Herbal Magic

It ain't what you say, it's how you say it

Chris Findlay was fed up with the airplane rides, the hotel stays, eating the wrong things at the wrong time of day and never having time to sit back, relax and recover his strength.

"I needed a lifestyle change," says Findlay. "It was killing me. I was burning out. I felt my health slipping away."

At the time Findlay was running a playground-equipment inspection company. It was based in Kitchener but he was on the road almost constantly, checking out school playgrounds and day care centres across the country.

That was almost three years ago.

Today, Findlay and his business partner Bonnie Giffen run two franchise outlets of London, Ont.-based Herbal Magic Systems. They opened the first, at 324 Highland Road W., Kitchener two years ago and the second in the Glenridge Plaza at 315 Lincoln Rd., Waterloo, 15 months ago.

"I got interested in the whole idea of wellness, of taking better care of myself," says Findlay. "Then I got interested in it as a business.

"When I looked at a study of the health and wellness industry I realized this was definitely a growing industry. It was just in its infancy, just getting going in Canada.

"And it fit in with what I wanted for myself."

The Herbal Magic chain was launched seven years ago and is branching out to cover the Canadian market. Its claim to fame is a weight- loss program that includes herbal and vitamin therapy along with nutritional counselling. As well, Herbal Magic markets vitamin and mineral therapies for a wide array of ailments from arthritis to allergies and digestive problems.

"I had an interest in herbal remedies, and I tried the weight-loss program two years ago," says Giffen.

"We were looking into getting a business and I decided this was something I'd want to be involved with. I knew this was a business I wanted to get into."

"I did a feasibility study," says Findlay. "I travelled around and I looked at diet centres, and I looked at herbal centres and this was the organization I decided I wanted to get involved in.

"I approached them to buy a distributorship, and I got Kitchener-Waterloo -- my home town. I couldn't believe my luck."

And business, says Findlay, is good -- although he won't say how good.

"I knew from the feasibility study that this was going to work," he says. "What I found is that with some fairly conservative advertising over the first three or four months that we were there, that people were interested in what we were offering.

"I knew that if we could get the message out then people would come.

"We did phenomenally well in that first year, and sales increased 30 per cent in our second year."

The key to any business is customer service, Findlay says.

"If people aren't getting the results they want they're not going to come back and we are not going to survive."

Findlay and Giffen are riding the wave of consumer interest in natural remedies and therapies. But Herbal Magic's strategy differs from many health food stores in that its products are blended, packaged and sold according to the specific condition a customer is concerned about, Findlay says.

Customers are encouraged to discuss their concerns with staff members, all of whom receive extensive training. The two K-W stores have five full-time employees, plus Findlay and Giffen.

Herbal Magic products are made exclusively for the chain in Pennsylvania by Douglas Laboratories. Each product is registered with the federal government and carries a Drug Identification Number, a practice Findlay says helps build faith in the Herbal Magic products.

Findlay says a growing number of doctors are recognizing the benefits of natural treatments and vitamin therapies, while many more remain to be convinced.

"Some family doctors are supportive, and others just don't know," he says. "Physicians tend to be apprehensive about things they don't know about."

Findlay emphasizes that herbal and vitamin treatments are intended to keep a person well and reduce the possibility of them becoming ill. Pharmaceuticals, he says, are usually intended for a person after they have become ill.

The key to a healthy lifestyle, says Findlay, is exercise and a good diet supplemented as necessary with herbs, vitamins and minerals.

"The important thing is to get people on a program that works for them," he says.

"Let's start with the fundamentals. Let's get the body running at its best. This is something you can really feel.

"A lot of times we can solve a problem with a herbal remedy and the side-effects are a whole lot less," he says.

"Our weight reduction plan is really just a variation of the Canada Food Guide, with lots of fresh foods. Fresh, fresh, fresh. I can't emphasize that enough."

Giffen says most of the weight-loss clients are women, but that the customer base includes people of both genders and all ages.

"I never know who's going to walk in the door," says Findlay.

"I see people anywhere from 16 to 85. It's a wide spectrum, and their education levels are all over the place."

Findlay, 43, is an old hand at the entrepreneurial lifestyle.

He started out in the working world running the PWL (People Working and Learning) Manufacturing Centres to train people with special needs.

From there, he and a partner started and ran the five Owl Day Care Centres in Kitchener-Waterloo, which led to Findlay's next career -- designing and manufacturing creative playground equipment. His playground inspection company, Playspace Incorporated, was the next logical step.

Giffen was a legal secretary for 22 years before she took the plunge into business.

"I was ready for this," she says. "And it's only going to get better."

SPOTLIGHT
Name: Herbal Magic Systems
Address: 324 Highland Rd. W.
Kitchener; 315 Lincoln Rd., Waterloo.
Established: 1997