With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/325830
Illinois—some owned by the company, some of them franchise operations. Mark Bittman, the prominent New York Times columnist and proponent of healthier eating, visited and went away impressed by both the food and the operation, wondering if it was des- tined to become "the Whole Foods of Fast Food." Within months of that first restaurant, Lyfe announced the launch of a frozen and packaged food line, Lyfe Kitchen Retail, to be sold initially at Bay Area Costcos. The goal with the new at-home line was to deliver the kind of nutrient- dense, fat- and sodium-reduced dishes that Ford had provided for Sidwell, while keeping calories below 500 per serving. To enhance and differenti- ate the cooked product, the restaurant team had already developed a technique in which entrees were cooked inside a paper pouch modelled on the French en papillote technique. Steamed in their own juices, dishes retained more of their nutrients, colours and flavours. As a side benefit, the method reduced packaging, eliminating things like foil and plastic, and made for a product that could be slid out of its pouch and onto a plate, ready to serve. The Lyfe Kitchen line had all the makings of a nice little off-Broadway hit, but Sidwell harboured bigger aspi- rations, and late last year a reorganiza- tion was announced. Sidwell retained his interest in Lyfe Kitchen, along with CEO Mike Roberts, but the retail arm was split into a separate company in which Roberts had no financial inter- est (Sidwell remains majority owner). "It became very evident that the retail products were in high demand," says Sidwell. "And because of our unique patented tech- nology, it would allow for very fast expansion in mul- tiple channels at the same time. And we didn't want to create confusion with our franchisees or with the consumer." The new retail name was Luvo—which, accord- ing to the Urban Diction- ary, describes people who take good care of themselves and oth- ers, though also those slightly less won- derful people who love themselves just a little too much. Nothing about that bothered buyers at major supermarket chains such as Kroger's and Target, however. In January 2014, when Luvo announced the arrival of Christine Day as CEO, the company was already sell- ing in stores across the U.S., with growth plans that include a network of Luvo bistros—small free-standing outlets that will sell the rapidly growing Luvo line already heated and ready to eat. Day, who will receive a 15 per cent p048-055-Luvo_july.indd 54 2014-05-29 3:58 PM