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But it’s no surprise that food — even beyond the business of fresh-baked bread and cakes — has always been at the heart of the family-owned conglomerate, whose strength lies in the solidity of its business units. The Loblaw retail grocery business, acquired in the late 1940s, has remained resilient over the years as it has grown to become the country’s biggest supermarket chain despite periods of struggle. The retailer was even teetering on the verge of bankruptcy in 1972, but it was thriving a decade later after a strong executive team revamped its stores and introduced now-classic lines of private-label goods, No Name and President’s Choice. Loblaw also suffered in the mid-2000s when it tried to tackle Walmart Canada Corp. (FP500 No. 16) head on by opening massive superstores. The effort produced a loss in 2006, the company’s first in 19 years. But it was able to rebound quickly by renewing its focus on food and shoring up its supply chain.

At the helm sits one of Canada’s richest families, the Westons.

Current executive chairman W. Galen Weston is the grandson of the original bakery’s owner and the company’s majority owner. The deputy chair is his son, Galen G. Weston, who is also executive chairman and president of Loblaw. But the family has had a knack for tapping the right leaders at the right time to head the conglomerate’s business units.

“Over the years the Westons have been very decisive and have made rational decisions in tough times,” says food industry expert Sylvain Charlebois, dean of the Faculty of Management at Dalhousie University in Halifax. “In food, you have to adapt very quickly — things change every single day. Loblaw went from trying to replicate what Walmart was doing to creating their own identity around food. That comes through developing different channels and diverse stores.”