In this episode, we have an engaging conversation with Roger King, the mastermind behind the successful Supplement King franchise. Roger shares his journey from starting as a local supplement provider to becoming a renowned name in the industry. He discusses his business strategies, the importance of understanding the market, and the challenges he faced along the way.
Topics Discussed
• Roger King's early journey into the world of supplements and how he identified an underserviced opportunity in the natural health products market.
• The challenges and lessons learned from transitioning from a single store to multiple retail locations and eventually moving to online sales.
• The importance of understanding the market and adjusting business strategies accordingly, including the shift from being a brand-building retailer to focusing on being the best retailer.
• Insights into the franchise model of Supplement King, and how they ensure the success of their franchisees.
• The strategy behind their social media marketing and the role of influencers in promoting their products.
• A look at the future of the supplement industry and the potential for innovation in the face of regulatory restrictions.
• Roger King's personal life and hobbies, and how he balances them with running a successful business.
This episode is a goldmine for anyone interested in understanding the dynamics of the supplement industry, franchising, and online retail. Roger King's insights and experiences provide a unique perspective on navigating the challenges of the business world and achieving success.
This is “ReSolve’s Riffs” – published on YouTube every Friday afternoon to debate the most relevant investment topics of the day, hosted by Adam Butler, Mike Philbrick and Rodrigo Gordillo of ReSolve Global* and Richard Laterman of ReSolve Asset Management.
*ReSolve Global refers to ReSolve Asset Management SEZC (Cayman) which is registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as a commodity trading advisor and commodity pool operator. This registration is administered through the National Futures Association (“NFA”). Further, ReSolve Global is a registered person with the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority.
Now, on the goal setting and on the business growth and business
2
:building, I've always looked at short and
long term goals and how they fit together.
3
:I remember staring down the mall hallway
at the kiosk thinking, All right, here's
4
:my numbers with one store open, and I can
see what that looks like at five stores.
5
:You know, add up that labor
piece, see if it's still a good
6
:business at five locations, and
it made sense to scale to that.
7
:And then as, you know, that started
to come to fruition, I looked at Well,
8
:then I had a storefront in front of me.
9
:All right, well, what would five stores
instead of five kiosks look like?
10
:Build out that business plan
and, you know, work your
11
:way towards that micro goal.
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:And we've really never stopped doing that.
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:Mike Philbrick: All right, welcome
everybody to another Resolve Riffs.
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:Today we've got a real
entrepreneurial treat.
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:What are we going to call this Rod?
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:The Entrepreneur's Corner?
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:Something along those lines.
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:We've got Roger King joining us, who is
the president at Supplement King, probably
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:the owner of Supplement King largely
as well, which is in the Halifax area.
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:A supplement store that has opened its
100th store recently and Roger's got
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:one hell of an entrepreneurial story.
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:So we thought we'd have him on and
talk about his journey in starting
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:a business from an idea all the
way to 100 stores across Canada.
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:And it's in an area that is a bit of fun.
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:We like working out, we like
taking supplements here.
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:So it's a sort of an area near and dear to
my heart and my daughter also works there.
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:So for uh, you, you know, clear and
concise conflict of interest declarations.
28
:There you have it.
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:Rodrigo Gordillo: Know, before you get
into it, I was actually just taking
30
:a, protein shake and I was staring
at this terrible plastic, you know,
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:the classic plastic shaker bottles.
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:After reading all this stuff about like,
the, the plastic is bad for you and
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:all this like plastic residue that you
end up ingesting that you should avoid.
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:And I was reminded of the bottle that
your daughter showed us, Mike, which
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:was, oh my God, it was like solid as
a rock, you know, made out of metal.
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:Mike Philbrick: right here,
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:Rodrigo Gordillo: this whole episode,
by the way, Roger, is about me getting
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:a free one when we get off here.
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:Roger King: So, so Mike,
is that your, your team?
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:That's your, your,
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:Mike Philbrick: the, yeah,
that's the Hamilton Tiger cats.
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:Yeah.
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:Roger King: That's your former team.
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:Mike Philbrick: Yeah.
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:So you guys did a co sponsor, a
sponsor deal with the CFL as well.
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:Roger King: we did.
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:We did a co brand collaboration
where we created bottles for all the
48
:teams in the C CFL, so it's great.
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:CFL is a great partner.
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:Mike Philbrick: amazing.
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:So we got, we got so
much to dig into here.
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:Cause I think there's, there's
interesting topics that we would want
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:to dig into you with, with how you've
taken the firm, the marketing and
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:the, you know, the Influencers and how
you guys manage that sort of stuff.
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:But before we get into that stuff,
because we are passionate about that
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:side of the equation too, I'd love to
hear your journey of what, you know,
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:what sort of sparked your interest in
the supplement game, your journey from,
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:as I understand it, you know, in the
dorm room, to, to a hundred stores.
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:And by the way, you are legendary.
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:I have someone every time I
mentioned supplement king, and
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:there's a lot of Canadians here.
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:if they're from the East Coast,
they absolutely know who you are,
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:what you do, and absolutely amazing.
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:Our, our business partner from a
while ago, JP Belanger, he's like,
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:I know Supplement King, the woman
cleaning my teeth from Halifax.
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:So I know Roger, he was at school with me.
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:So literally you are, you
are, you're legendary.
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:And you know, when you get that many
cross pollinations, I'm like, we
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:got to have this guy have a chat.
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:Anyway, can you, can you kind of
take us through the, early journey?
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:Roger King: amazing.
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:Well, look, uh, you know, like many
business ideas, necessity breeds that
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:invention for me, coming out of high
school, playing a little bit of high
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:school sports, I was a weight trainer.
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:I was enthusiastic about it.
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:I was a little on the small side.
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:So I remember being 16 ish
years old and my parents took
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:me into a supplement store.
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:I think it was a GNC in St.
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:John, New Brunswick.
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:And I picked up my first bucket of
weight gain protein and it worked,
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:you know, I realized very quickly
that it was the consumption.
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:It was what, what were you putting
in your body coupled with that weight
84
:training regime that you needed?
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:That was going to yield the results.
86
:And so for me, the light bulb went off
and kind of a, a personal passion around
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:that natural health products was born.
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:Then shortly after university, or shortly
after high school, I came to Halifax,
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:which was the big city when you're in
New Brunswicker to go to school at St.
90
:Mary's and, uh, my budget
not living at home.
91
:I was, uh, reduced down to about
75 bucks a week worth of spending
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:money and, on student loans.
93
:And so I thought, how am I
going to afford creatine?
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:How am I going to afford protein powder?
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:Well, I'm going to start pooling
some campus orders together and
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:become that guy in the dorm.
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:Where you can, you know, we're talking
a little bit before the Ecom days,
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:even if I'm going to date myself,
you know, back in those days, if you
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:weren't the Bay or Sears, you know, you
weren't in Ecom, there was no Shopify.
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:It was, it was only the big players.
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:So I kind of became that local
hookup, that plug for protein,
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:creatine and all things supplements.
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:Mike Philbrick: I love it.
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:You're the plug.
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:Was there, was there, or can you share
a pivotal moment early on in those
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:days that kind of set the stage for
the success you had and, and, you
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:know, the expansion that you incurred?
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:Roger King: You know, I've quickly,
I, I started to pay my bills at
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:school and even have a little
more than that 75 bucks a week.
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:And so a light bulb went off in my head
that, Hey, there could be something here.
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:my established competition is very
much, you know, like a bodybuilding
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:large chain, uh, you know, Popeye's
Supplements Canada, they've been around
113
:since 1989, they did a great job.
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:They were the first group
to go coast to coast.
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:Uh, went up against a corporate,
publicly funded or publicly owned
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:company GNC and did extremely well.
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:Those were the, that was
the competitive landscape.
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:And I thought if I could be as economical
with my little to no overhead, you
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:know, match those prices, there was
still some profit margin to be had.
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:maybe I can make a door to door
delivery business out of this thing.
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:And so that's what I did.
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:I actually went to parking lots before,
you know, the digital media days
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:stuck flyers under windshield wipers.
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:I would do it.
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:I would do almost every gym in
all of HRM every week and people
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:would call me in class and I
would show up like a pizza boy.
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:For Whey Protein with a
debit machine in hand.
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:One of the very first debit
machines that was portable.
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:It almost looked like, you know, Zach's
cell phone from Saved by the Bell.
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:It was giant.
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:And, uh, and you know what?
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:I would, I would transact that order
and I would kind of build it on the back
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:of relationships and people would just
keep calling until eventually I took
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:that semester off and never went back.
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:So.
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:Yeah.
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:Mike Philbrick: lead to the first store
then at some point when, when did you
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:leap into the, the lease of a actual
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:Roger King: Yeah.
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:No, that was, that was a big step.
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:And you know, I remember when I was
considering the semester off, you know, my
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:parents weren't paying for my education,
so they didn't have loads of leverage
143
:over my decision making, but I still felt
it's a bit of a traditional household.
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:I still felt I got to have a plan if
I'm going to stop attending university.
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:And that plan was to rent kiosk space at
Scotia Square Mall in downtown Halifax.
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:Again, staying very consistent with my
low overhead, low cost business model.
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:Also, you know, being mindful
of what I could afford, which
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:was about a 4, 000 kiosk.
