How Did You Decide to Start Imean?

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In 19 71, we opened canada's first large natural food super market on the corner of forth ard. We had a lot of drop trouble in those days filling the shelves because there were not that many products available. Soi base product with is, where were you sourcing it from? I i dose it hard to get that in 19 70 in the store. And how big was that store? Well, it seemed huge at the time. It was about four thousand square feet. and we built all our f furnishings, or what he called fixtures, we mailed them all out of wood.

Starting a business with your spouse can either bring you closer together or tear you apart. For Arran and Ratana Stephens, their business has lasted for nearly 40 years, and their marriage has thrived for much longer. As business partners, they seem perfectly matched: he’s the hard-charging visionary, she’s the practical, business-minded one who sometimes has to talk him out of a bad decision. But in 1985, Arran made a very smart move: seeing how organic food was starting to take off, he mixed up his first batch of Manna bread in a bathtub and started selling it, eventually expanding to national distribution. From there, he and Ratana pivoted to breakfast cereal, initially purchasing a factory that couldn’t make a single cornflake. Today, Nature’s Path sells organic cereals, tortilla chips and other snacks in more than 50 countries around the world.

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