Sobeys, one of the three biggest grocery store chains in Canada, has vowed to “rectify any issues” after allegations that the manager of its longtime kosher food store in Thornhill, Ont., crossed the line in an ongoing feud with the chief executive of a rival supermarket.
In the first week of April, just ahead of a hectic Passover shopping weekend for Jewish Canadians, the CEO of the Olive Branch—a five-month-old kosher market in the Promenade mall—alleged that the manager of a Sobeys store, just four minutes away down the same street, had threatened kosher caterers looking to do Passover business with both companies. According to a widely distributed letter, Justin Lesnick alleged that vendors the Olive Branch hired to sell prepared Passover takeout food, such as meatballs and kugels, were told that doing business with him would mean losing their larger contracts with Sobeys.
The confrontation bled out into social media, where Lesnick’s complaints about corporate bullying took the story viral. Now many customers are vowing to boycott Sobeys over what happened.
But is this a true David-versus-Goliath fight? Or is it the latest in a long-simmering war between the two businessmen—neither of whom is Jewish? On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, host Ellin Bessner digs into the story. She spoke to Lesnick, a representative from Sobeys and concerned customers to understand how the face-off is dividing the community.
Related links
- Learn more about when the U.S.-based Savours entered the Toronto kosher food scene by buying Hartmans, in 2017, in The CJN.
- When Montreal’s MK Kosher and Toronto’s COR Kashrut organization were feuding over hechsher for Sobeys’ Thornhill location, in 2013, in The CJN.
- Why Passover food will be exempt from Trump’s extra tariffs this year, on The CJN Daily.
Credits
- Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
- Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
- Music: Dov Beck-Levine
Support our show
- Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
- Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
- Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)
Transcript
Customer: Tell me, what’s this thing with Sobeys? What’s all that about?
Justin Lesnick: What is it? Basically, we’re closing our kitchen for Passover, right? We’re closing our kitchen for Passover.
Ellin Bessner: That’s the voice of Justin Lesnick, the CEO of the Olive Branch kosher supermarket in Thornhill, explaining to a customer why he decided to go public with allegations that his new store is the victim of a corporate bullying campaign by the long-established Sobeys kosher market right down the street, a store that’s been serving the Jewish community for nearly 40 years.
Late Friday afternoon, Lesnick’s store put out a statement to their nearly 10,000 followers on social media. It said a number of his kosher caterers told Lesnick they could no longer supply meals for Olive Branch’s first-ever Passover pop-up takeout stand set to open this week because Sobeys had threatened to cut them off completely if they did.
Lesnick told me later that one caterer apparently agreed, while another told Sobeys they wouldn’t cooperate. He also told me that events escalated into an in-person shouting match between him and the Sobeys store manager, neither of whom is Jewish, by the way. Lesnick’s statement went out just a few hours before Olive Branch closed for the Sabbath and one day before stores were set to open for the pre-Passover midnight madness shopping rush. The news spread through the community. Lots of outraged comments on social media, including calls to boycott Sobeys, including the kosher store that’s served the area since 1987.
Even though Sobeys’ head office had heard about the controversy and quickly issued a statement, which you’ll hear later in our show, that this is not how they do business and that they would rectify any issues, community members are asking whether it’s a true picture of how the grocery business operates in the battle for the lucrative pocketbooks of Jewish customers, or, was this a brilliant marketing coup by a savvy retailer at the most crucial time of the year for kosher grocers?
I’m Ellin Bessner, and this is what Jewish Canada sounds like for Wednesday, April 9, 2025.Welcome to the CJN Daily, a podcast of the Canadian Jewish News made possible in part thanks to the generous support of the Ira Gluskin and Maxine Granovsky Gluskin Charitable Foundation.
Before we get into today’s story, I want to let you know about the CJN’s new fully reimagined print magazine. It’s called Scribe Quarterly. It’s a beautiful, innovative work of Jewish journalism catering to the Canadian Jewish community. And it’s completely free. Just sign up today at thecjn.ca.
The Olive Branch opened five months ago in the Promenade mall. The new upscale kosher food emporium was backed in part by American investors from the kosher food industry there. The same folks from the chain Evergreen Kosher and Gourmet Glatt in New York state who were also behind the salvaging a few years ago of a Toronto kosher business called Hartman’s, now rebranded as Savours, with stores further south in Toronto. These investors also helped open a store in Montreal called Fooderie.
