In this episode, Michael Medline, President and CEO of Empire Company Limited, is back on the podcast, joined by Mohit Grover, Senior Vice President, Innovation, Sustainability and Strategy, to talk about what Empire is doing at all levels around real progress in environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.
Welcome to The Voice of Retail. I'm your host Michael LeBlanc. This podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.
In this episode, Michael Medline, President and CEO of Empire Company Limited, is back on the podcast, joined by Mohit Grover, Senior Vice President, Innovation, Sustainability and Strategy, to talk about what Empire is doing at all levels around real progress in environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.
Michael and Mohit share their new three-year Climate Action Plan roadmap. We talk about actual results, fundamental strategies and action plans, the partnerships and complexities involved, and the simple truths that show real progress in environmental, social and governance issues.
View the report and watch the podcast video of the interview with Michael and Mohit: : https://corporate.sobeys.com/sustainable-business-report/
Thanks for tuning into this special episode of The Voice of Retail. If you haven’t already, be sure and click subscribe on your favourite podcast platform so new episodes will land automatically twice a week, and check out my other retail industry media properties; the Remarkable Retail podcast, the Conversations with CommerceNext podcast, and the Food Professor podcast. Last but not least, if you are into BBQ, check out my all new YouTube barbecue show, Last Request Barbeque, with new episodes each and every week!
I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company & Maven Media, and if you’re looking for more content, or want to chat follow me on LinkedIn, or visit my website meleblanc.co! Have a safe week everyone!
About Michael
Michael Medline is President & Chief Executive Officer of Empire Company Limited (Empire) and its wholly-owned subsidiary Sobeys Inc., a leading Canadian grocery retailer and food distributor. Mr. Medline is a proven leader with a strong track record of success in Canadian retail. He was appointed President & CEO of Empire in January 2017 after more than 15 years in a variety of senior retail leadership positions at Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC), including as that organization’s President & Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Medline began his career working with the Ontario Securities Commission in 1989, followed by two years practicing law with McCarthy Tétrault. He was Corporate Counsel for PepsiCo Canada before moving to Abitibi Consolidated Inc. where, between 1994 and 2001, he held a variety of roles including Senior Vice President, Strategy and Corporate Development. Active in the community, Mr. Medline serves as a member of the Board of the SickKids Foundation, and is a past Chair and current board member of the Retail Council of Canada. Mr. Medline has completed the Directors Education Program at the Rotman School of Management; holds an MBA from Raymond A. Mason School of Business, William & Mary; an LL.B. from the University of Toronto, and a BA from Western University.
About Mohit
Mohit Grover is Senior Vice President, Innovation, Sustainability & Strategy for Sobeys Inc., a leading Canadian grocery retailer and food distributor. Mr. Grover joined Sobeys from Google Canada where he was Head of Industry for the last five years. He is a recognized leader in building relationships with clients at the forefront of innovation and has successfully tailored Google's solutions to enable innovation at many of Canada's most important retailers. His deep understanding of the retail sector, together with his knowledge of the newest trends and technology in our industry, is invaluable. Prior to his years at Google, Mr. Grover built his passion for retail strategy and innovation at McKinsey & Company where he was a leader in the firm's North American Retail and Merchandising practice. Over his six-year tenure at McKinsey, he led multiple teams of consultants in addressing his clients' strategic, merchandising and operations challenges. Mr. Grover holds an MBA from INSEAD and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Toronto.
About Michael
Michael is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. He has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions with C-level executives and participated on thought leadership panels worldwide. Michael was recently added to ReThink Retail’s prestigious Top 100 Global Retail Influencers for a second year in 2022.
Michael is also the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts, including Canada’s top retail industry podcast, The Voice of Retail, plus the Remarkable Retail with author Steve Dennis, Global E-Commerce Tech Talks and The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois. Most recently, Michael launched Conversations with CommerceNext, a podcast focussed on retail eCommerce, digital marketing and retail careers - all available on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music and all major podcast platforms. Michael is also the producer and host of the “Last Request Barbeque” channel on YouTube where he cooks meals to die for and influencer riches.
