John Pigott, CEO of Club Coffee and Morrison Lamothe Inc, to receive 2023 Canadian Grand Prix Lifetime Achievement Award from Retail Council of Canada & Food, Health & Consumer Products of Canada

TORONTO, ON – April 20, 2023 – Retail Council of Canada (RCC) and Food Health & Consumer Products of Canada are proud to announce that John Pigott, CEO of Club Coffee and Morrison Lamothe (MLI) , will be honored with the prestigious Canadian Grand Prix Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his exceptional contributions to the retail industry.

The Canadian Grand Prix Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes individuals or families who have demonstrated outstanding service and dedication to the Canadian retail and grocery industries. Recipients reflect the industry’s spirit of community and trust. They have demonstrated a lifelong commitment to their company’s growth and innovation, to the communities they serve, and to philanthropy.

John first started at MLI as a student in 1971 and worked summers through 1979. After graduating from the University of Western Ontario, he worked at Xerox Canada from 1980 to 1986. Returning to MLI, John was appointed Vice President in July 1986 and appointed President and CEO in June 1989. John became President and CEO of Club Coffee upon its acquisition by MLI in 2007.

John has been active for more than 37 years in a number of private company and industry boards, task forces, and associations, including: National Chair, Canadian Association of Family Business; Chair of the Young Presidents Organization, Ottawa Chapter; Director of Food, Health and Consumer Products of Canada (FHCP) and its predecessors GPMC and FCPC, and in June 2019 John accepted the role of Vice Chair – Food at FHCP, amongst others.

“Mr. Pigott’s remarkable career journey and contributions to the grocery industry make him a truly deserving recipient of the Canadian Grand Prix Lifetime Achievement Award,” said Michael Graydon, President and CEO of Food, Health & Consumer Products of Canada. “His leadership at Club Coffee and Morrison Lamothe has been nothing short of exemplary, driving innovation and growth while prioritizing sustainability and quality. We are proud to recognize Mr. Pigott’s outstanding achievements and contributions to the grocery industry with this esteemed award.”

“Receiving this award is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the entire Club Coffee and Morrison Lamothe teams,” said John Pigott. “It is validation of our unwavering commitment to delivering great products and I look forward to continuing our legacy of excellence in the Canadian business community.”

Mr. Pigott joins a distinguished list of past recipients from across Canada that include: Burnbrae Farms’ Margaret Hudson, Save-On-Foods’ Darrell Jones, Sobeys, Chair Emeriti, Donald and David Sobey, Mother Parkers Tea & Coffee Co-Chairmen, Paul Higgins Jr. and Michael Higgins, Longo’s President and CEO Anthony Longo and the Longo Family, as well as Cindy and Tina Lee of T&T Supermarkets.

The Lifetime Achievement Award will presented be to Mr. Pigott at Retail Council of Canada’s Canadian Grand Prix Awards Gala  on May 31, 2023, at the Toronto Congress Centre from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. ET.

To purchase Gala tickets visit https://rccgrandprix.ca/gala-tickets/

The Canadian Grand Prix New Product Awards Gala will close the second day of Canada’s biggest retail event, RCC STORE 23 (May 30 to May 31, 2023) which will feature more than 75 speakers and attract more than 2,000 retail leaders from across North America and around the globe.

Media are invited to attend.

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About Morrison Lamothe and Club Coffee  Morrison Lamothe is a third-generation family business, founded in 1933 as a bakery in Ottawa, Ontario by brothers-in-law Cecil Morrison and Richard Lamothe. The company began supplying fresh bread and grew into the largest bakery in the capital city area by the 1960s.  It diversified into the restaurant and catering business in the late 1940s, and then in the 1960s, into frozen food manufacturing. It acquired the Holiday Farms brand in 1984 and Northern Fine Foods in 1990.  In 2005, Morrison Lamothe diversified further through its acquisition of Club Coffee, one of the largest coffee roasters in North America. In 2022, Club Coffee became a part of OFI, a new operating group born out of Olam.

About Retail Council of Canada

Retail is Canada’s largest private-sector employer with over 2 million Canadians working in our industry. The sector annually generates over $85 billion in wages and employee benefits. Core retail sales (excluding vehicles and gasoline) were over $462B in 2022. Retail Council of Canada (RCC) members represent more than two-thirds of core retail sales in the country. RCC is a not-for-profit industry-funded association that represents small, medium, and large retail businesses in every community across the country. As the Voice of Retail™ in Canada, we proudly represent more than 54,000 storefronts in all retail formats, including department, grocery, specialty, discount, independent retailers, online merchants and quick service restaurants. dev-rcc.pantheonsite.io

About Food, Health & Consumer Products of Canada  

FHCP is the voice of the food, health, and consumer product industry that employs more than 350,000 Canadians across businesses of all sizes that manufacture and distribute the safe, high-quality products that are at the heart of healthy homes, healthy communities, and a healthy Canada. Learn more at www.fhcp.ca and www.oneveryshelf.ca and follow us at @FHCP_PASC.

Contact:

Branka Stavric, Senior Director of Marketing and Communication, Retail Council of Canada, branka.stavric@retailcouncil.org

Anthony Fuchs, Vice President, Communications, Food, Health & Consumer Products of Canada, Anthony.Fuchs@fhcp.ca