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:That was the, that was
the limit of the budget.
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:I managed to sweet talk my way into
a kiosk space outside of a Good
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:Life Fitness in Scotia Square Mall.
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:Shockingly, this hadn't
been done in our space.
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:All of our competitors, including the two
big guys that I mentioned earlier, were
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:all located either in, you know, grade A
shopping centers, which was GNC's model.
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:And Popeyes had, chosen their real
estate traditionally based on traffic
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:metrics, you know, a high traffic
thoroughfare, busy intersections,
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:traditional retail metrics.
158
:Whereas I thought, well, doesn't it make
sense to go where the customer goes?
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:You know, doesn't that just, and so we set
up there and, my experience very quickly
160
:determined the future direction of the
business in the sense that it was not who
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:I expected that came and shopped with me.
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:I thought I would see who I had been
seeing based on my university delivery
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:days, which were the athlete and the,
you know, the bodybuilding crowd a little
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:bit, but it was the, uh, the corporate
employees up at the power company, Nova
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:Scotia Power had an office tower above.
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:Amira, also an energy company
had office towers up above.
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:And these customers were not only
receptive to recommendations, their price
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:sensitivity was much lower than people.
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:who are, you know, in that athlete
and bodybuilding crowd who would
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:shop around and shop around.
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:So it just occurred to me in that
mall where I spent hundreds and
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:hundreds of hours over four or five
years in a hallway of a mall that
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:this is an underserviced opportunity.
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:that natural health products I bet
on, we're going to become a very
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:mainstream thing over the 5 to 10 years.
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:And nobody's going after
the big slice of pie here.
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:So that's how
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:Rodrigo Gordillo: year was this, Roger?
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:Roger King: was.
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:Geez, put me, put me on
the spot with the kiosk.
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:I would say the kiosk was in
:
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:So we're going back just a
little over a decade ago.
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:And if you think about the increase in
natural health product conduct consumption
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:over the last 10 years, it has.
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:Exponentially grown.
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:Mike Philbrick: What a train to
be thinking ahead of the game on.
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:That's, that
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:Roger King: Yeah.
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:Yeah.
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:You know, I, I, I'd like to think
I was really that, that bright.
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:I think it was just, it was small
goals and small discoveries and lots
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:of mistakes, but none of them fatal
is really the best way to describe it.
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:Mike Philbrick: And can you tell us
a bit about some of those stakes?
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:Can you share a time when things
didn't go as planned and, and how
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:you handled it, how you navigated it?
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:Roger King: Yeah, I distinctly
remember biting off a, uh, a marketing
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:program over the radio, which was
probably a good marketing program for
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:a business about four times my size.
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:I overcommitted, as a new physical store
operator, I was starting to get some drop
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:ins from sales reps, you know, people
looking to do business, whether it's
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:in radio or TV or print, and that's all
normal stuff and it's good stuff, but
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:you need to learn how to buy that stuff.
203
:You know, you need to learn what's a fit
for you, what's a fit for your budget.
204
:Uh, you got to take all of these
projections with a grain of salt.
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:And, so I, I definitely took on a
commitment that was too rich for the
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:scope of my retail footprint and ended
up costing me money for a few months
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:until the contract kind of made its way.
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:So I, I learned some quick lessons there.
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:Mike Philbrick: Nice.
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:Rodrigo Gordillo: So when
you were building out the,
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:business through the kiosks.
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:how did you evolve from kiosk,
which I imagine you're also,
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:you're not manufacturing your own
supplements at this point, right?
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:You're probably buying them
from a larger distributor.
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:Roger King: Correct.
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:Yes.
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:And that's the model we
maintain today as well.
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:Rodrigo Gordillo: So what was
the transition with kiosk and
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:then, you know, retail locations
close to those areas as well?
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:Is
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:Roger King: Yeah.
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:So my plan, I had opened one and
then I opened a second kiosk.
223
:And then in my mind, again, I had
hundreds of hours at the, at this mall
224
:in the hallway, working my kiosk to
think about what the business looks
225
:like at five kiosks, 10, 15, 20.
226
:In my mind, I thought this competitive
advantage over the big established
227
:competitor, which at that time they
were both in the hundred, hundred
228
:to 150 location count was going
to be to keep my overhead low.
229
:So that my net could kind of
net out somewhere near because
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:I didn't have the buying power.
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:I didn't have had that kind of stuff.
232
:it wasn't until a competitor in
Parklane mall, which was about a 15
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:minute walk away on Spring Garden road.
234
:Uh, an independent store was going
to go dark and I reached out to see
235
:if there was an opportunity there.
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:And it turned out he was happy
for me to just assume their lease
237
:again next to Park Lane Good Life.
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:So another Good Life co tenancy.
239
:And uh, it was in that store, which
was a couple of years after I'd
240
:begun the kiosk, kiosk businesses.
241
:It was in that store that I, Realized
how much more revenue we could sell
242
:through a physical retail store
versus in a kiosk environment.
243
:it was, you know, a solid two to three
X and very quickly, you know, it came
244
:to the realization that that extra
leasehold expense, that footprint
245
:that you would rent was well worth it.
246
:So we never looked back from
that point on the kiosk front.
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:Mike Philbrick: And bootstrapping
this yourself, the whole way, the
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:Roger King: Yeah.
249
:Yeah.
250
:I managed to, you know, pull the money
together, get the stuff on the shelves.
251
:And, I don't think I was into any type
of bank lending until well down the road.
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:So,
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:Mike Philbrick: is
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:amazing.
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:Rodrigo Gordillo: so when do you
go from retail locations to online?
256
:Like, was that, was that
an always part of the plan?
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:And like, how did that transition go?
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:Roger King: yeah.
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:Rodrigo Gordillo: What's the
distribution of online versus, retail
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:Roger King: Well, you know, without
getting, I guess, into the proprietary
261
:number, we still do significantly more
business in store than we do online.
262
:we lead our marketing and all of our,
everything that we do promotionally
263
:with, direction to the in store because
Many of our customers, not all, but
264
:many of our customers still want to
come in and discuss what their fitness
265
:goal may be, interact with some options.
266
:There are still customers, you know, much
like yourself who may be very informed
267
:and know exactly what they want to buy.
268
:And for you, it may be more
convenient and it may be better for
269
:you to make your purchases online.
270
:You can click through our flyer and,
and find what you need that way.
271
:but, but by far and large, we
still see significantly more
272
:customers through the retail store
than we do through the website.
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:Rodrigo Gordillo: I'm still kind
of, kind of shocked that you're
274
:able to compete in this market.
275
:Cause like you said, like Popeye's
is a, is a household name in Canada.
276
:At least, uh, you got GNC.
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:What is it about?
278
:What you've done, like the angle that
you took bootstrapping this business to
279
:be able to compete with the big boys.
280
:I got, I'm still kind of fuzzy as to what
it was, what the magic is, aside from
281
:this concept of like keeping overhead low,
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:Roger King: Yeah.
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:Yeah.
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:Oh, you know what?
285
:The, here was the biggest opportunity, you
know, going back to our, when I mentioned
286
:the corporate employees, the people who
were not athletes and not bodybuilders,
287
:that was, I felt to be the biggest
breakout opportunity and the largest
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:slice of underserved market potential.
289
:So when we had finally reached the
opportunity to open stores, our first,
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:Physical and designed store that
we didn't just assume was in Larry
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:Utech Bedford, which is, you know,
a bit of a, it's just a strip center
292
:again, next to a good life fitness.
293
:we were very deliberate to go with
a premium fixturing, a layout that
294
:was well lit, that was spacious, you
know, we used a high end mill work.
295
:We did not treat, did not cheap out.
296
:We really want to be, The premium
supplement operator is the
297
:direction we decided to take.
298
:An environment that wasn't intimidating,
it wasn't handmade cinder block
299
:counters, it wasn't biceps flexing in the
300
:Rodrigo Gordillo: I
was going to say, cause
301
:Roger King: was everything that they,
we were going to be everything they
302
:Rodrigo Gordillo: always a bodybuilder
303
:Roger King: Absolutely, absolutely.
304
:Rodrigo Gordillo: it was embarrassing
to go in there being like, I'm trying
305
:to do what you're doing, but I'm
not clearly not having to do it.
306
:Just give me the drugs.
307
:Give me that
308
:Roger King: have terrific, we have
a terrific following in the, in the
309
:athletic and bodybuilding community.
310
:We've got programs for people who, you
know, consume a higher than average amount
311
:of supplement products and we reward
them for that and they pay, you know, a
312
:special, special pricing structure and
whatnot, but we wanted to be that store
313
:that was in the fitness goals business.
314
:Not in the supplement business.
315
:We want people to come in, share
their goals, find a path, talk
316
:about what's worked, what hasn't.
317
:And so we lead with open ended questions
and we obsess over the training and
318
:the, and the experience in store.
319
:And that goes right down to the
fixturing and the layout and
320
:the lighting and the shelf plan.
321
:It's all, you know, a lot of
thought goes into all that.
322
:Mike Philbrick: It's, it's sort of,
323
:Rodrigo Gordillo: sorry, Mike,
let me just last question.
324
:So you train your sales team in
a very particular, question based
325
:process as there's the specific.
326
:Roger King: we do.
327
:We have standards around greetings.
