I have bought quite a bit from this artisanal chocolate manufacturer in Moncton. They were hawking their products at the Brix cafe over the weekend. Is it just me or does it seem that more and more people are setting up this micro-businesses in niche product areas such as booze, chocolate, coffee, hot sauces, ice cream, etc.?
When Michael Maynard was director of the NB College of Craft and Design, we often had a conversation related to this. He was offering courses in Entrepreneurship and I was trying to help, as dean of UNB Fredericton's business faculty. The problem we were zeroed in on was that so many of the brilliant creators, the former students of NBCCD, ended up working at, say, an insurance company, and only offering their creative, artisanal wares at farmers markets on the weekend, rather than developing them into full blown businesses. I had come to UNB from Copenhagen Business School, where I was studying the artisanal creative economy in northern Europe, where artisanal manufactures do tend to become actual companies, and, in Denmark, collectively account for significant production. Tour the island of Bornholm, Denmark, and you will see an entire economy based on artisanal production. Wander through Torvehallerne in the centre of Copenhagen and you will see literally dozens of products of artisanal chocolate makers, cheese makers, snaps and other fruit spirit distillers, coffee roasters, etc. all produced by going concern companies (most of them admittedly not very large). If you want to see an example of what can be, go to the Epoch Chemistry location on St. George Street in Moncton and talk to them about the Coffee Collective, which is based in Denmark, and whose model Epoch is deliberately emulating (Epoch's coffee is great too). Three guys in Norrebro who didn't like the coffee they could find and thought they could do better has become an export powerhouse. The real puzzle, to me, is what is it about the culture and supports for such businesses in Denmark that gives them the boost to go beyond the farmers market economy...that doesn't happen in NB?
Thanks for sharing this observation. Raising kids and trying to instill work ethic as well as calculated risk-taking isn't obvious. Examples of the nuance you've highlighted here helps me explain to them (and me) how hard work and a good idea might not turn you into the next J. Bezos (they actually sing about him), but it can enrich your community and set you on a path for knowing your value and trading on it in your ecosystem.
When Michael Maynard was director of the NB College of Craft and Design, we often had a conversation related to this. He was offering courses in Entrepreneurship and I was trying to help, as dean of UNB Fredericton's business faculty. The problem we were zeroed in on was that so many of the brilliant creators, the former students of NBCCD, ended up working at, say, an insurance company, and only offering their creative, artisanal wares at farmers markets on the weekend, rather than developing them into full blown businesses. I had come to UNB from Copenhagen Business School, where I was studying the artisanal creative economy in northern Europe, where artisanal manufactures do tend to become actual companies, and, in Denmark, collectively account for significant production. Tour the island of Bornholm, Denmark, and you will see an entire economy based on artisanal production. Wander through Torvehallerne in the centre of Copenhagen and you will see literally dozens of products of artisanal chocolate makers, cheese makers, snaps and other fruit spirit distillers, coffee roasters, etc. all produced by going concern companies (most of them admittedly not very large). If you want to see an example of what can be, go to the Epoch Chemistry location on St. George Street in Moncton and talk to them about the Coffee Collective, which is based in Denmark, and whose model Epoch is deliberately emulating (Epoch's coffee is great too). Three guys in Norrebro who didn't like the coffee they could find and thought they could do better has become an export powerhouse. The real puzzle, to me, is what is it about the culture and supports for such businesses in Denmark that gives them the boost to go beyond the farmers market economy...that doesn't happen in NB?
Thanks for sharing this observation. Raising kids and trying to instill work ethic as well as calculated risk-taking isn't obvious. Examples of the nuance you've highlighted here helps me explain to them (and me) how hard work and a good idea might not turn you into the next J. Bezos (they actually sing about him), but it can enrich your community and set you on a path for knowing your value and trading on it in your ecosystem.