Rehan shows up for Sudbury

Rehan Iqbal wasted no time becoming a mainstay in the Sudbury, ON community. Shortly after moving to the city in the summer of 2019, the owner of Rehan’s Your Independent Grocer^TM (YIG) started a monthly hot meal program in three local schools.

“The first time we served a hot breakfast in our most disadvantaged school, there were kids crying as it wasn’t something they were used to seeing often,” says Rehan. Education about healthy eating and good nutrition are pillars of the initiative, which he worked on with the store’s former dietitian.

He also implemented a successful ‘food bank program’ and invited local vendors impacted by COVID-19 shutdowns to sell their goods in his store, which resulted in his first Local Vendors Day last September.

“They set up booths around the store and customers got to meet them face-to-face. The idea was to give local small businesses the ability to sell their products using the space I have in my store,” he explains.

These are just a few reasons why Canadian Grocer magazine recognized Rehan’s YIG in the community service category of its inaugural Impact Awards earlier this fall—an impressive feat for someone just starting out.

However, Rehan isn’t new to the grocery world. He started working at Loblaw in high school and returned after completing his university degree as part of the company’s graduate training program, getting to know the ropes while working at different stores in the Toronto-area.

When a franchise opportunity came up in Sudbury, he says it felt like the right transition for his career. Ownership really appealed to his sense of community and passion for the live life well purpose he embraced during his time in the corporate division.

For instance, the ‘food bank program’, where customers can purchase an empty bag from the store for a specific dollar amount that staff then fills with the equivalent in grocery items, is something many Loblaw stores do during the holidays — Rehan just decided to extend it year-round.

“When we launched, we didn’t know how it was going to go but we’ve had so much success. We have employees working every evening preparing these bags.” During the last holiday season, the store and its customers were donating up to 150 bags a week to the Sudbury Food Bank and they’ve been able to maintain a 70-bag weekly average since then, totaling 6,000 pounds donated this year.

With the upcoming holidays, Rehan wants to keep pushing forward and doing all that he can to show up for his community.

“During my first holiday season in Sudbury, there was a billboard outside the store advertising the infant food bank. I didn’t even know there was such a thing. The local news did a story and all you saw were images of empty shelves; it was very disturbing,” he recalls.

That spurred him to start an infant food bank bag at the store, through which he’s collected and donated approximately $5000 worth of food.

“We’re a food store. We have access to the kinds of resources to make a difference - and at the end of the day, I want my business to make a meaningful contribution to my community.”