] SPEAKER_01: So this was really just an opportunity to jump onto the brand and yeah and take it another step and we saw some results
[12:01] SPEAKER_00: It's great to see it we're showcased. Yeah, right? So what kind of actual sales results are are you getting well?
[12:07] SPEAKER_01: We matched about the group total was about 17% increase on the local items and that is representative of what we saw as well
[12:15] SPEAKER_01: So as people are seeing and recognizing the signage more
[12:20] SPEAKER_01: It becomes yeah conscious of decision to
[12:23] SPEAKER_00: To purchase to buy local yeah, and I mean from the consumers point of vote. How would you ever know right?
[12:28] SPEAKER_00: I mean sometimes you read the fine print but and sometimes it's not always
[12:31] SPEAKER_00: clear
[12:32] SPEAKER_00: Now we have island good in your store
[12:34] SPEAKER_00: Do you think it'll convert people from other stores into
[12:38] SPEAKER_00: To buy or do you think it's really about the um
[12:41] SPEAKER_00: Moving the local product first and foremost over over an import product well sure there might be
[12:47] SPEAKER_01: There is a little bit of differentiation
[12:50] SPEAKER_01: I think for maybe the giants in the industry so yes
[12:54] SPEAKER_01: That would be great if more and more people think that I want to support those products and they can maybe only find them in our store
[13:02] SPEAKER_01: I'm just really hopeful that
[13:04] SPEAKER_01: It is helping the producers and there's more and more producers
[13:08] SPEAKER_01: Are able to be you know to get into the health and we've probably new business with having that marketing and that
[13:14] SPEAKER_01: Visibility because it is a challenge absolutely so is a small
[13:17] SPEAKER_00: Maybe boutique local producer on the island. Mm-hmm. How can they get involved? What do I?
[13:23] SPEAKER_00: Who do they contact? How do they reach out? How do they find out more about this island good program? Well the
[13:28] SPEAKER_01: Experts would be here. Ivea
[13:31] SPEAKER_00: Exactly what about beyond just at the event is there a website or something that
[13:35] SPEAKER_01: Sorry, I think it's island good
[13:39] SPEAKER_00: Okay, perfect now coming back to
[13:41] SPEAKER_00: 49th parallel as there anything else that you do see that you'd love to share with our listeners that
[13:46] SPEAKER_01: Well you were asking earlier if we you know how if we were growing and what our future plans are
[13:50] SPEAKER_01: So we are excited to say that next week on Wednesday at 10 o'clock we're having a sod turning for a new store in Duncan
[13:57] SPEAKER_00: Wow
[13:58] SPEAKER_01: Right now our store there's about 4800 square feet
[14:02] SPEAKER_01: So the other three are both 20,000 so you can appreciate me to kind of have quite the same selection
[14:07] SPEAKER_01: But our new store plan for Duncan will be about 25,000 square feet
[14:11] SPEAKER_01: So it'll be a full service grocery store and that that's exciting for us. That's a big jump
[14:16] SPEAKER_01: Then we'll like I say the four stores will be able to have very similar offerings
[14:20] SPEAKER_01: And we'll be able to better serve the community there. We're in just
[14:25] SPEAKER_01: It'll be a mile down the road from where we're out now fantastic. All right, it has been a pleasure
[14:30] SPEAKER_00: It's great exciting news to round out the interviews
[14:33] SPEAKER_00: Hey there
[14:34] SPEAKER_00: Thanks for taking the time today to listen to British Columbia's podcast on the Canada's podcast network
[14:40] SPEAKER_00: We hope you enjoyed the show today
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[14:53] SPEAKER_00: You can check out what other entrepreneurs are doing across the country. I'm Angela Faye. See you next time