Local Market Value

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This article was published 06/01/2022 (986 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Staying viable in any business means moving with the times —  the good times and the bad. And it’s easier to weather the storms when you have a strong connection to the community.

Steinbach’s Main Bread & Butter Company embodies the ideal, as a home-grown market that supports local producers. Owner Chris Goertzen, a former mayor of Steinbach, started the business in 1997 with his older brother, Robert, who has since moved on to other pursuits.

“Main Bread & Butter was an idea my brother and I had when we were food distributors in the area and we were coming across lots of good, locally produced foods,” Goertzen says.

At the same time, a lot of smaller, locally owned grocery stores were being bought out by big national operations that didn’t provide space on their shelves for local goods.

“We thought there was value in local products and we could make a place where people could find them, and that’s why we created Main Bread & Butter.”  

It’s coming up on 25 years since opening day, and the store now operates with the help of about 20 employees.

“We’ve had tremendous success with our business,” Goertzen says. “We doubled our size about four years ago and we’ve seen continued growth because of that expansion.”

The comestibles sold there provide the flavours that people associate with cherished traditions and meaningful times spent with family and friends. But the shop also delivers the next-generation local foods that are on their way to becoming new staples.

“Food is about a connection to our past and the connection to the people we have in front of us right now,” says Goertzen.

The store carries a variety of fresh breads, cheeses, and deli meats, and Manitoba labels like Smak Dab, Bothwell, Old Country Sausage, Rede-Made Noodles, Vita Eggs, Tenderloin Meat & Sausage, Spenst Brothers, La Cocina, Notre Dame Creamery, Redpoll Farms and more. Staff also serve up sandwiches and hearty meals-to-go in the small café.

All told, the store works with about 30 suppliers. While having an online presence has helped many producers to some degree, oftentimes that isn’t enough.

“I think people that produce local products often struggle to find how they can get it out to people,” Goertzen says.

“Over the last 25 years we’ve created lots of good relationships with local buyers and producers and we are continually working to show them that we can effectively display and sell their product — and hopefully they can make a little bit of a profit and we can make a little bit of a profit, too.”

That first taste of local success helps many producers grow, so their product can move out into the larger marketplace, well beyond the shelves at Main Bread & Butter Company.

Although the store strives to reflect the community’s affection for its history, Goertzen recognizes it must move with the times as events warrant.

That adaptability paid off when the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. Customers could order from a menu of $100 ready-prepared packages or create a customized grocery pack for contactless delivery.

“The $100 package delivery has been very successful,” says Goertzen. “We’ve been able to supply hundreds and hundreds of baskets and food packages to people when they didn’t feel comfortable coming out to shop.

“That often included mostly local products and that was not only helpful to people in the community, it helped to keep our employees busy and product moving out of the store.”

Goertzen and his team are happy to see people coming back to the store, but they will maintain the delivery service post-pandemic because it’s been such a help to their community.

For Goertzen, the company culture at Main Bread & Butter is tied to the community’s culture.

“People see value in things that are produced locally and they’re seeing the strong connection between the people they’re supporting and healthy community,” he says.

“We often have very good relationships with our regular customers, and many we know by name. We don’t have just product to sell, we have relationships to build.”