es, mini-quiche, a velouté or gazpacho, scones, lighter cakes, desserts and pastries. All this is served, of course, with tea—or if it suits your taste best, coffee. While there are a few places in Atlantic Canada that offer this experience, what really sets Birkinshaw’s apart is their exceptional service and atmosphere. This certainly isn’t the crowded feeling you get from visiting a large chain like Starbucks. Birkin- shaw’s elegant British ambiance helps customers to let go of their daily grind and to catch up with friends or relax after a long day of exploring Nova Scotia. Q: What does your customer base look like, being located in Amherst—which is a 50-minute drive from more populated towns like Moncton and Truro? The first thing we focused on was our local visi- bility. We have an eye-catching storefront in our section of the old warehouse we’re located in that helps us connect with foot traffic in the area. There are only 9,000 residents in Amherst, so we also use a heavy Social media presence with con- sistent branding to connect with the larger popu- lations in Truro and Moncton as well as our local audience. Our demographic is mainly women, aged 35 and up—people who like to take their time to catch up over fine food and tea. We’ve worked with other local businesses as well with a similar audience, and this has always proved to be worthwhile. We’re currently working with Amherst’s French Toast week to celebrate the tradition of this delicious treat, as one example, and happily partner with the small business events in our area. At this point, it’s not unusual for people to drive upwards of two hours to come visit us. We’ve grown our business to appeal to the older genera- tions via our specialty lunches and afternoon teas (which makes up the larger population in the area). We have also broadened our offerings to entice parents and children with menu items like our ‘Freakshake‘ milkshake. Offering a truly unique experience allows us to draw from populations
much further than an average restaurant would warrant. Q: What challenges have you encountered while building and running a business in a rural community of only 9,000 residents? You’d think it would be the small population, but for us it came down to the local by-laws regard- ing downtown signage. They’re outdated and constrain small businesses with a blanket ‘all-the- same’ mentality instead of a more modernized ‘case-by-case’ approach. They make no allowanc- es for tasteful and appropriate downtown signage but allow less attractive lit signs used by larger franchises. With the history and ambiance of Amherst at large, we expected a more heritage-led position, similar to small towns in Europe, and so we struggle to gain high visibility from our slightly tucked away location. We’ve also struggled to break the mould of coffee shops in our area. Before we opened, Tim Hortons was the only available option for coffee and tea, which meant that there was no pre-existing culture
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APRIL 2019 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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