Michael Medline

Michael Medline has served as President and CEO of Empire Company Limited since 2017. Empire is the parent company of Sobeys Inc., which operates approximately 1,500 stores across Canada under banners including Sobeys, Safeway, FreshCo, Farm Boy, Foodland, IGA, and Thrifty Foods. It is Canada's second-largest food retailer behind Loblaw Companies. Medline was brought in to fix a company in crisis — Empire's 2013 acquisition of Safeway Canada's western Canadian stores had been poorly integrated, customer satisfaction was declining, and margins lagged behind competitors. He launched Project Horizon in 2020, a three-year initiative focused on store network optimization, supply chain improvements, private label expansion (the Compliments brand), and e-commerce through the Voilà online grocery delivery platform powered by Ocado technology. Project Horizon delivered significant margin improvements, and Medline followed it with Project Horizons Next, targeting further gains through customer-focused initiatives, digital acceleration, and operational efficiency. His key challenges include competing with Loblaw and Costco in a Canadian grocery market facing affordability pressures, managing food inflation pass-through, expanding the Voilà e-commerce platform despite high delivery costs, and growing the higher-margin Farm Boy specialty format. Medline's decisions on capital allocation, store renovation investment, and competitive pricing strategy are the primary stock drivers.