The enthusiasm is obvious as the Leung brothers walk around the warehouse, grabbing a head of cauliflower, handful of blueberries or flat of strawberries just in from Abbotsford grower Henry Mutz, who chats with them about the day’s pick.
By next morning, the produce will be on its way to one of the 25 stores that operate under the Kin’s Farm Market banner in B.C. The small size of the warehouse, just 14,000 square feet, is testimony to how little time the stock sits between delivery and distribution. The produce is so fresh, coolers are hardly necessary for most items when they reach stores, and the loss rate proves it – no more than about five per cent, or about half the industry standard.
Sourcing the best fresh produce is part of what keeps business interesting for the Leungs, who brought little more than entrepreneurial spirits to Canada in 1981 from Guangzhou, China. The elder Leung drove a bus for the Guangzhou transit system prior to emigrating, and the produce business, as for so many new immigrants, was just a way to make money.
The family’s stall on Granville Island grossed less than $200 on its first day, but the Leungs slowly attracted a following and eventually opened a store in Richmond’s Blundell Centre in 1987.
Growth brought the need to improve corporate practices, however. With buying in the hands of Kin Wah, Kin Hun began developing a program to train staff. Queenie Chu, who joined Kin’s as a cashier during the summer of 1987 while studying business at SFU (she’s now Kin Wah’s wife), applied her skills cultivating relationships with landlords and overseeing advertising.
A second store opened in Delta in 1989, a third in 1992, and Kin’s soon developed a unique niche. More recently, it began adding private-label items, including Fusion Gourmet salad dressings and Valley Breeze apple juice to its offerings.
“The motivation for us to keep going is to pick the right product for this business,” Chu explains. “When we see the customer really enjoy our product, we also see that we really did a great job.”
With more than $60 million in annual retail sales, Kin’s is now rolling out in Ontario. An initial store opened in Burlington in 2007 and four are planned for Hamilton.
Chat with the partners for any length of time, however, and it’s clear that Kin’s success means little unless others are successful too. Chu points to the company’s support of programs designed to help new immigrants become established, while Kin Wah talks proudly of the dozens of local farmers who supply Kin’s, many of whom have grown with the family since its Granville Island days.
“We live in this beautiful country that’s got lots of opportunity for us; we have no choice,” Kin Wah says. “We have a job to contribute back to the community.”
