The Ledger
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Replicating competitor products identically is easier than making better ones
“Our objective wasn't to make good onion rings. It was to make onion rings exactly the same as the competition, because then it's an easy sell. You don't have to have something unique, and that was not as easy as you would think, and we could make better tastin…”
Bragg refuses to grant company equity to non-family employees
“Family companies are great to work for, and we're going to pay you well, and you're going to feel very comfortable here, but there's no equity available, and too complicated with the finance structures if you start giving it away, and then if they want out, an…”
Parrish: John Bragg openly shares all funded blueberry research with competitors
“40 years ago, Bragg started funding research at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College, and he never stopped. They study everything from pollination to fungal diseases to vegetation management and berry composition. But here's the kicker that'll surprise you. Th…”
Bragg: Oxford processes half of the 300-million-pound wild blueberry industry
“When I started in the industry, the Wild Blue Ray industry was forty million pounds in total, and I hoped to do two of that. And today, the industry is over three hundred million, getting closer to four. And we do half of it.”
Bragg: High-Quality Manufacturing Costs Less Due to Lower Shrinkage and Waste
“Top quality doesn't necessarily cost, in fact, quite often, it's cheaper, because you have less product on the floor, and, Less shrinkage, and you're doing it all right, and the end product becomes better.”
Bragg: Eastlink and Oxford Frozen Foods have no obvious next big step
“We just gradually bought them, but there's nothing to buy anymore. I think about this. We have both our cable and food business that were both quite rapid growth businesses from really small cottage industries to professional companies. We've played that game,…”
Bragg: Agricultural processors must make supplier farmers efficient to succeed
“We not only have to have our own farm sufficient, we need the farmers sufficient.”
Bragg: European Blueberry Producers Cannot Compete and Are Disappearing
“We have, like, jam manufacturers that one of the biggest in the world is Andros in France, and they'll only use European blueberries, which are a different species again, or our wild blueberries. And Europeans can't compete with us because they're still a cott…”
Bragg: Businesses historically operated almost fully levered to fund growth
“We haven't shied away from using debt, although today our balance sheets are in great shape, but through the years we've always been, what I would say, almost fully levered,”
Bragg: First factory ran only 100,000 pounds against two-million-pound capacity
“Having built a factory and all, and geared it up to run two million pounds, and we ran I don't know, a 100,000. There just was no crop.”
Oxford Frozen Foods processes 140 million pounds of blueberries annually
“Oxford Frozen Foods John's Company's processes a hundred and forty million pounds a year.”
Parrish: Over 700 Bragg harvesters were sold unpatented across the blueberry industry
“They've sold over 700 of these harvesters now, about a hundred to Oxford, and the rest to competitors and other growers. But here's what separates John Bragg from ordinary businessmen. He didn't patent this invention.”
Bragg: Oxford Frozen Foods is the largest beekeeper in Nova Scotia
“We're the largest beekeeper in Nova Scotia by far, and one of the largest in Canada, because we couldn't get the bees, so we had to start our own apiary.”
Bragg: Oxford Frozen Foods' Advantage Is Operating Across Three Microclimates
“Our advantage is that we are in three, three different microclimates.”
Oxford produced McCain onion rings under a one-page agreement for 50 years
“We had a one-page agreement, which I still have, which gave us the exclusive right to make onion rings under the McCain label in Canada, and we've been doing that for over 50 years”
Bragg: Oxford paid up to 2x market price for 3,000 carrot acres
“We bought About 3000 acres of carrot land in the Annapolis Valley at premium prices. Why would you pay premium? We need to secure the base. That's where we grow our carrots, and we were, you know, doubling the production of carrots, so we need the land base, i…”