Latest / The 403 Podcast / Turning a Niche Idea Into a Growing Movement | Gerrit Janssen

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Turning a Niche Idea Into a Growing Movement | Gerrit Janssen · The 403 Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_02: I'm Krista Savage, a Calgary realtor passionate about sharing the stories of people who are building Calgary and our surrounding areas.
0:07
SPEAKER_02: From entrepreneurs and business owners to the city's shapers changing our community for the better.
0:13
SPEAKER_02: If you're buying, selling, investing, or just want to talk about Calgary, I'd love to hear from you.
0:19
SPEAKER_02: All my contact information is in the show notes.
0:22
SPEAKER_02: Talk soon.
0:23
SPEAKER_02: Welcome to the 403 Podcast, the show where we meet the people behind the businesses, brands, and experiences that shape Alberta.
0:31
SPEAKER_02: Every entrepreneur starts with an idea, but the ones that change a community don't just build a business, they build connections.
0:38
SPEAKER_02: Today's guest didn't simply create a market.
0:42
SPEAKER_02: He created a space where local businesses could be discovered, where small brands could grow, and where people live gluten-free could feel understood instead of limited.
0:52
SPEAKER_02: Along the way, he built something much bigger than an event.
0:55
SPEAKER_02: He built a community.
0:56
SPEAKER_02: Today we're talking about leadership, taking risks on niche ideas, creating opportunities for local businesses, and what it really takes to turn passion into something that's expanding well beyond Alberta.
1:08
SPEAKER_02: Joining me today is Garrett Jansen, founder of Local Guten Free, Gluten Free Markets and the Gluten Free Expo.
1:16
SPEAKER_02: Garrett, welcome to the 403 podcast.
1:19
SPEAKER_00: Hello.
1:20
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Cursa, for having me.
1:22
SPEAKER_02: Of course.
1:22
SPEAKER_02: No, thanks for spending time with us this morning.
1:25
SPEAKER_02: Before there were thousands of people walking through your expos, before vendors were lining up to be part of local, there was just an idea.
1:33
SPEAKER_02: Let's go back there.
1:35
SPEAKER_02: You originally trained as a red steel chef.
1:38
SPEAKER_02: Most people would have expected that path to lead into restaurants or food.
1:42
SPEAKER_02: How did it eventually lead you into building communities instead?
1:45
SPEAKER_00: Well, the idea of being a chef is from a lot of people build on the idea of, wow, I watch the Food Network and I see Gordon Roumsey and it's all glamorous and it's fun and they're all smiling.
2:00
SPEAKER_00: But the reality is once you graduate from culinary school, you're working the graveyard shifts, you're working shifts from 10 o'clock at night, and ending at 10 o'clock at night or midnight.
2:15
SPEAKER_00: You work on holidays, birthdays, when people say, Hey, you want to go out for a drink?
2:20
SPEAKER_00: You're working because you're the person that is providing food and beverages for the people that want to celebrate their weekend, their Friday, their birthdays, right?
2:30
SPEAKER_00: So it becomes very taxing and on your body, and the industry is heavily focused on not eating while you're working because you're so busy, and then eating a lot right after and drinking alcohol and kind of celebrating that culture wasn't my thing because my body was very already very sensitive to certain foods and drinking.
2:52
SPEAKER_00: And so that kind of led me into the idea of not working those shifts anymore and focusing on my health rather than being this glamorous chef that would probably never exist because it this glamorous thing doesn't.
3:09
SPEAKER_00: There's this a small part of people that get to go on national television on the network.
3:16
SPEAKER_00: And that also looks really cool and very fancy.
3:19
SPEAKER_00: But you don't you haven't seen the things they have done in the past, the 15, 20 years of hard work, sweat, and tears they put into becoming known by uh by the public, becoming famous, right?
3:33
SPEAKER_00: That kind of thing.
3:33
SPEAKER_00: So it's um yeah, I just it wasn't my industry and I I left.
3:40
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
3:41
SPEAKER_02: They it's very glamorized.
3:43
SPEAKER_02: Was there a specific moment where you realized the gluten-free community was underserved?
3:49
SPEAKER_00: I realized that my health was more important than the passion I had to be a chef.
