Montreal: A Produce-Centric City

The city’s produce industry continues to thrive, as businesses benefit from the local focus of area markets and restaurants.

Montreal, the largest city in the province of Quebec, is considered the epicenter of Canada’s food and beverage industry. The city’s food scene is heavily influenced by its French culinary background, and produce from Quebec’s rich agricultural regions is stocked in its markets and featured prominently on area restaurant menus.

According to Tourisme Montréal, the city has been deemed a world capital of urban agriculture, thanks to a recent study made by the AU/LAB (the Laboratoire de l’agriculture urbaine) comparing 10 major world metropolises. The AU/LAB study placed Montreal ahead of international cities, including Brussels, London, Paris, New York and Toronto, on the urban agriculture front, based on the dynamism of their industry, their geographic distribution and how often they’re mentioned in media as the epitome of urban agriculture excellence.

Montreal is the second-largest city in Canada, with a metropolitan population of 4.4 million, according to Macrotrends. It is a diverse area, with about 30% of the city’s population being a minority, according to World Population Review. It is approximately 9% Black, 6.4% Arab, 6% Asian, and 4.2% Latin American. It also has an impressive European population, with the majority (26%) French.

PRODUCE SUPPLIERS

Greater Montreal has a world-class agri-food industry, specializing in the processing and distribution of produce.

Groupe Vegco Inc. is a 50-year-old co-op made up of 12 owner-producers. “With multiple experienced growers contributing, we can offer consistent availability and benefit from a diverse, reliable supply of high-quality produce,” says Charlene Newton, account manager.

Most of the co-op’s growers come from family farms with generations of expertise. In 2024, it built a new 45,000-square-foot distribution center.

“This is designed to maintain the integrity of cold chain, ensuring optimal quality and extending the shelf life of our products,” says Newton. “This distribution center also supports the launch of our new lettuce offerings that began in 2024.”

Groupe Vegco has built a strong reputation as a reliable onion supplier “and our ability to provide quality onions longer than most,” notes Newton. “Our annual onion capacity exceeds 75 million pounds, ensuring we can meet large-scale demand.”

A key component of its operation is the advanced vision grading technology that captures 32 photos of each onion, both internally and externally, to ensure consistent quality and precise grading.

The co-op’s members also grow carrots, with an annual yield of over 17 million pounds, says Newton. “We also grow a variety of produce, including anise, bok choy, celery root, garlic, kohlrabi, napa radish, and squash that offers a diverse selection to meet our customers’ needs and supports efficient crop rotation to contribute to the quality and sustainability of our products.”

The company recently introduced new cartons for its celery root, designed to elevate both the product and its presentation. They currently produce over 65,000 boxes a year. The new cartons are corrugated plastic (often branded as Coroplast), and the material is a twin-wall, ribbed polypropylene with holes for ventilation.

Another local produce supplier, Equifruit, a fair trade banana importer and marketer headquartered in Montreal, has been working in this market for two decades. In Montreal, Equifruit Fairtrade bananas are stocked in Costco, Sobeys Quebec (IGA and Rachelle Bery) and Lufa Farms, as well as smaller independent grocery stores.

“In terms of logistics, Montreal is geographically close to Philadelphia, one of the world’s largest produce ports, just a day’s drive away,” says Jennie Coleman, president and co-owner of Equifruit. “This is a big advantage for fresh produce, like bananas, where we’re always looking to minimize travel time.”
She says one thing that sets the Montreal produce market apart from cities in other Canadian provinces is that national companies will often have dedicated Quebec offices, effectively French-speaking branches that tailor their operations to this market.

“Montreal is geographically close to Philadelphia, one of the world’s largest produce ports, just a day’s drive away. This is a big advantage for fresh produce like bananas, where we’re always looking to minimize travel time.”
— Jennie Coleman, Equifruit, Montreal

“As a result, the produce industry in Montreal and throughout Quebec is vibrant, well-supported, and closely aligned with local consumers,” she says.

Solidarity and a strong social conscience run deep in Montreal’s culture. As a result, Canada’s fair trade banana volumes have grown by over 64% since 2022.

“Major retailers are driving this growth by switching their organic banana program to organic fair trade,” says Coleman. “Customers are also more concerned about sustainability.”

