Over the last five years, Organika has leveraged its Canadian identity – including the country’s strict regulatory and quality standards for health food products – to break into new international markets such as China and the United Kingdom.

But that strong Canadian reputation has been tested with its entrance into the United States market last year, a long-planned move marred by supply chain disruptions, tariffs and a rapidly escalating trade war.

“It was probably the worst time in history to try and break into the U.S. market with all the tension,” says Aaron Chin, chief executive officer of the Vancouver-based natural health supplement company.

Founded in 1990 by Mr. Chin’s father, Thomas, Organika has grown into a major player in the supplements industry, with more than 300 products across 7,000 retailers in Canada, including Walmart, Costco and Healthy Planet.

Mr. Chin took over as CEO in 2019, leading the company through the pandemic and the steadily growing natural health products sector. Today, the company has around 100 employees; most are in Canada, with a handful working globally, and sells its products in more than a dozen countries, including Taiwan, Mexico, Vietnam, Spain and the United Arab Emirates.

Organika is among a host of Canadians companies that seem to be perpetually preparing for the worst when expanding into international markets.

The Canadian natural health products sector alone generated $13-billion in sales in 2025, a third of which were exports, according to a report from MNP and the Canadian Health Food Association (CHFA).

Organika manufactures its products in Canada and focuses on sourcing ingredients such as marine collagen domestically. However, some ingredients aren’t available in Canada’s climate, such as maca, imported from Peru, and turmeric and curcumin, imported from India.

“Most companies rely on some sort of international input – ingredients, packaging, even equipment for production of those finished goods,” says CHFA CEO Aaron Skelton. “Tariff exposure has caused people to consider the impacts throughout those different touch points.”

Adapting to that exposure can bring headaches, such as changing packaging, navigating a new regulatory field or updating a supplier or certification.

For example, Organika uses whey protein in several products. As a dairy byproduct, whey protein is currently entangled in retaliatory tariffs.

Organika is responding to the ongoing volatility by adopting a more resilient supply chain and business interruption planning. The company has been buying some raw materials six months in advance and carrying a year’s inventory rather than three months’ worth to ensure price certainty.

“This puts us in a position where we can navigate the current tariff war without being immediately impacted and also give us a runway while the current dynamic across Canada and the U.S. hopefully evolves for the better in the upcoming months,” says Mr. Chin. The company is also proactively filling specific warehouses ahead of any impending deadlines to account for supply chain delays.

“I think that’s where Organika punches above its weight class in terms of having that mindset, team and culture that can be agile to change,” Mr. Chin says.

He says the company’s international growth in recent years has been supported by proprietary back-end technology dubbed “The Kortex,” because it functions as the nerve centre of the business. The custom-built enterprise resource planning system unites processes, data and insight across the business from quality and purchasing to sales and finance. Mr. Chin says the company uses it to eliminate roadblocks and mistakes from manual work that hinder the business’s ability to scale.

“It helps us go into [expansions] with the confidence we can actually support the growth,” he says. The company is also experimenting with artificial intelligence to see how it can help streamline processes.

Robbie Brown, vice-president of Les Marchés Tau, a Montreal-based health food store chain, has been carrying Organika’s products since Mr. Chin first joined the company and started trying to break into the Quebec market. Now, its products are one of the most recognizable on its shelves.

Mr. Brown says much of that success comes from Organika’s ability to pivot as consumer tastes change or health fads lose momentum.

“Often the biggest challenge with brands is they’ll have a key product or winner, [but] things come and go,” says Mr. Brown. “Aaron [Chin] is so in tune that as soon as something starts to taper off, the focus shifts and he’s onto the next thing.”

Organika is also an early adopter in the natural health sphere when it comes to branding products as ideas rather than ingredients, Mr. Brown says. For example, he says Organika created a product called “metaboost” to capture a category of supplements designed to help with metabolism.

”He’s made this category, which can sometimes be intimidating to people who are new to it, easy to understand,” Mr. Brown says.

While the U.S. expansion faces hurdles, Mr. Chin views it as a litmus test ahead of a more concentrated marketing push in the U.S. in 2027.

“If you can make it during the hardest time and show good results and move your product off the shelf and continue to do well, then in the good times, you’re probably going to do really well,” he says.

Still, he says Organika’s focus remains on building the brand in Canada, noting that international markets account for only a low double-digit per cent of the company’s overall sales.

“We need to take care of our backyard first,” he says. “We’re a Canadian brand, and this is the best time to grow within Canada.”