3:56
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I moved on to uh not working with gluten.
4:01
SPEAKER_00: And I decided to open a chocolate brand with my best friend, which was gluten-free, dairy-free.
4:08
SPEAKER_00: It was free from all the top 12 allergens, and that freed me from having to taste things I didn't want to taste, like gluten or dairy, at a restaurant, and it improved my health significantly.
4:21
SPEAKER_00: And that was kind of like the the moment where I was like, yeah, this is where I belong.
4:26
SPEAKER_00: And um, unfortunately, that company didn't last because COVID and some health issues of my own kind of interfered.
4:35
SPEAKER_00: So I had to switch and pivot, and I started creating little uh community markets in the city um that were gluten-free.
4:44
SPEAKER_00: And that's kind of where that pivot came, my health.
4:50
SPEAKER_02: No, I love that.
4:51
SPEAKER_02: It's really important.
4:52
SPEAKER_02: So maybe you can highlight, you talked a little bit about little mini markets and expos, and um, maybe you can give us a broad idea of all the businesses that are under one umbrella, what that looks like.
5:06
SPEAKER_02: Maybe go into detail about each one.
5:09
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
5:10
SPEAKER_00: I would like to call myself a serial entrepreneur because I have more ideas, but I keep telling myself I need to focus because you need to focus.
5:20
SPEAKER_00: You need to you need to do things right.
5:23
SPEAKER_00: And so the initial business is called Local Wicking Free Markets.
5:29
SPEAKER_00: It's L-O-K-A-L.
5:32
SPEAKER_00: And it actually started as a platform to support any business in the Calgary area because we realized when we had the chocolate brand that exposure on Instagram with influencers was very expensive and overrated, and that I could do my own platform for free for other businesses if we all rally around it.
5:58
SPEAKER_00: Of course, with my business then tanking the chocolate business, we I decided to pivot that into a gluten-free market.
6:05
SPEAKER_00: And so I serve the gluten-free community with that platform, and I create small gluten-free markets every quarter of the year in a small community center.
6:17
SPEAKER_00: It's free to attend.
6:19
SPEAKER_00: And the community just comes together, rallies around each other, they help each other out.
6:25
SPEAKER_00: Um, there's a kitchen, people come can come eat gluten-free lunch, they go shopping for anything between coffee, jewelry, donuts, croissants, uh satay chicken mixes, candles, anything goes.
6:43
SPEAKER_00: Um, and the event has become so popular that larger brands, national brands, have wanted to participate, which I do allow, but there's a certain limitation, right?
6:54
SPEAKER_00: It's a community market, so you I can't overgrow it with big brands.
6:58
SPEAKER_00: So people said, Why don't you create something bigger?
7:01
SPEAKER_00: So that's how Gluten Free Expo came about.
7:04
SPEAKER_00: And that's once a year in a bigger space like uh convention center.
7:10
SPEAKER_00: We are moving up to actually Windsport, which is a big event center here in Calvary.
7:15
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
7:16
SPEAKER_00: And naturally people were saying, When are you coming to Vancouver?
7:19
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Okay, so now we're in Vancouver at Canada Place in our second year, and Eplinton is getting their first one this October.
7:28
SPEAKER_00: And those are the big brands, those are the big brands and the small brands all under one umbrella.
7:35
SPEAKER_00: So that there's more room, it's a professional layout.
7:39
SPEAKER_00: Not saying community centers aren't professional, it's just there's pipe and drape, the tables are provided, they're fully covered, everything kind of looks the same except for your branding, what you put out.
7:50
SPEAKER_00: So it's a little bit more of a showcase of the product.
7:55
SPEAKER_00: And a few bigger people walk the floors too.
7:58
SPEAKER_00: Some buyers will come and skip in and see the products, right?
8:02
SPEAKER_00: So it's a bigger deal.
8:05
SPEAKER_00: Um we also have a trade show because from the gluten-free, dairy-free chocolate brand, we got to know brokers and distributors nationwide.
8:18
SPEAKER_00: So I thought we don't have a trade show for CPG, consumer packaged goods here in Calgary, and we decided let's have a trade show.
8:28
SPEAKER_00: And that is actually a big feeder for our gluten-free expo.
