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00:08we're actually cooking more at home we're all trying to eat healthy but our grocery stores
00:13making it harder the retailer is trying to sell you as much as possible at the highest possible
00:20price the idea that grocers are causing food inflation is not only false it's impossible
00:25we reveal the ways big chains are keeping grocery prices high there's actually anti-competitive
00:33behavior going on and show you how to fight back so for two dollars you've doubled your recipe
00:39this is your marketplace
00:44we're in picton ontario digging into why our food prices are so high they're crazy absolutely nuts
00:53yeah be honest with a family with four kids it's pricey we want to know what grocery stores are
01:01doing to keep it that way i think it's kind of outrageous i i don't totally understand the why
01:07behind it you only have a small amount of stores there's no need to be competitive could a lack of
01:14competition be playing a role in rising prices we're gonna find out but first hi theresa nice to meet you
01:23you too we're meeting a woman with a unique habit teresa everybody is talking about grocery prices and how they
01:31are skyrocketing but you quite literally actually have the receipts teresa petrie's been holding on to
01:38all her grocery bills since 2022 costs have generally increased 7.4 percent since then but we know food prices
01:46are rising faster how did teresa's staples stack up we spent quite a bit of time and we found a
01:53few
01:54products that jumped out over the years do you have a guess as to what food we might be talking
01:59about
01:59it's probably in your fridge right now teresa paid 249 for this cottage cheese in 2022 if the price matched
02:06general inflation it should cost 267 now but in 2025 this had gone up to three dollars and fifty cents
02:16which is a 41 increase it's it's insane it's just total greed just trying to eat healthy overall is
02:24really becoming harder and harder well let's go to the peppers now fresh produce and its highest price in
02:312022 was six dollars and 59 cents kilogram general inflation would put that at seven dollars and eight
02:39cents but you by 2025 your highest red pepper purchase was eleven dollars a kilogram wow that is an increase
02:47teresa of 67 percent from 2022 i knew it was a lot but yeah that's insane since the pandemic
02:56loblaws metro and sobeys earnings have surged the committee is resuming its study of food price
03:03inflation grocery ceos were even summoned to parliamentary committee hearings to explain why i disagree that
03:11there's any excess profit here we we make a reasonable profit and we pay full taxes on it i can
03:17assure you that we are doing everything we can to contain price increases and we're doing it on
03:22paper-thin profit margins of 2.5 percent so no matter how many times you read it on twitter the
03:27idea that
03:27grocers are causing food inflation is not only false it's impossible it's not only false it's impossible
03:35oh that was a big uh public relations exercise when the ceos went up to parliament jim stanford testified at
03:43those hearings too he's an economist who's critical of the grocery industry this argument that they're
03:49not very profitable is nonsense and they say exactly the opposite every time they're talking to financial
03:55analysts and investors they boast about how profitable they are this is not just uh economically
04:03unsustainable in my view it's morally reprehensible what would you say to anyone who thinks that a grocery
04:10company by its very nature is meant to increase money for shareholders i don't think we can blame
04:19a company for trying to make as much money as they can that's what capitalism is all about uh so
04:25what
04:25we have to do as a society is take responsibility for the environment and the context in which we allow
04:31these companies to operate jim's not the only one keeping a close eye on the grocery giants the competition
04:38bureau is too acting senior deputy commissioner anthony de roche is the bureau's spokesperson grocery
04:44store ceos argue that canada's grocery industry is competitive is that view shared by the competition
04:50bureau certainly our view is that there is room for more competition to better serve consumers we know
04:58that more competition means lower prices more choice more innovation we know there's a concentration of grocery
05:04stores in canada take a look at all these brands now look who their parent companies are sobeys metro and
05:12loblaws alone dominate around 60 of the market but that only tells part of the story we went digging
05:19through property records from dozens of grocery stores across the country and what we found paints a picture
05:26of how big grocers can limit competition it's called a property control used commonly by developers to spur
05:33on new investment from many industries but in the grocery sector it means the big guys are able to
05:39control who sells food near them and they can get specific this metro in waterloo has to give permission