Michael LeBlanc 00:05
Welcome to The Voice of Retail. I'm your host Michael LeBlanc. This podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.
Michael LeBlanc 00:10
In this episode, Michael Medline, President and CEO of Empire Company Limited, is back on the podcast, joined by Mohit Grover, Senior Vice President, Innovation, Sustainability and Strategy, to talk about what Empire is doing at all levels around real progress in environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.
Michael LeBlanc 00:29
Michael and Mohit share their new three-year Climate Action Plan roadmap. We talk about actual results, fundamental strategies and action plans, the partnerships and complexities involved, and the simple truths that show real progress in environmental, social and governance issues.
Michael Medline 00:45
What I've noticed in my career looking at it is every time you do something for ESG, it actually helps your results and I think that there's always doubt when there's new things, but when we look at a lot of the sustainability initiatives, and credit to Mohit, and his team and everyone else working in this company, on climate and sustainability, we're really excited about how not only it is the right thing to do, but that it can change the way we do business and make us more efficient.
Michael LeBlanc 01:15
Michael and Mohit, welcome. Thank you for inviting me here to the offices to chit chat today. How are you both doing, Michael?
Michael Medline 01:22
Doing great. It's a beautiful day and looking forward to our chat.
Michael LeBlanc 01:25
Mohit, it’s been years since we've last saw each other and how are you?
Mohit Grover 01:29
I'm doing great, Michael.
Michael LeBlanc 01:31
Fantastic. Now, for the employees and for my audience. Michael, they would know you well or know of you. Well, you're a recent guest on The Voice of Retail podcast. Mohit, tell me about yourself, your role here and catch us up for a few minutes.
Mohit Grover 01:43
Sure. So, I'm someone born and raised Torontonian. I've got a-, I'm a dad with two kids, a dog. I'm a foodie. I'm a huge Raptors fan, but I do love grocery and so you know, I joined Empire three years ago from Google and here I lead strategy, innovation and sustainability.
Michael LeBlanc 02:03
Fantastic. Fantastic. Well unpack that a little bit for me, what does strategy mean, at an enterprise like yours? What, what, what does that encompass? We're gonna be talking a lot about sustainability and ESG today, but unpack that just for a few seconds.
Mohit Grover 02:14
Absolutely. So, um, at our company, we think about strategy as top of house, you know, what are our initiatives that we're going to drive the business forward with and strategy and sustainability kind of merged together.
Michael LeBlanc 02:24
Right.
Mohit Grover 02:25
Sustainability is an important part of our strategy and comes to life across all elements of our go to market approach.
Michael LeBlanc 02:31
Fantastic. Michael, you, when you and I last spoke, we were talking about the book, Unprecedented. You had contributed some stuff and we were talking about the COVID era and even within that we're talking about sustainability that kind of came up and percolated naturally. So, it's clearly important to you, it's clearly important to Empire and let's dive deeper into ESG. Let's first start with three letters of the alphabet. What does it mean, ESG, unpack it a bit for us?
Michael Medline 02:58
Well, you know, when I think about ESG, and, you know, when I was younger, I was coming up through business, it was way more just what you do in terms of your quarterly or annual results, and not what you were doing for society or for your team members and there was less of an emphasis on governance even and in a good way and I think a lot of the change came from companies itself, or, or in some cases from some regulation. I think we've evolved further and so when I think about ESG, I think of it as the right thing to do. First of all, it's the right thing and I also think about it as that it's important to our stakeholders and so we get questions all the time, from our investors, from our teammates, from prospective teammates, and from our communities. What are you doing?