8:32
SPEAKER_00: Because it's the day before.
8:34
SPEAKER_00: So brands will sign up through Sobies, Co-op, or Amaranth, whoever puts the word out for the show, and they will come for the trade show and they'll stay for the gluten-free expo as well.
8:47
SPEAKER_00: And so it's a big, big feeder to make that show a big, big, big, big success.
8:52
SPEAKER_00: So that's kind of big businesses.
8:54
SPEAKER_02: So three businesses acting under the one umbrella.
8:57
SPEAKER_02: Like, did you think you'd have this amount of success this early on?
9:00
SPEAKER_00: I didn't think that it would take off and go in this direction.
9:06
SPEAKER_00: I thought it was just gonna be small little community markets, and that was gonna be it.
9:13
SPEAKER_00: Um It's the community that rallied around me.
9:16
SPEAKER_00: Like the first gluten-free market, it wasn't super busy, but it, you know, it was like the people were there, and people were saying, Where are the people?
9:23
SPEAKER_00: People need to know about this.
9:24
SPEAKER_00: We have way more people in our community.
9:27
SPEAKER_00: And then so the second time it happened, there was more word about it, and it was packed to the rafters.
9:34
SPEAKER_00: And that's when I knew, okay, now people know about it.
9:38
SPEAKER_00: Now people are talking, let's go.
9:40
SPEAKER_02: What made you believe that this city was ready for something like this?
9:43
SPEAKER_00: I can't say that I'm growing the community because I'm having events, but the uh community here that has celiac disease or is eating gluten-free is huge.
9:53
SPEAKER_00: And we have only tapped just the tip of it.
9:56
SPEAKER_00: I worked together with the Calgary Celiac Association, and we had a meeting the other day, and we both said there's still so many people that we meet.
10:04
SPEAKER_00: They've never heard of them, they've never heard of me.
10:07
SPEAKER_00: Um, I meet people that are celiac on a regular basis.
10:11
SPEAKER_00: I go to my spin class at the gym, and I've known, let's say, Rosie for three months, and she's like, Oh, I can't have gluten celiac.
10:20
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I didn't know.
10:21
SPEAKER_00: And then all of a sudden, yeah, I'm celiac too.
10:23
SPEAKER_00: There's literally four people, five people in my spin class that are celiac out of the the 20 people.
10:28
SPEAKER_00: So there is a huge market to be tapped in.
10:32
SPEAKER_00: It's just how do we reach them?
10:35
SPEAKER_00: So working with associations um like this Calgary Celiac Association is a big benefit to the both of us to get the word out there because the budget dollars for marketing only goes so far, and only so many people read that poster in that location or listen to that radio station, you know.
10:55
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, absolutely.
10:58
SPEAKER_02: So talking about marketing dollars, you know, if you're talking to a new entrepreneur, how would you explain to them that you're getting your voice out there, your story out there, um, and people walking through your doors?
11:12
SPEAKER_02: How do you make those tough decisions on where to put those marketing dollars?
11:17
SPEAKER_00: For me, what I took away from my first business was it kind of really ties in with your business.
11:25
SPEAKER_00: So when real estate agents, what's your guys' slogan?
11:28
SPEAKER_00: What does every real estate agent say?
11:30
SPEAKER_00: It's location, location, location.
11:33
SPEAKER_00: And for me, my trade show and my business, it's connection, connection, connection.
11:38
SPEAKER_00: Harvest your connections if they align with you and if they can benefit you, and you can benefit them.
11:47
SPEAKER_00: There's no harsh feelings in helping each other mutually, right?
11:53
SPEAKER_00: Um, case in example, I work with the Calgary Sealic Association.
11:58
SPEAKER_00: My customers are right there.
12:01
SPEAKER_00: That's their target.
12:03
SPEAKER_00: They want more exposure, I bring them to my market.
12:06
SPEAKER_00: So they help me do outreach, I have them come to my my event for free, I help them at their pancake breakfast, I sponsor it, and I help do the griddos.
12:18
SPEAKER_00: For my trade show, I have a really big connection with Sobies from my chocolate business.
12:24
SPEAKER_00: I I utilize that to get exhibitors into my show, right?
