SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
NOVEMBER 2017
Cape Breton Island, on Canada’s rugged East Coast, is known worldwide for being home to some of the friendliest people on the planet. It is also home to one of the friendliest breweries anywhere, namely, the family-owned and operated Breton Brewing Company. Breton’s website accurately explains that “Cape Breton has always been as harsh as it is beautiful, as barren as it is rich. Anything wondrous growing here does so more out of determination than fertile soil.” It was this determination to raise their families on Cape Breton Island and to pursue a career doing something they love that friends Bryan MacDonald, an engineer by trade, and Andrew Morrow, a high school teacher, decided to swing open the doors to Breton Brewing in 2015. The story begins about six years before that, when the two shared a passion for home-brewing. This led to info-vacations to breweries, asking questions and absorbing the craft beer culture. With no immediate competition in their corner of Cape Breton, MacDonald and Morrow decided to take the plunge and turn a hobby into a livelihood. Spotlight on Business spoke to the co-owners about brewing beer on Cape Breton Island, Breton Brewing Company’s fabulous beers, and the company’s family focus.
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By John Allaire I started home brewing in 2009 and was immediately hooked. We started seriously thinking about putting everything for a brewery together in 2013. But we were quite successful with our home brews. Even won a few awards nationally. We were getting a great response from our friends and family. So that gave us the confidence to compete. We knew we were making good product” Mac- Donald explains. Morrow adds, “We knew there was a gap in the market here, so we jumped into it with both feet.” Family plays a large role in the overall philosophy and the everyday decisions at Breton. Both co-owners have young families, as do many of their employees. It quickly became a matter of policy at the outset that family would come first moving forward. MacDonald beams, “We have such
an awesome team here at the brewery allowing us to have a great life/work balance. That’s really important. Being able to raise our families and work at something we love where we grew up and being surrounded by family. There’s nothing better.”
Morrow agrees and adds, “There’s nothing more import-
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ant than family. We have an employee with twins on the way. So we are sure to be accommodating for whatever family issues or personal situations come up. We’ll arrange to have shifts covered or whatever is necessary.” It’s important for any business to have a consistent attitude and policy toward the life/work balance. Many private-sector start-ups struggle with finding the right personnel and the happy balance. And every business situation brings with it a different life/ work balance. Collectively prioritizing families first as a matter of policy takes large strides in ensuring a cohesive atmosphere at Breton. The brewery’s location on Cape Breton Island is, as mentioned, home base for the families and friends of
the co-owners, but MacDonald and Morrow point out that there’s something for everyone who visits their friendly shores. “We’ve just come off of one of our busiest tourist seasons. There’s a lot to enjoy here, like world-class golf courses (the last ratings ranked Cape Breton as having three of the top five courses in Canada), we have beautiful beaches, the Cabot Trail, historical sites like the Alexander Graham Bell Museum, a busy cruise ship industry, camping, hunting, music… we’ve got something for everyone.” “We knew there was a gap in the market here, so we jumped into it with both feet.” All these activities are paired with Cape Breton’s natural beauty. Amidst all of nature’s wonders sits their brewery — unabashedly catering to the needs of tourists and locals alike. Mac- Donald explains, “What we offer is a pretty comforting environment in our tasting room. And we have a biergarten that we opened just this June. So when you come here and try our beers, we explain what they’re about and how they’re made. It’s a great stop on any tour.” And remember, it’s one of the friendliest places you’ll find anywhere. So when they claim to offer a “pretty comforting environment,” you can bet it’s an understatement. With about 100 cruise ships docking nearby each summer, Breton has been not only market- ing directly to the tourists, but has additionally been in talks with cruise ship companies to get onto some of the official dry-land tours. They also hope for a friendly ear at tourism industry
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promoters, such as Destination Cape Breton and Taste of Nova Scotia. One promotion from the latter organization has visitors collecting stamps from craft breweries, wineries and distilleries across the province. A full stamp card will entitle the holder to a limited-edi- tion t-shirt. The co-owners agree that these promotions are a piece, albeit small, of the overall marketing puzzle. However, this is 2017, so the majority of Breton’s marketing efforts have naturally revolved around a strong social media presence. Mind you, having a tap or two available at restaurants and pubs directly servicing the cruise ship tours doesn’t hurt either. This leads to Breton’s three-pronged distribution plan. Topping the list is the taproom, which sells growlers and pints to walk-ups. Secondly, they deliver kegs to restau- rants and bars right across Nova Scotia. “We kind of have our focus on Cape Breton and Halifax at the moment. But we are working on points in-between and growing other markets around Nova Scotia. And we have a couple of restaurants in Charlottetown (Prince Edward Island) where we’re on tap. And we’ve started selling our Black Angus in cans in P.E.I.” Finally, their biggest customer is the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation (NSLC). Breton ships their cans to the NSLC for distribution across the province. The advantage to having a central distributor is that statistics on sales and trends are meticulously kept, offering craft brewers an accurate