328
:We have standards around the approach.
329
:We have e learning on
every aspect of this stuff.
330
:we have an app that gives you access,
whether you're a frontline employee,
331
:of which we have a thousand of,
whether you're a district manager,
332
:whether you're a franchisee, you know,
we've got to account for a certain
333
:amount of attrition, especially in
these frontline associate roles.
334
:So we need a training program that
could be replicated with, you know,
335
:relatively low amount of friction.
336
:and, a good franchisee.
337
:We spent all of our time training
franchisees, how to train the rest
338
:of the organization under because
339
:franchisees don't turn over to the same
level management and, and associates do.
340
:Rodrigo Gordillo: That's so
much better than the gap.
341
:When I worked for the gap, I, all I was
taught was to how to fold properly and
342
:Roger King: Oh, man, it all starts.
343
:It all starts with the details.
344
:Rodrigo Gordillo: if I was, in the front
and wasn't smiling, it was game over,
345
:they were on me like white on rice.
346
:It's
347
:Roger King: You look like you
could have worked at a gap.
348
:You're a handsome
349
:Rodrigo Gordillo: Oh yeah, you
know, I did okay, I did okay.
350
:I stole some jeans, you know
351
:Roger King: have bought a,
I would have bought a knit
352
:Rodrigo Gordillo: stole some v necks.
353
:Roger King: How deep was your V is what I
354
:Rodrigo Gordillo: So it was like
a dublevé, doublevé, for sure.
355
:Roger King: Excellent.
356
:Mike Philbrick: Oh my God.
357
:He wasn't quite hot enough to
work at Abercrombie, but they
358
:Roger King: Oh, gotcha.
359
:The B team.
360
:Rodrigo Gordillo: That's right.
361
:I was like, you know how to
call it the Benetton would
362
:have been the next best thing.
363
:Mike Philbrick: It's amazing, Roger,
the, uh, it, it sort of, that whole
364
:process makes me think of the, Moore
book, Crossing the Chasm, you know,
365
:sort of taking that niche market
thought of bodybuilding and the
366
:supplements required and then sort of
crossing the chasm into mainstream.
367
:both it's happening while you
are developing your stores, but
368
:at the same time, having the,
the, foresight to bring that.
369
:to sort of de intimidate that whole world
in order to bring in the more general
370
:population who can benefit from easy
digestible, whether it's whey protein or
371
:other supplements, you know, that most
diets just don't have enough protein.
372
:When I'm asked regularly, and
Rodrigo and I get asked regularly,
373
:what do you do or what's this?
374
:It's, it's like, you know, my
first question is, well, how much
375
:protein are you actually getting?
376
:And you know, most people just literally
don't get enough protein to accomplish
377
:any kind of significant muscle growth.
378
:I mean, you can't really do that.
379
:If you're training, you have to have
the fuel to repair the body, but,
380
:Rodrigo Gordillo: And I think it's
becoming more popular and mainstream now
381
:as we get all these fitness gurus that
are dealing with Ma and Pa Kettle, right?
382
:All this longevity stuff where you're
grabbing 70 year olds and saying, listen,
383
:you need to start feeding yourself.
384
:I mean, I imagine that the interest
has gone up across the board and
385
:across all demographics, but I'll let
you kind of tell me when you, are you
386
:riding a wave or is this wave kind of
inconsistent and you're just stealing
387
:some market share from the big boys?
388
:Roger King: Well, you know what?
389
:It's, it's interesting.
390
:You mentioned that because as we grew,
you know, if I take myself back to
391
:the 30 ish to 50 ish location, We're,
we're becoming, we're getting noticed
392
:by the suppliers that we deal with.
393
:Remember we deal with all of
the same suppliers that all
394
:of our competitors deal with.
395
:We had to, you know, and when I say we,
we were a very small team at that point,
396
:myself, Jonathan Sharp, who's been with me
since the kiosk days, who was actually one
397
:of the second in charge directors here.
398
:he's, he also left school and
has made a great career with us.
399
:we had to manage these relationships.
400
:Delicately in the sense that we want you
to support us at a, at a higher level
401
:than perhaps we necessarily warrant
from a sales volume standpoint, because.
402
:We're growing the pie and and
their numbers would back that up.
403
:You know, we would open up town
after town, after town in areas
404
:where GNC would operate, and they
would tell us really haven't seen
405
:any pullback on their numbers.
406
:Suddenly we just have
new numbers from you.
407
:And, I don't know if that's
always the case to today.
408
:You know, now that we're pretty much neck
and neck in store count with Popeyes,
409
:they have, contracted from 140 to around
110 and we're, you know, going to be
410
:at 110 in about three months here.
411
:So we're, you know, we're pretty,
pretty even at this point, but in the
412
:early days when it really mattered to
us, when we could help to show them
413
:that we weren't just shuffling the
dominoes from one side of the table
414
:to the other, that we actually had a
model that could grow the pie in Canada.
415
:That was a compelling case.
416
:Rodrigo Gordillo: So, when we talk about
bootstrap, you know, there's many ways
417
:of bootstrapping and deciding to open
up another store and then another store.
418
:Were you always bootstrapping based on
free cash flow or were you kind of taking
419
:advantage of some debt in order to expand?
420
:Like how, how did you, what was
your model to decide whether it was
421
:time to expand into a new location?
422
:Roger King: So many businesses, you
know, find, as did we, that a franchisee,
423
:franchisor model is a great way to
expand without needing to go into, you
424
:know, deep capital situations where
you have to, you know, take on plenty
425
:of debt to grow that store count.
426
:So that's, the model that
I decided to head into.
427
:And this was back when we were
eight or nine locations in size.
428
:we began selling as a license
opportunity, a 10 year agreement.
429
:also had the good fortune, maybe
foresight, I'll probably say
430
:more good fortune, of opening a
terrific store in Fort McMurray,
431
:Alberta back during the oil boom.
432
:So the beauty with Fort McMurray,
Alberta, well, A, you're going to have
433
:a lot of younger people with a higher
than average income, but B, you're
434
:going to have a ton of these people
traveling in from all over Canada to work.
435
:at these oil sites, well,
they would shop with us.
436
:And next thing we were getting
opportunity to license applications
437
:from all over the country.
438
:They were coming in from
Calgary, from Edmonton, from the
439
:prairies, from Ontario, from BC.
440
:And so we didn't traditionally expand
as most franchise systems would, where
441
:you would regionally create a footprint
and then grow outwardly from that.
442
:We actually started growing in Alberta.
443
:Like gangbuster at this point today,
we have more locations in Alberta than
444
:we have anywhere else in the country.
445
:I think we have 34 locations in Alberta.
446
:near saturation if the province
would stop growing, but it's not.
447
:So every time they open up a new
master plan community with a 30,
448
:000 foot gym, we're right there.
449
:we've stayed true to that model, but
yeah, it was, it was truly a, I guess,
450
:some good luck and I don't know, maybe
some foresight that we happen to be there
451
:and do a good job executing in the store.
452
:Rodrigo Gordillo: And so are you guys now
actively, in terms of expansion, actively
453
:just looking for franchisees and marketing
to them in order to do expansion?
454
:Like, what's more important here,
to market the actual products
455
:for your business or to market
to people that want to franchise?
456
:Because I imagine there's going
to be competition of many, many
457
:opportunities to franchise, right?
458
:An entrepreneur that
wants to open up a store.
459
:Could franchise McDonald's
or Supplement King.
460
:Like, what's your, what are your, what do
your efforts to market to them look like?
461
:Roger King: Yeah, so, so we don't
spend a whole lot of time or resources
462
:on marketing for franchisees.
463
:mostly because we now have contractual
commitments in, in many areas, uh,
464
:in in which we would likely get an
application That area's probably
465
:spoken for, how our growth works.
466
:Um.
467
:Every year we, we, and we
pledged to add 24 locations.
468
:That's what we endeavor to do.
469
:That's what we will do this year.
470
:of those 24 locations,
18 will be internal.
471
:And those internal locations we can count
on because those groups, some of which are
472
:double digit in size now in store count,
are development partners, they have a
473
:contract with us that's, both location
and account based and chronological
474
:where they need to fulfill a certain
number of stores in a, a prescribed
475
:area within a certain amount of time.
476
:Now we're, we're reasonable
around that because we want to
477
:achieve those A plus locations.
478
:If it takes just a little
longer or a little less long,
479
:we can, we can work with that.
480
:but most of our growth comes from within.
481
:We are, however, diving headfirst
into the Ontario market this year.
482
:And so we are looking for new operators
in certain parts of Ontario, but we're
483
:being very careful to not start people
so that they don't have a growth path
484
:of four to eight locations around them.
485
:So every new partner that starts
with us, we want them to have some
486
:geography because I don't want to
wake up three years from now with
487
:75 franchisees operating 120 stores.
488
:That's a nightmare.
489
:We can have fewer operators.
490
:proportionate to our total store count,
fewer relationships to manage, yet they're
491
:still successful and operating at a high
level and invested in the brand standards.
492
:Mike Philbrick: and then, so you're
obviously that, training that we talked
493
:about, all of that layers and layers
of infrastructure, running multiple
494
:locations, that's the expertise
you bring to the game for these
495
:operators as they're building their.
496
:Franchise area.
497
:Roger King: That's right.