Before Olive Branch was launched, Justin Lesnick ran the FreshCo at Bathurst and Steeles, which is actually a division of Sobeys. Before that, he ran the No Frills on Centre Street. Both with large Jewish clientele. Sources told The CJN that the animosity between Lesnick and the kosher Sobeys branch manager is well known. One source with knowledge of the situation says sales were down at kosher Sobeys because Olive Branch is cutting into the business. The whole situation is terrible, the source says, because Sobeys did wonders for the community.
The Sobeys manager was not present at his store on Saturday night, when I went there. He wasn’t there the first part of the week either. Sobeys head office didn’t confirm all of Lesnick’s allegations but sent us this emailed statement.
“Thank you for reaching out. We can assure you that any attempt to impact distribution to Olive Branch does not reflect how we do business at Sobeys Inc. Since learning of these allegations, our team has worked quickly to understand what occurred and how to best address the matter to ensure that community stakeholders are treated with fairness and respect. We can assure you that our supplier partners are free to supply their products to any customers they so choose. We strongly support local suppliers and value our relationships with our supplier partners and fully respect their rights to partner with other grocers as they see fit. We will be speaking directly to Olive Branch and any affected suppliers to clarify our position and rectify any issues.”
Ellin Bessner: I did reach out to two of the impacted caterers for comment. Ely’s declined.
I visited both stores on Saturday night to gauge the reaction for myself. First, Olive Branch.
Shopper: Don’t hit my foot!
Second shopper: Okay. Sorry!
Ellin Bessner: It was so packed, the shoppers were lining up their carts end to end. I interviewed Justin Lesnick, the CEO, in one of the back stockrooms.
Justin Lesnick: Perfect. So what happened? So we made the decision to close our kitchen for Passover, and then we worked with the COR and Manny from Ely’s catering down south. And we advertised in our flyer this week that we would be closing our kitchen. And we had support from Ely’s, we had all of our products planned, all of our orders done, everything was planned to come in next week. And on Friday morning of last week, Manny from Ely’s catering received a phone call from the store manager at Sobeys located at Clark and Hilda. And he was told and threatened that if he sold us anything for Passover, that he would no longer do business there and his 10-year business at Sobeys would be gone. So Manny reached out to us and came and told us the news that his livelihood was basically in jeopardy if he followed through and provided us the products that he told us. Unfortunately, he had to make the decision and he told us he can no longer provide us food. I don’t hold anything against Manny. He’s a small business. It’s not his fault. In my opinion, he’s a victim.
Again, this is not how business is done. It’s against the code of ethics, it’s against the Better Business Bureau code of conduct. And unfortunately, that’s what happens.
So we now have no prepared food for Passover planned. Hopefully, after all the support, I think Sobeys’ corporate office, when they find out what happened, they will handle the situation appropriately. Using dominance of power as a large corporate retailer against a small business is unethical and not right. So I have full confidence that when Sobeys’ corporate office finds out, I would really hope that they address the issue: they call Manny from Ely’s catering, apologize to him, make sure that he knows that in no way, shape, or form should he be penalized for making a living and supplying small grocery stores like us. And hopefully, all of this goes away. So hopefully, with all the community support, this won’t happen, and Sobeys won’t be able to do this to anybody else, vendors, stores, anybody alike. So that’s basically it.
Ellin Bessner: What I want to understand and the community should understand, this is a local decision? This isn’t head office in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, right, that’s deciding who gets in and who doesn’t. As far as you understand this?
Justin Lesnick: I have no idea, but I can’t confirm that. All I know is our vendor was told by Sobeys that he cannot supply us.
Ellin Bessner: Is it only one or three or four? How many do you have that are in jeopardy?
Justin Lesnick: Multiple. But right now, the main focus is prepared food for Passover from Ely’s catering, right?
Ellin Bessner: You’ve been in this business a long time. Is this the first time you’ve faced this kind of kosher wars?
Justin Lesnick: Yeah, this is the first time that I’ve ever encountered a situation like this. It just doesn’t happen. There’s a code of ethics for a reason. The Competition Bureau has very strict guidelines that all retailers must follow. It’s actually a law. This isn’t just a rule. It’s not a policy. It’s not a suggestion. This is actually a law. Using your, you know, your power and using your size to be dominant in a marketplace is, again, against the law.
