"This is the worst relationship I've ever seen in my couple of decades in retail," he told a virtual talk with the
"I don't think it's healthy … some of these behaviours are just plain bad for
Medline said the practice of having a small handful of large grocers impose fees on suppliers risks hurting farmers, consumers and "mom and pop" food retailers in
"We negotiate and communicate and discuss things with our supplier partners," Medline said. "Sometimes supplier partners aren't going to like what they hear and sometimes we won't. But across-the-board goring of each other does not work."
Medline said he is now open to a code of conduct for the grocery industry.
"I think it's time that we got together as an industry and had a set of very simple value driven ground rules so that we don't get in this mess and we have a very healthy food supply chain," he said.
Medline said the code of conduct would have to be fair and apply to all grocers and suppliers.
"It has to cut both ways," he said. "Suppliers need to also promise to play fair."
Last week,
Citing plans to improve its in-store and digital operations over the next five years, the grocery giant said existing charges for delivery would go up, and a new 1.2 per cent fee would be introduced.
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