Michael Medline 03:47
What are you doing on behalf of your community, your people, and really increasingly about the climate and so, you know, we're a purpose driven company, and we like to do the right thing, but what I've noticed in my career looking at it is every time you do something for ESG, it actually helps your results and I think that there's always doubt when there's new things, but when we look at a lot of the sustainability initiatives, and, you know, credit to Mohit, and his team and everyone else working in this company on climate and sustainability, we're really excited about how not only it is the right thing to do, but that it can change the way we do business and make us more efficient and I think we're only, this a journey, right, this is a long term journey.
Michael LeBlanc 03:47
Right.
Michael LeBlanc 04:36
What, what inning, what inning do you think we're in?
Michael Medline 04:42
Well, everyone knows if you ask me a sports analogy, I'll answer. I think we're in the first inning. I'm proud that we did so much on all aspects of ESG during the pandemic, and never let down on that. That was one of our tenants during the pandemic, but I think we're early days and I think we're only exploring it at this point. So, I'm very excited.
Michael LeBlanc 04:59
Well, let's, let's pull on that thread a little bit. What are you most proud of or what are you, when you think about accomplishments so far, what are you most, what rings out for you in terms of your ESG accomplishments so far?
Michael Medline 05:10
Yeah, I think, I think that, you know, there's so much we could talk about, we could talk about our community involvement, and you know, if you want to delve into that later, that's great. I think right now, what I'm proudest of is the commitment we've made now in climate, that I think we're among the boldest of retailers in terms of our commitment and this is one aspect of the business that we don't want to beat everyone else that we want everyone to be good at because, you know, if we all do our part of our supplier partners do their part. If our competitors do their part, we'll get to the overall goals of Paris and beyond.
Michael Medline 05:46
But I'm really happy that we were, we pushed ourselves and I think working with our board of directors really helped and Mohit pushing us, we came to a place where we've, we've been bolder than even some companies have been and, and I think this company responds when we're more bold, we do better and also when we put process and discipline and systems in place. So, we didn't announce this a year ago, when we started thinking about it, we wanted to know we had a clear plan to be able to execute, maybe not all the way to 2040.
Michael LeBlanc 06:20
Sure.
Michael Medline 06:20
But we have a good runway now of initiatives that we can take advantage of.
Michael LeBlanc 06:25
So, kind of, kind of in mind, a point of arrival, so to speak. So, Mohit, let's talk about the climate action plan. Why is it important in your mind, as you think about this from your chair and your teams to be not incremental about this, but to set that kind of, as Michael was saying that those kinds of ambitious goals that set a, you know, we can't get there tomorrow, but here's where we're going and let's see if everyone can come, come along with us.
Mohit Grover 06:48
Absolutely. So, like, climate, climate change is a crisis globally. It affects all of us, it's going to affect the next generation of Canadians and so we've been focused on this for a while, I think what's changed here is that we've started to think about standards and commitments that we can set to drive us towards these outcomes and that means holding ourselves accountable, holding our partners accountable, and then measuring ourselves against those commitments.
Mohit Grover 07:16
If you look at the work we've done to date, we've done a number of energy efficiency projects in our stores, whether that's LED lighting retrofits, you know, other things like refrigerant changeovers, equipment upgrades, etc. and we've been at this for a while. When we look back to 2019 to 2021, we've already made a reduction of about 14%, in our business [inaudible] initiatives and so we're on that track to get there but by setting this ambitious target on scope one and scope two emissions with a 2030 horizon to reduce that by over 50%, we're going to put our money where our mouth is, and like really drive towards that goal.
Michael LeBlanc 07:56
Well, you're, you're touching on that kind of this roadmap. In other words, how are you going to get there, right, I mean, the challenge of climate change is it's, it's global, as you were saying, right, so it feels sometimes too big to get your arms around, but in some ways, an enterprise the size of Empire can make very small changes to a number of things and have pretty tremendous impact, right? So, what's the roadmap, what does that roadmap look like, unpack that a little bit for us?