12:29
SPEAKER_00: And in return, they get huge exposure, they get kind of like the VIP access behind the scenes, and they get to kind of talk to me and develop the show a little bit, right?
12:39
SPEAKER_00: So connection, connection, connection is really important when it comes to marketing your business.
12:46
SPEAKER_00: Yes, you can put dollars out there and spend them, but but the word of mouth from a person that is respected in the industry to another business is worth a thousand times more than spending your money on an Instagram post.
13:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying you shouldn't be doing that, but try and find connections in the industry, in your market.
13:11
SPEAKER_00: That will be your base.
13:12
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I like that connection, connection, connection.
13:15
SPEAKER_02: Well, it is about who you know and also about the relationships you build, right?
13:19
SPEAKER_02: And if you're not willing to network or leverage those relationships, it's it's very hard as a new entrepreneur to uh to get the ball rolling.
13:29
SPEAKER_02: So I want to talk a little bit about your expos.
13:31
SPEAKER_02: Um it's easy to walk through a market or an expo and only see the finished product.
13:35
SPEAKER_02: What we don't see are the months of planning, the countless decisions, and the leadership it takes to bring it together.
13:41
SPEAKER_02: Walk us through what people don't see.
13:43
SPEAKER_02: If I attend one of your expos, what happened during the first six months before I walk through those doors?
13:49
SPEAKER_00: Oh Lord.
13:51
SPEAKER_00: I there's a lot because I wear every single hat, right?
13:56
SPEAKER_00: So go back a little bit.
13:58
SPEAKER_00: People I when I meet people, people ask me, so what do you do for a living?
14:02
SPEAKER_00: And I kind of say, Oh, I own an expo, I own a trade show.
14:06
SPEAKER_00: And they most of them don't understand, they don't get it.
14:09
SPEAKER_00: Like, oh, so what do you sell?
14:10
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, no, I don't sell anything.
14:11
SPEAKER_00: I I own it.
14:12
SPEAKER_00: And now I'm a founder, owner, and manager.
14:16
SPEAKER_00: I do everything.
14:18
SPEAKER_00: I have created the brand, I've done the logo, I've created the website, I put every word on there, I do all the payments.
14:25
SPEAKER_00: Owning a business is fun and exciting until you have to deal with the nitty-gritty.
14:32
SPEAKER_00: The stuff that nobody wants to deal with.
14:34
SPEAKER_00: Getting the insurance, paying for the insurance, talking about the layout and the spacing at a show, and where do people where's the traffic come from?
14:46
SPEAKER_00: Where do people come in?
14:47
SPEAKER_00: Um, do you have extra signage at the entrance that says if you are in a wheelchair, please come talk to the volunteer at the front and make sure that you have a dedicated volunteer to do that for you, or a staff member.
15:00
SPEAKER_00: The details is what is the hard part, I think, in my in my industry, in my business.
15:06
SPEAKER_00: Um, because every show, someone's like, Oh, I wish you would have had XYZ.
15:12
SPEAKER_00: And it's something that you don't can't really always put out until you walk their shoes.
15:17
SPEAKER_00: Um, or like example, at this year's Calgary show, someone was really upset and came to the front and said, I have a lady that can stand in line.
15:26
SPEAKER_00: Um, there's nobody to talk to, and uh, I don't know what to do.
15:30
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, okay, bring her up to the front, we'll let her in.
15:32
SPEAKER_00: Like, not everybody is gonna have physical disability, and right, so we can make exemptions, right?
15:39
SPEAKER_00: And so working off of that and making sure that next year there's a sign, hey, if you have a disability, come and see us.
15:45
SPEAKER_00: We might be able to accommodate you in a different way than we do the general public that can stand for 20 minutes in the lineup, right?
15:52
SPEAKER_00: That goes through my head more so than anything else.
15:57
SPEAKER_00: Like trying to place that 5% that didn't go right the last show.
16:02
SPEAKER_00: And that's kind of what I work on six months beforehand, because it needs to be planned ahead.
16:08
SPEAKER_00: You need to get signage, for example, and make sure that there's a right person at the right time at the right location.
16:13
SPEAKER_00: Like greeting the last-minute exhibitors that come into the show at 9.30 instead of eight o'clock.