498
:So even to go from one to two stores,
there's a module of training you need to
499
:go through with us to, to learn how to
multi unit operate, because it's different
500
:from being an owner operator, in a store
day in, day out, where you have your
501
:fingers on the pulse with everything.
502
:We have some operators in their
early thirties, that own stores
503
:across multiple provinces.
504
:You know, 12, 13 locations.
505
:They've got, big eight figure top line
businesses and layers of management
506
:and financial managers and ordering
and inventory experts and quite
507
:sophisticated franchisee businesses.
508
:Rodrigo Gordillo: So
509
:Mike Philbrick: it really is.
510
:Go ahead.
511
:Rodrigo Gordillo: so I just, what, what
is it when I, when you think about the
512
:services that one signs up for as a
franchisee, what's under their control
513
:and what is absolutely non negotiable
in terms of the branding for your store?
514
:I've always been intrigued as to
where, what that line looks like.
515
:Roger King: So, you know, part of
our secret sauce when we were, when
516
:we were smaller, was that we were
successful in getting all of our
517
:store operators to move in a single
direction from a marketing and a listing
518
:and a, and a branding standpoint.
519
:And what I mean by that is by controlling
access to our shelves, we were able
520
:to control the buying in a way that
allowed us to In some cases, even though
521
:we were only 60 or 70 locations, buy
bigger than our biggest competitor
522
:because we weren't fragmented.
523
:And how we ran the business.
524
:So our marketing hinges
to our flyer program.
525
:We're almost always on some sort of
a promotional period, whether it's a
526
:month long flyer or a short weekend
event or whatever the case may be.
527
:All of the buying is tied to that flyer
program so that the buying is cycled
528
:that so that everything in the store
has an opportunity to get on flyer
529
:to turn every three to four months.
530
:Doesn't hit stale date if you're training
your staff how to sell through the flyer.
531
:but most importantly, we're buying
as a group, we're moving as a
532
:group, we're selling as a group.
533
:Therefore we can control
that, process completely.
534
:The listings are critical because, well,
it's advantageous to us to maintain a
535
:fairly consistent offering from coast to
coast, A, from a marketing standpoint, B,
536
:from an e com standpoint, and we can talk
a little bit about how our e com works.
537
:but see, if everybody has their
way with how they feel, the selling
538
:should happen on our shelves,
we've lost, we've lost all control.
539
:And there's no hope of bringing it back.
540
:other competitors, as in all
of the other competitors, they
541
:don't have that rigidness.
542
:They let their franchisees
kind of have free reign around
543
:what they sell in their stores.
544
:And as a result, when it comes time
to do a promotion or to try to move
545
:together with some buying activity,
you can't get anybody on board.
546
:So
547
:Rodrigo Gordillo: Right.
548
:That's
549
:Roger King: we've avoided those pitfalls.
550
:Rodrigo Gordillo: Yeah.
551
:That makes sense.
552
:Roger King: So that's
a big non-negotiable.
553
:you know, unfortunately with franchisor
franchisee style arrangements,
554
:there's a lot of non-negotiables.
555
:but they're always data-driven.
556
:You know, we, we've always been able to
maintain great relationships within our
557
:network because when we make a decision
whether or not a franchisee agrees with
558
:it, we make it based on the national data,
the insights that we have access to that
559
:really drive what works and what doesn't.
560
:Based on what's happening
at 103 other locations.
561
:They have their insight,
562
:Mike Philbrick: tell us a little bit
about the art and science of that being,
563
:being a quantitative asset managers.
564
:We, we, we tend to defer to that.
565
:in our marketing would be
the same sort of thing.
566
:Tell us more about how do you, do
you have a, a dashboard or a panel?
567
:How do you get an inkling of those,
early things or those directions
568
:that you should move in, if you will.
569
:Um,
570
:Roger King: Oh, man, Jonathan Sharpe, who
I spoke about earlier, he could, he could
571
:give you a half an hour session on that.
572
:we every day receive a statement
digitally, from every single location
573
:with their top line, their profit
margin, tickets through the door,
574
:average ticket, all the metrics that the
owner should be, you know, paying for.
575
:day to day basis.
576
:Anomalies things that fall outside of
our margin minimums or if a store's
577
:number appears off, we'll dig into or
we'll make an ask just to see if there
578
:perhaps was a receiving error or if
it's something that they need to look
579
:into a little closer on their end.
580
:We pay close attention for is
our customer shopping with us?
581
:What's a typical life cycle of a customer?
582
:what's our drop off rate versus opt
in rate with, our email marketing?
583
:Jonathan looks at everything.
584
:we look at turn rates per category, per
linear inch of store to determine how
585
:much, how much space is, is functional
foods getting versus intra workout.
586
:And we make adjustments to
the floor plan accordingly.
587
:Mike Philbrick: Per linear
588
:Roger King: love this stuff.
589
:You would love this stuff.
590
:Rodrigo Gordillo: And so as, that
evolves, I imagine that there's.
591
:You got to move quicker than ever now
with social media as things trend.
592
:And as a, I don't know, lifestyle guru
becomes huge and says that, you know,
593
:taking a particular type of supplement
is going to 10 X your gains that do do
594
:you follow that as a team, follow that
in order to decide what you're going
595
:to start offering in the stores and
real estate inside the stores as or are
596
:you kind of Immune to that right now.
597
:Is there not a lot of
598
:Roger King: Well, you know, we've seen so
many things come and go over the years.
599
:I mean, if I can think of even over the
past five to 10 years, carbs are bad.
600
:Now carbs are good.
601
:You know, you had the Atkins, Atkins
days, you had the raspberry ketones.
602
:We're going to solve all your problems.
603
:there are all kinds of things.
604
:And you know, there was some
merit to all of these things.
605
:But not, it wasn't your silver bullet.
606
:So there's no such thing
as a silver bullet.
607
:And then, you know, we're not going to
redesign or, or restage a store on the
608
:basis of a fat, but you will see, you
will see some uplift on an interesting,
609
:it's, if it's got a little bit of legs
and has a little bit of a following,
610
:you'll see some uplift on that front.
611
:Rodrigo Gordillo: Interesting.
612
:So let's, let's talk a little bit
about the content marketing approach
613
:and how you guys, you mentioned a
little bit about email and getting
614
:those metrics, but how do you guys
work with social media these days?
615
:Crazy.
616
:Roger King: it's something that
we've been working to evolve.
617
:We've been evolving our social media
strategy over the past six months.
618
:And, so Megan, who's, working in
the office here, works with Nikki,
619
:who would be her boss, our director.
620
:And together they're executing, I
believe at a high level on an influencer
621
:strategy where they have a group of, they
call them micro and macro influencers.
622
:So some are.
623
:You know, a much broader reach,
much broader audience, perhaps,
624
:perhaps national in scope.
625
:And then there are others
that might be much more niche.
626
:maybe they're popular in Saskatoon
and have a little bit of a
627
:following elsewhere in the prairies.
628
:But, you know, when I look at the posts
that I see, that we're doing, which
629
:are traditional, you know, we send them
our goods during a promotional cycle.
630
:They might wear our new limited
drop products and talk about them.
631
:I feel that the authenticity that
comes around that, influencer style
632
:marketing is the new way to market.
633
:data wise, we have a 400 percent
lift on click through activity from
634
:these types of posts than we do on a
traditional ad slider, you know, like
635
:everybody's ad sliders now are just noise.
636
:Right?
637
:You know, and I, and I find it so
interesting because I know people
638
:know they're being marketed to.
639
:There's, there's no way to hide it.
640
:In fact, you even need to put hashtag
sponsored or hashtag paid right in
641
:the post as a, formality, but people
trust, they gain a trust, they gain
642
:an admiration or they gain a respect.
643
:And, you know, then they, they
will digest that marketing.
644
:They will take it in and absorb it.
645
:So it's, it's really fascinating.
646
:Mike Philbrick: I think it's that
function of, and maybe this all
647
:started with, you know, the guys like,
Rogan and Tim, Tim Ferris, right?
648
:Like I only, I only talk about the
things that I like and use and at an
649
:influencer level, it's, yeah, I'm being
compensated, but I'm only doing the
650
:things that I like and use and feel.
651
:And if you're like me,
you'll like these things.
652
:And I have to say, when you find
someone who kind of has your same
653
:tastes or inclinations, you're like,
you pick three or four of them.
654
:And you're like, Oh yeah, I do
like what this guy or gal likes.
655
:Like I actually have,
you know, common tastes.
656
:And so you can really kind of
micro down your, you know, where
657
:you're getting your referral from.
658
:It's almost like that hybrid
of a word of mouth, but it's
659
:kind of paid word of mouth.
660
:And you're not, you're not
going to hit on all of them.
661
:You'll get some stinkers from the
people, but you're like, Oh, it's fine.
662
:The
663
:Rodrigo Gordillo: And if you like
the personality, even if they
664
:like, look, Mike is constantly
saying, I like this, I like that.
665
:And I stupidly buy it and hate it,
but I keep doing it because he's
666
:such a lovable personality, right?
667
:Like he's dead wrong on his
product choices, but look at him.
668
:He's absolutely amazing.
669
:Right?
670
:So I think oftentimes it's just that,
that ability to have a personality
671
:attached to these products.
672
:That to me is amazing.
