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bcbusiness.ca 50 BCBusiness July 2014 nick krasZnai When she announced her imminent departure in June 2013, shares in the company were hit hard, and they failed to scramble back dur- ing the months before she left for good in January. Day helped turn Lululemon into one of the sexiest companies in existence (though the story got a little too sexy for the markets when a line of yoga pants proved overly transparent). Nor was this Day's first shot at help- ing to run an "of the moment" company. She did much the same thing at her pre- vious posting, as the third employee and ultimately second in command at Star- bucks. Now, Sidwell— who may just turn out to be Vancouver's next Chip Wilson—has hired the 51-year-old to per- form a similar magic act at his own startup, which happens to have the decidedly Lulu name of Luvo. In just two years, the Atlanta- he adqu a r tered but R ichmond, B.C.-run Luvo Inc. has already come a long way, even if most British Colum- bians have never tasted its wares, and aren't likely to until some- time late this year. Put simply, the new com- pany is trying to do the same thing for frozen and prepared food that Lululemon did for yogawear and Star- bucks for coffee: transform flatbreads and freezer packs from prosaic com- modities into holistic lifestyle choices and symbols of enlightened aspiration. So Luvo will be Day's third stint at a just-out-of-the-gate company with designs on changing the commercial world. Each of the other two not only succeeded but did so at a blinding rate of speed. Does she think that Luvo has similar potential? In a word, yes. "There's an oppor- tunity to transform an industry," she says. "Not only how people eat, but how things are grown. My concern is not moving fast enough. I think this is an industry where the consumer is actually ahead, particularly of the big legacy players. So what you're seeing is a bunch of small startups." Already Luvo products are available at 7,000 U.S. retailers, while an institu- tional arm has put Luvo entrees onto Delta Airline jets, with schools and hos- pitals to follow. The privately held com- pany has a lineup of celebrity endorsers that includes actress Jennifer Garner, Pittsburgh Steelers star Troy Polamalu, wellness author Dr. Mark Hyman and New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, who is in his last season as per- haps the greatest baseball player of the past two decades and says he wants to help the company develop a line of active nut r it ion pro duc t s (he's described by the company as a "brand development officer"). Canadians will get their own chance to buy Luvo steel-cut oatmeal, quinoa wraps and veg- gie burritos by the end of the year, says Day, just as soon as local sup- pliers can be lined up. Suffice to say that t h i ngs a re mov i ng quickly—and with con- siderable narrative flair. Almost every firm likes to talk about its story these days, but Luvo is the kind of company where the word gets used a lot. Fortunately, it's an interesting story. Founder Stephen Sidwell has dual U.S./Canadian citizenship and grew up commuting between B.C. and Idaho. On the U.S. side his family had the very Idahoan profile of being the owners of a large potato operation. Up here, their identity was similarly iconic, as part- ners in the Gang Ranch, near Clinton— for a time the largest ranch in North America. In 2001 he founded Devante Capital, where he remains CEO, even if Luvo is currently monopolizing 100 Put simply, the new company is trying to do the same thing for frozen and pre- pared food that Lululemon did for yogawear and Starbucks for coffee: transform flatbreads and freezer packs from prosaic commodi- ties into holistic lifestyle choices p048-055-Luvo_july.indd 50 2014-05-29 3:58 PM