How to seize Buy Canada sales opportunities

There’s a new opportunity for food and beverage processors as consumer demand for Canadian-made products sees rapid growth.

According to a March 2025 Food Processing Skills Canada survey, Canadians are shifting their shopping habits to purchase more Canadian products. 43% of the 1,500 consumers surveyed say they’ve made significant changes to their shopping habits, with 67% saying they want to buy more Canadian products and 76% avoiding specific international products.

"There is an opportunity here for Canadian food and beverage businesses to reach consumers looking for local and Canadian products,” says Jennefer Griffith, executive director of Food Processing Skills Canada.

Surge of support

Consumers gave multiple reasons for the surge of support for Canadian food and beverage products. 86% say they changed their shopping habits because it’s good for our economy, 72% expressed a desire to help Canadian food and beverage processors, and 71% cited Canadian pride.

FCC Senior Economist Amanda Norris says the surge of pride for Canadian-made food and beverage products isn’t new, but the reasons behind the pride are new.

“We’ve seen the rise of looking at local foods or Canadian foods in the past, but this one is in response to a very specific incident, and that changes it a little bit,” Norris says. “It will take time to determine really how big of an impact this is.”

Understanding labels

Keep messaging on your package simple, intuitive and focused on the most important attributes. One of the key challenges Canadians face is determining which products are Canadian. 60% of respondents say it’s easy to identify a product's origin.

Kevin Elder, FPSC project and government relations manager, says terms like “product of Canada” and “made in Canada” are not well understood by the public. Retailers are responding by adding labels to help consumers identify which products are made in Canada. Additionally, there’s a rise in online tools and social media groups to help source Canadian products. Elder recommends processors both visit retailers and check in online to help ensure their products are accurately labelled.

Keeping the support

Loyal support for Canadian food and beverage products ebbs and flows. Consumers say price and availability are two significant barriers stopping them from making buy Canadian a long-term practice.

41% of those surveyed say they would make the change to buy more Canadian products permanently, 33% would do so if they could afford to, and 21% would continue until international trade issues are resolved. That creates a promising environment for food and beverage processors. But until it’s clear how long this current surge of support will last, Norris recommends processors proceed with caution and invest time in understanding their consumers, identifying their values and tailoring marketing messages to resonate with them.

Elder and Norris are optimistic that processors can gain some market share by using the survey results. Here are their top recommendations for making gains:

Article by: Anne-Marie Hardie