Farm Boy opened its 50th store in Ontario in Burlington, the second for the city and plans to open its 51st store in the Leaside neighbourhood of Toronto in early 2025.
Farm Boy continues to elevate local food and fresh produce, says Josh Drache, vice president of private label and product development, who spoke with Grocery Business during a store tour.
Two new elements are an extensive area for sauces and a dedicated space for a wide assortment of non-alcoholic beers and cocktails.
“The non-alcoholic beer began as a passion project by one of employees, Zack, and we thought we’d tread lightly because we didn’t know how it would go,” says Drache. “We agreed to make 2,000 of each can of non-alcoholic beer. We launched it and it was selling really well so we increased the volume to 8,000. On the first weekend we launched the non-alcoholic beer, we sold 18,000 cans. This was supposed to be an in and out for May but it has been the most popular product that we’ve launched this year, so we’re expanding and our next product will be a cherry whiskey sour. This a growing category for us.”
Farm Boy is also expanding its private label SKUs, which now number close to 2,000 and is looking at the international foods category among others.
“We already have such foods in different stores, including Kosher and Halal and are looking at other products such as Ramen dishes,” says Drache.
