C3302 - Wholesale food establishments and cannabis wholesalers

Operational Details
Food wholesalers purchase canned and packaged goods from food producers and food manufacturers. The products are received and off loaded by staff and stacked in pallet loads in a warehouse. When an order is received, the products are distributed by either their own transport, or shipped by third party carrier, to retail stores.

Pallets can be broken down into cases or smaller packages. Warehouse workers also re-package orders as required. As an example, a large grocery or chain store would request a large volume order. This means the pallets would not have to be broken down. However, another grocery store in a smaller community might only require 3-4 cases from one of the pallets and a convenience store may only order 6-8 packages. The handling of the product inside the warehouse is a major business undertaking. A wholesaler uses forklifts to move and segregate the products.

The amount of movement or “picks” as they are referred to in the industry, makes a food wholesaler more labour intensive than an appliance wholesaler, who requires much less movement of products to complete a sale.

Ordering, loading and off loading, stacking and stocking are ongoing activities in this industry. Fresh produce and dairy products are also ordered and stored in refrigerated store rooms until they are to be delivered to the retail customer.

Cannabis wholesalers will purchase dried cannabis from federally-licensed producers that are registered to supply the Saskatchewan market. Wholesalers must physically operate in Saskatchewan, and will only be able to sell their product to registered retail locations. SGLA issues the licenses to wholesalers.
Cannabis wholesalers will retail and distribute products to retailers in SK. They will operate from a warehouse. They will have inventory management and sales tracking systems in place along with strict security measures.
Cannabis is also referred to as marijuana.

SIC Codes
000000238 - Wholesale food establishment
000001038 - Cannabis wholesalers