Mohit Grover 08:18
Absolutely. So, we've got a number of initiatives that we want to do in our own operations, things I talked about solar refrigerant, changeovers, other energy consumption ways to move to more sustainable methods, but where we can really have impact is in the partnerships we might do and so partnering with our vendors, because scope three emissions is a large percentage of our emissions base, over 97% of our emissions come from the supply chain and so they are we're going to engage our vendors to drive change and we think we have a meaningful plan to educate our vendors, drive action, and help them get there.
Michael LeBlanc 08:55
Michael, you, you've made, partnership, collaboration, just a part of what you do. You've, kind of, you've called it, the kinder-capitalism, so to speak. So, let's talk about that. Let's-, put this in context for us and you know, the sustainability, achieving sustainability is going to happen with partners. So, how do you, how do you view that, what lens do you view that collaboration through?
Michael Medline 09:15
Well, even though we have 130,000 teammates at the Empire Company, at Sobeys, we can't do anything with our partners, and you know, our closest partners are obviously our supplier partners, what people call vendors, we are not going to be successful in on our climate to practice or getting rid of plastic and all the good things that we're going to do. Without working closely with supplier partners. What's nice is that we have a culture, as you point out, which is collaborative.
Michael Medline 09:43
It's tough, but fair. We challenge each other but at the same time, we work really well with supplier partners, and that was inherent in the DNA and their culture of Sobeys always. It's been brought out. And so we're going to need those supplier partners and we've asked them, we just got Pierre St-Laurent, our COO and I, we just did a town hall with our supplier partners, and we need their help, especially on sustainability initiatives, but you know, sometimes we've been talking today and sometimes we talk only about sustainability and ESG, as it does, if it has to do with the environment, which is so important but when I've talked about partners, I can't help but acknowledge, and I can't name them all here today.
Michael LeBlanc 10:23
Sure.
Michael Medline 10:23
But what we've done in terms of partnering with black North initiative on DNI and what change what huge change and a couple of years that's brought about, when I think about our partnership with Kids Help Phone and the Rise Up program for black youth, the Finding Hope for indigenous youth and what that Kids Help Phone means to so many kids and youth in this country, I think of our partners, great long term partnership, which predates me, with Special Olympics. And when I think of, during COVID, we came out with Family and Support to, to support the 13 children's hospitals across the country and so you can see that we want to be part of the community and we need these partners to be able to get to get our goals accomplished, but also for the good of the community and for good for the good of the country, honestly.
Michael LeBlanc 11:14
I mean, it's, it's kind of a multi layered approach, right, you've got the all these inter woven networks of how you engage in the community because you're in so many communities from coast to coast and then you've got such a vast array of vendors from, you know, vendors that, you know, your employees and the consumers would know, because they're buying the products off the shelf to those behind the scenes, right. So, so Mohit, how does all this kind of tie in to achieving the goals? I mean, it adds a layer of complexity, right, you, you just right back to the top, we talked about, listen, you can't do this on your own, but of course that adds some layers of complexity. How do you, how do you and the team manage though that?
Mohit Grover 11:46
Absolutely. Look, partnerships are going to be a huge part of this journey and if you look back at what we've done over the last couple of years, we've had some great partnerships in the innovation and sustainability space. Infarm's a great example, for those who don't know Infarm, Infarms, Infarm is a partner that puts in vertical farms in our stores and so if you visit a Sobey store, and you're-
Michael LeBlanc 12:04
I had some of that, I was at one of your locations, and I brought it home, and I took pictures of it, show it to my family, and then we had the product, the product was amazing. It was like it just came right, literally I guess, it did just come right off the farm. Practically. It's amazing.
Mohit Grover 12:17
Absolutely and the customers love it but I think the other important part is we're having an impact, you know, less water to grow less energy to create those products, not having to transport them from far away to the stores.
Michael LeBlanc 12:28
Right.
Mohit Grover 12:28
And so, you think about all of that there's a huge sustainability impact.
