For most executives, going from leading four international markets to overseeing Canadian operations would represent a significant downgrade.
For Simon Laroche, switching from his former role as president of Kraft Heinz Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan to his home and native land was a significant upgrade.
That’s because, unlike in those other markets, Kraft Heinz Canada is the second-largest food company in the country — with ambitions to retake the top spot — thanks to the range of iconic brands in its portfolio. They include Kraft Dinner, Philadelphia cream cheese, Classico pasta sauces, Cool Whip, Maxwell House, Jell-O, Kool-Aid, Kraft salad dressing, Kraft Peanut Butter, and of course Heinz Tomato Ketchup, among many more. In fact, its products can be found in 97 per cent of Canadian households.
“Kraft Heinz in Canada, from a professional standpoint, is one of the jewels we have in the company globally,” said Laroche.
The Quebec-native was first hired by the Chicago-based packaged food behemoth in 2018 to manage its Australian operations, after spending the first 15 years of his career at Labatt Breweries of Canada. The following year Laroche’s responsibilities expanded to New Zealand, Japan and South Korea.
“In 2023, after successfully expanding the company’s sales, profitability and engagement in each of his territories, Laroche was asked to serve as president of Kraft Heinz Canada, the company’s largest global market after the United States.
“When we left it was just me and my girlfriend,” he said. “When we came back, we were four — we have two little girls today.”
Kraft Heinz Canada employs almost 1,500 Canadians, including 1,000 at its Montreal production facility and 400 at its new office in downtown Toronto, with the rest spread across the country. About 75 per cent of the products Kraft Heinz sells to Canadians are produced domestically, and the company was the country’s largest food brand prior to selling off its Cracker Barrel, P’tit Quebec and Amooza cheese brands in 2018.
The Star recently caught up with Laroche from the company’s new Canadian headquarters at Queen’s Quay Terminal to discuss how he prepared to lead an unfamiliar business in unfamiliar markets, how that experience helped prepare him to manage operations in Canada and how consumer tastes are changing.
You graduated with a degree in finance from HEC Montreal in 2003 and then went directly into the food and beverage industry, where you’ve been ever since. Was that always the plan?
No, I studied finance to be a banker on Wall Street or Bay Street, that was the plan. I ended up taking a summer job before starting my “real career” with Labatt breweries, and I ended up staying there for almost 15 years.
Why did you stay so long?
When I joined Labatt there was a merger happening between the parent company, Interbrew, and a Brazilian brewer called Ambev to create InBev, and new leadership came in and changed the culture to make it more of a meritocracy, which was very progressive at the time. It was all about ownership, growing talent, and that was extremely attractive for me, so I decided to stick around.
Over the next 15 years you progressed from a summer job in merchandising to being the company’s VP of sales for all of Canada. Why leave at that point?
Everything was great, but I felt I kind of did it all, and I didn’t want to be a beer guy all my life; I wanted to learn something new. Then Kraft Heinz reached out and offered me the chance to move to Australia to lead the business there, and that was the kind of challenge that was very appealing to me. I had a girlfriend at the time, who is now my wife, and we thought it would be a great adventure.
How familiar were you with that part of the world?
I spent one week in Australia when I was in the beer industry, but that’s it. I didn’t know much about the country, the culture, and even less about the food industry. I had also never been to New Zealand, Korea, or Japan, so it was all very new.
How do you learn about a new market, and a new industry, in such a short period of time?
First was just making the decision and committing to doing it, then listening to the people there. It’s something I learned early on in my career coming from Quebec and having to learn the differences with Western Canada or the East Coast.
I met amazing colleagues when I landed in Australia, and I realized the alcohol industry is different than the food industry, but there’s also a lot of similarities. It’s about starting with consumers, understanding the products, the relationships with retailers, the logistic and supply chains, the importance of quality and innovation.
I opened my ears for a few months and spent a lot of time understanding the culture. After we moved, I visited New Zealand, Japan and Korea, and I’m glad I did, because then COVID happened, and travel became more complicated.
From the outside it may appear like your role got smaller, going to a small country like Canada after being responsible for four global markets. Was the move back home a contraction or expansion of your role?
Kraft Heinz in Canada, from a professional standpoint, is one of the jewels we have in the company globally. I feel very privileged to lead such an amazing team here in Canada.
When I came back, I went to my parents’ house, and I opened the pantry and the fridge, and I found 32 different products of ours in their home. We’re in 97 per cent of Canadian households, so it’s a special business that we have here with many iconic brands, which is not the case everywhere.
We have great market penetration in Australia and New Zealand, but we’re maybe in the top 10 in terms of size; here we’re number two — we were number one before we sold our cheese business, and our plan is to get back to number one in the next three years.
Even with Japan and Korea, which have larger populations, the household penetration is maybe 40 per cent or 50 per cent, which is good for a Western brand, but here we’re close to 100 per cent.
In 2013 the company faced boycotts after abruptly moving Ketchup production from Leamington, Ont., to the United States after 100 years. Why did you decide to reverse that decision?
We never closed the factory, we sold it for mostly financial reasons, but the Heinz name is still on the chimney. We removed the production of Ketchup, but they never stopped supplying our Classico line of pasta sauces.
When it comes to Ketchup, we moved production to the U.S., and consumers were not happy about it, and in our business consumers come first. We recognized the mistake and made a plan to bring it back to Canada in 2020, and by 2021 all our tomatoes — 220 million pounds — are grown in Leamington.
People make mistakes. Companies do too. what’s important is that we recognized it, we fixed it, and we’re proud to have a Canadian Maple Leaf on our ketchup bottles again.
How are consumer tastes changing, and how is the company evolving to meet those demands?
What makes this industry so fascinating is that it’s constantly changing. We do a lot of focus groups, and you notice those changes year to year. Today, convenience is extremely important, sustainability is extremely important, health and wellness are a huge trend that we’re embracing, and the other big one now is affordability.
Consumers are reading the labels more, and it’s important to constantly improve the quality of the food. We just launched Pure under the Kraft brand, which is a line of salad dressings that have no additives, just the ingredients you find at home, and it’s doing very well. We have some plans for Philadelphia for next year, with some new flavours, and with our Classico pasta sauces at the end of this year.
Food affordability is a big challenge in Canada, and we do our part together with Food Banks Canada — we’ve donated $35 million worth of food in the last three years alone, more than 360 truckloads — but providing good quality food at an affordable price is something we take very seriously. We’re always looking at the equation, making sure we have different sizes and promotions so people on a limited budget can afford our products.
Those are the main things, but at the same time taste is king. Yes, the consumer wants healthy food at a low price, but if it doesn’t taste good, they won’t eat it. Yes, the consumer wants sustainability but if the new packaging affects the taste, they won’t buy it.
As someone who left a very comfortable job in your home country to take on a very different kind of challenge, how would you advise others who are considering a bold change in their careers?
Maybe the best thing I ever did for my career was move to the other side of the planet. Whether it’s a new geography or a new industry or a new role, if you’re invited to do something different, I think as human beings we get better by leaving our comfort zone. At first, it’s difficult — you get those butterflies in the stomach, and you feel a little lost — but it’s in those moments that you learn the most. Those risks force you to grow as a person and give you a way to differentiate yourself.
