LUX April 2017

LUX - April 2017 25 60 Years of Providing the Finest Italian Food Products 60 Years of Providing the Finest Italian Food Products Our origins began 60 years ago, in 1957 when Vancouver had a growing Italian population due to immigration from Italy to Western Canada. This created a demand for traditional quality Italian food products that were staples in these new immigrants’ diets back home. In the search for these familiar products from their faraway home, Bosa Foods began importing and offering these products to the Italian community. Since 1957 our founder Augusto Bosa prided himself in offering the best quality and value to our customers with products sourced in Italy and imported into Canada. The finest quality of Olive Oils, Parmigiano Reggiano, Pastas, Vinegars, and Antipastos. Today, as we celebrate our 60th Anniversary we remain focused on continuing this tradition pioneered by our founder. We’ve proudly expanded our product offerings and selection and now distribute over 7,500 specialty products across Western Canada. We remain focused on our traditional Italian selection of the finest Italian food products, but have also seen the opportunity to expanded to specialty products sourced from around the world today. In our current product range we offer a selection of products from almost every continent. I had been in the role of President & CEO since 1993. Over the years, we have been able to proudly grow our product selection under various private label brands which allows us to maintain our commitment to provide our customers with the best possible quality and value. In 2006 we opened our new modern distribution centre in East Vancouver which allows use to efficiently service our customer base. The opening of the Kootenay Street location also allowed us to provide our customers with a unique retail shopping experience in our Tuscan inspired retail location. We set out to create an experience for our customers, from the moment they arrive into our parking lot to the product selections and quality, helpful environment, to reusable recyclable shopping bags when they leave. I have been very fortunate to be in a creative role where we can create exciting new products that we can bring to the market. There is nothing better than that feeling of accomplishment. Another benchmark for our company will be the reconstruction of our Victoria Drive location later this year. This is where our business began 60 years ago, and we are very excited about being able to reopen this new and exciting store where our company history began. We have remained committed to this community and are looking forward to returning there for at least another 60 years. I grew up in the business. When I was 10 years old, maybe younger, my brother, Victor, and I would stock shelfs, bag groceries, and prepare orders. We grew into the business. By the time, I took a management role, I did every type of function in the company. There is no better way to understand a business that being able to do any function yourself, you gain an appreciation for the role and what our staff does. I consider our staff family, I valued their hard work and dedication, not only to our company but equally important…to our customers. We have an incredible team and every single one of our staff adds to the success of our company. We are very fortunate to have a high percentage of career base staff with over 30 years dedicated service, and some as long as 50 years. Our goal is to create a memorable shopping experience for our customers and that is only possible with a dedicated staff with this common goal in mind. Life always has challenges. Keeping a positive attitude allows us to focus on an issue and find a solution. Listening is probably one of the most important skills, a skill that I continue to learn every day. Once you understand a problem, a collaborative solution can be achieved. Technology is very important, change in every business is inevitable and our industry is no exception. Technology offers many opportunities for efficiency, traceability, scalability. But at the same time technology should never come at the expense of human interaction and customer service. Keeping up with industry trends is very important to us and we spend a great deal of time working on this. Recently, our import and management teams spent a full week looking at products and services we offer and how we can improve them. We have offices in Europe to source and manage our supply chain. We constantly are looking for new products, trends, and ways to improve our existing product selection. We have a very organic business model, we believe in quality over quantity. Our growth must be rooted in our corporate values that date back to our founder. Our belief is if you maintain the best quality, value and service possible growth will follow. Bosa Foods is a leading importer and distributor of specialty food products sourced from around the world. Company: Bosa Foods Website: bosafoods.com