673
:And, you know, sadly in our business,
it's just an impossible thing to do
674
:given regulatory guidelines, right?
675
:You have to, you'd have to make them
have 20, 000 disclosures after they
676
:make a statement about your product,
paying for them, but, I, I do envy the
677
:ability to kind of lever these new ways
and these new social media outlets.
678
:And.
679
:I know that you may not know
this, but I know that certain
680
:media outlets do a better job than
others of maximizing your reach.
681
:And I know that TikTok in particular
has a pretty explosive algorithm.
682
:Have you guys, do you have a
preference for influencer, influencer
683
:in which platform or do you not,
have you not gotten there yet?
684
:Roger King: I know that,
that, so I'm not on tikTok.
685
:I, I, you know, I'm on Instagram
and Facebook almost begrudgingly.
686
:I'm just in that I'm 44 and I, I
feel like I need to be tapped into
687
:what's going on with the stores.
688
:Cause each store has, has,
has an Instagram account.
689
:And many of our stores
have TikTok accounts.
690
:I just can't get there to
have another social media.
691
:I feel like the time suck with Facebook
and Instagram alone is, is too much.
692
:But, Nikki and Megan have told me that
the interaction with TikTok is explosive.
693
:It is where they are focusing
a lot of their attention.
694
:And yes, they are choosing,
uh, influencers that, that have
695
:followers, but most importantly,
that have followers here in Canada.
696
:Uh, because you could be from Calgary
and all of your followers or your
697
:viewership could be from Texas.
698
:And that isn't necessarily at this
point in our business, beneficial to us.
699
:that's not to say that the next
three to four years that couldn't
700
:change, but, the agency that we used
initially, and we still do use to some
701
:degree is what's called hashtag paid.
702
:They would vet the
viewership or the followers.
703
:To determine the where and then
you would be able to preview the
704
:post or the recording to make sure
it was on brand, make sure it hit
705
:everything that you wanted to achieve.
706
:Also to make sure that didn't hit
on anything you don't want out there
707
:publicly, because there's a little bit
of that risk with authenticity, right?
708
:Be a little too authentic or
perhaps make a statement that,
709
:uh, that you don't necessarily
want the brand standing behind.
710
:so so far, our venture into,
into influencer marketing has
711
:been very positive so much.
712
:In fact, we have committed a
percentage of top line revenue from
713
:each of the franchisees to fuel
this program starting this year.
714
:And we received no pushback because
they, they know the stuff is working.
715
:Mike Philbrick: You see it working.
716
:And it, yeah, it's, what was really
interesting to me as I learned about that
717
:was how, you know, you have to be targeted
because you have stores in certain areas.
718
:You have a geographical boundary
from a country perspective.
719
:You have some provincial,
provincial boundaries I'm sure.
720
:So you've got to, you've got to
think through these influencers and
721
:make sure they're going to connect
and deliver sales to the stores.
722
:Which is kind of a very interesting
and, painstaking process.
723
:But then you think about how this,
this art of marketing is going
724
:micro, right, rather than macro.
725
:It's, it's going very micro,
very, boots on the ground level.
726
:and to adapt to that, these
influencers, you're going to
727
:have influencers at all levels.
728
:And it's kind of being on
the leading edge of that.
729
:so is that, do you find your competition
is doing a bit of that, or is that
730
:a, a definite advantage for you as
you're trying to continue to stay
731
:ahead of the wave in the marketing of,
732
:Roger King: You know, I haven't
seen them do anything with, uh,
733
:with any degree of organization.
734
:I'm not, that's not to say that
they aren't using influencers
735
:or, or people to, you know, to
be spokespeople online for them.
736
:I do see that, but I don't see
consistency and I don't see formality.
737
:Consistency is probably the most important
thing with any marketing program.
738
:You need to be out there with your
message and you need to be out
739
:there with your message a lot.
740
:People don't react the first
time they hear a message.
741
:Once they've heard it a few times over
and over again, that trust, it just
742
:builds, you know, as a, in a natural way.
743
:but the influencers
it's, very interesting.
744
:Some are successful because they're just
so entertaining to watch and to listen
745
:to, uh, whether it's a guy or a girl,
they deliver the message with so much
746
:enthusiasm that even though they don't
have any, I guess, accreditation or, or,
747
:you know, um, Unlike we go to the other
end of the spectrum, we have Ellie Black,
748
:who's a, you know, an Olympic gymnast.
749
:And she's one of our, our influencers.
750
:And she brings with her all that,
comes with her high degree of
751
:athleticism and, her successes.
752
:Right.
753
:So, but everybody has a niche and
it's, it's neat to see it all pieced
754
:together and be a success as a whole.
755
:Rodrigo Gordillo: So one of the things
that would be, Interesting on the
756
:supplement side because I don't know
where it would fit in in terms of
757
:sensitivity to the economic cycle I know
it's been maybe you've just been on I
758
:feel like since 2013 we've been on a
boom So you may not know or have been
759
:through a big cycle But do you find that
there's a lot of sensitivity to profit
760
:based on what's going on in the economy?
761
:Mike Philbrick: we COVID too.
762
:So maybe you can think through that
as a, as a way to think through
763
:Roger King: Yeah, it's a great question.
764
:You know, we, we've been looking
at year over year results, and we
765
:can definitely, so there's a few
things that have, have come up.
766
:hit our numbers.
767
:During, coming out of the pandemic, whey
protein and creatine prices were at kind
768
:of an all time high for recent history.
769
:as a result, they drove retail pricing,
you know, in a five pound bucket of
770
:isolate whey in Canada to 120 dollars
a tub, which previously 80 to 90
771
:had been the norm, uh, pre pandemic.
772
:Now with the low interest rates
at that time, and with all of the
773
:government incentive money out
there in the economy, there was no
774
:friction to that purchase price.
775
:It was happening day in, day out.
776
:And I believe that everybody got
a little punch drunk on that.
777
:because now in order for us to actually
capture a year over year performance
778
:snapshot, uh, A, we have to back off
those price increases because they've
779
:come back down to normal levels.
780
:And, you know, we've really,
we're really looking closely at.
781
:How often are customers coming in?
782
:what other, what other things do we
need to normalize in the business?
783
:Definitely.
784
:Although average ticket has
gone down a little bit, it
785
:hasn't gone down dramatically.
786
:We've seen some slowdown and how quickly
customers come back in to see us.
787
:I think that there's a real impact
in people, you know, who are
788
:homeowners out there renewing their
mortgages and they're no longer at 1.
789
:8 percent or 1.
790
:9 percent, suddenly they have 1, 500
dollars less a month of disposable income.
791
:I feel like that, that the economy
and the general feeling of optimism
792
:that was out there a year ago has,
at least in Canada has dissipated.
793
:so people are being more careful
about their financial decisions.
794
:Now on the good news side, for
many people, It seems to be that
795
:natural health products or protein,
protein powders are almost like
796
:a grocery or an essential item.
797
:So for us staying mindful of value
and always ensuring we have an
798
:offering that's, there for people
who are, changing their budget or
799
:changing their spending habits.
800
:We want to still have something that is
of high quality and available to them.
801
:So we've been able to maintain
that customer traffic.
802
:Rodrigo Gordillo: It's like coffee.
803
:Nobody's gonna give up on
their coffee coffee in a
804
:Roger King: just,
805
:Mike Philbrick: The downgrade
806
:Roger King: We'll just
stop buying it for 6 a
807
:cup
808
:Mike Philbrick: to go to
809
:the, go to the, come from the
isolate to the concentrate.
810
:Roger King: that's, that's right.
811
:There's, that's right.
812
:That's right.
813
:Mike Philbrick: I wonder if, uh, if
we shift gears a little bit and just
814
:talk about, cause we've talked about
the stores and some of the philosophy,
815
:but you're, you know, maybe your
personal philosophy on some leadership.
816
:And principles that have guided you
through business decisions and growth.
817
:Like we've talked about it, but what
were some of the guiding, you know,
818
:sort of northern stars that you were
always coming back to as you were
819
:making business decisions, growing
the team, managing the team, you
820
:know, good employees, bad employees,
partners, all that sort of stuff.
821
:Roger King: It, you know, I get asked
this once in a while and it's, it's
822
:not really an easy thing to define, but
I do always come back to remembering.
823
:Now I worked almost a decade in my
storefronts, you know, I learned
824
:the business from the ground up.
825
:Uh, I had lots of good employees.
826
:I had some not so good employees, uh,
being very quick to move on from people
827
:when you get that feeling that things
aren't going well, or they're not
828
:going to be an organizational fit is
something that I kind of live and die by.
829
:Now, fortunately, at our office
here at our corporate office,
830
:we have a very small team.
831
:and engagement is extremely
high because the work is, is
832
:challenging, but it's rewarding.
833
:It's exciting.
834
:It's a fun kind of a fast place,
youthful energy place to work.
835
:I'm a little long on the tooth
here at 44, truth be told.
836
:so, you know, you just
have to ask your daughter.
837
:the energy and the, and the
ethic and the, and the pride
838
:in what they do is very high.
839
:We've actually never
had any turnover here.
840
:Which is, which is great.
841
:Now, on the goal setting and on the
business growth and business building,
842
:I've always looked at short and long
term goals and how they fit together.
