Suzie Yorke has spent her whole career in the Food, Drug, and Consumer Packaged Goods industry. She began her career at P&G, then moved on to Frito-Lay as she followed her first manager, and then to Kraft-Heinz. She believes it is a fantastic business to work in, as well as to understand the difficult basis of how to establish and successfully expand a brand.
Suzie founded Love Good Fats in order to reintroduce fats and educate the public on the fact that sugar, not fats, is the culprit in poor nutrition.
Suzie instantly switched to a high-fat, low-carb diet after reading Nina Teicholz’s best-selling book, Big Fat Surprise, and began to feel better within a few weeks. While she enjoyed the benefits of her new lifestyle, she found it extremely difficult to obtain handy, high-fat snacks. Seeing a market gap and a big chance to assist people via food, she founded Love Good Fats, a firm that manufactures low-sugar meals high in good fats and low in sugar.
Suzie spearheaded the introduction and expansion of Love Good Fats on her dining room table for nearly two years beginning in 2017. The brand took off straight away in the shop, surpassing $100 million in cumulative gross revenues in just over three years, with sales at the major retailers in Canada and the United States.
She says, “Love Good Fats quickly became one of the fastest-growing bar brands in North America.”
Below are highlights of the interview:
Describe who you are as a person, inside and outside of the workplace.
I’m Suzie, a mom of 4 kids (two my own and two from my partner, Melanie), an eleven-time Ironman competitor, and yoga enthusiast. I’ve spent 20+ years adhering to a low-fat diet, trying to lose “those last 10lbs” only for my health to hit a wall in my mid-40s (high blood pressure and IBS, each requiring prescription meds). I grew up in a small apartment in Montreal, with my twin brother and sharing a bedroom with my mom for 13 years. Both my twin and I were adopted at a young age. We grew up speaking French in Quebec and learned our way with English. Today I’m actively learning Spanish (finally at age 55, a lifelong goal).
I’m a little quirky (on the autism spectrum) and different at times, high energy, super passionate and a driver. I love to learn, I love life, I love to get up early, I adore the adrenaline of working out, I love being in a team and surrounded by peeps smarter than me.
I’m a lesbian who has been with women since I was 35 years old, and I want to be an LGBT business role model for the next generation.
In the workplace, prior to Covid, I was a high energy founder and leader. I was only in the office half the time because I was travelling so much – but I love some fundamentals as a cultural foundation: Monday morning Wins, Tuesday morning Management Priorities, Projects using 1-pagers to make recommendations and, of course, the best Brand Positioning 1 pager ever, as this is foundational to your brand, your company, your competitive advantage, your culture!
Share your background and what did you do before you started Love Good Fats?
I put myself through school (while working three jobs) and graduated from McGill Engineering in 1990 with a minor in Business. I knew early on I wanted to be in business. So I tried hard to get a job on Wall Street (19 interviews) and then just at a company that would allow me to then apply and get into an MBA program in the US (following the path of my mentor back then).
Instead, I got in at Proctor & Gamble in Toronto in adult diapers (Attends) and have had an incredible career in CPG marketing & brand building since.
I’m a unique marketer that has shown that I can build a brand within a large CPG organization (I turned around brands at Proctor& Gamble, Pepsi-co/Frito Lay, Kraft-Heinz and Weight Watchers) but also have a knack for smaller brands, start-up as I’m uber practical and can get down and do the foundational stuff and roll up my sleeves. I think one of my super powers is I “see” both the issues and the solutions often very quickly and I connect dots to the balance of the category or the brand.
Who is your target audience?
Our primary audience is the CHO (Chief Health Officer) – the 45-year-old mom with a job and two kids. She’s balancing her family’s care, their health, her health and grew up hearing that fats were bad but is more aware now.
We have 2 other smaller groups; the medical professionals supporting low carb diets—there are so many now and they found us and we want to support their mission to help their patients improve their health through eating low carb.
The third is anyone following either a keto diet or a low carb diet (my way of living now), as these will look for VERY low net carb foods and our snacks are a perfect solution.
What gets you up in the morning? What are your responsibilities as the founder of the company?
As a founder and board member now, I’m more focused on strategic oversight and supporting the CEO as needed. I also am the face of the brand and a passionate advocate so I play a role to be the voice for our Brand Mission.
What is the best way to build a great team?
Pick the right enough people, inspire them with a Mission than is grander than just doing a job, give them tools, framework and coaching, meet them weekly and help them be the best they can be with clarity, feedback, support and more coaching on tools and how to frame and crystalize their thinking and lead their projects
What advice would you give to the next generation female leaders?
You should know that you can do any role or job you want. Find a passion, find a path that probably will be a few steps in the right direction and pursue that path. If you run into issues and roadblocks (and you will), find mentors and supporters, ask for advice, and keep at it.
What are your future plans to sustain your and the company’s success?
As a board member and founder, I make sure that we support the CEO and management team to have strong growth plans and strategies (from innovation to the brand to culture and people). I’m also a passionate advocate for the brand.
Suzie has been recognized several times since launching Love Good Fats, including the:
- 2019 Mompreneur® Start Up Award
- 2019 WXN Top 100 BMO Entrepreneur Award
- 2020 RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards Ones to Watch Award
- Most recently, The Women of Inspiration 2021 Special Recognition Entrepreneur Award
- 2021 Revolution Her Entrepreneur Role Model Award
- 2021 Globe & Mail Report on Business Top Growing Companies in Canada Award, placing in the coveted top #1 spot for 2017-2020 Revenues Growth
In summary, I’m a25-year veteran of the CPG industry, I have worked at brand building companies such as Proctor & Gamble, PepsiCo, Kraft Heinz, Weight Watchers; also worked at two other hyper growth brands prior to creating her own rocket ship success story brand, at age 50. I am more so a unique, later blooming entrepreneur, who utilized her accomplished marketing background, personal journey, and deep devotion and passion for health, to drive towards her Mission to spread the word that fat is back, and sugar is out!