Ellin Bessner: This is right before Passover, correct?
Justin Lesnick: Yep.
And like I said, why go public with it?
Ellin Bessner: And like I said, why go public with it? Why not get the rabbis involved or get, you know, the politicians involved? Why go and put it out Friday afternoon?
Justin Lesnick: I put it out as soon as it happened. Like, I have thousands and thousands of customers who’ve been shopping here and supporting us since we opened. We’ve advertised locally through our Instagram, through Facebook, all over the media that we will be supplying our customers with Passover prepared food options by Ely’s. And now I have to go out and tell thousands and thousands of people that we can no longer do that. I didn’t expect this type of response and this type of support from the community, but hopefully, this will help Sobeys make the right decision and do what’s right, and fix what they did.
Ellin Bessner: Can you tell me what those orders look like? For example, is it like a Seder dinner with all the fixings, or is it like the takeout stuff that people pick up last minute?
Justin Lesnick: You know, every single Passover prepared food option that we were going to carry was planned with Ely’s.
Ellin Bessner: So, for example?
Justin Lesnick: And Sobeys knew that because they saw it in our flyers. That’s what makes this all the worse.
Ellin Bessner: Turkey? Meatballs?
Justin Lesnick: Everything. Every single thing that’s prepared in a kitchen was going to be provided to us by Ely’s.
Ellin Bessner: Can you tell me what financial hit that would be?
Justin Lesnick: It doesn’t matter. Large. Very large.
Ellin Bessner: This is your busiest time of year. That’s why you opened five months ago.
Justin Lesnick: Yeah, it’s not. It has nothing to do with money. It has to do with the fact that at the busiest time of the year, at the most important holiday of the year, for a demographic of customers who eat a certain type of food based on the religion, not just by choice, now, our local store, which caters directly to this kosher clientele, to the Jewish clientele, cannot provide our customers the food that they need, Not the food that they want. The food that they need for the most important holiday of the year.
Ellin Bessner: You’re doing this when the tariffs are on. And Passover food got a bit of an exemption from the tariffs, but, you know, not everything is exempt. How much worse does this impact your store? When you’re thinking about the last few weeks of getting Passover stuff here that’s affected by tariffs. So the pricing?
Justin Lesnick: Right, yeah, pricing hasn’t been affected. That’s not the issue right now. It’s literally just about servicing our customers, making sure they have everything they need for this holiday.
Ellin Bessner: Could you get everything you needed in terms of the dry goods or what have you before the tariffs?
Justin Lesnick: Yes, everything else is. Access to products has been great. All of our vendors have been great. All of our suppliers and local suppliers and small Jewish businesses that we work with and support, like Ely’s, have been amazing. And that’s really the backbone of this store. This is a community store. This store is very involved in the community. We give 1% back to the community. We’re involved with all the schools, all the synagogues, all the charitable organizations. That’s why this really hurts. Yeah, it doesn’t make sense. It really hurts.
Ellin Bessner: This is a good marketing thing too, because, you know, you’re busy now, right? So, I wonder why go public? It’s the Jewish community. People don’t usually wash dirty laundry.
Justin Lesnick: Yeah. We went public for a reason: to stand up to corporate bullying. It’s just unacceptable. Too many times things like this get swept under the rug, and people don’t see what happens behind the scenes. There’s a lot more to this story, and, you know, maybe it will get out, maybe it won’t, but I can only be pushed back into a wall for so long. My job is to protect my staff, protect my customers, protect my community. And there’s no chance that I will ever allow anyone, never mind just Sobeys, to get in my way of doing what I set out to do when we designed this store, when I had a dream to build this store. We have a lot of people involved, a lot of investors, a lot of supporters, and we have a mission. We have a mission to serve this community and give back to the community. And we’re not going to let someone like Sobeys or anybody stand in our way.
Ellin Bessner: So, nobody’s doing this to take you down because you’re like the David and Goliath type of thing?
Justin Lesnick: I don’t know.
Ellin Bessner: This isn’t a revenge thing?
Justin Lesnick: I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know.
Ellin Bessner: Is there anything you want the community to understand going forward? Are there layoffs going to happen, that you hired staff to do this now?
