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SHOPPER BEHAVIOUR

COPING WITH COSTS

aS the coSt of groceries hits eye-watering highs, moneysaving measures are on fire.

That’s a key takeaway from a recent study by the AgriFood Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, in partnership with Caddle, that examined how Canadian consumers are dealing with higher grocery prices.

The study of 5,000 Canadians found that in the last year, 33.7% of respondents have used more loyalty program points to pay for their groceries, 32.1% read weekly flyers more often, and nearly 24% are using more coupons at the grocery store.

Canadians are cultivating a green thumb to save money on food: 15.5% of consumers have started growing their own food in the last year. Ontario has the highest percentage of budding gardeners (17.4%), followed by B.C. (16.2%), the Atlantic (15.2%), Quebec (13.7%) and the Prairies (13.1%).

“I think the media has done a pretty good job informing the public in terms of how to save money and Canadians are paying attention,” says Sylvain Charlebois, senior director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab. “Canadians are also domesticating themselves and doing things at home that are helping.”

The survey also looked at changes in shopping behaviour. While 8% of consumers have changed their primary grocery store where they buy most of their food, 12.9% of Canadians have started to visit more than one store in the last 12 months.

Just over 19% of Canadians have visited discount stores in the last 12 months, and 11.5% have visited dollar stores more often to buy food. Some are going straight to the source: 8% of consumers are visiting farmers markets more often, and 7.1% have visited roadside stands to buy directly from farmers in the last year.

Other money-saving tactics Canadians are using are: trying to waste less food (40.6%) and adding private-label products to their shopping carts (21%).—Rebecca Harris

EUROPEAN CHEESES ALWAYS PLEASE THE PALATE

When it comes to quality and taste, Austrian cheeses are in a league of their own

There is something truly special about sampling a fi ne-quality cheese that tantalizes the tastebuds, and with a bevy of natural, artisan cheeses from Europe now available in Canada, it’s no wonder more Canadians are gravitating towards them.

In Europe, centuries of cheese-making tradition preserved across multiple regions have resulted in the production of delicious, unprocessed, locally made cheeses that are still so authentic their quality is unparalleled to this day.

Austria is among those revered European regions producing high-quality, authentic artisan cheese that work for any occasion. As a central European nation famous for its exceptional landscape, Austria produces more than 450 hard and soft cheese varieties. And in keeping with tradition, these cheeses are primarily produced by small, family-owned businesses guided by generations of cheese-making expertise. In fact, 90% of the milk farms in the region are family-owned and 85% of the land is supported by environment measures. Furthermore, all Austrian milk used to make cheeses is GMO-free, and farmers have been voluntarily producing GMO-free milk for nearly two decades. On average, farms keep only 22 heads of cattle, and most farmers still know their cows by name.

“We know that families have a very close relationship with their land and strive to cultivate it in a sustainable way in order to pass it on to the next generation,” says Margret Zeiler – Export Marketing Manager at Agrarmarkt Austria Marketing. “This kind of caring can’t help but be passed on in the careful crafting of these artisan cheeses.”

THE MAGIC OF THE MOUNTAINS

The Austrian Alps are at the heart of Austrian culture—as well as its cheese-making tradition. These majestic mountains coupled with pure air, soil and water, create the perfect backdrop for producing the nation’s famous mountain cheeses. Far, far away from urban life, pastures in the Alpine region nourish cattle to produce high-quality, GMO-free milk which is processed by small family farms using protected production methods passed down over multiple generations. This milk then plays a starring role in developing Alpine cheeses, the most famous of which is “Bergkase” mountain cheese known for its distinct buttery and nutty fl avour.

With more than 500 years of cheesemaking practices passed on from generation to generation, today’s mountain cheeses from Austria off er the authentic taste of the Alps, while complementing Europe’s vast artisan cheese off erings. Consumers can be confi dent that Austrian mountain cheeses also follow the quality standards set by the European Union, which guarantees the authenticity, quality, place, and cheese-making technique

As more and more Canadians strive to fi ll their plates with tasty, natural foods—and opt for products that are more environmentally and ethically produced—unprocessed artisan cheeses from Austria fi t the bill.

For more information, please contact: export@amainfo.at

ADD AUSTRIAN CHEESES TO YOUR IN-STORE OFFERINGS!

Special Promotional Feature in Canadian Grocer | November 2022