PROCESSING AND TRANSPORTATION

Like Equifruit, Shapiro Fruit Inc. has many years in the Montreal market, celebrating 32 years of operation. In addition to working with local produce, this processing plant mainly works with salad from California, chopping, washing and packaging it for use in foodservice operations. Differentiating itself from most U.S. firms, the company vacuum packs its salads.

“We get different products than the U.S. and offer better shelf life,” says Sam Halpert, Shapiro Fruit’s general manager. “We’re still close to America, but our energy cost is cheaper here.”

He says the biggest disadvantage to being in Montreal is high freight costs.

“Still, because we have our own fields in Quebec, we can also purchase salad locally, as well as from California,” says Halpert. “We can provide the same products in both summer and winter.”

“Because we have our own fields in Quebec, we can also purchase salad locally, as well as from California. We can provide the same products in both summer and winter.”
— Sam Halpert, Shapiro Fruit Inc., Montreal

Halpert adds that shelf life is always a challenge, with a focus on getting product quickly to consumers.

Montreal is served by the Canadian National Railway (CN). Its 20,000-mile network spans Canada and Mid-America, connecting the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf of Mexico.

“With strategically located Intermodal terminals near some of the most densely populated regions, CN’s Intermodal service provides a full complement of integrated logistics services,” says Keegan Donaghey, CN’s senior manager, temperature-controlled services, intermodal.

One of the logistics services CN provides is its CargoCool service, a dedicated temperature-controlled solution servicing both domestic and international shippers.

“Our daily train package, extensive refrigerated fleet, and proactive monitoring allow CN to offer a consistent and reliable solution for produce shipments,” says Donaghey.

An example of this is CN’s partnership with CMA-CGM and the Port of Halifax to support fast North African citrus imports for Montreal produce distributors.

“This collaboration means citrus produce is arriving on store shelves faster and with a longer shelf life,” says Donaghey. “The previous solution off the U.S. East Coast ports not only took longer to get to the end market, but also increased GHG emissions by 75% versus the Port of Halifax and CN Rail solution.”

CN supports produce shippers’ need for more transparency while their shipment is in transit. “As such, CN is undertaking efforts to provide telematics data visibility to produce shippers while the cargo is on rail to deliver a product that improves the ease of doing business,” notes Donaghey.

A FLAGSHIP STORE

Sobeys Inc. is a Canadian staple, with more than 115 years of experience in the food retail business. As one of two national grocery retailers in Canada, it operates approximately 1,600 stores in all 10 Canadian provinces under retail banners that include Sobeys, Safeway, IGA, Foodland, FreshCo, Thrifty Foods and Lawtons Drugs.

“In the Quebec province, our main banner is our IGA stores,” says Francis Berube, national produce sourcing director, Sobeys National Procurement Group/Sobeys Global Sourcing Inc. Most of the stores are operated by franchisee owners.

Because this business model differs from the corporate Sobeys stores, Berube works closely with franchisees to ensure they are competitive and offering the best quality products.

“They know the produce business because we provide operators with the best information in terms of sourcing products,” he says.

In Montreal’s stores, the most important trend is value. For this reason, value size and packaging has worked well in Sobeys’ stores.

“It’s about offering the best mix between quality, sizing, specs and a fair price,” says Berube. “We’ve extended our value size with a club format to better compete with discount channels. We’ve also been adjusting our assortment.”

In addition, IGA is extending its multicultural offerings.

“Our customer base from around the world is growing every year, so being able to provide them with products they’re looking for is important to us,” Berube explains. “For example, we added fresh dates for Ramadan.”

The biggest challenges in the produce segment continue to be weather and climate change.

“Severe drought or storms impacting crops and harvesting have a large impact on our offerings and prices,” he says. “We must work harder to find resources and expand our vendor base, making sure the relationship we build with partners is strong. If you don’t have strong partnerships when things get complicated, you will have issues getting product.”

Sobeys prioritizes its local partners and has even before the recent tariffs.

“It’s very important not just in summer, but to provide local produce longer with root veggies, carrots, potatoes and onions available year-round,” he says. “We carry strawberries, cucumbers and tomatoes from greenhouses.”