Justin Lesnick: If tonight is any reflection of what is going to be the result of recent actions by Sobeys, I think we’ll be perfectly fine. This just goes to show you the power of community and the strength of togetherness. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people. I think that moving forward, people are going to look and think differently on where they shop and how they shop. And I think that this is going to work out quite well for us. And, you know, I think good things happen to good people, and we’re trying to do good things, and I think things work themselves out.
Ellin Bessner: Okay, thanks so much for speaking to me on The CJN Daily.
Justin Lesnick: Perfect.
Ellin Bessner: Some customers said they came to Olive Branch that night especially motivated by what they’d learned on social media.
Hey, guys, I’m with The Canadian Jewish News. Did you ever shop there before, at Sobeys?
Customer 1: Very rarely. Very rarely shop at Sobeys, but because I saw that they were having a dispute, I said, tonight, I’m coming to Olive Branch.
Ellin Bessner: How do you guys feel about this?
Customer 1: If they really did tell the distributors not to sell to them, it’s terrible. And they should take them to a Din Torah. They should actually take it to a Jewish Beit Din, a Jewish court of law. And have them settle it there.
Ellin Bessner: Why do you think that’s the best solution?
Customer 1: Because it’s a Jewish issue.
Ellin Bessner: So you think that it was a good thing that he went public with this?
Customer’s husband: Yes, absolutely. For sure. You can’t keep something like this private, otherwise it festers. It’s better to be out in the public. People can hear about it, comment as we’re doing, and then people will decide.
Ellin Bessner: And what’s your opinion now? What do you think that you’re going to come here?
Customer’s husband: It’s a shame that it happened, but the fact that it did happen, it shouldn’t be this kind of animosity. We have enough sinat chinam. We have enough Jew hatred throughout the world. We don’t hear from ourselves. We should settle bestly, civilly, as best as possible, without any hardship.
Customer 1: And what they said, what the Olive Branch said, Sobeys. If they wanted the business, they should have had reduced their prices and said, come to us. They could have reduced their prices. They could have made some kind of deal that people could come shop with them. Nobody wins.
Customer’s husband: Menschlichkeit is important and wasn’t handled properly. That’s the part of the problem.
Customer 1: Especially so, so, so close to Pesach. I wasn’t planning on buying prepared foods from here, but there were people who were planning on buying prepared food. So what are they supposed to do now?
Ellin Bessner: What’s your opinion about it?
Customer 2: Terrible. It’s awful. And shouldn’t be allowed to do that. And I think that we should not go to Sobeys and come here. Is that good?
Ellin Bessner: Thank you.
I just want to know if you saw the posting that they said about Sobeys.
Customer 3: I don’t know about the rules and regulations in terms of competition, but I think they do exist. But people are allowed to shop where they want. Right? Like, if you go to buy furniture, you can go and shop and they could be the same manufacturer. The same thing is. For example, now, The Bay is different, but if you go to any grocery store and you shop for the same product, you can go and choose where you want to go. So here it’s as if Sobeys is trying to force people to not shop here, but shop there, in order to go for those companies that they have a contract with. And it doesn’t make sense. It never happens. Like, if you go to Costco, for example, you buy toilet paper. Charmin. You go to each store and you go and do your price check and that’s it. So you can shop around.
Ellin Bessner: What does this mean to the Jewish community when you have, right before Pesach, you have this ugly thing that comes out in the news?
Customer 3: Do they do that with any other culture? No. I’ve never seen it in the news or anything like that. So, like, right before this is too, too odd. And Sobeys is not owned by anybody that’s Jewish, as far as I know. Yeah. And it’s discriminating. And they’re forcing you. People have choices where they want to shop, who are they want to shop with.
Ellin Bessner: Does this mean you’re going to change your shopping habits now because of this?
Customer 3: I always come here anyways. But yeah, if I.
Ellin Bessner: But before they [Olive Branch was] open, where did you go?
Customer 3: Around Passover time, I would go there [Sobeys], but since they [Olive Branch] opened, I find that their products, their meat, it’s catered, right? And then if you need any kosher products that are not sold here and you want to give them the input, they bring it. They brought stuff from Israel. They brought some from the US that you can’t get at Sobeys. It’s a specialty store. It’s like Whole Foods. This is the only one in Canada that I’m aware of. So with everything happening now, you know, with the war and everything, like, it’s just too forcing us to. It doesn’t make sense. Especially now.