Michael LeBlanc 12:31
Yeah.
Mohit Grover 12:32
A huge impact to our environment and climate change and it's an innovative solution that we can deliver to our customers.
Michael LeBlanc 12:39
And it gets me, you know, I think it gets both the trade and consumers thinking because it, you know, when you first see it, you're, you know, you it stands out in the store and you know, 'what is that' and you go over and you start to understand it, it really starts to elevate the thinking, I think-, I'm sure with the associates as well, when it was first kind of being installed in the stores. How's this going to work, and will it be popular, right?
Mohit Grover 12:57
Absolutely. And like, we've got partnerships that have helped us in many areas. So, if we think about food waste, we have a commitment that we put in place in 2016 to reduce food waste by 50%. We're 24% of the way there and we have some partners that have helped us on that journey. Second Harvest being one, Food Hero being another one. And, you know, those are a few elements that have helped us on that goal and if we think about, even, our impact in the forest, we've planted about a third of the 44,000 trees, we had committed to with the partner One Tree Planted.
Michael LeBlanc 13:30
Wow. So, sorry, say that number again, how many, how many trees?
Mohit Grover 13:32
About 14,000 so it's about a third of the way there on that commitment and so we're trying to do our part, and partners are a big part of that solution.
Michael LeBlanc 13:42
Right. And do you have an ongoing, do you have, Michael, you mentioned that the vendors all together, or what we'd call vendors, do you get the partners together in a summit, like how do you, help me understand how you control all those moving parts together?
Mohit Grover 13:53
You know, for our vendor community, we're going to do an engaging in-vendor engagement. So, vendor by vendor, the category desk we spend with our partners, supplier partners, understanding what their goals and objectives are, and educating them on the things that we're doing, and seeing ways where we can overlap on specific initiatives around food waste, or plastics reduction, we look for specific partners that can aid us on our journey and where our missions are aligned.
Michael Medline 14:16
You know, you mentioned the, the plastics, and I think that's an area where I mean, we really are proud of where we're going and I'm not always complimentary of government, but I gotta say the, the ban on single use plastics, we're very supportive of, and I think it was it was well thought out and I've seen some criticism of it, but I think it's time we get away from the single use plastic and we were the first grocer of size in North America, and certainly the first in Canada to get rid of plastic bags, which everyone thought we couldn't do and we had nothing but positive feedback from our customers.
Michael LeBlanc 14:53
And that's a narrative you often hear in the sustainability world is always a barrier to change and there's always, 'well, give us a few years' or 'we're not quite ready yet', or 'we don't have a solution for this, that or the other thing', but sometimes, as you say, making those bold moves, whether it's the political realm or yourselves at Empire that drives that change, right?
Michael Medline 15:11
Yeah, sometimes, I mean, you gotta give some notice, so that people are ready and now especially think of small retailers or small supplier-, smaller supplier partners who don't have all the resources we do, so I'd like keep those in mind, but you've got to go, and you've got to take action, and you can put it off forever and talk, talk, talk. At some point, you’ve just gotta make a decision and go and some of that the government has to do and some companies like ours just have to do it.
Michael LeBlanc 15:36
That, that intersecting partnership of, of business and government can work together, right, one plus one equals three and it's a big gnarly thing to get your arms around. Let's talk about the associates in all of this. So, associates from coast to coast, Mohit, how do you think about the associates in their role, obviously a very important partner, if we're talking about the context of partnership?
Mohit Grover 15:57
Absolutely. So, our associates are tremendously engaged in this journey, us leaving and being bold in sustainability is exactly what they, a company that they would want to work for.
Michael LeBlanc 16:06
What they're looking for to be an employer of choice, right?
Mohit Grover 16:08
Absolutely and so our action, you know, like Michael, Michael said, removing plastic bags, our employees were 100%, behind that we've removed 800 million plastic bags from circulation, single use, right.
Michael LeBlanc 16:20
800, 800 million, right.
