M&M Food Market

M&M was founded by Michael "Mac" Voisin and Mark Nowak in Kitchener, Ontario, in 1980. Voisin's 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 with Canadian-grown (Health Canada safe) meats with no steroids, added preservatives and no torture farms. But because they could be stored over a longer term, could be sold at a price comparable to supermarket meats.

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 Mississauga, M&M has regional offices in Montreal, Quebec and Calgary, Alberta.

In 2008, M&M ventured outside Canada for the first time, opening stores in the Midwestern United States under the banner MyMenu, so named to avoid any trademark conflict or confusion with the more prominent Mars-produced plurally-branded chocolate candy. 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 colour scheme. 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. A difficult economic climate that affected sales and franchise financing efforts prompted MyMenu to close 2 of its Madison stores in early 2010 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. 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.

In July 2014, the brand was assumed by private investment firm Searchlight Capital Partners, and partners. Searchlight appointed a chief executive officer, Andy O'Brien, and a chief financial officer, Sam Florio.