Ellin Bessner: While things were still hopping at Olive Branch, I drove over to Sobeys, it’s 1,500 metres away, to see how their Midnight Madness sales were going. It was 11:30 pm, but you could have thrown a bowling ball down the produce aisle and hit just one or two customers. However, the customers I did meet told me it was the hunt for the lowest prices that was their deciding factor. And both had already visited Olive Branch too.
What do you make of all this?
Customer 4 at Sobeys: Well, if what I heard was accurate, I don’t really feel it’s right, whatever has been done, but I think things have been done by both groups and really the Jewish community should come together. Yes, Olive Branch has been competition for Sobeys, but Sobeys kind of needed some competition, to be completely frank. And I don’t think it’s right what I’ve been told that they were doing, which I don’t want to get into specifics because maybe I’m not right about what I heard it was posted on Facebook. But really, the people managing these stores, everybody should come together instead of looking how to gouge the customer. The prices have become insane and people that are calling deals are not deals.
Ellin Bessner: So why did you come here tonight? You went to both?
Customer 4 at Sobeys: I went first here. They actually had a great sale on the Sally Lemon cake, which is what I was looking for. That was $15 less here at Sobeys. And the chicken soup. And I wanted to just see what else. I was out actually getting a warming plate at Israel’s on Doncaster. So I came back here and then…(Her phone rings)
Ellin Bessner: Okay, that’s you. You gotta answer the phone.
Okay, so I’m covering the story about the dispute. You saw what happened in the social media about Sobeys versus Olive Branch. What do you make of this? And why did you come to both?
Customer 5 outside Sobeys: I always come to Sobeys. Sobeys has been supporting the community for years and years and years. Everybody wants a deal on Passover, you know, so I’m gonna go to both stores. I think both stores should be around. Also who knows what the story is? I don’t know what the whole story is.
Ellin Bessner: Was it surprising to see it on Instagram or how did you see it?
Customer 5 outside Sobeys: I mean, I’m happy it was on Instagram. So many times we operate in the shadows and we keep things quiet and it’s important. You have to blow it up. Don’t let anybody push you around.
Ellin Bessner: Do you ever buy the prepared products?
Customer 5 outside Sobeys: We don’t buy any prepared food ever.
Ellin Bessner: You’re making everything?! Not even meatballs? Good for you.
Customer 5 outside Sobeys: I buy donuts.
Ellin Bessner: For Passover?
Customer 5 outside Sobeys: No. But we buy donuts, bread, whatever, like, stuff like that. But prepared food no.
Ellin Bessner: So who has better prices, this store or the other store?
Customer 5 outside Sobeys: I haven’t been inside here yet. I’m shocked that people are so quick to judge. When Olive Branch opened, they’re very nice there. Everybody’s very nice. Their customer service is amazing. They can use some help over here [at Sobeys]. But there’s also really nice people here. I come here, I know the meat guy, he knows what I want. “This is fresh. Look, we just got this.” You know? I’m just not extreme like that. It’s just not my style to just shop in one place.
I’m still gonna go to No Frills, and I’m still gonna go here, and I’m still gonna go to Costco, and I’m still gonna go to MVR. End of the day, they’re out for themselves, but I’m also out for myself, you know?
Ellin Bessner: Yeah. You have a big family?
Customer 5 outside Sobeys:I have three kids. So, yeah. I Have to organize. Especially now. Pessach. Prices are crazy. And when you work for the Jewish community, you also need to find a good deal, you know?
Ellin Bessner: What do you do?
Customer 5 outside Sobeys: [Laughing] I will not say.
Ellin Bessner: On Monday, Olive Branch announced they’d heard from Sobeys’ head office. They said apologies were given to them and to the affected kosher suppliers too, although we can’t confirm this. And the Olive Branch’s Passover take out counter? It’s back on.
But this case may not be over. Olive Branch is asking the federal Competition Bureau to investigate Sobeys’ alleged anti-competitive trade practices.
And that’s what Jewish Canada sounds like for this episode of The CJN Daily, made possible in part thanks to the generous support of the Ira Gluskin and Maxine Granovsky Gluskin Charitable Foundation.
We want to hear from you about this story. Write to us at [email protected].
Our show is produced by Zachary Judah Kauffman and Andrea Varsany. Our executive producer is Michael Fraiman. Editorial director is Marc Weisblott. And the music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Thanks for listening.