Michael Medline 16:22
A year.
Michael LeBlanc 16:22
And, like, and again, back to that point, you know, enterprise, the size of yours, one change can have so much dramatic impact that you know, when you accumulate it up that's fantastic, so they were, that was a big deal. That's really, uh,
Mohit Grover 16:35
Absolutely and there's other elements like food waste, our employees understand now, you know, what's happening to the food that's being discarded or near expiry.
Michael LeBlanc 16:5
Yeah.
Mohit Grover 16:35
And ways that we can like, correct that and have less shrink, less waste and then those products that do go to waste, are there ways to redistribute them and so, you know, we've made we've had meaningful impact by providing food to food-insecure Canadians across the country, especially during the pandemic, where many people were in need.
Michael LeBlanc 17:04
Right.
Mohit Grover 17:05
And so, our employees are, you know, 100% aligned against these initiatives, and are actually champions for them.
Michael LeBlanc 17:10
I like what you said about taking the conversation beyond just shrink and economics in the store, at the store level, very important, into what's actually happening, that we can contribute to the communities. Very interesting, Michael, let's turn our minds to the not-so-distant future, let's say the rest of the rest of this year and into the next, what are you looking forward to, what are you looking ahead?
Michael Medline 17:28
I think we're where we're heading and I commend Mohit and the rest of the executive team for the leadership on this is that I think sometimes we think of the business and DNI and sustainability is different things and what I'm really proud of is that we're working on a three year strategy that integrates all of this together, that we're not going to be as successful as we want to be if we're not as diverse as we should be.
Michael LeBlanc 17:53
Right.
Michael Medline 17:54
That we have to integrate sustainability into everything we do. When we build a new store, when we renovate a store, in our e-commerce efforts in the building where it's sitting in right now. Everything we do should be one holistic thing, and we weren't always treating it that way because it was new, or we were trying to figure out our plans. So, I think what we're gonna see is that this just becomes part of the way we do business and that's just the way we think, and we've seen that on diversity. It's become that, and now we're seeing it start on sustainability as well, where we don't, it's when you think of an issue, you automatically are thinking of those other ramifications and I think that's where we're going to, which is a whole step above what we're doing today.
Michael LeBlanc 18:40
Well, it actually adds, as you describe it a new thread and the DNA of the company, right. So, even integrating it into the strategic, into the strategy function is a big signaling mechanism in and of itself, right. That's part of the core strategy. All right, let's talk about measurement, Mohit, let's talk about, you know, how you measure these goals and how you’re thinking about reporting and disclosure and, and how does that all fit into doing good, and then telling folks and reporting that you're doing good?
Mohit Grover 19:06
Let's talk a little bit more about the targets we've set, right, we're setting targets against scope one, scope two, and scope three emissions. For scope one and scope two, we're looking to reduce our emissions by 55% by 2030. That's off the 2019 baseline. As I mentioned, we're 14% of the way there. And we've got a meaning, meaningful effort and meaningful plan to kind of move our way, move our way to that 2030 goal, and scope three emissions by 2030. We need to reduce our fuel sold by 28%, we have a fuel business.
Michael LeBlanc 19:35
Right.
Mohit Grover 19:36
And the other scope three emissions target that we've set is to get 62% of our suppliers by revenue, also commit to science-based targets and we have and so as I mentioned before, we're gonna do that through partnership, engagement education and by doing that, we think we can have meaningful change in impact in the Canadian ecosystem on climate.
Michael LeBlanc 19:57
And is it the case that you, you know, you're 14% of the way there, is it giant leaps in those kinds of percentages or as the closer you get to 50%, it starts to get percentage at a time, half percentage at a time, you know, as you start to go through the big initiative?
Mohit Grover 20:11
I think like many things, you know the-, there's some low hanging fruit things that we can do and we've kind of tackled those first and as we move along in our journey, and we'll start to look at renewable sources of energy and thinking about how we integrate those into our stores. We have some solar panels on some of our rooftops. Will we do more of those, those are things that we're starting to work through now.
