business partnership and it works.”
Their shared vision is motivated by their young families. Mark and Kelly are parents to a four-year- old and one- year- old; Jeremy and his wife had their first baby earlier this summer. “When Mark was a chartered accountant, he was working late – I mean super late hours,” Kelly explained. “We really weren’t seeing him nearly as much as we wanted, so the idea of owning our own business and getting to the point where we could more-or- less control our own hours was huge. We can now make decisions like taking an extra day or two when we go away on the weekend and Mark can work from his computer. We’re really proud of how far we’ve come with this business. It’s also really exciting for me that our kids are seeing us make something. They’ll see the brand; they’ll see the 2 Crows and know it’s their parents’ business.” “There’s a craft beer out there for everyone.” For Mark and Kelly, being part of the Halifax brewing com- munity was always part of the business plan. Mark explained that friends – and the bank – were concerned that 2 Crows Brewing could become a casualty of a city with the most bars and breweries per capita in Canada. “We looked at other cities, sure. But we knew, especially once we met Jeremy, that we didn’t have to worry about becoming just another brewery in a city famous for its beer,” he said. “It was also the right time. When we opened, there were already a number of craft breweries in the Halifax Regional Municipality which meant that there was a market for people wanting to try beers outside of the big brands.” It’s not just about going toe-to- toe with the big breweries for 2 Crows Brewing. “Every time someone comes into the taproom and compliments the beer or writes a good review of our beer, I really take it to heart,” Kelly explained. “We’re so passionate about it, we love it so much. When people are having a good time in our taproom, it’s like we’re enter- taining them in our home – you want them to have the best time possible. It’s not just for business; we love when people are drinking our beer and having a good time in Downtown Halifax. We love, for instance, when tourists come in and tell us how much they enjoyed our beer and the downtown scene.” In its first summer, 2 Crows Brewing became an instant landmark for American tourists, many of them coming from the constant parade of cruise ships coming into Halifax Harbour. “It’s because many of our beers are inspired by American craft brewers and craft beer enthusiasts, espe- cially from New England, recognize something more-or- less familiar in the descriptors on our website,” Kelly said. “We admire a lot of craft brewers from Florida to Maine and we make it our mission to visit as many as possible when we vacation in the US, so we have a lot of stories to share with
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2017
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