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BCBUSINESS.CA SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021 BCBUSINESS 67 E N T R E P R E N E U R O F T H E Y E A R 2 0 2 1 improvement. "You come back to the same thing: What is it that we're all about? What makes us special, in our view? What can we do to continue to differentiate ourselves from the competitors? That, to me, is the secret sauce to success for any entrepreneur, to be different and better than your competitors, and be innovative and try things that nobody else has tried to see if they work." Jones has spent his whole career with Save-On-Foods. He grew up in Cranbrook, where as a Grade 11 student he started bagging groceries at the local Overwaitea Foods in 1976. "There were great people within the store, and something about the grocery business," he recalls. "For some people, anyway, it's like a bug, and once it bites you, you pretty much get addicted." Planning to earn a teaching degree, Jones moved to Port Coquitlam two years later for a full-time job with the chain. He thought he'd do that for a year but went on to work at about 20 stores, rising through the ranks of what is now Save- On-Foods to become regional manager, then vice-president. His boss, Jimmy Pattison, appointed him president in early 2012. When Jones took charge, he upheld the company's existing culture, which he describes as a family atmosphere where everyone cares for each other. But he also adjusted its vision statement to "Always Customer First." For Langley-based Save- On-Foods, there's the internal and the external customer, Jones explains. "If you don't take really good care of your internal customer—in other words, your team members— you'll have zero chance of doing a great job with the 20 21 W H AT I S YOU R DE F I N I T ION OF S UC C E S S ? Accomplishing things that you want to accom- plish, both for yourself, but more importantly, for the organization you work for and the community you're part of F I N I S H T H I S S E N T E NC E F OR U S : "E N T R E - P R E N E U R S N E E D A L O T MOR E …" Courage HOW WOU L D YOU DE S C R I B E YOU R L E A DE R - S H I P ST Y L E ? Driven. If you don't encourage people and push them to do something dif- ferent, they'll take the path of least resistance F U N FA C T S children's hospitals across Western Canada, and each year they give $3 million to the region's food banks. Save-On- Foods has also diverted more than 10 million kilograms of food waste to food banks and farms since 2018. "He loves talking to all of our team members at our CHAIN REACTION Save-On-Foods has added 50 percent more stores under Jones customers who come through the door." Jones set some big goals, too, including an ambitious annual sales target. To help make that happen, he took the company into Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. When Save-On-Foods opens a location, it tailors its offerings to the local demographic. "What people want in Richmond is not the same thing they want in the city of Winnipeg," Jones says of that approach. In another innovation, Save-On-Foods became an early adopter of e-commerce about five years ago. Unlike other grocery chains, the company has its own in-house digital platform, with a fleet of more than 160 vans doing home delivery. "We said, Look, we want to be able to give customers groceries where they want, when they want and how they want," Jones recalls. "So we decided that the best way for us to do that was to control the experience the customer had when they went online to buy groceries." Paul Hazra, Save- On-Foods' CFO, has worked with Jones for almost seven years. "He's always got a big focus on great causes for the community and for those less fortunate," says Hazra, noting that Jones chairs the board of the BC Children's Hos- pital Foundation. The company and its sup- pliers, employees and customers have donated some $40 million to