05:46for any large sit-down restaurant to open near it in halifax if a dollar store near this loblaws sells
05:52big
05:53brands like coke evian or craft at too low a discount it could lose the right to sell them and
05:59in prince
06:00edward county ontario this agreement says any property the landlord owns within five kilometers
06:05can't have a loblaws competitor on it while property controls aren't unique to grocers they've raised
06:12enough alarms in the industry for the competition bureau to launch an investigation into sobeys and
06:18loblaws use of them we know that property controls are used in a lot of different industries what's
06:24different about the grocery sector when it comes to the use of property controls part is um uh their
06:31prevalence in the grocery sector but also the sheer level of concentration in the grocery sector and the
06:37other is affordability we hear from canadians on this issue all the time back in picton ontario
06:44we're with theresa heading to one of her local grocery stores everything's king walmart's now there's no
06:49small guys anymore it has a property control of its own we found for this food land which is owned
06:57by
06:57sobeys yes this is something that's called a property control the document says no other business in this
07:03plaza can sell groceries without sobeys permission that means no independent bakeries or butchers allowed
07:09to open up no competitors unless sobeys says so it's not right it's not right i mean and and
07:16what are we going to do our our society's allowed this to happen and now everybody is paying for it
07:24this is all news to other shoppers in her community too i don't know if it's fair to completely dictate
07:30an entire plaza's worth of food just based off your property agreement it doesn't make me feel great that
07:36they're able to do that it's just one more reason why things are more expensive and we have less
07:40control of our disposable income even a retail giant like this dollarama can be under sobeys
07:46control the property control allows them to sell pre-packaged food but it even stipulates that
07:51they're not allowed to sell that at a deep discount to lure customers in really uh-huh wow i think
07:59in
07:59the county where like fresh produce and like meat is such a big industry for so many people nothing
08:04makes it harder for them to sell their stuff to locals it makes you feel helpless i i think we're
08:10playing against a stacked hand right like someone's holding all the cards and now all of a sudden we're
08:16going to be left to pay more property controls are not the only factor behind the unique market power
08:21that major grocery chains have and getting rid of property controls or prohibiting them will not be
08:26a magic bullet that solves the whole problem but they are clearly i think a particularly egregious
08:31and uh incremental way that companies have taken advantage of consumers we all feel the squeeze on
08:39our wallets so it's time to fight back we're in winnipeg putting three canadian families to the test
08:45who can reduce their grocery bill the most our evenings are pretty chaotic new dad chris ash is
08:53adjusting to having an extra mouth to feed can we get away from the oven you don't need to touch
08:57that
08:57it's hot nutrition with the price of groceries has been a bit of a worry with five kids madeline faces
09:05five times the food challenges balancing vegetarian vegan and meat eating diets mom cooks and everyone
09:12gets what they get and single mom cindy is getting creative to save money on meat i'm actually going to
09:20take up hunting myself a whole deer would probably sustain us for a year so i think it would save
09:25us quite
09:26a bit of money kendra supper's ready all three are fed up with grocery store prices so we're bringing
09:32them together for a boot camp to find out how to save money without sacrificing nutrition hello my shoppers
09:39we're bringing in dietitian janine laforte she takes a look at meals cindy madeline and chris love to make
09:48and i promise to be very nice we're canadian after all ingredients for chris's fajitas cost
09:5558 you know those pre-made sauces can get quite pricey yeah and they're actually quite easy to make
10:03really aren't they yeah yeah flour butter cheese not to put you on the hot seat too too much but
10:09you
10:09knew exactly all the ingredients in terms of how to make a cheese sauce why did you not do it
10:15already
10:15it's a weeknight isn't it it's opening that slopping it on easier yeah cindy's swedish meatball casserole
10:23cost 49 i would suggest stretching that meat with some lentils so we could mash up the lentils mix it
10:32with the meat and that would definitely save some some money and madeline's pre-made veggie burger meal
10:39was 45 bucks the beyond meat that's okay but i find it's quite pricey yeah if you could create like
10:47some
10:48black bean burgers or something like that yeah you can batch cook those those can stay in your freezer
