Connie Tabbert
Editor
FORESTERS FALLS — The Business Bistro held at the Whitewater Brewing Company Tuesday night was a success.
This was the third bistro organized by Jackie Stott of the Ottawa Valley Tourist Association, Alistair Baird of the economic department of the County of Renfrew and the City of Pembroke.
Prior to three business people giving a brief description of their business and how they began, those attending had plenty of time to visit and try out many of the delicious foods served at the Whitewater Brewing Company, which is located at the intersection of Grants Settlement Road and Fletcher Road.
Brendan Mark of Haleconia Press in Beachburg, Damien McCarthy of GearHeads in Petawawa said the owners of the brewing company, both named Chris Thompson, had opportunity to talk to the crowd.
Mr. Mark said Haleconia is a film production company and has been in production for 15 years. It is the largest film production company in the Ottawa Valley. They do five television shows, which all air in the United States, which is why the company is not well-known in this area, he explained.
“About 90 per cent of our business is in the US market,” he said.
Following a short video on one of the projects, Mr. Mark said they do about 40 half-hour episodes a year and broadcast on NBC Sports, as well as a few other networks.
The company also does on-line video, Mr. Mark said. Seven years ago, they were identified by Youtube as one of their first partners in Canada.They work with businesses to promote themselves on line, he explained. They have 11 Youtube channels, 95,000 subscribers and over 27 million views on Youtube.
Youtube helps businesses reach their target groups, he said. What’s important when a business wants to have a film produced, it should have a strategy, he said.
“Planning pays off so you don’t have so many hours of video to review and edit,” he said. “It’s best if the length of the video is no more than two to three minutes. But, it’s also important to remember, a video is as long as it needs to be.”
Mr. McCarthy started GearHeads eight-and-a-half years ago and it has grown. He was the only employee and six months after starting, his wife Tammy quit her job and joined him. There is now six full time and five part-time staff, which work year-round.
The most important aspect of any business is customer service, he said.
“Customer service made us successful,” he said. “People come back and that’s because of customer service. We do the absolute best job of treating each of our customers like you would like to be treated.”
Since starting out in 2006, the company’s facility has expanded three times and there is still not enough space, he added.
To succeed, Mr. McCarthy believes business people need to be involved in their communities and meet other business people to form partnerships.
“Spread the good word around of what the area has to offer,” he said.
He noted GearHeads sponsors about 50 events each year and refuses to participate in several events just because of time and staff.
The two Mr. Thompson’s took turns talking about Whitewater Brewing Company. They both agreed starting out small is doable; asking for help is a big yes and having a strategy is important.
“From Day 1, we started out small to remain sustainable and grew,” Mr. Thompson said. “We had a zero budget and pieced together what we could afford and took our business from there.”
Bringing laughter from the crowd, Mr. Thompson said where the current washrooms are is where the company first began, minus the sinks and toilets.
“We built a tiny brewing system, brewing in the men’s room and fermenting in the women’s,” which brought much more laughter.
When they began, they were brewing 150 litres per week and would sell all of it within 24 to 36 hours. Today, they brew about 2,000 litres a week and are sold in about 40 bars and restaurants.
It’s important to create relationships with other businesses and people,” Mr. Thompson said.
Along with the brewing company, there is now the restaurant as well as an area for local craft people to sell their wares.
“It’s very important to work with people,” he said. It’s important to do your business well and work with other businesses. The more businesses you are involved with, the easier it is to find others to support you.”
One of the most important resources is the company’s staff, Mr. Thompson said.
“Our staff is wickedly awesome,” he said. “They are our biggest cheerleaders.”
He noted when they decided to host the Business Bistro, their staff offered to pitch in right away.
Mr. Thompson noted the brewing company is opened 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven days a week; the restaurant is opened 3 to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, noon to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday and noon until 9 p.m. on Sunday.
They also do home deliveries of their various brews between Deep River and Arnprior.
While people socialized and ate, Mr. Baird said there was a good crowd with people from far away, including Calabogie, Renfrew, Killaloe and Petawawa/Pembroke. There was also a good mix of all kinds of businesses.
“The idea was to get business people together, share some ideas and learn about who does what in the Valley,” he said.