843
:I remember staring down the mall hallway
at the kiosk thinking, All right, here's
844
:my numbers with one store open, and I can
see what that looks like at five stores.
845
:You know, add up that labor
piece, see if it's still a good
846
:business at five locations, and
it made sense to scale to that.
847
:And then as, you know, that started
to come to fruition, I looked at Well,
848
:then I had a storefront in front of me.
849
:All right, well, what would five stores
instead of five kiosks look like?
850
:Build out that business plan
and, you know, work your
851
:way towards that micro goal.
852
:And we've really never stopped doing that.
853
:We look at, you know, what is this
year with 20 to 24 new stores on
854
:the calendar look like depending on
when they come on board and how does
855
:that tie back to our financials?
856
:in a franchise or franchisee business,
you need to just focus almost all of your
857
:energy on the success of the franchisee.
858
:If they don't win, there is no business.
859
:So we obsess over the franchisee
business plan when there's a price
860
:change in the market or anything that,
that impacts their business plan.
861
:We're making sure it continues
to fit so that it yields that net
862
:income that they need to continue to
grow with us and to be successful.
863
:So those are the things now that the,
business has changed over the years
864
:that we, we really kind of hone in on.
865
:Mike Philbrick: And is it just those micro
goals where you're keeping your eye on the
866
:horizon to see what, like we talked about,
You know, different marketing approaches,
867
:different supplements that might come in.
868
:So you just got an eye on the
horizon as you're doing the one
869
:to five, five to 50 and so on,
870
:Roger King: Yeah.
871
:On the product side, we decided
a few years ago, we were going to
872
:focus all of our efforts on being
the best retailer we could be instead
873
:of being a brand building retailer.
874
:So there are a lot of
brands that approach us.
875
:They might be new to the market, might be
a very interesting product or something
876
:that we think could have some legs.
877
:But now that we have buying power
of all the brands that just sell
878
:off our shelves organically, we
have to inform them that, you know,
879
:you need to go back to the market.
880
:You need to bring us big
direct to consumer numbers.
881
:You need to show us That you can
sell off our shelves before we take
882
:time to invest in a listing with you.
883
:whereas traditionally we might've
said, all right, well, here's a
884
:strong margin opportunity that we
think our customers would enjoy.
885
:Let's educate all of our staff around
building this brand in our store.
886
:As time went on and with scale, we
realized that that model is very
887
:challenging and not as easily replicable.
888
:So our approach to products
and our approach to listings
889
:definitely has changed.
890
:You know,
891
:Mike Philbrick: that creating, creating
customers or trying to create a conversion
892
:in the store is so much harder than
just, you know, people are going to come
893
:in for stuff and they want to buy it
and make sure you have it and they're
894
:Roger King: That's right.
895
:That's right.
896
:So, so we encourage brands that are
interested in listing with us to
897
:focus all of their energy on building
that to direct to consumer business.
898
:That way, if it leads to a listing
with us, we throw it in our flyer
899
:with a good value proposition, they're
going to run in the door and it's,
900
:it's worked time and time again.
901
:Yeah.
902
:Rodrigo Gordillo: We're still learning it.
903
:Mike Philbrick: Yeah.
904
:We're still learning.
905
:Rodrigo Gordillo: still
say it and talk about it.
906
:And yet we can't stop trying to convert.
907
:It's
908
:Mike Philbrick: That's awesome.
909
:What about future, the future
innovations, looking ahead,
910
:just on the supplement industry?
911
:Are there any products or technologies
that you see that you're excited about?
912
:That's kind of, you know, thinking
beyond the next sort of little
913
:piece, but a larger piece.
914
:Is there, what, what's on the, what's on
the, being a futurist, I'm going to make
915
:you the futurist at a supplement King.
916
:Roger King: Oh, wow.
917
:That's a tough place to tough place to be.
918
:So not being on the brand side, and
not being the in house expert on the
919
:brand side I'm a little bit impaired
at making that kind of a judgment call.
920
:you know, we have our main categories
in the store, which would be pre
921
:workout, protein powders, intra
workout hydration, functional
922
:foods, weight gain and creatine.
923
:Those are the, you know, the
most products that we carry
924
:live within those categories.
925
:Over the years, the odd
product comes along that wants
926
:to redefine a new category.
927
:And sometimes it does.
928
:Most often it doesn't.
929
:it's the reason they're the reason those
categories exist is the ingredients that
930
:make up those formulations have been
proven to work for people over time,
931
:you know, will there be advancements
and will there be new things that
932
:work in different ways or work better?
933
:Sure.
934
:there will over, you know, there
will be the odd product over time,
935
:but you know, supplements just by
the nature of what they are ways to
936
:nutritionally check some blocks, off
that you could get from diet, but it's
937
:going to be easier or more efficient
to get from a natural health product.
938
:So, you know, protein powder,
creatine, BCAAs, intra workout.
939
:I think that there will be improved
versions of those as time goes on, but
940
:that's where, where the bulk of the, uh,
the focus and innovation is going to be.
941
:Rodrigo Gordillo: You need to find a
way to to be allowed to put some GLP 1
942
:inhibitors on your shelf space there some
943
:Roger King: Well, Canada is not
the landscape for that, my friend.
944
:We, uh,
945
:you know, we, We We certainly suffer from
a fairly strong regulatory environment.
946
:again, not in the brand side.
947
:So for us as retailers, we just
simply maintain the, uh, the bar
948
:of every product on our shelves has
to have a natural product number.
949
:The NPN is the Health
Canada, seal of approval.
950
:so we, we maintain that bar, but
we hear a lot of, challenge and
951
:frustration coming from our brand
partners that want to innovate and
952
:want to try new things, but they are
a 10 month wait to get an NPN review.
953
:Rodrigo Gordillo: Have you have you
guys I mean, maybe this wouldn't
954
:be part of your business But like
peptides that are becoming really
955
:popular right now Are those is that
is that kind of dying now given the
956
:regulatory changes in the US or is it?
957
:Something that you guys would look at
958
:Roger King: so in Canada, that would
be kind of a gray market product.
959
:not something that we could
legally sell also, perhaps not
960
:something that would be illegal.
961
:but for us, we would see
that as a brand risk.
962
:if it doesn't have an NPN, if it's
not clearly meeting the regulatory
963
:requirements here in Canada, we just
can't have that become a headline for us.
964
:So, so unfortunately, you know,
we are, we are certainly, at the
965
:mercy of, of regulatory agencies.
966
:And I think that you could probably
empathize with that in one way or another.
967
:Rodrigo Gordillo: well You can
Yes, regulatory, the regulators
968
:not allowing us to be innovative is
definitely a thing in our industry.
969
:Um, but I guess having the, that level
of focus, you know, you, you basically
970
:end up with beaten potatoes, right?
971
:You have to deliver whey protein
into workout, hydration, as you
972
:said, and then, and then the rest is
just about optimizing for eyeballs
973
:and people coming into your store.
974
:I guess it could be kind of
seen as a blessing in disguise.
975
:Rather than having 150 products
that you don't know much about.
976
:And
977
:Roger King: No, very, very true.
978
:And a home brand is also something
that, you know, at this scale,
979
:we could certainly execute on.
980
:GNC had a home brand.
981
:I'm sure you guys are well aware.
982
:In my opinion, it was part of their demise
in Canada because You know, their, their
983
:associates were also paid a commission,
very heavily weighted on that home brand.
984
:as a result, a lot of their sales
became very vertical and their numbers
985
:with the national brands, which is
what people truly want, dropped off.
986
:Uh, and you know, when you're
in a franchisee, franchisor kind
987
:of system, franchisees will sell
what's best for their business.
988
:Nobody can blame them for that.
989
:If we offered a five point advantage
home brand with protein powders and
990
:creatines, and well, I mean, our
sales would get very vertical as well.
991
:And then when we try to do that flyer to
attract people into the store and call
992
:up our biggest national brand partners,
they would say, well, we're, we're tired
993
:of being bait and switched, and I think
we're going to take our support elsewhere.
994
:So that's a big risk,
995
:right?
996
:Rodrigo Gordillo: switch.
997
:I was wondering what the issue
was for those national partners.
998
:I also remember like from, I remember
going in to GNC and being like,
999
:there's a zero chance your brand is
better than whatever name the next,
:
00:52:28,512 --> 00:52:29,542
I don't even know the other brands.
:
00:52:29,562 --> 00:52:32,082
I just felt like they couldn't be as good.
:
00:52:32,232 --> 00:52:33,582
There was just something about it.
:
00:52:33,592 --> 00:52:33,932
You know,
:
00:52:34,007 --> 00:52:37,207
Roger King: You know, a good salesperson
can talk you into it, but there's
:
00:52:37,207 --> 00:52:41,157
always that feeling after the sale
where you went in for the national
:
00:52:41,157 --> 00:52:44,987
brand and you left with the home brand
and then you get home and a week or
:
00:52:44,987 --> 00:52:46,207
two later you say, you know what?
:
00:52:46,347 --> 00:52:51,227
I really wanted the national brand and I
got sold and I don't ever want somebody
:
00:52:51,227 --> 00:52:55,843
leaving one of my stores and saying,
or our stores and saying, I felt sold.
:
00:52:57,703 --> 00:52:58,033
Mike Philbrick: love it.
