It began in 1951 as an open-air fruit and vegetable stand in Toronto’s east end and grew into Canada’s largest independently owned retail food chain. The success story of Knob Hill Farms is a tribute to its founder Steve Stavro, and to this fertile land of opportunity once known as Upper Canada.

Forty years after its humble beginning, Knob Hill Farms boasts the largest retail food outlets in the world because Stavro jumped from the open-air markets and small stores right past the supermarket stage and developed what he called “retail food terminals.” The Cambridge/Waterloo Food Terminal, Knob Hill’s eighth which opened in August 1991, is just under eight acres in size and sits on a 25-acre property with parking for over 1,000 cars.

But the success of Knob Hill Farms is more than thinking big and working hard. It is the story of productive innovation, efficiency and “the smarts.” Walk around any one of his Food Terminals with Steve Stavro and he can point out many innovations that have been initiated at Knob Hill Farms to cut down on food handling and reduce costs which, in turn, allow Knob Hill to pass on savings to its customers. Although Stavro has masterminded this success, he is quick to credit his family and his staff. His wife, Sally, and three of their four daughters all work in the business. Many of his employees have been with him since the early days because the man engenders a two-way type of loyalty and his people take great pride in their jobs and their company. “Allegiance” is a very fitting word around Knob Hill Farms Limited.
 

1. Sally and Steve Stavro with Their Honours, Yvonne Alexander and Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander, signing the guest book at the August 1991 opening of Knob Hill Farms Cambridge/ Waterloo Food Terminal; 2. The magnificent, three columned Knob Hill fountain, reaching 65 feet into the sky, and the gigantic Food Terminal quickly became Cambridge landmarks.

From a business viewpoint, Knob Hill Farms is into “regional marketing” which was part of Stavro’s visionary move when he created his first Food Terminal in 1963. He correctly theorized that such a larger, more efficient outlet would draw customers from outside the immediate community where the Terminal was located. Today, the Cambridge/ Waterloo Food Terminal regularly draws shoppers from within an 80 kilometre radius. Stavro refers to that Food Terminal as “my Canadian dream come true” because he realizes that he was in the right place at the right time when he decided to turn his food marketing dreams into reality.

He and his family came from Europe in 1934 but quickly became proud Canadians. He remembers marching in the 24th of May parade carrying the Union Jack when he was only ten years old. “The flag was so big that I got blown over,” he recalls. “Here I was—so proud to be the flag bearer—then so embarrassed when this happened to me with what was then Canada’s flag.”

Then he adds, “We are blessed with a land of opportunity, with stable government and quality people. I tip my hat to the person who wrote that promotional slogan, Ontario—is there any place you’d rather be?”