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snapshot of what products are popular and where their biggest markets reside — all important information when deciding on where to focus future marketing efforts. Morrow points out that direct deliveries to independent dealers are starting to make headway in the Halifax area as well. As the landscape begins to fill with these independent stores, the craft revolution will take on an even greater grassroots foothold on the market share. “Since we opened our doors, we have been embraced by everyone here, including people who have never had craft beer before.” Breton offers four flagship beers to the thirsty craft-loving public. Starting lightest to darkest, the Stirling Hefeweizen is a 4.6 % German beer that’s made from 60% wheat and 40% barley. MacDonald explains, “It’s made from a Ger- man-style yeast with a banana and clove characteristic. It just won Beer-of- the-Year at the Atlantic Canadian Beer Awards. So we’re pretty excited about that. That was one of the original beers we came up with and it definitely has a loyal following.” Like most craft brewers, Breton made sure one of their recipes was an accessible beer that could appeal to the newly-converted. Their Stirling is that beer. Next in line is their RedCoat Irish Red. It claims the brewery’s second most popular spot in sales. And while both co-own- ers attempted to accurately describe its unique character- istics, it’s their website that nails it. “There’s a bit of bite to Redcoat. That makes sense, really. There was a bit of bite to the Irishmen who stood up to the Redcoats, the British soldiers who invaded their lands. Those Irishmen were rebels. And if peacekeeping Irish Reds aren’t your thing, the Son’s of Hector is Breton’s Brown Ale. It has a chocolatey finish from the malt used in the brewing process. Once again,MacDonaldpoints out that this one has a loyal following amongst Cape Breton’s dark beer enthusiasts. It may also rope in a fewof the IPA lovers, as theyarenot shyabout itshoppy character. Of course, the hidden gem in the whole craft beer movement is the amazing small- batch experimental cre- ations produced by enthusiastic craft brewmasters. Breton is no different, offering up seasonals like: Celtic Colours Maple Lager, Pumpkin Ale, Storm-Chaser Oatmeal Vanilla Stout, Island Time Lager, and Seven Years Pale Ale (a recent Gold Medal winner at the Atlantic Canadian Beer Awards). They did things their own way. They feared no one. We appreciate those qualities. So we’ve brewed Redcoat the Irish way, hopped for balance and drinkability. May it be the pint that settles your quarrels.”
The popular seasonals get to stay on the roster for the fol- lowing year.
Leading us to the number one seller, Breton’s Black Angus IPA. It’s not only the brewery’s best selling beer, it also takes top honours as the best-selling IPA in tall cans at the NSLC for the last year-and- a-half. Morrow comments on its accessibility, “It’s a very drinkable IPA. I think most people get into it because it’s a 9 or 10 on the drinkability factor scale.” MacDonald adds, “One trend we’re noticing here at the brewery is that people who might start off with the lighter Stirling end up converting to the Black Angus. It’s one of those beers that has nice hop characteristics. Really well-balanced. I think where other IPAs might be really hop- forward, or higher in alcohol, this one is better balanced. It has gained quite a large following in Nova Scotia.” It should come as no surprise that a business that puts family first and is concerned about the welfare of their staff is also concerned about their community. Breton has mandated a community participation program and backs it up with their support and outreach. “The main thing we do here at the brewery is stay in touch and involved with the local community. We do a trivia night every week here and every month we pick a local charity. Everybody that comes through the door on trivia night pays $5 toward that month’s charity… So far, our trivia nights have raised over $30,000 for local charities.” “I think we’re in a privileged position, to be able to start a business and have such great community support. We like to give back and are very pleased to be able to do so.” MacDon- ald stresses that the support is symbiotic. “The local support that we get from the community has been exceptional. Since we opened our doors, we have been embraced by everyone here, including people who have never had craft beer before. They’re willing to give it a try because it’s local. We’re lucky to be in an area where people love to support local businesses.” Speaking with MacDonald and Morrow, one gets the impression that the sky’s the limit for the Cape Breton brewery. After only a couple of years in business, they have already established themselves as a communi- ty hub of activity. But they’re cautiously optimistic. They’re happy to take growth as it comes and not push the envelope beyond capacity. “We’re able to meet our orders for now, but we’ll have to expand. And we can expand in our current location, so we’re lucky that way,” MacDonald assures. All things in good time, as they say. But if their initial pop- ularity is any indication, expansion may come sooner than later. They have had to hire 10 employees in their short tenure and there are no signs of slowing down. And with their family- forward formula, the Breton Brewing Company sounds like a great place to hitch your horse! Their community focus has also included benefit concerts and charity beer festivals.
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www.jymline.com
www.famousfolks.ca
BRETON BREWING CO.
364 Keltic Dr, Sydney, NS B1R 1V7 (902) 270-4677
bretonbrewing.ca
as spotlighted in the NOVEMBER 2017 issue of SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
www.spotlightonbusinessmagazine.com
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