:
00:52:58,703 --> 00:53:01,653
On a, uh, on a more personal note,
because we're, we're getting close
:
00:53:01,653 --> 00:53:05,360
to an hour and, appreciate the
time you've spent with us thus far.
:
00:53:05,410 --> 00:53:08,400
and I just want to know about, you
know, maybe some of your personal
:
00:53:08,400 --> 00:53:12,970
interests, like outside of being a
very successful entrepreneur in the
:
00:53:13,060 --> 00:53:17,670
fitness and supplement game, what other
passions does, uh, does Roger King have?
:
00:53:18,080 --> 00:53:18,503
Roger King: Uh, geez.
:
00:53:18,503 --> 00:53:20,740
Well, I'm a very, very mediocre golfer.
:
00:53:20,940 --> 00:53:21,700
Um,
:
00:53:21,810 --> 00:53:23,450
but I enjoy it.
:
00:53:23,535 --> 00:53:25,565
Mike Philbrick: passion to
become a mediocre golfer, to be
:
00:53:25,695 --> 00:53:26,805
Roger King: lots of passion.
:
00:53:26,895 --> 00:53:28,885
Uh, I like the, I like the walk.
:
00:53:28,885 --> 00:53:30,095
I like everything about it.
:
00:53:30,175 --> 00:53:32,775
I like that I, I didn't learn
how to play golf growing up.
:
00:53:32,805 --> 00:53:36,425
And so it's something that I've
really dove into as a, as an adult.
:
00:53:36,748 --> 00:53:41,578
I've got two daughters, six and nine, and,
they're, they dance competitively, which
:
00:53:41,578 --> 00:53:43,928
is having not had sisters growing up.
:
00:53:44,108 --> 00:53:46,138
The whole world of dance is new to me.
:
00:53:46,628 --> 00:53:48,778
And this is theiceless AAA hockey.
:
00:53:48,838 --> 00:53:49,418
Like it is.
:
00:53:49,963 --> 00:53:50,313
It is.
:
00:53:50,373 --> 00:53:52,013
Rodrigo Gordillo: My daughters
are watching a show about
:
00:53:52,013 --> 00:53:52,823
that on Netflix right
:
00:53:53,033 --> 00:53:54,363
Roger King: Ah, it's intense.
:
00:53:54,493 --> 00:53:54,703
It's
:
00:53:54,903 --> 00:53:56,583
Rodrigo Gordillo: And
they are obsessed with it.
:
00:53:56,843 --> 00:53:57,523
Roger King: Yeah,
:
00:53:57,693 --> 00:53:58,653
look, you know,
:
00:53:58,912 --> 00:53:59,392
Rodrigo Gordillo: it is, it
:
00:53:59,417 --> 00:54:02,760
Roger King: I appreciate when
something's, now they love it.
:
00:54:02,770 --> 00:54:04,350
So that's what drives this whole thing.
:
00:54:04,380 --> 00:54:09,240
And that's what, you know, gives Lindsay
and I the ability to give up dozens
:
00:54:09,240 --> 00:54:12,500
of hours each week to drive them and
spend time of practices and whatnot.
:
00:54:12,500 --> 00:54:14,220
So they really, truly do enjoy it.
:
00:54:14,580 --> 00:54:16,720
But I like seeing them do hard things.
:
00:54:17,010 --> 00:54:19,977
And I also like seeing them
not succeed every time.
:
00:54:20,377 --> 00:54:22,777
I love when they, you know,
it's great when they win.
:
00:54:22,777 --> 00:54:24,567
They've won a few times at competitions.
:
00:54:24,587 --> 00:54:28,267
There's only Three competitions that
you spend your whole year preparing for.
:
00:54:28,627 --> 00:54:31,347
So it's, you know, there's
a pressure situation.
:
00:54:31,527 --> 00:54:33,517
There's a moment of success or failure.
:
00:54:33,707 --> 00:54:35,807
There's management of
the feelings around them.
:
00:54:35,807 --> 00:54:39,397
And I know they're only six and nine,
but I love all that stuff because I
:
00:54:39,417 --> 00:54:41,667
think those are real life lessons.
:
00:54:41,677 --> 00:54:45,347
And you know, sometimes it's a little
bit difficult to teach your six
:
00:54:45,347 --> 00:54:48,497
and nine year old what struggle in
the face of adversity is all about.
:
00:54:49,102 --> 00:54:50,552
Rodrigo Gordillo: you have
to do everything possible
:
00:54:50,552 --> 00:54:52,252
to manufacture pain for your
:
00:54:52,552 --> 00:54:55,612
Roger King: Oh, and you got to get my
wife on board with that because she
:
00:54:55,632 --> 00:54:56,132
Rodrigo Gordillo: Oh no,
:
00:54:56,462 --> 00:54:58,142
Roger King: solutions
to all their problems.
:
00:54:58,182 --> 00:54:58,882
Rodrigo Gordillo: my daughter,
:
00:54:59,362 --> 00:55:03,478
my daughter started, I put her into
Jiu Jitsu because I, I have a martial
:
00:55:03,478 --> 00:55:08,798
arts background and there is no better
sport to learn about the pain of losing
:
00:55:08,898 --> 00:55:11,558
than on a daily basis in Jiu Jitsu.
:
00:55:11,938 --> 00:55:15,425
And so I figured that'll create
some sort of pain threshold.
:
00:55:15,425 --> 00:55:16,105
And it was about.
:
00:55:16,352 --> 00:55:20,052
Giving as much pain to my children
as possible without having it be
:
00:55:20,262 --> 00:55:21,782
traumatized for the rest of their lives.
:
00:55:21,782 --> 00:55:25,702
So that's kind of my goal in life with my
children, just constant pain all the time.
:
00:55:26,402 --> 00:55:28,372
And I remember going to
the first competition.
:
00:55:28,932 --> 00:55:32,142
We walk in, she was expecting a
smaller venue, but we walk into
:
00:55:32,142 --> 00:55:37,132
this massive gymnasium, doors wide
open, and my daughter starts bawling
:
00:55:37,362 --> 00:55:41,015
and my wife grabs her and says, we're
turning around right now and leaving.
:
00:55:42,263 --> 00:55:45,023
And as my daughter's crying, like
she's crying because she's there,
:
00:55:45,253 --> 00:55:48,903
turns around to my wife's like, I'm
no, I've been training for five months.
:
00:55:48,903 --> 00:55:51,923
I'm going, she was nine at the
time, probably even younger.
:
00:55:52,353 --> 00:55:54,923
I'm going to, and then she
cried her way through it, but
:
00:55:54,953 --> 00:55:56,653
won a gold, won her gold medal.
:
00:55:57,023 --> 00:55:59,793
But every single competition we've gone
to, my wife has done the same thing.
:
00:56:00,078 --> 00:56:01,668
Whenever you want to leave,
you just let me know.
:
00:56:01,698 --> 00:56:06,825
So I've had zero success in trying to
get my wife on board this pain train.
:
00:56:07,545 --> 00:56:09,485
But I think it's
absolutely crucial, right?
:
00:56:09,485 --> 00:56:12,965
Cause they live such a privileged
life that you really, the only way
:
00:56:12,965 --> 00:56:14,015
you can do it is through sport.
:
00:56:14,155 --> 00:56:16,395
Roger King: Without a little bit
of struggle, how do you build
:
00:56:16,395 --> 00:56:17,885
resilience without resilience?
:
00:56:17,935 --> 00:56:20,045
How, how do you achieve any success?
:
00:56:20,055 --> 00:56:24,725
And you know, all of these things that
I think, I think we live a very similar
:
00:56:24,725 --> 00:56:26,205
life, although how old is she now?
:
00:56:26,205 --> 00:56:26,615
Is she
:
00:56:26,785 --> 00:56:29,015
Rodrigo Gordillo: She's now
12 and she just came back.
:
00:56:29,015 --> 00:56:31,665
We did her first rugby tournament.
:
00:56:31,715 --> 00:56:36,307
We went to Miami and she was faced
with, you know, American grown girls.
:
00:56:36,597 --> 00:56:37,097
They were.
:
00:56:37,182 --> 00:56:37,612
Roger King: right.
:
00:56:38,072 --> 00:56:40,122
Rodrigo Gordillo: They
were large and in charge.
:
00:56:40,132 --> 00:56:42,922
It was like our Canadian girls.
:
00:56:42,922 --> 00:56:48,279
And then these American look like
women just, just destroyed them.
:
00:56:48,419 --> 00:56:48,699
Okay.
:
00:56:48,699 --> 00:56:51,539
Like the under 18s one, they won
both of their games and it was the
:
00:56:51,549 --> 00:56:53,759
first time that came in girls at one.
:
00:56:53,759 --> 00:56:55,169
This is a brand new program.
:
00:56:55,249 --> 00:57:00,965
My girls in under 14, I coached, they
just got through their first year of
:
00:57:00,965 --> 00:57:05,665
training, so it was kind of expected,
but listen, you know, they all, Half
:
00:57:05,665 --> 00:57:08,135
of them came out momentarily injured.
:
00:57:08,145 --> 00:57:09,265
They got plowed through.
:
00:57:09,385 --> 00:57:12,435
They were, they were tears, but they
were getting up with tears in their
:
00:57:12,435 --> 00:57:14,515
eyes and getting back and pushing hard.
