PM: Well, that’s been part of our mission from the start. Vernon is an erratic city, with tourism having mega highs and crashing lows. Over the years, we witnessed as the people of Vernon became increasingly disconnected with their own city. Some people, locals, felt like Vernon had nothing to offer. It has been our objective to reintroduce our community to this beautiful downtown core. We have redeveloped the core corner of Main Street that had been an eye-sore for decades – and we offered some- thing for our community that they would more likely find in Yale Town, Vancouver. SM: We are still working to bring awareness to the local community. Despite media coverage like radio ads and newspaper spots, we still get local residents all the time who haven’t been downtown – and they’re surprised that we even exist. Yet people from all over BC make the trip to come check us out. Vernon’s previous demographic was primarily retirees, but recently a surge of young families have come to call Vernon home. The opportunities here are endless and the lifestyle is like nowhere else in Canada. PM: And we’re seeing the benefits of this new blood. We’re already completely booked for Christmas parties – everyone who had their party with us last year re-booked right away and any empty spots were snapped up. We’re now doing weddings in our space and we’re offering the whole package: food, beverages, and the photos in the brewery are really cool. Speaking of the brewery, have your core beers grown in popularity? SM: Exponentially, David. We’ve actually already purchased more tanks to keep up with the demand. I still get a kick when I place a call somewhere for supplies, for example, and they say something like, ‘Oh, are you Marten Brewing, home of the Rough & Dirty red ale?’ We also love to see people in places like Portland, Oregon with pictures of our BC Bud IPA that they took home with them from their vacation to BC. It’s super cool. It’s things like that that make us keep doing what this crazy job demands from us. PM: We are lucky to have thousands of wonderful guests come to our establishment. This has allowed us to listen to feedback, hear different opinions, and really develop a sense for what people prefer. Because we hadn’t packaged our product from the begin- ning, we were able to adjust and tweak our core beers to reflect something that both our guests and our brew team are really happy with today. It was a cool and fun process Since we took the plunge, no longer are the shops boarded up and ‘For Lease’ signs lining the streets.
SM: All of this was taking place in our underground cellar between beer brews and thus the birth of our Underground beverage line. If nothing else, brewing alcohol-free drinks is a great way to get through the work week. As is the case with most brewers, the question arose, ‘What else can we brew?’ The answer was tea – fermented tea. PM: Kombucha is an ancient beverage that has recently resurfaced and it’s given us the guts we’ve always dreamed of, so to speak. Its probiotic-packed, it’s full of healthy ant oxidant tea properties, and it’s deliciously refreshing. SM: We always say that the whole endeavour’s about creating a tea that pours like a beer but that makes you look good when you’re naked – how could anyone say no? We are brewers first, but we just happen to make rad coffee and tea! “Using our brewing equipment we began developing coffee for brewers, creating a stellar nitro coffee now known as Chatterbox.” Have you taken any of your new product line on the road to special events and festivals this last year? PM: We have attended every festival south and north of here this year – and it’s been a blast. It’s certainly a great way to get our name out there and showcase our products, old and new. SM: And I think it’s important that people not familiar with Marten Brewpub are made aware that we host a lot of special and private events here on 30 th Ave. We have ample space to accommodate large groups and as a result we’ve been lucky enough to have sponsored dozens of non-profit organizations and charities this year – and the list keeps getting longer. We’ve partnered with the Vernon chapter of 100 Men Who Give a Damn which means that four times a year roughly 140 guys make Marten Brewpub their man cave for a night. Every guy brings $100 and we listen to three charities give a speech on why they should receive the money and what they will do with it. We vote after listening to their speeches and one successful candidate walks away with $14,000-plus. It’s very cool! Our goal is to get to 200 and grow from there. The guys are promised a free pint from the Marten Brewing Company as soon as we get to 200 people – beer motiva- tion always works! It sounds like your in-house services like private parties have continued to grow in popularity since we spoke last.
50
SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2017
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker