Darrell Jones, President of Save-On-Foods, announced compensation will be offered to customers following price-fixing of bread prices.
“One of our major fresh commercial bread suppliers has admitted to a price-fixing scheme for the past 14-plus years and implicated others,” Jones said. “This scheme has affected some of our customers with higher bread prices.”
Jones stressed that Save-on-Foods was not involved in the scheme and did not know about price-fixing scheme.
“However, to look after our customers, we will be offering a $25 gift card to existing More Rewards customers and in due course, will seek compensation from the bread suppliers involved,” Jones said. Information on how customers can get their gift cards will be released shortly.
A Canadian Government Competition Bureau investigation unearthed a 14-year price-fixing arrangement involving Loblaw, parent company George Weston Ltd., and Weston Bakeries. Other companies under investigation include Canada Bread, Sobeys Inc., Metro Inc., Wal-Mart Canada Corp., and Giant Tiger.
Save-on-Foods was not implicated in the investigation but had stocked and sold product from Weston Bakeries, so is offering compensation to loyalty card holders.
Loblaws’ website notes that the company notified the Competition Bureau upon discovering the price-fixing scheme. Loblaws has also offered $25 gift cards as compensation to customers, who can apply for the cards at https://www.loblawcard.ca/. Loblaws’ brands include Loblaws Market, Shoppers Drug Mart, Real Canadian Superstore, President’s Choice, and NoFrills.