16:21
SPEAKER_00: There needs to be someone there that greets them and tells them where all their last-minute things are.
16:25
SPEAKER_00: And that needs to be all be planned ahead.
16:26
SPEAKER_00: I need to have someone here, someone there, from this time to this time.
16:30
SPEAKER_00: Right.
16:31
SPEAKER_02: So, how do you make those decisions?
16:34
SPEAKER_02: Like, do you just trust your instinct?
16:36
SPEAKER_02: Do you just go based on people's feedback?
16:38
SPEAKER_02: Do you wing it?
16:40
SPEAKER_02: Like, what's the method?
16:42
SPEAKER_00: The the biggest mistake we made first in the first business, the chocolate business, was listening to the public, the customer right away, and being like, oh, okay, let's fix that, right?
16:57
SPEAKER_00: Oftentimes it's just one or two people that have recommendations, but the general public, the rest don't really care about it, or it's not an issue.
17:09
SPEAKER_00: So for me, it's taking my time on the decision.
17:14
SPEAKER_00: Is it an actual problem?
17:15
SPEAKER_00: Is it like systemic, or is it just one or two people?
17:18
SPEAKER_00: And getting feedback from industry professionals.
17:21
SPEAKER_00: So I work with other trade shows.
17:24
SPEAKER_00: I work with CHFA, I work with the fancy food show in Vancouver, I just connected with another gluten-free show in Ontario called the Gluten Free Garage.
17:34
SPEAKER_00: So we bounce ideas off of each other.
17:36
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, for example, my my lineup is long.
17:40
SPEAKER_00: There's 1,400 people that line up an hour before the show opens.
17:45
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
17:45
SPEAKER_00: And but people don't want to wait online.
17:48
SPEAKER_00: Like, what does this mean?
17:49
SPEAKER_00: We're we're going in waves of 100 people.
17:52
SPEAKER_00: Like, if I le let 1,400 people in at once, they all trample each other like the stampede.
17:57
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
17:58
SPEAKER_00: So I asked her, what do you do?
18:00
SPEAKER_00: And she goes, Oh, we have slotted tickets.
18:02
SPEAKER_00: Like there's 200 people for the first hour from 10 till 11 and then 11 to 12.
18:07
SPEAKER_00: And I said, How do you manage that?
18:08
SPEAKER_00: And have you had any difficulties or feedback?
18:11
SPEAKER_00: Or do you make exceptions?
18:12
SPEAKER_00: If someone comes with no ticket, do you say, sorry, buy a ticket for four o'clock and come back in three hours?
18:19
SPEAKER_00: Right?
18:19
SPEAKER_00: So I I utilize, again, connection, connection, connection.
18:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, my network of people that um support me.
18:29
SPEAKER_02: So every entrepreneur has moments where they think, uh, maybe this isn't gonna work.
18:35
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
18:36
SPEAKER_02: Um do you ever have those moments?
18:39
SPEAKER_00: I've had those moments, and I also have had those moments where I then did pull back and said, yes, this is is canceled.
18:46
SPEAKER_00: I had an event planned for Edmonton last year, and uh exhibitors were signing up, and they all kind of last minute kind of trickled out because there are brands that are that were getting into grocery stores, and I could kind of could have been my fault because I had my trade show and they got deals with Costco or Walmart.
19:04
SPEAKER_00: One brand, for example, had a Costco launch and had to cancel and go to Costco.
19:09
SPEAKER_00: Is a Costco launch for them more important than my show?
19:12
SPEAKER_00: Heck yeah.
19:13
SPEAKER_00: But then that created problems where they were canceling on me and um I had to say there's no show with 10 exhibitors, right?
19:22
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't make any sense.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: So I canceled it and refunded everybody.
19:26
SPEAKER_00: It it happens.
19:27
SPEAKER_00: Like in business, nothing is guaranteed.
19:30
SPEAKER_00: It's a risk for sure.
19:31
SPEAKER_00: There's moments where I go, if nobody signs up for this within the next month, it's gonna look, you know, like like there's nobody here, right?
19:39
SPEAKER_00: So there's always moments where you go, uh, my newest project is going into Lethbridge.
19:43
SPEAKER_00: And it was, I was told by their Celiac network that they really want it and they have people there that want it.
