The Knob Hill Farms success story revolves around its founder Steve Stavro who went from a corner store to impact upon the entire retail food market business in Canada's largest city.

Stavro was born in Gavro, a village in the Macedonian section of Greece. Shortly after Steve's birth, his father, Atanas, left for Canada to seek a new life for his family. In 1930, in Toronto's east end, Atanas opened up Louis Meat Market. A few years later his wife Tsveta and sons, Chris and Steve, joined him in Canada.

Young Steve began helping his dad in the store, and recalls some of his father's advice. "Dad taught Chris, myself and our sister Gloria, to listen to customers and respect them. 'They're not customers just for today. They're customers for 52 weeks of the year,'he'd say." Steve was a good scholar, but left high school to go fulltime in the family grocery store. In his teens he persuaded his father to buy a bigger store previously occupied by a competitor closed by a fire.

"It cost dad more to fix up the store than it did to buy it, and he wasn't too pleased with me for talking him into it. But when we opened an& sales were over three times what they'd been in the smaller store, he changed his mind." In 1951, in partnership with his dad and brother, Steve purchased the southwest corner at Queen and Coxwell and set up an open-air fruit and vegetable market. He christened it Knob Hill Farms, cutting the sign out of plywood himself. Then in 1954 he went on his own with his first Knob Hill Farms supermarket on Danforth near Logan. It was bigger than the 'family stores' because Steve wanted to compete with the dominant chains. By the late 1950's Stavro had built up a Knob Hill Farms chain of four open air markets and five stores.

It was a remarkable expansion but Stavro saw weaknesses in the supermarket system. Remembering the words of Alexander the Great who said, "The end and perfection of our victories is to avoid the vices and infirmities of those whom we subdue," Stavro decided to avoid the pitfalls of his competitors.

Finding the supermarket system inefficient and too costly, Stavro conceived a new marketing strategy to provide his customers—the people his father taught him to listen to - with quality foods at lower prices. His new idea was "regional marketing through food terminals". He sold all his stores to employees, and in 1962 opened one very large store in Markham.

Stavro's plan was to have producers bring their food directly to his location, and to sell straight out of the boxes and baskets in which it arrived, eliminating the handling charges of warehousing and wholesaling. By reducing costs, his Knob Hill Farms Food Terminal could sell at lower prices, and the strategy quickly impacted upon Toronto's retail food business. Encouraged by this success, a second Knob Hill Farms Food Terminal was opened in Pickering in 1971 just east of Toronto.
 

1. Young Steve Stavro in front of his father's store. 2. Openair market with first Knob Hill Farms sign. 3. Knob Hill Farms North York Food Terminal (325, 000 square feet) the largest independently owned food-only' market in the world. 4. Steve Stavro and wife, Sally, at 1986 opening of Knob Hill Farms North York Food Terminal. [Photos 3 and 4/Roger Ferguson]

But Stavro, had yet to realize his dream of railroad cars pulling right into his Knob Hill Farms and the food, offloaded on skids, being sold directly to his customers. That came in 1975 when Knob Hill Farms opened its Central Food Terminal in Toronto, with direct access by rail and 140,000 square feet, making it then North America's largest retail food outlet.

In 1977 Knob Hill Farms Harbour Food Terminal opened with rail and dockside access on Toronto's waterfront and, in 1978, Knob Hill Farms Mississauga Food Terminal. "Regional marketing" is how Stavro describes his mega approach to food retailing. "The corner store served customers nearby. The supermarket drew customers from an entire neighbourhood. But our food terminals draw from a 20 mile radius." Stavro's theory is clearly demonstrated east of Toronto in Oshawa where Knob Hill Farms' 256,000 square foot OshawaDurham Food Terminal opened in 1983, serving the entire city and surrounding communities.

Then, in 1986, the North York Food Terminal was opened with a mammoth 325,000 square feet, including a meat counter over 500 feet long, and a mural 1,400 feet long depicting the story of food from the beginning of time. This spectacular food terminal serves the entire north west sector of Metro Toronto.

The Knob Hill Farms success story has not gone unnoticed. Stavro's innovative approaches to the food industry have become the focus of food marketing studies around the world. Acclaimed as a genius in the food industry, he refutes that saying, "I'm no genius. I just listen to the market and do what it tells me!" Although futuristic in food marketing, Stavro relishes the past in his private life, studying history and collecting works of art. He treasures his Macedonian heritage, but he is very much a proud Canadian.

As a youth Stavro played soccer and hockey, and he still loves sports. Knob Hill Farms is a charter sponsor of Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, and a very strong supporter of Canadian amateur sport. Stavro is a director of Maple Leaf Gardens, a trustee of the Ontario jockey Club, and his Knob Hill Farms racing stable operates in Ontario and Kentucky. Recognized as a sportsman, a generous humanitarian, and a patron of the arts, Stavro has received many awards for his assistance to worthy causes. His wife, Sally, from her desk at the head office, administers the details of the many charitable and public service projects which Knob Hill Farmssupports. Daughters Constance, Elaine, Deborah, and Stephanie have all worked in the organization too. Son-in-law Bill Giamos, and future son-inlaw Howard Wood are also key people in the operation. Thus, Knob Hill Farms is still a family affair, even though it employs over 2,000 people, some with over 30 years service.

"Canada offers unlimited opportunities to people who really want to work and provide quality goods or services," says Stavro. And he adds with an engaging smile, "And I see some very exciting new ways to market food on the horizon which I'll be trying very soon."