Live from Las Vegas the latest episode tackles changes in the way Statistics Canada measures the basket of food as part of its CPI index, a pending lawsuit in Quebec aimed at beef processors, and how getting Russian food products, or ingredients, off the grocery shelf may be harder than you think!Our very special guest on this episode is Lyne Castonguay, President and Chief Operating Officer, Dairy Division (USA), Saputo. An accomplished Canadian executive fluent in business strategies on both sides of ...
Live from Las Vegas the latest episode tackles changes in the way Statistics Canada measures the basket of food as part of its CPI index, a pending lawsuit in Quebec aimed at beef processors, and how getting Russian food products, or ingredients, off the grocery shelf may be harder than you think!
Our very special guest on this episode is Lyne Castonguay, President and Chief Operating Officer, Dairy Division (USA), Saputo. An accomplished Canadian executive fluent in business strategies on both sides of the border, we talk to Lyne about culture (and not just yogurt!) and establishing a business that can take on the huge opportunity of the U.S. food service and consumer dairy business. With 29 dairy plants, an experience team and a roster of great new products, in a wide-ranging interview Lyne shares her plans for growth and success for all team members.
With Michael travelling on business out of the country we skipped Trying Stuff this episode but will return with more great products to test, share our insights and sample for lunch!
Relevant Links
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/220316/dq220316a-eng.htm?HPA=1&indid=3665-1&indgeo=0
https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/beef-giant-jbs-pay-525m-settle-price-fixing-82654864
https://globalnews.ca/news/8721936/quebec-class-action-beef-suppliers-price-fixing/
About Lyne
Lyne Castonguay graduated from the Université de Moncton with a Bachelor of Business Administration and furthered her education at Harvard Business School and Emory University. Lyne previously held executive positions with a major Canadian food retailer, as well as senior roles at a large retailer both in Canada and in the United States. She has over 20 years of experience in manufacturing, retail, e-commerce and services. She joined Saputo in February 2021 as Deputy President and Chief Operating Officer, Dairy Division (USA). Following a successful transition period, Lyne was appointed President and Chief Operating Officer, Dairy Division (USA), on November 4, 2021.
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 adventure for fun and influencer riches - Last Request Barbecue, his YouTube BBQ cooking channel!
The Food Professor #podcast is presented by Caddle.
About Us
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 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 fourth year in a row, 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.
