m & m food market ltd. formerly called m & m meat shops 1980 2016 type privately owned industry frozen food retailer founded kitchener ontario canada 1980 founders michael voisin mark nowak headquarters kitchener ontario canada website mmfoodmarket.com m & m food market french les aliments m & m formerly known as m & m meat shops is a canadian frozen food retail chain . the company is headquartered in kitchener ontario and has locations in all ten provinces the yukon and northwest territories ; the company formerly had operations in the midwestern united states under the mymenu brand that between 2008 and 2013 . contents 1 origin 2 growth 2.1 loyalty program 2.2 private takeover 2.3 name and format change 3 charity bbq day and corporate sponsorship 4 awards and recognition 5 mymenu 6 references 7 external links origin edit m & m was founded by michael mac voisin and mark nowak in kitchener ontario in 1980 . voisin and nowak s original business model was to provide good quality meat at lower prices . the partners discovered that flash frozen meats retained their freshness but because they could be stored over a longer term could be sold at a price comparable to supermarket meats . citation needed m & m locations are generally small outlets in strip malls consisting of several freezers and a counter acting as a point of sale . store employees are known as meal advisors who are trained to assist customers by suggesting products and meal ideas . in addition to the head office in kitchener m & m has regional offices in montreal quebec and calgary alberta . growth edit m & m opened its first new franchise in nearby cambridge ontario in 1982 . mac s brother and co owner greg voisin became director of franchising in the mid 1980s . since then it has expanded to over 425 stores across canada . m & m entered quebec in 1992 and in 1997 it entered the western provinces by acquiring the business of jeffrey s food based in edmonton alberta in 1993 . m & m opened its first store in yukon in 2004 at whitehorse and in the northwest territories in 2006 yellowknife . some of mac s family members including guy voisin also work for the company . citation needed although it originally focused on cuts of meat it has expanded its offerings to prepared meals appetizers pizza pasta seafood desserts and single servings including meatless items to appeal to vegetarians . loyalty program edit in 2001 m & m launched the max rewards loyalty program that would give members entries special pricing in store and entries into exclusive contests . it is not a points based program but rather rewards customers with special in store sale pricing not available to other customers . over time the program grew to include special reward vouchers periodically available for over 8 million max members and special email offers sent through the emax newsletter . 1 private takeover edit in july 2014 the brand was assumed by private investment firm searchlight capital partners l.p. and partners . searchlight appointed a chief executive officer andy o brien and a chief financial officer sam florio . 2 name and format change edit in march 2016 m & m meat shops announced that they would change their name to m & m food market . with the name change came a broadening of m & m s selection beyond frozen meats to include sushi fish tacos frozen produce and other healthier selections . the company also indicated plans to expand m & m to 500 locations by 2019 along with revamped store layouts that remove the service counter that separates customers from the freezers . 3 charity bbq day and corporate sponsorship edit charity bbq day is m & m meat shops biggest charity event that is held annually on the saturday before mother s day . charity bbq day supports the ccfc the crohn s and colitis foundation of canada by raising funds for research through the sale of hamburgers and hot dogs for a minimum donation 4 charity bbq day first started in 1989 when the founder of m & m meat shops mac voisin wanted to give back to the community . he decide to support the ccfc to help raise funds and support research into ibd inflammatory bowel disease . ibd has no know cause or cure and canada has among the highest reported prevalence of ibd in the world 5 in 25 years m & m meat shops has raised more than 24.3 million for medical research dedicated to finding a cure for ibd . 6 m & m meat shops holds other fundraising events through the year to support the ccfc such as regional golf tournaments the sale of charity bbq day penguins blossoms and coupon books and by sponsoring the gutsy walk and providing support in the form of bbqs in many event locations across the country . 7 m & m meat shops has also been a long time sponsor of the canadian junior curling championships and is a full sub sponsor to the cca s season of champions . 8 during the season of champions m & m holds a contest where the grand prize is a trip to see the next year s world juniors . awards and recognition edit m & m meat shops have won numerous awards over the years such as a gold frankie award from the canadian franchise association for excellence in advertising internet website design in 2008 . 9 in 2013 m & m meat shops successfully re qualified for the 7th consecutive year platinum as one of canada s 50 best managed companies sponsored by deloitte cibc commercial banking national post and queen s school of business . 10 m & m meat shops has also twice held the world record for longest sausage first in 1983 and again in may 1995 with a 46.3 km 28.8 mi sausage produced in conjunction with schneider foods . mymenu edit in 2008 m & m ventured outside canada for the first time opening stores in the midwestern united states under the banner mymenu the name m & m a trademark of the mars corporation could not legally be used in the u.s. . other than the new name chosen to reflect a from the ground up operation that helps people put menus together mymenu stores were similar in design and layout to the m & m locations in canada featuring freezers a sales counter and the blue and orange m & m color scheme . 11 the company started with 8 original mymenu stores 5 in the madison wisconsin market and 3 in fort wayne indiana ; these were considered test market locations with the company hoping to convert them to franchise ownership before adding franchises in other midwestern markets . 12 a difficult economic climate that affected sales and franchise financing efforts prompted mymenu to close 2 of its madison stores in early 2010 13 and all of its remaining madison and fort wayne stores in early 2011 . despite this setback mymenu continued operations and changed its focus to co branding opportunities with established retailers in existing locations ; the first co branding effort was the october 2010 launch of stand alone mymenu departments at three locations of general merchandise retailer the andersons in toledo maumee and columbus ohio . 14 by march 2013 all united states efforts including co branding were discontinued with the mymenu.com website indicating that the company was no longer operating in the u.s. 15 references edit m & m meat shops faq thestar.com m & m meat shops taken over by private investment firm 30 jul 2014 m & m meat shops expands offerings changes name in bid to lure customers from the globe and mail 3 15 2016 press release pay a little eat a lot to raise money for research on charity bbq day saturday may 11 2013 http www.charitybbqday.com media news release.pdf fact sheet a long standing partnership m & m meat shops and crohn s and colitis foundation of canada april 1 2013 http www.cfa.ca files pdf membermediareleases may2013 mmcharitybbq.pdf m & m meat shops raises 1.2 million for the crohn s and colitis foundation of canada may 15 2013 http www.charitybbqday.com media partnership fact sheet.pdf a long standing partnership april 1 2013 http www.curling.ca blog 2011 10 27 mm meat shops extends title sponsorship of canadian juniors m & m meat shops extends title sponsorship of canadian juniors october 27 2011 m & m meat shops awards and recognition canada s best 20 years of searching for our brightest stars from financial post 2 26 2013 m & m meat shops expands into u.s. from toronto star 7 30 2008 mymenu offers fresh take on frozen meals from madison.com 7 31 2008 mymenu to close two local stores but will look for two new franchise locations from wisconsin state journal 2 23 2010 source 10 12 2010 press release on prnewswire.com mymenu website indicating closure external links edit m & m food market website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title m % 26m food market & oldid 743697896 categories food and drink companies of canadafranchisescompanies based in kitchener ontariohidden categories articles containing french language textall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from april 2014 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 10 october 2016 at 19 36 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view