19:50
SPEAKER_00: So we'll see.
19:51
SPEAKER_02: I mean, but that must feel good though, if you're helping brands, you know, make those big connections to those big chain stores.
19:58
SPEAKER_02: It must be a huge validation on your part.
20:01
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I I have one brand that said, because of you, we got into like metro, this and this look other locations.
20:09
SPEAKER_00: And because of you, we wouldn't have met XYZ for the packaging supplier.
20:14
SPEAKER_00: And so when they do when they come in, it's a great feeling for sure because you've made that connection.
20:20
SPEAKER_00: Um, or the the first year I had it, someone said, All I needed was this one business card from this one person, and I got it.
20:27
SPEAKER_00: And that so that yeah, it makes it for sure.
20:31
SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
20:32
SPEAKER_02: That's gonna feel good.
20:33
SPEAKER_02: So, how do you juggle being the relationship connector between the people that are attending your events and your vendors?
20:45
SPEAKER_02: How do you balance that relationship?
20:46
SPEAKER_02: Do you hyper focus on getting people to your events or do you hyperfocus on the people that actually pay you money to be there?
20:54
SPEAKER_00: It's not an easy balance.
20:56
SPEAKER_00: Um, but the good thing about it is that the vendors, the sign-up and the advertising towards them is more at the beginning of you advertising and starting the show.
21:09
SPEAKER_00: And then advertising to the visitors is more towards the end of the portion.
21:13
SPEAKER_00: So you it you don't have to balance it every single day and be like, oh, but put some marketing dollar here and reach out to this community and let them know and see if they can write a flyer about this, or oh, let me talk to this vendor group, right?
21:27
SPEAKER_00: Most of the vendor outreach happens at the beginning, and then there is a bit of a gray zone where you know juggling both back and forth, but then it all goes into focusing on getting the visitors because you should have a good base of exhibitors to advertise to your visitors that they should come and it's worth it.
21:46
SPEAKER_00: So it's uh it's also a bit difficult when you first start off and you only put two or three exhibitors on the page and people see it.
21:52
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh, that's all that's coming.
21:54
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, we're like 11 months out from the show.
21:57
SPEAKER_00: Um, no, we're just signing up people.
21:59
SPEAKER_00: So often.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Oftentimes I just hold back from posting anything until I have a decent amount of exhibitors to put on to my platform.
22:06
SPEAKER_00: So the balancing part is relatively easy because you can put it into two different categories.
22:12
SPEAKER_02: When you're doing your social media and you're putting a post together, are you catering it more to the consumers or the vendors?
22:20
SPEAKER_00: I do both, but I heavily focus on exhibitors and businesses at the beginning of my show.
22:29
SPEAKER_00: And then I transition more into focused on the consumer, the visitor of the show.
22:35
SPEAKER_00: The week leading up to the show, for example, it's like six days out, five days out, four days out, and here's a quiz.
22:42
SPEAKER_00: Where is the gluten-free show located?
22:44
SPEAKER_00: What makes something gluten-free?
22:46
SPEAKER_00: And that's kind of like the posts I go with.
22:48
SPEAKER_00: Um right before the show.
22:52
SPEAKER_00: But when I first start the show advertising-wise and planning, everything is geared towards exhibitors.
22:58
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever been before?
23:00
SPEAKER_00: This is how many people you can expect.
23:02
SPEAKER_00: Um, did you want to sponsor a loot bag?
23:04
SPEAKER_00: Did you want to put something in the loot bag?
23:06
SPEAKER_00: That's the appetizing.
23:08
SPEAKER_00: Or hey, we've changed our location from the BMO Center to Windsport.
23:12
SPEAKER_00: This is the changes that we have made.
23:14
SPEAKER_00: We're bringing back this duplication and we're doing this new and we're expanding the hours.
23:19
SPEAKER_00: And maybe we have a sale on, right?
23:21
SPEAKER_00: So the sales pop up.
23:23
SPEAKER_00: The sales that I do as like 20% off, and then they lower by 15, 10, 5.
23:29
SPEAKER_00: So it kind of feeds them into the get your booth space or lose out on this amazing show.
23:34
SPEAKER_02: So when do you decide it's the right time to grow into another city or province?