10:54and be ready to go for you know for weeks to come well with that we will send you off
11:00on your way to
11:01go do your grocery shopping and we'll see you back here scoot armed with janine's tips they're off to
11:08the store to see who can reduce their bill the most how low can their grocery bills go an avocado
11:19for a
11:19dollar fifty possibly possibly possibly possibly and what one province is doing to help we want to be
11:25the first province in canada to have true competition in the grocery sector that's after the break
11:40we're digging into why food prices are so high what you get for what you pay doesn't seem worth it
11:47and
11:47how grocery stores are using property controls to help keep them that way i cannot see how property
11:53controls benefit consumers in any way it's a cozy deal between the property owners and the retailers
11:58and consumers are the ones who pay the price so we're finding ways to fight back ground chicken holy
12:06moly it's spencer's an avocado for a dollar fifty possibly possibly possibly these shoppers are
12:15looking for healthy swaps that don't break the bank i gotta find the lentils and i've never bought
12:21lentils in my life i thought beans would be down this aisle but look i'm gonna go this way while
12:29they
12:30battle to lower their grocery prices we're meeting a premier doing the same hi premier nice to meet you
12:38hey wap canoe's government passed legislation last june to remove all grocers property controls we want
12:45to be the first province in canada to have true competition in the grocery sector in canada and here
12:52in manitoba you see that there's actually anti-competitive behavior going on a government source tells us
12:59one canadian grocer is fighting to keep its controls in place sobeys requested exemptions for 43 of its
13:07stores throughout manitoba i don't think one grocery store should be able to prevent another one from
13:13opening up shop like this is the fundamentals of living in a free society and having a market economy
13:19so then why allow for the exemption oh it's our expectation that all these things are going to be
13:24uh removed in time loblaws is not fighting to keep their manitoba property controls but they
13:30are under investigation by the competition bureau along with sobeys acting senior deputy commissioner
13:36anthony de roche is heading it loblaws told us in a statement that they are ready to eliminate all
13:43property controls across the country if the other major grocers agree to do the same what do you think of
13:50that caveat certainly from our perspective these are positive steps um in the right direction
13:57loblaws won't come on camera to talk to us but they do send a statement saying they've already
14:03released 150 property controls across canada they add industry-wide action would mean more stores more
14:10discount options and a more competitive market we ask those competitors to talk to metro declines and sobeys
14:18never response given how big of a problem the competition bureau has identified is it enough to have
14:25these companies self-regulate when it comes to property controls the government uh has taken action
14:31to amend the federal competition act to give the competition bureau more tools uh to address any
14:38competitive activity the competition bureau um is uh very much prioritizing putting these new tools to use
14:46we ask federal minister of industry melanie joe lee for an interview her office declines but says her
14:52government will keep monitoring to ensure competition in the grocery industry i think regardless of where
14:59you are on the political spectrum this policy idea of knocking down property controls and having more
15:06competition has to be a way that across all sides of the aisle we can help people out there i
15:12know that
15:12you're talking to the other premiers quite a lot have any of them asked you hey i like this idea
15:16how
15:16did you do it we should follow well i think once they see marketplace they'll all be uh banging down
15:21our
15:22door to find out how we did it while manitoba is one step ahead how do we stay ahead of
15:27high grocery prices
15:29we're doing a grocery shop with budget expert bruce celery i am ready to grocery shop all right you are
15:35except for you're making your first mistake but you reached automatically for a cart do we need a cart
15:41he's pointing out the tricks grocers use to get you to spend more we shop more when we've got more
15:47space so if you're only buying a few items you may want to just grab a hand basket so grocery
15:52shopping
15:52is a game the retailer is trying to sell you as much as possible at the highest possible price so
15:59how
15:59do i win uh one of the things to look for is the unit pricing on items the price per
16:05unit is usually
16:06near the price tag okay so these are 2.99 um a pound yep and those are 4.99 a
16:16bunch for the bunch okay
16:18are you good at math it can help you compare prices across products of different sizes but stores
16:24sometimes make it difficult oh because the other ones were in pounds yeah and this is 400 mil
