As the new CEO of Balzac’s Coffee Roasters, the sustainable chain of boutiques inspired by European coffee culture, Christine Cruz-Clarke is focusing on growing the brand throughout the country.
Cruz-Clarke brings over 18 years of experience to Balzac’s, leading businesses and teams in CPG, Management Consulting and Sustainability in both Canada and Europe. Her experience includes senior roles with Mars Inc. where she led marketing and strategy for the conglomerate’s global gum, mint and chocolate portfolios, as well as marketing and innovation roles at both The Hershey Company and Wrigley Canada.
Prior to joining Balzac’s, Cruz-Clarke served as the General Manager for TerraCycle Canada, a leader in sustainable solutions which was recently named as one of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential Companies. She has also held marketing and strategy roles with both Kraft Foods and Deloitte. Born in Toronto, Cruz-Clarke attended Western University.
“(Balzac’s) is a little bit of the best of everything I’ve had the opportunity to work on over the years. I’m someone who really loves consumers and understanding how to create better experiences and products that make their lives better and I happen to just be a passionate coffee lover myself,” said Cruz-Clarke.
“So being able to take the best of what I know in terms of creating great brands and building businesses, delivering amazing consumer experiences, driving the sustainability agenda, and marrying that with a love for coffee, is what attracted me to the world of Balzac’s Coffee Roasters.”
Established in 1993, Balzac’s today has 17 cafés across Ontario and a roastery in Ancaster, Ontario.
“An executive of Christine’s calibre, her years of relevant experience steering consumer-focused brands, along with her expertise in sustainability, made her a complete standout for this role,” said Arlene Dickinson, General Partner of District Ventures Capital, which holds a majority ownership in Balzac’s Coffee Roasters. “We are pleased to have her aboard and look forward to her contributions as CEO.”
The brand’s name was inspired by Honoré de Balzac’s famous quote, “the Café is the People’s Parliament.”
Cruz-Clarke said the pandemic has been a big game changer for Canadians in consumption behaviour.
“Through the pandemic at-home coffee consumption grew by 10 per cent and that’s a really significant number. As we think about our expansion plans what hasn’t changed is our desire to be available more nationally, but the way we get there might be slightly different based on how consumer habits have changed. Both consumption and shopping behaviours factor into that,” she said.
“So, as we think national it’s about making sure our coffee is available to people in the way they want to consume it, so whether you prefer whole bean or ground or even compostable pods, we want to offer you the formats you want where you’re already shopping be it in grocery stores or even Amazon or direct from us through our DTC website. Our aim is to grow our national presence by making our coffee available in the places consumers are already shopping.”
The brand is available through a number of major grocery banners from Costco and Loblaws, to Sobeys and Whole Foods – anywhere from traditional grocers to specialty stores. Cruz-Clarke said the company has a great shop on Amazon.ca.
“The other shift that was really born out of the pandemic is food delivery. So as you think about DoorDash or Uber Eats, those are other avenues of getting our product delivered to home that we’re working constantly to grow.”
She said the brand’s cafés are concentrated throughout the Greater Toronto Area as well as the surrounding areas.
“As we think about our intention to grow, it really is national expansion and making our coffee available in new markets. Opportunistically, we are looking to enter new markets. So if there was a café opportunity outside of Ontario those would intrigue us from a brick and mortar standpoint,” she said. “But right now the focus is very much on the grocery side of things and being able to expand through wholesale and online delivery.
“Within the coffee landscape in Canada, there’s a number of different players from national right through to small local roasters. We cater to the consumer who is interested in coffee quality and really loves the taste profile we’re able to deliver. We roast everything in small batches, in Ontario, and we source our beans anywhere from South and Central America to Africa to Indonesia.
“As we think of the different players that are out there, where we like to position ourselves is specialty coffee. Coffee is graded on a scale of 0 to 100 and all of the coffee that we source is graded 80 or higher and that really is what sets us apart from some of the bigger mainstream players who don’t necessarily source the same grade of quality that we do. As we think about what we’re able to offer that’s different, it’s specialty grade coffee that’s crafted and roasted in small batches available on a national scale, which not all small roasters have the ability to do. That really is the sweet spot that we’ve landed in.”