Michael LeBlanc 20:33
Interesting. Interesting. All right, Michael, we're sitting here in the month of July, how are you feeling, you've got, we've got the holidays, the back half of the year ahead of us. How are you feeling about the back half of the year and the ESG initiatives from now till the end of the year, what's next?
Michael Medline 20:47
Well, it's easy to make an announcement. Although it wasn't that easy. We put a lot of work into it, but executing on a plan, which we're really good at now. We've gotten really good at it over the last five years. That's the key to and hold ourselves accountable for these goals because as one of my kids would say you don't want to be greenwashing. Right, you want to be able to do the right thing and execute. So, putting out a press release saying that you're, you're going to live up to certain science-based targets is one thing and we take that, seriously, we put our names on that. Now we've got to execute.
Michael Medline 21:26
And I think if I can encourage people to read our Sustainable Business Report, I think that a lot of the details, a lot of which Mohit outlined here are spelled out in there, not just on sustainability, but what we're doing on, on the rest of ESG and I think that's really an exciting report and the reports are real, last year was a step up, this is two steps up from then.
Michael Medline 21:49
And then I think we have to know, like when we talk about where we're going, that the world and including Empire is still learning.
Michael LeBlanc 21:58
Yeah.
Michael Medline 21:58
And so I'm even more excited that there are going to be breakthroughs. So, yeah, there's low hanging fruit like Mohit says, but there are going to be technological breakthroughs that allow us maybe to even accelerate on our goals and let our all our competitors and everyone else to accelerate as well, and our partners and so I'm really excited about that but let's start by executing on what we promised.
Michael LeBlanc 22:21
Well, and you often see that, where bold steps initiate new technologies, right, because you start to create markets for certain things that didn't exist before. When enterprises like Empire start to take those initiatives, then there's a market for the innovators, Mohit, let's talk about the people, you're going to help you get it done the skills and what you know what's behind your team that gets this ambitious goal and tracks it down and help-, helps you achieve it?
Mohit Grover 22:47
Look, we've got an amazing sustainability team, but management team, a board, that it'll all come behind this plan, but it isn't just about a sustainability team or a management team, I think where this really comes to life as our partners, but also our teammates, they're super important in delivering against this ambition and, you know, we think that this is an aggressive and bold but achievable goal and we're really excited about the journey we're on and we're looking forward to executing against these plans.
Michael LeBlanc 23:18
Well as, as you said, Michael, you know, it's one thing to put out a release, but it is important, right, you're putting your names on it. It's both the business reputation and, and your own personal reputation. So, this has been a fantastic discussion. It's so interesting listening to what you're up to, and, and I'm so proud to be part of the discussion and it's been you know; it's been really great. I'll put a link in the show notes to the-, to your report so everybody can read in more detail. Now, Michael, I have one question for you, which you may or may not want to answer. Sure. Let's talk about the big changes with Scene.
Michael Medline 23:47
Right.
Michael LeBlanc 23:47
If you can spend a minute on that, I actually, this week, yesterday, I interviewed Ellis Jacob from Cineplex just by coincidence. So, I asked him about hey, this is amazing, like Scene went from, you know, a movie theater loyalty program to now you know, from there to Scotiabank to the tie up with Empire. How are you feeling about that? Talk about that a little bit.
Michael Medline 24:06
I was talking to Ellis today and he's flying high because of Scene+, and because of Top Gun.
Michael LeBlanc 24:11
Yeah. He loves that movie, he said he saw it twice.
Michael Medline 24:13
Yeah, and so he's doing well and I don't think I've been as excited about a business venture and a partnership ever as I've been about Scene+ and working with, with Scotiabank and with Cineplex to put together the best loyalty program in the country. I think our customers as we roll this out are gonna be blown away by what a great program this is, how it's more personalized to their needs, the choices they're going to have, that they're going to be able to redeem for groceries incredibly easy.
