Toronto proposed four non-profit grocery stores. New York was already building them. Two cities, two countries, sending the same message to the grocery industry: you’re not solving this, so we will.
When a government or community publicly challenges your business model, most corporate instincts are terrible. Option one: ignore it, hope it goes away, bet on public attention spans. Option two: defend your pricing with spreadsheets. Option three: get indignant and point out that government has no business being in the grocery business. All three are wrong.
The move — the one that actually works — is to lean in. Welcome it publicly. Three sentences: we think anyone working to improve food access in underserved communities is doing important work. We’ve operated in these areas for decades. We know the challenges. If the city wants to pilot this, we’d be glad to share what we’ve learned.
That’s it. That’s the whole playbook.
Here’s what it accomplishes. You signal confidence without arrogance. You position alongside the community instead of across from it. You let the world quietly notice how brutally complex the grocery business actually is without ever having to say ‘good luck with that.’ The city will discover the staffing problems, the supply chain problems, the land use problems. You don’t have to point them out. Your calm, collaborative posture says everything.
The instinct to get defensive when someone publicly challenges your business model is natural. It’s almost always the wrong move. Defensiveness signals threat. Collaboration signals confidence. In any industry where the public already has questions about you, the difference between those two signals is the difference between a news cycle and a narrative.