We're in the grocery aisle with Arlene Dickinson and Jana Sobey in the District Venture Kitchens, Professor Sylvain Charlebois, Lika Niasse of African Soul Food and RCC's Jason McLinton talks food regulation

Welcome to the Voice of Retail for the week of November 11, 2019 I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.

In this weeks action packed episode the focus is on grocery section - from putting your money where your mouth is in terms of funding and supporting innovative, to standing up a specialty grocery store, to understanding the big picture trends and the ways and means of food regulation in our Nation’s capital.

First of all recoded live at the launch of District Venture Kitchens in Toronto I check in with Arlene Dickinson , CEO of District Ventures as she adopts and supports this innovative professional kitchen /production space for food entrepreneurs.  While there I meet Jana Sobey, VP Merchandising, Community Format, Thrifty Foods & Field for Sobeys and we talk about the importance of supporting innovation on the shelves.

My last three interviews are recorded live at RCC’s DTLQ conference in Montreal.  First up Professor Sylvain Charlebois returns to the podcast to talk food trends, vegetarians, the upcoming release of his authoritative Canada’s Food Price Report, and the state of the edible cannabis nation.

Then I meet Lika Niasse, Owner of African Soul Food specialty grocery in Gatineau Quebec, and lastly but certainly not least RCC’s Jason McLinton Vice-President, Grocery Division and Regulatory Affairs talk food policy and retail.

Whew!  But don’t worry, its not a five hour episode, just action packed!

Finally I’ll take a look at the retail news of the week, but first, lets listen to my interview with Arlene, then Jana.

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Thanks to  Arlene, Jana, Sylvain, Lika and Jason for being my guests on this episode, now lets hit the highlights from Retail This Week eNewsletter, I put this newsletter together, the biggest circulation of any weekly in Canada together each and every week, 51 weeks of the year - you can subscribe for free at retailcouncil.org

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That’s a wrap on this episode of The Voice of Retail  if you liked this podcast you can subscribe on Apple iTunes or your favourite podcast platform, please rate and review, and be sure and recommend to a friend or colleague in the retail industry.

I’m Michael LeBlanc, Founder and President of M.E. LeBlanc and Company Inc. and you can learn more about me on www.meleblanc.co or of course on LinkedIn

Until next time, have a great week!

Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur.  He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. 

Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google.  He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.

Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fifth year in a row, the National Retail Federation has designated Michael as on their Top Retail Voices for 2025, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer.  If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael’s cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.

Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.