Niagara, Lets Support Niagara.

Why don’t business owners support other local business owners? It’s a weird phenomenon that I’ve experienced and I’ve talked to countless entrepreneurs who have also felt this way. Let me explain.

I run a coffee roasting business and a small marketing agency. Both are based in the Niagara Region and both businesses generate most of their revenue in a more competitive market over 100 kilometers away; Toronto.

Why?

The coffee scene in Niagara is incredibly small, there are only a few roasters in the area. When I do sales calls in the area, you would think that I would be competing with these other local coffee roasters. I wish. If a restaurant owner was using another local roaster I would accept that they are kicking my ass. They are telling their story better or their product is better. I would be happy to compete.

However, when I knock on the door, and get to talking about coffee, the owner usually is using a coffee roaster far from Niagara. Sometimes far from Ontario. Even far from Canada.

We can compete on price.

We deliver weekly.

Our minimum orders are small.

Our product is often better.

So why aren’t we using the local guy? It’s usually because the restaurant and cafe owners are buying from a big distributor. They have a shopping list and large minimums to hit. So they load up on the garbage.

The unfortunate thing is that the big distributor is stopping in at everyone on the street. Everyone is serving the same shit. Different names on the outside, same shit on the plate or in the cup. Give it 12 to 36 months and they’ll be out of a business. Another restaurant owner comes in with hopes of doing something different and they end up with the big distributor truck at their door.

The secret to success is to be different. The clients we do have in Niagara thrive. They make things from scratch, they source from local farms, and they outsource from local artisans. This gives them a unique product that is delicious and a product that can trace its roots back to the community.

So please I’m urging everyone to support local. It’ll be better for you, better for the community, and better for our future.