BCBusiness

118 BCBusiness OCTOBER 2015 ILLUSTRATION BY GARY CLEMENT BARRY GLOTMAN'S FAVOURITES 1. "It has to be lasagna at nick's spaghetti House (631 Commercial Dr., Vancouver), around the corner from The Cultch (a corporate partner of his)." 2. "Lunches are normally tuna sandwich, soda bread and soup grabbed from uprising Breads Bakery (1697 Venables St., Vancouver)." 3. "I'm definitely a fan of the T-bone steak at Gotham steakhouse (615 Seymour St., Vancouver), and I love any wine." A s a conversation over chicken teri- yaki and tuna tataki, it feels a tad un- palatable: how Barry Glotman rose from "shovelling blood and guts" to become president and CEO of animal rendering giant West Coast Reduction Ltd. Even his wife, Lauri, wishes he could have a job that's more dinner-party friendly. "She's always saying, 'Why can't you be in a business where we could talk about Gucci or some- thing?'" he says, laughing as we sit in Koko's res- taurant near his East Vancouver HQ. Not that the 57-year-old Southlands resident isn't proud to explain the realities of his work. He quickly points out, for ex- ample, how his trucks collect waste such as oŽal and bone at the back of this sushi bar (one of 14,000 customers that also include slaughterhouses and butch- er shops in B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan) and that it's part of a billion pounds' worth of ined- ible byproduct that West Coast Reduction converts yearly into protein and fats (used as, among other things, feed ingredi- ents for animals). "We're the original recyclers," he states, em- phasizing the role the company's six operating plants play in keeping waste out of the land˜ll. "If the government had millions of dollars and we weren't around yet, they would give us mon- ey to start what we do." The half-century-old independent renderer— Western Canada's largest—has also expanded signiœicantly into the canola oil distribution business in the past 20 years. Currently funnel- ling more than a billion dollars' worth of canola oil to Asia through its tanks at Port Metro Van- couver, West Coast Reduction recently ˜nished a $10-million system upgrade to unload the oil from railcars and pipe it onto cargo ships faster. Glotman's route into the family business start- ed in 1988 at the invitation of his father-in-law, Gordon Diamond, who along with his late entre- preneur father, Jack Diamond, established West Coast Reduction out of their butcher shop in Vancouver. Not wanting to be a "nepotism case," however, Glotman knew he wanted his ˜rst job to be among the workers, which now total 450, "going in trucks and sucking the grease from res- taurants" for biodiesel, for example. After all, he says, "It's a blood-and-guts business so you have to really like it." (Even as CEO today, it's obvious Glotman is more comfortable with the truckers and moving around sites than sitting long at his desk: "I get things done but really don't want to do the heavy detail," he confesses.) He also resisted joining the family ˜rm for a few years while pursuing his own entrepreneur- ial endeavours. As a young UBC biochemistry grad, Glotman became hooked on the antiques trade (and a lifelong love of col- lecting '50s and '60s Canadian art) after being taken to an auc- tion. It prompted him, in 1980, to found Second Time Around antiques store in Vancouver be- fore selling in 1988 to join West Coast Reduction. He was soon leading the com- pany's expansion eŽorts in Saskatoon and then managing its Edmonton facility before returning to Vancouver in 1993 (he became president and COO in 2001 and president and CEO in 2008). Unable to keep away from the "thrill of buy- ing and selling," Glotman also started Antique Warehouse in 1990 (he sold 15 years later) and owns a 10-year-old porta-potty company, Pit Stop Portable Toilets. "I just love being entrepre- neurial," says the father of three young adults. Besides, as the CEO insists, it's always impor- tant to ˜nd your own identity in business. "Fam- ily business can be a great opportunity but can be a huge disaster if it's not managed right," he says. "I don't want my kids to go into the busi- ness unless they ˜nd their passion." n It Takes Guts Barry Glotman, CEO of West Coast Reduction, on marrying into the family business—and how to make the unpalatable pro•table by Lucy Hyslop NEXT MONTH Tracey McVicar, managing partner at CAI and a woman of many hats L u n c h W i t h L u c y

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