Insights From Sam Canning: The Year of Change!

Over the last few years I was fixated on building value in the business and creating a polished, well rounded, self-managing business with a sharp moral compass and credentials to match. Towards the end of 2023 it became clear to me that this model was not sustainable, and most of the positive steps we were taking (on paper) were to the detriment of the health of the business. B-Corp, Carbon Neutral, renewable energy, 1% For The Planet, a role in head office for every conceivable function, and Cannings branded cupcakes for good measure. My vision of a mindful, purpose driven butchery business had become overly complex and misaligned with who I was and what I wanted my business to be. Not only that, from a cash flow perspective, things were getting tighter, and tighter and tighter. Intervention was required, and it wasn't going to be easy!

In Feb 2024, I made the decision to reduce the head office from a team of eight, down to a team of two (plus myself) to get back to our roots as a small, agile and tight knit team. I also decided to discontinue our external certifications such as B Corp and Carbon Neutral, close our resource intensive online store, sell our two poorer performing stores (Burwood and Toorak), reintroduce cash, and I jumped, wholeheartedly, back into the nitty gritty details such as pricing and product sourcing myself, to a point that would deliver Cannings back to a position of health.

Now, on the better side of these significant changes, and with the unwavering support of YOU, our beloved clientele, Cannings' seven remaining stores and the business as a whole is trending well. We have pulled through another tough time and I'm again reminded of what a blessing it is to be at the helm of such a resilient business. With my current mantra being something akin to 'simplify, simplify, simply', rest assured that just like the Good Ol' Days in Hawthorn, Cannings remains true to the core philosophy—It's free range or nothing!, and we continue to select our suppliers carefully whilst ensuring they're held accountable to their claims around free range standards, what the animals are fed, what they are vaccinated with and any other medical interventions that they may have been subjected to. Being the most reliable and trustworthy source of genuine free range produce is our fundamental and enduring purpose!

Something I'm reading at the moment, which I felt compelled to share. We are not the highest version of ourselves that we can imagine, we are the lowest version of ourselves that we can accept. In other words: Your possibilities are infinite if you make your aspirations non-negotiable.