It’s something we need to do to continue living here,’ “ he said. “It propelled us from feeling the cidery was some- thing we could perhaps do to something we felt obliged to do. There was a social responsibility attached to it.” He said focusing on their business through the Ivany report’s recommendations was hugely helpful. “It’s a lens through which we can view activities and what we’re doing. If you read the report, and come to visit our business, you see we represent the report. We are buying local product for our cider-making, it’s value-added, and we’re in a small Nova Scotia town employing young, educated people,” he said. “We’re a rural town with premium product for export. We check all the boxes. This is a way to provide us extra motivation to be exceptional and
cider.”
While they moved forward in 2016, the couple had been considering this business since 2014, when Ray Ivany’s report, Now or Never: An Urgent Call to Action for Nova Scotians, was released. The report called for a number of goals to be set by 2024, including growing local business start- ups and increasing exports. “We always kind of had that entrepreneurial itch. We saw wineries cropping up and benefiting Wolfville, and then we saw the craft beer movement explode. We felt uniquely suited to start something.”
“We were constantly hearing about it in the news. Ivany was saying ‘this isn’t a choice for Nova Scotia.
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • FEBRUARY 2019
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