1st Anniversary episode talking Canadians relationship with Beef, #buttergate v3.0, fair trade and our new Youtube channel!

Welcome to the The Food Professor podcast episode 26, our first anniversary episode!  I’m Michael LeBlanc, and I’m Sylvain Charlebois!

The Food Professor is brought to you by omNovos - THE digital customer engagement solution for grocery and restaurant marketers helping you deliver personalized and segmented experiences at scale. Find out how you can get personal and grow sales by making EVERY customer interaction count with omNovos at www.realcustomerengagement.com

Lots to talk about this episode  - a solo episode so lets get right to it….

First of all…Where’s the Beef!  Latest Agri-Foods research out today telling us that 92% of Canadians enjoy beef, 65% consider themselves regular users…considering the kerfulfle of epicurious eliminated beef recipes, seems like the they are missing over 90% of the population…

Other topics for this episode:

• Canadian food manufacturing report
• ButterGate 3.0 - in between our episodes some /more evidence;
• Article in the National Post: 4 reasons why we are paying more -...get three, but eating more at home?  https://financialpost.com/moneywise/four-reasons-canadians-are-paying-a-lot-more-at-the-grocery-store-this-year
• Montreal getting into competition with UberEats to help their restaurants
• Speaking of restaurants...in Toronto over 365 days of no-in restaurant eating...the U.S. has earmarked 28Billion for restaurants...basically take 2019 revenues, subtract 2020 and get the difference....bold, expensive...wow:  https://www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/financing/stimulus-bill-29b-direct-restaurant-aid-appears-headed-passage
• Longo's and fair trade bananas
• Wingstop takes flight - 100 new chicken wing locations!!
• Our Bonus episodes continue...

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Thanks again to the folks at omNovos for being our presenting sponsor!  
 

If you liked what you heard you can follow us on Apple iTunes , Spotify or your favourite podcast platform, please rate and review, and be sure and recommend to a friend or colleague in the grocery, foodservice,  or restaurant industry.   

Be sure to visit and subscribe to our new YouTube channel!

I’m Michael LeBlanc, producer and host of The Voice of Retail podcast and a bunch of other stuff, and I’m Sylvain Charlebois!

Have a safe week everyone!
 

About Us

Dr. Sylvain Charlebois is a Visiting Professor in Food Policy and Distribution at McGill University and a Professor in Food Distribution and Policy in the Faculty of Management at Dalhousie University in Halifax. He is also the Senior Director of the Agri-food Analytics Lab, also located at Dalhousie University.

Known as “The Food Professor”, his current research interest lies in the broad area of food distribution, security and safety. He is one of the world’s most cited scholars in food supply chain management, food value chains and traceability with over 775 published peer-reviewed journal articles. Dr. Charlebois is also an editor for the prestigious Trends in Food Science Technology journal. 

He co-hosts The Food Professor podcast, discussing issues in the food, foodservice, grocery and restaurant industries and which is the most listened Canadian management podcast in Canada. 

Every year since 2012, he has published the now highly anticipated Canadian Food Price Report, which provides an overview of food price trends for the coming year. Furthermore, his research has been featured in several newspapers and media groups, nationally as well as internationally. He has testified on several occasions before parliamentary committees on food policy-related issues as an expert witness. He has been asked to act as an advisor on food and agricultural policies in many Canadian provinces and other countries.

With extensive experience collaborating with businesses, governments, and NGOs, Dr. Charlebois combines academic rigor with practical expertise, making him one of the most influential voices in the global agri-food landscape. His work continues to advance the understanding of food systems, fostering innovation and resilience in a rapidly evolving industry. In 2025, he received the prestigious Charles III medal recognizing his tremendous work in informing Canadians about food issues.

 Michael LeBlanc is a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and media entrepreneur. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions hosted senior retail executive on-stage in 1:1 interviews worldwide. Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including The Remarkable Retail Podcast, The Voice of Retail, The Food Professor, The FEED powered by Loblaw and the Global eCommerce Leaders podcast.  He has been recognized by the National Retail Federation (NRF) as a global Top Retail Voice for 2025 and 2025, and continues to be a ReThink Retail Top Retail Expert for the fifth year in a row.