BCBusiness

26 | BC B U S I N E SS NOVEM B ER/ D ECEM B ER 2025 ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR THE KICKOFF: Kirk Homenick's path to leading snack manufacturer Natu- rally Homegrown Foods began in his youth with his family's franchise bottling company. As a child, it was Homenick's dream to become the third generation to run it—but when PepsiCo backward integrated and bought up their soft drink bottlers, he had to find his own path. His first impression of Naturally Homegrown Foods was that it felt just like his family business—and taking it on felt right. As a kid, Homenick spent weekends and summers around the business—sorting bottles or acting as a helper on delivery trucks. "It really spoke to me about owner- ship and accountability," Homenick says. "[My father and grandfather] owned their decisions and lived with the consequences." That work ethic stuck—reinforced years later on the basketball court, where his university coach drilled a similar idea into him: If it is to be, it's up to me. ACTION PLAN: When Homenick stepped in as president and partial shareholder in 2011, Naturally Homegrown Foods was losing money. Within weeks, their third-largest customer announced it was dropping NHF products—citing slow sales. But Homenick saw the long game. "I believed that there was a huge opportunity for Hardbite to become Canada's kettle chip," he says. Hardbite—NHF's anchor brand—was reimagined through a bold rebrand, swapping dated pack- aging for visuals of B.C. landmarks like Vancouver's seawall and Tofino's beaches. "Snack is such an impulse-driven category... nobody was really owning the local regional market," Homenick explains. Pairing the refresh with investments in automa- tion for consistency and quality control, Homenick grew Hardbite from a Western Canada favourite to a nationwide brand, eventually shipping to 11 export markets. In 2024, NHF expanded beyond chips with the launch of Poptastic, its ready-to-eat popcorn line, which quickly gained traction in the better-for-you snack aisle. CLOSING STATEMENT: When Homenick took the reins, NHF had next to no sales. Over the past 14 years, without a single acquisition, the company has grown at an impressive 34 percent CAGR. The growth has been powered by relentless reinvest- ment—NHF has moved and expanded operations twice, scaling production to become the largest independently owned kettle-chip producing facility in Canada. Now, its B.C. factory is running around the clock just to keep up, and a second plant in Ontario—opening in 2026— will double capacity while deepening the brand's foothold in Eastern Canada and export markets (which currently include the U.S., Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Australia.) "Our success has been rooted in that early-day mentality of being innovative, responsive and agile," Homenick shares. This year's seasonal lineup says it all—think hickory barbecue potato sticks, turkey stuffing-flavoured chips and strawberry margarita popcorn. Now, with a new health-fo- cused line on the horizon, the snack aisle standout is set to get its teeth into even bigger bites of the market.–M.A. Your favourite Hardbite flavour? Spicy Dill Pickle. An embarrassing obsession? Sneakers—especially large-size sneakers, since I'm a size 16. My kids would probably list five more! RAPID FIRE PACIFIC REGIONAL WINNER Kirk Homenick PR ES I D ENT, N ATU R A LLY H O M E G R OW N FO O D S

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