:
00:57:14,525 --> 00:57:14,925
So.
:
00:57:15,595 --> 00:57:18,535
And then when they were done, they
had the best time of their lives.
:
00:57:19,465 --> 00:57:19,785
Rotary.
:
00:57:19,815 --> 00:57:20,995
It was just, it was great.
:
00:57:21,085 --> 00:57:25,225
So yeah, we, we've been able
to, at 12, transition her.
:
00:57:25,225 --> 00:57:27,225
She's still doing jiu jitsu,
but she's now doing rugby.
:
00:57:27,725 --> 00:57:31,605
And it's, um, you know, I mean,
Mike, you, you, your daughter played
:
00:57:31,605 --> 00:57:33,085
rugby through college too, right?
:
00:57:33,085 --> 00:57:33,775
So you know how tough
:
00:57:33,810 --> 00:57:34,120
Mike Philbrick: Yeah.
:
00:57:34,190 --> 00:57:34,560
Yeah.
:
00:57:34,680 --> 00:57:34,900
I
:
00:57:35,100 --> 00:57:37,850
my daughters have, I'm sure
many stories about how much of
:
00:57:37,850 --> 00:57:39,040
an asshole I am on that stuff.
:
00:57:40,220 --> 00:57:43,040
Throw away your participation
trophy before we leave the field.
:
00:57:44,520 --> 00:57:46,940
Throw away your second place
trophy because it disrespects
:
00:57:46,940 --> 00:57:47,930
the champions trophy.
:
00:57:50,815 --> 00:57:51,105
Roger King: I feel
:
00:57:51,105 --> 00:57:53,345
like there's a whole other
podcast to be had here.
:
00:57:53,395 --> 00:57:53,635
So
:
00:57:53,660 --> 00:57:54,650
Mike Philbrick: are the speeches I gave.
:
00:57:54,660 --> 00:57:55,770
Three guys with daughters.
:
00:57:55,790 --> 00:57:56,840
This is the new podcast.
:
00:57:57,030 --> 00:57:58,290
Three guys with two daughters.
:
00:57:58,875 --> 00:58:00,305
Roger King: I love it,
but you know what, though?
:
00:58:00,315 --> 00:58:01,845
We only just want the best for them.
:
00:58:01,845 --> 00:58:02,165
And that's,
:
00:58:02,360 --> 00:58:03,080
Mike Philbrick: You got it.
:
00:58:03,970 --> 00:58:06,690
Roger King: As for hobbies, I have
time for a little bit of golf.
:
00:58:06,690 --> 00:58:08,420
I do a whole lot of dance practice.
:
00:58:08,790 --> 00:58:11,930
Um, you know, I, I like to get
out on the boat a little bit.
:
00:58:11,960 --> 00:58:16,050
We live on, on, on a lake and Nova
Scotia is beautiful in the summer.
:
00:58:16,330 --> 00:58:18,740
We've got a whole six weeks
of summer to enjoy the lake.
:
00:58:18,850 --> 00:58:20,010
Uh, so, you know,
:
00:58:21,340 --> 00:58:22,550
Rodrigo Gordillo: was going to
say, do you have an icebreaker?
:
00:58:22,550 --> 00:58:23,560
Is that an icebreaker, bro?
:
00:58:24,260 --> 00:58:24,630
Roger King: yeah,
:
00:58:24,870 --> 00:58:25,730
Mike Philbrick: Well, it's saltwater.
:
00:58:25,970 --> 00:58:26,760
Rodrigo Gordillo: Yeah,
that's fair enough.
:
00:58:27,390 --> 00:58:28,000
Mike Philbrick: I'm kidding.
:
00:58:28,001 --> 00:58:30,420
Oh, that's awesome.
:
00:58:30,440 --> 00:58:33,350
I got one last little
fun question for you.
:
00:58:33,530 --> 00:58:36,950
And, uh, it's if you could have
a superpower to help you run your
:
00:58:36,950 --> 00:58:39,307
business, what would it be and why?
:
00:58:39,707 --> 00:58:42,627
Given what you know now of what you've
run, what you're going to be building.
:
00:58:42,837 --> 00:58:44,807
Roger King: Do I get a job
at Google if I get it right?
:
00:58:44,807 --> 00:58:44,967
Mike Philbrick: Yeah,
:
00:58:44,977 --> 00:58:46,177
Roger King: So yeah,
:
00:58:46,787 --> 00:58:48,077
Mike Philbrick: maybe,
I don't know if they're
:
00:58:48,472 --> 00:58:53,592
Roger King: I think that any entrepreneur
would quickly jump to clairvoyance
:
00:58:53,592 --> 00:58:55,162
or the ability to see the future.
:
00:58:55,512 --> 00:58:57,322
it's like any space.
:
00:58:57,372 --> 00:58:59,062
I think it's fast changing.
:
00:58:59,062 --> 00:58:59,912
It's fast pace.
:
00:59:00,392 --> 00:59:04,362
Your customer is consuming marketing in
a different way every couple of years.
:
00:59:04,722 --> 00:59:08,562
You know, what worked a couple of years
ago doesn't necessarily work today.
:
00:59:08,662 --> 00:59:13,787
so if I could see the future and be
ahead of that, Of that curve on, you
:
00:59:13,787 --> 00:59:18,127
know, what people are looking for and how
they're looking to, consume marketing.
:
00:59:18,417 --> 00:59:22,117
I feel like we would be better for
our franchisees and we can improve
:
00:59:22,117 --> 00:59:23,677
their business plans that much more.
:
00:59:24,047 --> 00:59:24,477
So
:
00:59:24,877 --> 00:59:27,307
Mike Philbrick: Clairvoyance is not
about, that's a pretty good one, actually.
:
00:59:27,337 --> 00:59:27,497
Roger King: Yeah.
:
00:59:28,767 --> 00:59:29,167
Rodrigo Gordillo: want that
:
00:59:29,237 --> 00:59:30,517
Mike Philbrick: I think
Clairvoyance is pretty good.
:
00:59:30,517 --> 00:59:30,777
Yeah.
:
00:59:30,807 --> 00:59:32,527
First of all, I would vote for the same.
:
00:59:32,907 --> 00:59:33,877
Roger King: Yes, I agree.
:
00:59:34,857 --> 00:59:36,427
Mike Philbrick: Well, thank
you, Roger, for taking the
:
00:59:36,437 --> 00:59:38,260
time, spend an hour with us.
:
00:59:38,320 --> 00:59:39,660
Great entrepreneurial story.
:
00:59:39,660 --> 00:59:40,290
Really loved it.
:
00:59:40,690 --> 00:59:41,820
where can people find you?
:
00:59:41,830 --> 00:59:43,960
You're, I mean, obviously supplementking.
:
00:59:43,961 --> 00:59:44,100
com.
:
00:59:44,270 --> 00:59:44,710
CA.
:
00:59:44,900 --> 00:59:46,550
Roger King: Yeah, dot ca or dot com.
:
00:59:46,640 --> 00:59:47,570
is where we are.
:
00:59:47,760 --> 00:59:52,620
We don't ship outside of Canada
currently, but when we begin expansion
:
00:59:52,640 --> 00:59:56,200
into the USA within about three
years time, that's going to change.
:
00:59:56,200 --> 00:59:59,570
We're going to look at a new supply
chain and a new way to move products,
:
00:59:59,570 --> 01:00:02,877
but, to all those Canadians, and I
do know a few of them living down in
:
01:00:02,877 --> 01:00:06,837
Cayman, a big hello, and I can't wait
to come and visit the island again.
:
01:00:06,837 --> 01:00:08,517
I had my first visit last year.
:
01:00:08,847 --> 01:00:11,277
Uh, over the March,
this kid's school break.
:
01:00:11,607 --> 01:00:13,747
well, I admit I didn't
leave the hotel grounds.
:
01:00:13,747 --> 01:00:16,247
It was one of those vacations,
not a traveling trip.
:
01:00:16,627 --> 01:00:20,447
Uh, we had a hell of a time and seven mile
beach was among the best I've ever been.
:
01:00:21,687 --> 01:00:21,867
Mike Philbrick: Yeah.
:
01:00:22,087 --> 01:00:24,767
And then, and then you personally,
do you have a, Twitter handle or
:
01:00:24,767 --> 01:00:26,157
Instagram handle that you share or not?
:
01:00:26,177 --> 01:00:26,827
That's not really
:
01:00:26,907 --> 01:00:27,637
Roger King: Yeah, sure.
:
01:00:27,637 --> 01:00:31,597
I I'm, I am supplement King is, uh,
is what Nikki and marketing thought
:
01:00:31,597 --> 01:00:33,517
would be a cool Instagram for me.
:
01:00:33,587 --> 01:00:34,897
So that's, that's who I am.
:
01:00:35,287 --> 01:00:35,727
Mike Philbrick: love it.
:
01:00:36,627 --> 01:00:37,127
Rodrigo Gordillo: Beautiful.
:
01:00:37,797 --> 01:00:38,507
Thank you roger.
:
01:00:38,667 --> 01:00:39,367
Very insightful.
:
01:00:39,807 --> 01:00:40,567
Roger King: it was a real pleasure.
:
01:00:40,567 --> 01:00:40,987
Thank you.