Michael Medline 24:44
And so change, I always say, change his hard. I don't like change like, you know, when my favorite menu, menu at my restaurant. If they change it and I don't can't get the pasta I want I don't like it right away, but then I realize there are-, there are better ways to do things. So what we're doing right now is we're working with, first Atlantic Canada, we're rolling it out in August and we're going-, and especially in the store, we're taking every measure we can to make this easy for our customers, this change and to make, make it exciting and I guarantee the customers that are going to like this. I really, thanks for asking.
Michael LeBlanc 25:22
Yeah.
Michael Medline 25:22
It's been other than perhaps, sustainability. It's the most planned out initiative I've ever been part of.
Michael Medline 25:30
Well, and you got a great team behind you. You may not know I worked with Shawn Blume and at Hudson's Bay, and we actually did the conversion, the, from the Club Z program to HBC rewards together. So you've got a great, experienced team who's done what you're describing, right.
Michael Medline 25:44
Yeah, Sandra Sanderson and Shawn Blume and the rest of their team, they don't know where they find time to sleep because this is a really big project with a lot of moving parts.
Michael LeBlanc 25:52
Yeah.
Michael Medline 25:53
But if you want to, if you want to thrill the customers have a lot, a lot to do.
Michael LeBlanc 25:56
Well, gentlemen, thanks again for spending this time together. I wish you both continued success and hope forward to, we'll catch up again and chat about how it's progressing soon enough. So, thank you again,
Michael Medline 26:06
Thank you, most enjoyable.
Michael LeBlanc 26:09
Question, what is your brand doing to mitigate its environmental impact?
Michael LeBlanc 26:13
As you know, today's consumers aren't just happy to see retailers being sustainable. They're demanding it. They feel better about buying brands whose values align with theirs. They're making their opinions known, and they're voting with their wallets. Introducing Print Relief from DCM. An ingenious planet loving solution that will grab the attention of your shoppers and genuinely make your business more environmentally sustainable.
Michael LeBlanc 26:35
Print Relief is the world's first platform that automatically converts your paper footprint into newly planted trees. It's an international reforestation program and patented software system, all in one and here's the part your CFO will love, DCM pays for it on your behalf when you print through them. Print Relief's Tracking system integrates flawlessly with DCM enterprise software. Every time DCM prints for your brand, Print Relief measures the total paper consumption. Reverse calculates the number of trees used to produce that paper and plants the equivalent number of trees at reforestation projects in Canada and around the world.
Michael LeBlanc 27:09
How will your customers know you'll get a unique QR code that links to a dashboard showing exactly how many trees you planted, and you can put that QR code anywhere, print, digital or social. One quick scan and people will see how serious your brand is about sustainability and offsetting climate change, plus, you can embed your dashboard on your website and easily share print relief impacts certificates on your social platforms. All of that at no extra cost to you when your commercial print needs are met by DCM.
Michael LeBlanc 27:36
Learn more at datacm.com. That's datacm.com.
Michael LeBlanc 27:44
Thanks for tuning into this special episode of The Voice of Retail.If you haven’t already, be sure and click subscribe on your favourite podcast platform so new episodes will land automatically twice a week and check out my other retail industry media properties; the Remarkable Retail podcast, the Conversations with CommerceNext podcast, and the Food Professor podcast. Last but not least, if you are into BBQ, check out my all-new YouTube barbecue show, Last Request Barbeque, with new episodes each and every week!
Michael LeBlanc 28:13
I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company and Maven Media, and if you’re looking for more content, or want to chat follow me on LinkedIn, or visit my website meleblanc.co!
Have a safe week everyone!
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
mohit, sustainability, partners, michael, initiatives, esg, business, partnership, supplier, year, empire, goals, important, vendors, customers, strategy, dcm, journey, thinking, print