By Marjo Johne
Healthy Planet’s general manager Muhammad Mohamedy reflects on the whole health company’s growth and shares some of its plans for the future.
When and how did the company start?
It all started with a man filled with passion, and a dream to support our communities in ways that weren’t being done at the time. In 1995, Ayoob Dadabhoy saw an opportunity to build a business alongside his family by starting a small kiosk in a strip mall on Toronto’s Danforth Avenue. A few years later, he established a bulk food store in Scarborough’s Parkway Mall, laying the foundation for his son, Asif, to start The Healthy Planet in 1998. Asif remains president of Healthy Planet; Ayoob passed away in 2021.
What is your background?
I started at Healthy Planet 17+ years ago serving customers and working the floors at a store level. It was during this time that I was given the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of the business and grow into the role of general manager.
How many stores are there now, and where are they located?
We currently have 32 stores in various regions across Ontario, and many more on the horizon. In the last five years, we expanded beyond the Greater Toronto Area, with stores in London, Ont., and Ottawa.
What size are the stores?
Our largest store is 13,000 sq. ft., and our average store size is 6,000-7,000 sq. ft.
What are your plans for continued growth?
We are working on several new projects in the GTA, as well as expanding some of our existing locations.This is our third-generation reformatting over the years to create a better experience for our customers and communities. We’ve done a total rebranding of our stores with new logo, corporate colours, fixtures, etc.
As a one-stop shop for whole health, approximately how many SKUs do you carry, and what are your priorities in selecting product?
We carry approximately 15,000 SKUs. Depending on location size, our SKU count increases. We focus on having a good selection and we are always adding new products. This year, we want to focus on getting more local products. As a Canadian company with Canadian ownership — we have a lot of employees here — I think that helps us bring uniqueness, because a lot of these products grow with us and eventually end up on the shelves of major grocery chains. So we want to have some programs available for local initiatives, and give the local incubators an opportunity to come in first in our stores.
The biggest challenge that we face with smaller, local products is that they don’t have business expertise. The issue that we run into is distribution, so I think if we could help them achieve that part of it, they would be fine.
Do you carry fresh produce in your stores?
Not all of our stores carry fresh produce, but it is definitely a staple section in all of our newer locations.
What innovations do you have planned?
We see prepared foods as one of the emerging markets and are incorporating that into our stores by introducing Healthy Planet Kitchen! At our newly expanded Ajax store, we are introducing a hot food counter along with a juice and coffee bar and some quick grab-and-go foods. Our focus will be on providing high-quality food that tastes great. That will be our starting point, and we will continue to expand from there.
When and where will prepared food be available?
Apart from Ajax, we will be launching Healthy Planet Kitchen at our newly renovated Mississauga and Oakville locations, along with our new downtown location near Dundas Square.
What else do you have planned?
We are building an innovative, state-of-the-art warehouse that will be focused on using technology and will be AI-driven to manage our inventory.
What sets Healthy Planet apart from other whole health chains in Canada?
I believe it is the expert advice that our team can offer, and our focus on helping our customers while becoming a pillar in the communities.
How do you train your staff to be knowledgeable about the wide range of products the stores carry?
We provide product training to our team via various platforms and through different learning styles. Having a variety of training methods is important, since everyone has a different style of learning. Our main methods of training are through our online learning portal as well as hands-on training at the store level, through the store manager or directly through the brands.
What does Healthy Planet offer in terms of e-commerce?
All our stores offer online shopping and delivery through Instacart. There are always further plans for development in e-commerce. We are in a very dynamic marketplace, and we’re constantly looking for ways to improve and evolve our services and offerings to customers. Being dynamic and adaptable in the digital world is critical for us, and we look to support our customers as best we can.
Do you have a loyalty program?
We introduced our Healthy Points loyalty program about five years ago to allow customers to earn a percentage of their spending back. We are going to be expanding our loyalty programs to provide more offerings to our customers for more savings. With high inflation right now, we want to focus more on affordability, especially for food products.
What are your priorities for the future?
Healthy Planet appreciates and prioritizes giving back to our communities above all else. We have supported many charitable causes over the years. To name a few, we have donated to several hospitals – one of the sizable donations was to McMaster’s Children’s Hospital Foundation – as well as various Food Banks, Make A Wish Foundation, World Wide Fund for Nature, TCF (international foundation that builds children’s schools) and many more. We are also heavily involved in sponsoring various local sports teams. A main goal of ours for 2023 is to not only continue that trend, but to provide even greater support to those in need. We also want to focus on customer service, as well as developing more education programs for our employees.
Our vision for the business is constantly evolving but our core remains the same – to support our communities to be their best and healthiest selves.
