Locked on Local

Born and raised in Fredericton, Duncan Clowater spent close to 6 years travelling around the world and working in different places. Duncan grew up working in a family plumbing and heating business,  until at age 48 he took a left turn to try something completely different.  Duncan opened The Dandy Paint Lounge. Located in Downtown Fredericton, the Dandy Paint Lounge is a place where you can sit down and relax alone or with friends, paint and have a drink if you like. Whether your painting on a traditional canvas, or joining a group to create art on a record or ukulele, Duncan joined Andrew to talk about this new addition to Fredericton's business community.

Stefanie Loukes is the founder of Rabbittown Beverage Company, a specialty craft beverage retailer located in Fredericton. Stefanie and her team create hand-crafted alternatives to traditional ready-to-drink iced teas. All of our drinks are rigorously made with the same high standards: Organic, raw & unpasteurized, non-GMO, gluten-free & vegan. In this discussion, Stefanie talks about how tea can be more than just a drink and how her business plays a role in the region.

Matt Clancey is a professional engineer with a background in project management. With a passion for innovation, he constantly seeks to pioneer new processes and methodologies in the aerial application space. As the Director of Ground Operations, Matt is responsible for the Field Operations, Fire Support, Research, and GIS teams at Forest Protection Limited and his team plans and executes FPL’s aerial application programs. Since 1952, Forest Protection Limited has had the mandate to preserve and protect the forests that sustain our ecosystems, our communities, and our economies. They are a global leader in full-spectrum forest health management.

Rosemary Gong owns RosieSKIN Salon Spa, a boutique salon here in Fredericton, which offers luxury facials, hot stone massages, manicure and pedicures, and more.

Rosemary has two masters degrees, one is computer science and one in marketing, 15 years R&D experience, 7 years in the beauty industry and has her Medical esthetics diploma in Fredericton. Rosemary immigrated to Fredericton in 2018 and has a lot to say not only about her journey, but the role the community has played in her business.

Asad Khan, is the owner of Halal Station, an online grocery store that exclusively sells 100% halal products. Asad and his wife moved to Fredericton with his family in 2019 and decided to start their own catering business. While larger supermarkets sell some halal products such as packaged chicken, Asad says it is difficult to find other cuts of meat such as goat, lamb and beef.

Halal Station offers a wide variety of South Asian products including spices, beverages, and the ever-popular range of halal meats.

Asad spoke with me about how the Fredericton market makes it a great opportunity for potential growth and makes it a great place to test new products or services.

ThermTest innovates and develops laboratory equipment, which measures thermal properties, or the manner in which a material transfers heat. They manufacturer and supply various measurements systems for solids, liquids, pastes and powders to North American and International markets. Dale Hume, President and founder describes his research laboratory as being unique in Canada, if not the world, in terms of diversity of measurement equipment. Both Dale Hume and Lesley Hillier, the Chief Global Strategy Officer, joined me to chat about what’s next for Thermtest.

The Food & Accommodation sector has been significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic with restaurant owners facing new challenges every day. Mike Babineau has been in this game since the late 90’s, progressing from dishwasher to now owner of five local restaurants: Cora’s Breakfast & Lunch, RustiCo, Cannon’s Cross Happy Baker, and the Diplomat. Mike joined the podcast to talk about how he is keeping up with it all.

Cameron McNeil recently announced The Par 94 Bar and Golf Lounge: the first downtown golf destination in Fredericton, hosting golf simulations in its 3600 square foot location. Listen in to hear about why he jumped into the world of entrepreneurship.

Many businesses are looking to go full steam ahead in 2022, and that means implementing new action plans; creating new strategies; simplifying decision-making and more. I pulled in Andy Clark from Clarkie Consulting to walk us through what businesses can do right now to prepare for 2022.

#SupportFredLocal sounds like any other support local campaign, however with this iteration, currently in its fourth phase, the committee did something a bit different. The committee, which consists of the City of Fredericton, Fredericton Tourism, Ignite Fredericton, Fredericton Chamber of Commerce, Business Fredericton North and Downtown Fredericton, decided to focus on our regions local talent for this campaign, so the committee worked with creators within the city to help us build content and share the stories of our businesses.

Laura Clendenning was the first creator. She not only has a strong following here in the region, but she is also a business owner, owning the sweat club and sweat supplements. Laura joined me to talk about her business how the Fredericton region has been supporting here (and vice versa) through the past couple years.