Entrepreneur Delivers a Better Way to Sweeten Food (w/Lubaina Rakla)
Lubaina shares how she built a Canadian food company around organic date sugar, date powder, and date syrup.
A diagnosis of gestational diabetes during her third pregnancy pushed Lubaina Rakla to rethink sugar. After other sweeteners caused blood sugar spikes and gut problems, she found date sugar. The change helped her balance her blood sugar and improve her health. It also gave her the idea for Liva Foods and she's never looked back. She got the product into Sobeys and Loblaws in the company's very first year. Today, its products are sold through retailers including Metro, Whole Foods, Bulk Barn, Amazon, and Walmart.ca.
Lubaina also talks about her 2023 appearance on the hit TV show Dragons’ Den. She accepted an offer from investor Wes Hall on the show, then chose not to give up 33% of her company. However, the advice she received on the show did change Liva Foods, when Dragons' Den Star Arlene Dickinson urged her to treat the company as an ingredient brand. Lubaina acted on that advice, and now Liva’s wholesale food-service business has surpassed retail.
The conversation covers startup costs, margins, supply problems, negotiation, and the loneliness of entrepreneurship. Lubaina also explains why purpose and passion matters when a business gets hard. “There’s no overnight success,” she says. “It’s just a journey.”
Resources
Liva Foods website https://livafoods.com/ (check out the Dragons' Den clip)
Read Lubaina's story in my new book
https://www.unsureentrepreneur.com/book
Show Credits
Host & Producer: Roger Pierce | Artwork: Kaitlyn Pierce | Sound Engineering & Editing: Aleksandar Nikolic, FixTheAudio.com
A diagnosis of gestational diabetes during her third pregnancy pushed Lubaina Rakla to rethink sugar. After other sweeteners caused blood sugar spikes and gut problems, she found date sugar. The change helped her balance her blood sugar and improve her health. It also gave her the idea for Liva Foods and she's never looked back. She got the product into Sobeys and Loblaws in the company's very first year. Today, its products are sold through retailers including Metro, Whole Foods, Bulk Barn, Amazon, and Walmart.ca.
Lubaina also talks about her 2023 appearance on the hit TV show Dragons’ Den. She accepted an offer from investor Wes Hall on the show, then chose not to give up 33% of her company. However, the advice she received on the show did change Liva Foods, when Dragons' Den Star Arlene Dickinson urged her to treat the company as an ingredient brand. Lubaina acted on that advice, and now Liva’s wholesale food-service business has surpassed retail.
The conversation covers startup costs, margins, supply problems, negotiation, and the loneliness of entrepreneurship. Lubaina also explains why purpose and passion matters when a business gets hard. “There’s no overnight success,” she says. “It’s just a journey.”
Resources
Liva Foods website https://livafoods.com/ (check out the Dragons' Den clip)
Read Lubaina's story in my new book
https://www.unsureentrepreneur.com/book
Show Credits
Host & Producer: Roger Pierce | Artwork: Kaitlyn Pierce | Sound Engineering & Editing: Aleksandar Nikolic, FixTheAudio.com
