Back in 2018, JFI Foods, Jasper’s family-run wholesale grocery suppliers, was rolling.
Business was good. Their fiscal year was trending to be the company’s strongest ever and the owners and employees were enjoying the November downtime before the inevitable Christmas rush. Some of them even snuck in a vacation.
Then, on December 1, 2018, co-owner Trevor Groth got a phone call that he’ll never forget.
“Get down to your building,” the caller said. “It’s on fire.”
It wasn’t a joke. Smoke was pouring out of the windows at their industrial park location. The Jasper Fire Department was on scene, but they couldn’t save the structure, nor the products stored in it. The Groth siblings—Trevor, Brian and Kelly—along with Brian’s wife Jess, co-owner Rob Paltzat and employee Paul Hart, were devastated.
“There were a lot of emotions,” Trevor recalled.
But there were also a lot of orders to be delivered. And a lot of customers to serve. Twenty four hours after the last of the flames were put out, the group was negotiating a new space for their warehouse.
“Being sad and upset wasn’t going to help,” Paltzat said.
Eventually they were back up to speed, supplying Jasper’s hotels and restaurants and using the rebirth to improve their operation. Things were looking up.
Then 2020 happened.
Like the rest of the planet, JFI shut down for a period in March and April, but they knew that similar to after the fire, if they went dark for too long, their competitors would step in to fill the gap. Despite unpredictable allocations and supply trucks running days late, JFI made it work. What’s more, they identified a gap in the local grocery market: households.
“COVID interrupted people’s shopping habits,” Paltzat said. “We saw that we could help with that.”
The idea to serve local residents had been on the back burner at JFI, but the pandemic moved the concept onto the grill. JFI has been offering Jasper residents the chance to shop their wholesale products since the summer, posting a weekly flyer online to advertise their offerings.
“The new concept has been working well for us and the community,” Trevor said.
That’s putting it lightly. Residents have been showing their love for the new service on social media, happy to get groceries delivered when going downtown is inconvenient and potentially unsafe, and saving money to boot.
The public displays of affection are new for JFI staff and owners, who as a group tend to operate under the radar.
“That extra visibility is an intangible, we don’t know exactly how it will move us forward,” Trevor said.
Sort of like the Business of the Year Award, which Brian accepted on October 28 with vintage unflappability.
“It’s was nice to get the nomination, but it’s not going to affect how we operate,” he said.
Bob Covey// thejasperlocal@gmail.com
