Join Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, Senior Director, Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University in Halifax with host Michael LeBlanc from The Voice of Retail podcast as they look at the hot issues in the food, foodservice, grocery and restaurant industries. We’ll discuss proprietary industry and consumer food related research, check out fresh new ideas and talk about half baked strategies. © 2020-2022 M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Our season three premier!

Well we are back, live on the mic, Sylvain is back in Halifax teaching at Dalhousie University after being a visiting scholar in Florida

We have a great season premier episode with our very special guest Tamara Rebanks – chair of the Homegrown Innovation Challenge Taskforce, director at Weston Family Foundation

Now before we jump in we wanted to dedicate this episode to our friend and colleague Xavier Poncin who sadly passed away this summer while we were on hiatus – a great supporter of food innovation in Canada. We were chatting last week with the folks at SIAL, which will be in Toronto May 9th 2023 – again we’ll be the official podcast

Where on earth can we start…well lets start with the important stuff…after much discussion and encouragement…you watched Breaking Bad! Now, say my name!

Okay, you have a new book coming outLa Révolution des protéines and your last book Poutine Nation was nominated for an award

Well its September, and the price of Dairy has gone up again, the result of a rare twice in a year ask for price increases…over the summer what did you learn about the data behind this latest round of price increases, and where are we at today

What are you thoughts around U.S. firms like Driscolls growing berries in Canada…running out of water in the US…why can’t we just do that?

Government policy and farmland…this has come up twice, once with a fertilizer policy and second this weekend in the Globe & Mail talking about an opportunity …

What research from the lab did we miss, and what is coming up?

Grocers don’t make too much money after all….

Tamara Rebanks – chair of the Homegrown Innovation Challenge Taskforce, director at Weston Family Foundation

About Tamara

Tamara is a skilled funder with over 25 years of experience working with charities. She has worked on both sides of not-for-profits in Canada, the US, and the UK, and understands the challenges of raising funds for worthy initiatives as well as the pleasure of developing strategic philanthropic goals and executing them.

She managed the corporate donations of George Weston Limited and Weston Foods for nearly twenty years and chaired the Weston Family Foundation, one of Canada’s largest private foundations. Tamara is the current chair of the Homegrown Innovation Challenge Taskforce, created and funded by the Weston Family Foundation and sits on the Advisory Board of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems at UBC, as well as the boards of Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall and Park People.

About Us

Dr. Sylvain Charlebois

Dr. Sylvain Charlebois is a Professor in food distribution and policy in the Faculties of Management and Agriculture at Dalhousie University in Halifax. He is also the Senior Director of the Agri-food Analytics Lab, also located at Dalhousie University. Before joining Dalhousie, he was affiliated with the University of Guelph’s Arrell Food Institute, which he co-founded. Known as “The Food Professor”, his current research interest lies in the broad area of food distribution, security and safety. Google Scholar ranks him as one of the world’s most cited scholars in food supply chain management, food value chains and traceability.

He has authored five books on global food systems, his most recent one published in 2017 by Wiley-Blackwell entitled “Food Safety, Risk Intelligence and Benchmarking”. He has also published over 500 peer-reviewed journal articles in several academic publications. Furthermore, his research has been featured in several newspapers and media groups, including The Lancet, The Economist, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, BBC, NBC, ABC, Fox News, Foreign Affairs, the Globe & Mail, the National Post and the Toronto Star.

Dr. Charlebois sits on a few company boards, and supports many organizations as a special advisor, including some publicly traded companies. Charlebois is also a member of the Scientific Council of the Business Scientific Institute, based in Luxemburg. Dr. Charlebois is a member of the Global Food Traceability Centre’s Advisory Board based in Washington DC, and a member of the National Scientific Committee of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in Ottawa.

Michael LeBlanc 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. Michael is the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts including Canada’s top retail industry podcast, The Voice of Retail, plus Global E-Commerce Tech Talks , The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois and now in its second season, Conversations with CommerceNext! You can learn more about Michael here or on LinkedIn.

Be sure and check out Michael’s latest venture for fun and influencer riches – Last Request Barbecue, his YouTube BBQ cooking channel!

Search Episodes

Season Three Premier With Special Guest Tamara Rebanks with the Homegrown Innovation Challenge

September 15, 2022

Search Results placeholder

Food service industry is seeing more demand than pre-pandemic: Restaurateur Danny Meyer

Tackling Today’s Foodservice Challenges

These are the top 10 food service distributors in the U.S. | This...

National Restaurant Association Show 2022 – The Future of Foodservice

Is being a Food service driver worth it? Sysco, Reinhart, Gordon FoodService #foodservicedriver

Video

Another Day in Food Service | PFG Driver

Food service workers at Lost Creek prepare for students

COVID-19 and Beyond: Designing the Future of Foodservice

What Does the Restaurant of the Future Look Like? | Restaurants...

Gordon Food Service At A Glance Video

FCSI webcast: The Future of Foodservice in North America

Restaurant Jobs: Working in Food Service Today

AISD foodservice worker shortage

Food Service Government Contract Opportunities| Diversification is the Key to Viable...

My First Week at Gordon Food Service WATCH BEFORE YOU APPLY