Empire CEO refutes claims of grocers' `unreasonable profits'
The head of Canada's second-largest grocery chain called suggestions the country's big grocers are exploiting their market power to profit from inflation “reckless” and “incendiary,” and characterized the critics who are making such assertions as lazy “armchair quarterbacks” who know little about the food business.
Michael Medline, chief executive of Empire Co. Ltd., which runs 1,600 stores under the Sobeys, Safeway, Freshco, IGA and Farm Boy banners, made the unusually impassioned remarks at his company's annual general meeting on Thursday. Earlier, Stellarton, N.s.based Empire reported net income of $187.5 million in its most recent quarter, little changed from a year earlier.
“Quite frankly, I am tired of these armchair quarterbacks who make little effort to understand even the basics of our business but are comfortable sitting on the sidelines pontificating about how Canadian companies are reaping unreasonable profits on the backs of inflation,” Medline told shareholders assembled at a movie theatre in New Glasgow, N.S.
“This is absolutely not true,” he continued. “These reckless and incendiary attacks are meant to divide us, and sit in stark contrast to the collaboration and problem solving that we experienced in the darkest moments of the pandemic.”
Medline's remarks represent the most aggressive attempt yet by anyone in the grocery business to push back against a summer of bad press that stoked resentment among customers and threatens to attract the attention of politicians who have demonstrated a new-found interest in competition policy.
Canada's big grocers have faced blowback in recent months for posting profit gains as shoppers faced the highest grocery inflation since the 1980s. Empire and its main rivals in the industry — Loblaw Companies Ltd. and Metro Inc. — have all dismissed the criticisms as unfounded and misguided. That didn't stop the swirling accusations of corporate greed from turning into a public relations headache for the industry.