President's Choice® is encouraging Canadians to pledge to make eating together a top resolution in 2019

BRAMPTON, ON, Jan. 2, 2019 /CNW/ - As Canadians finalize their New Year's resolutions, President's Choice® is calling for 'eating together' to be added to their lists. With the PC Eat Together™ movement, the brand continues its journey to inspire more Canadians to get back to the table, demonstrating the social power of sharing a meal.

According to a national survey conducted by President's Choice® (PC®) *, 92 percent of Canadians want to spend more time enjoying a meal with loved ones. However, many are guilty of prioritizing screen time and viewing the incredible moments of others over the incredible moments in front them: almost 1 in 3 Canadians (29 percent) admit to spending more than four hours of their free time engaging with screens each day; while 43 percent say they spend less than one hour each day enjoying a meal with friends and family.

"The act of eating together is very simple, yet the positive impacts are significant," says Uwe Stueckmann, Senior Vice President, Marketing, Loblaw Companies Limited. "We know moments and memories are created while sharing meals together, conversations are created with our children, healthier meals are eaten, and we leave the table happier and more connected with the ones we love."

To encourage Canadians to recognize the power of sharing a meal, PC® has released its third PC Eat Together™ film a 90-second film inspired by philosopher Alan Watts' The Dream of Life chronicling people who are striving to meet society's standards of what it means to live life to the fullest. The film wraps by underscoring that for most, the greatest moments in life are not those captured in that quest, but the ones that take place around the table with family and friends.

With a limited-run in cinema, and airing December 31^st, the film is designed to influence New Year's resolution lists and encourage all Canadians to Eat Together. The film is the first in a series of activities that PC® will undertake in 2019 to support Eat Together, leading up to the third annual Eat Together Day on June 14, 2019.

New this year is the introduction of the PC Eat Together™ pledge (pc.ca/eattogether), where every time a Canadian commits to Eat Together, $1.00** will be donated to the PC® Children's Charity™ to help children in need eat together with their friends and families.

About Loblaw Companies Limited:
Loblaw Companies Limited is Canada's food and pharmacy leader, the nation's largest retailer, and the majority unit holder of Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust. Loblaw provides Canadians with grocery, pharmacy, health and beauty, apparel, general merchandise, financial services, and wireless mobile products and services. With more than 2,400 corporate, franchised and Associate-owned locations, Loblaw, its franchisees, and Associate-owners employ almost 200,000 full and part-time employees, making it one of Canada's largest private sector employers.

Loblaw's purpose – Live Life Well® – puts first the needs and well-being of Canadians who make one billion transactions annually in the companies' stores. Loblaw is positioned to meet and exceed those needs in many ways: convenient locations; more than 1,050 grocery stores that span the value spectrum from discount to specialty; full-service pharmacies at more than 1,400 Shoppers Drug Mart® and Pharmaprix® locations and more than 500 Loblaw locations; PC Financial® financial services; affordable Joe Fresh® fashion and family apparel; and three of Canada's top consumer brands in Life Brand®, no name® and President's Choice®. Through the PC Plus® and Shoppers Optimum® loyalty programs, more than one in every three Canadians are rewarded for shopping with the companies.

About the President's Choice® Survey:
From Wednesday, December 12 to Thursday, December 13, 2018, an online survey of 1,510 randomly selected adult Canadians who are Maru Voice Canada panelists was executed by Maru/Blue. For comparison purposes, a probability sample of this size has an estimated margin of error (which measures sampling variability) of +/- 2.4%, 19 times out of 20. The results have been weighted by education, age, gender and region (and in Quebec, language) to match the population, according to Census data. This is to ensure the sample is representative of the entire adult population of Canada. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.

SOURCE Loblaw Companies Limited

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