On ColoradoBiz TV; Sunflower chief finds good timing leads to serious growth.

• Author: Cote, Mike
• Position: Interview

With the costs of energy and commodities driving up grocery prices, being positioned as a discount store is a good place to be. Mike Gilliland, founder and CEO of Sunflower Farmers Market, chalks it up to good timing.

The privately held Boulder company, which touts "serious food ... silly prices," opened a new store this month in Littleton, its sixth in Colorado and 16th overall since its inception in 2002. Sunflower plans new stores in Aurora, Arvada, Greeley and Longmont in the coming months. It operates stores in Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah and soon will be launching in Texas.

We caught up with the co-founder and former CEO of Wild Oats Markets at the grand opening of the Littleton store in August and taped the interview for ColoradoBiz TV. The following transcript focuses on growth and what Gilliland learned from his days at Wild Oats. Watch the video at cobizmag.com on the "Ask the Expert" channel.

Q. When Wild Oats became public (in 1996), you had the pressures that come with being a public company. It was a tough time as you ultimately left that company. What did you learn?

A. Being public is certainly not my skill set so I'm not sure that's (Sunflower's) ultimate outcome. I think we'll just try to grow as much as we can as a private company and see where it goes from there. We definitely learned a lot of things we wouldn't do again. You inevitably lose a certain amount of control and are subject to a lot of outside influences that we wouldn't be as a private company."

Q. Over the past six years, Sunflower has been expanding rapidly, including four more stores scheduled to open in Colorado in the coming year. What did you learn about achieving growth from your years with Wild Oats?

A. I learned not to grow that crazy. We were...