16:29liters which is volume not weight so here's the lesson we're learning now so choose your battles
16:35we may say listen we got these beautiful beats they're fresh we're putting this back and we're
16:38moving on with our lives over to the meat section i'm looking for the like 30 off 40 off buy
16:47today
16:47sticker you can buy what you really need on sale and freeze it one we got reduced reduced for quick
16:55sale should i get it no no it's not on your list you don't have a meal plan for it
16:59you have a list for
17:01a reason and a good price is only relevant if you really want the thing we score pretty good prices
17:07with bruce's tips did i win the game you 100 won but who will win our boot camp
17:14all right so they look the part but can they cook the part we're gonna find out aren't we
17:21with dietitian janine's advice they've come up with creative ways to cut costs without sacrificing
17:27nutrition beans my my biggest fear madeline subbing out meat alternatives well i've completely replaced
17:38the beyond meat making her burgers from scratch with beans and extra veg for his fajitas chris is
17:46making a big impact with these canned chipotle peppers just adding these now to the veg okay
17:51just uh kind of add a bit more flavor yes that's a great way to get lots of flavor for
17:57you know a
17:58fairly good price yeah cindy is stretching her meatballs further with a cheaper protein and source
18:04of fiber i've never seen a lentil no there's a lot smaller than i thought they would be i thought
18:11they
18:11would be bigger for some reason i don't know why but how will they taste well you know um
18:16i don't know that they really look appealing yet the new ingredients have our chefs out of their
18:22element madeline did you get lost you've been in here for a minute so yeah this bean dip is gonna
18:28kind of go on the tortilla and it's gonna hide the fact that there's beans in there and then i'm
18:33not
18:33gonna be a little baby and i'm gonna like it anything to hide the beans not a bean guy i
18:38definitely think
18:39cindy is concerned about the lentils makes me a little concerned because that's our dinner
18:46things are starting to come together well for most of us oh my gosh we have the big reveal of
18:51the
18:51chicken yeah it's almost there okay i'm ready let's see open it up oh dear oh no oh no cooking
18:59too fast
19:00this oven is much better than the one i have at home i gotta look in here
19:05oh that looks oh that smells really good these lentils have have given me twice as many meatballs
19:11as i'm accustomed to i think it's going to work in my favor those lentils so i think me and
19:16lentils
19:16we're going to be friends looks like it's time to turn up the heat all right chefs you have 15
19:22more
19:22minutes to get everything complete if i get this in the oven in the next 30 seconds i'll be good
19:28with
19:29five kids perhaps it's unsurprising that timing is madeline's forte done and i'm done i'm done i think
19:44who will be crowned our champion cost saver you all saved money but one of you saved more money
19:51than the rest that's coming up next got a story you think marketplace should investigate reach out to
20:00us at marketplace at cbc.ca we're fighting back against rising grocery prices how are we feeling
20:17tired a little bit and now it's time to reveal which of our shoppers saved the most money with
20:24their healthy swaps you all saved money but one of you saved more money than the rest cindy's meatball
20:31casserole originally cost 48 dollars by stretching her meat with lentils and swapping out cream for
20:38condensed milk she saved four dollars and still you made i think arguably the most amount of leftovers
20:45as well absolutely yeah chris swapped his pricey pre-made cheese sauce for a homemade cheesy bean
20:51dip adding more protein so he could reduce the chicken in his meal you went from 58 dollars on your
20:58first bill down all the way to 39 a savings of 19 and i would say there's actually more yeah
21:07you also
21:08have a lot of leftovers yeah yeah yeah madeline was able to add more veggies to her meal by swapping
21:13brand name meat alternatives with homemade veggie burgers and that means our winner of our food
21:19boot camp is madeline congratulations a savings of 23 dollars that's incredible yeah but not everything
21:30about food and cooking is a competition even if hunting for the best grocery prices makes it feel
21:37that way so please dig in um and enjoy lentils who knew
21:48we're all being told to buy canadian this is advertising trying to make it look canadian when
21:54in reality it's not but can you trust what those labels are telling you it is not a canadian product
22:01we investigate labels that play up canadian pride then you flip it over well that's a little bit
22:07deceiving and reveal where these products are really from we gain false information i feel a little bit
22:14cheated don't go shopping until you watch your marketplace
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