Ontario-based Balzac's Coffee Roasters has agreed a new partnership with Acosta Canada Corporation to drive retail growth within its grocery channel and enhance customer insights
Balzac’s will work with Acosta to harness expertise in customer solutions | Photo credit: Balzac's Coffee Roasters
Balzac’s Coffee Roasters will work with Acosta Canada Corporation, a sales and marketing agency, to harness expertise in customer solutions and drive retail growth within its grocery channel.
By scaling up its resources with an extended sales arm, Balzac's says it will prioritise a company vision for growth by ensuring all sales opportunities are ‘captured in the fast-paced and ever-changing retail landscape’.
Established in 1993 with the vision of providing European-inspired café experiences across Ontario, Balzac’s has since grown to 17 boutique cafés, with its coffee products also available at grocery stores across Canada.
Other Acosta clients include Campbells, Coca-Cola and Nestlé. The company, which entered the food service channel in Canada with the acquisition of Summit Marketing in 2017, says that its understanding of ‘evolving consumer needs’ enables retailers to win in the ‘modern marketplace’.
"As we look forward to embarking further on our growth journey, we couldn't think of a better sales team than the experts at Acosta to help foster our expansion. Acosta has the experience and the resources we trust will make our national growth vision a reality while we become even more customer and consumer centric," said Sonya Aquilina, Vice President of Sales at Balzac's.
In April, Balzac’s announced the appointment of Sonya Aquilina as Vice President of Sales, who was tasked with overseeing company sales strategies with a focus on growing sales and distribution across Canada.
Canada’s branded café market was hit hard by the pandemic, with the market experiencing a 22% sales decline in 2020 compared to the year previous.
World Coffee Portal forecasts a return to outlet growth in 2023 following projected outlet decline of 1.2% in 2021.
Canada’s two largest coffee chains, Tim Hortons and Starbucks, comprise 75% of the total branded coffee shop segment.