23:39
SPEAKER_02: It sounds like you've expanded pretty fast.
23:42
SPEAKER_02: How do you make that decision without one burning out and two going into a different market and knowing if you're still going to get the same foot traffic?
23:52
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
23:53
SPEAKER_00: A lot of outreach from the public, basically.
23:56
SPEAKER_00: I measure how many times people say, Can you can, can you come?
24:00
SPEAKER_00: Can you come?
24:01
SPEAKER_00: Or if a business says, Oh, are you doing something like this in Edmonton?
24:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm from Edmonton.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: I come, I come all the way down to Cal before your show.
24:07
SPEAKER_00: It'd be great to have it in Edmonton.
24:09
SPEAKER_00: Um, there's a whole bunch of businesses, right?
24:11
SPEAKER_00: And then oftentimes I'll do a feeler.
24:13
SPEAKER_00: I'll be like, is anybody interested?
24:15
SPEAKER_00: Sign up on this link beforehand, and then I'll see if exhibitors sign up.
24:20
SPEAKER_00: It's more so exhibitor-based than visitors.
24:26
SPEAKER_00: There's always someone who can free to see that in any given bigger city, and they will come out when they see the value.
24:33
SPEAKER_00: But a city or a location needs to have enough exhibitors to come together and create the show.
24:40
SPEAKER_00: That was the biggest issue in Edmonton the first year.
24:42
SPEAKER_00: Most businesses that were in Edmonton were not ready to go to an expo or a market.
24:49
SPEAKER_00: They said, Oh, we're not set up for that physically.
24:52
SPEAKER_00: Like we don't have the tables, we don't have the staff.
24:54
SPEAKER_00: We are a storefront.
24:55
SPEAKER_00: And I've talked to a few Edmonton businesses, and they've said Edmonton does a lot less markets than Calgary.
25:04
SPEAKER_00: And then Edmonton is not set up for that type of type of environment, the way that Calgary is.
25:10
SPEAKER_00: So we have a luxury market, so to say, to tap in.
25:12
SPEAKER_00: Almost every exhibitor, every business that I talk to, there they've done a market.
25:17
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
25:17
SPEAKER_02: So the more we understand about how a business is built, the more we start to understand the person behind it.
25:23
SPEAKER_02: And that's really what this podcast is about.
25:25
SPEAKER_02: People remember businesses, but they connect with the stories behind them.
25:29
SPEAKER_02: Why is it important for people to know who's behind the brands they buy from?
25:33
SPEAKER_00: Knowing who is behind it is a big deal because if I start another brand, I would put my name forward and say, hey, I have done these businesses, you guys all know me, and now I'm have created this.
25:46
SPEAKER_00: It's trust, right?
25:47
SPEAKER_00: Trusting who is behind the business will do the job right.
25:52
SPEAKER_00: And now being three and a half years into business with local, people trust me to the point, oh, it's by local.
26:00
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, no problem.
26:01
SPEAKER_00: They'll put their money towards me, take the marketing dollar.
26:05
SPEAKER_00: Because at the end of the day, for them it's marketing dollars.
26:08
SPEAKER_00: More so than I'm gonna make a lot of money and get rich by coming to the gluten-free expo.
26:13
SPEAKER_00: Because it would return of customer at the gluten-free level is tremendous.
26:18
SPEAKER_00: Because you could go to any bakery and get a regular loaf of bread that tastes great, right?
26:24
SPEAKER_00: But you wouldn't be traveling 40 minutes every Sunday to go get that bread because you couldn't just go get good bread 10 minutes around the corner.
26:32
SPEAKER_00: For gluten-free people, it's not like that.
26:34
SPEAKER_00: Once they found something that they like that doesn't fall apart, you know, like bread-wise, they will travel 40 minutes every week just to get their daily bread.
26:42
SPEAKER_02: I used to say, like, there is something so fulfilling when somebody looks at your brand and your business and pays their hard-earned money to buy from you.
26:53
SPEAKER_02: And it's like you're working your butt off to make this money.
26:57
SPEAKER_02: And now you literally see my business and go, hey, I want to put money towards that and buy your product or buy your idea.
27:05
SPEAKER_02: I think that's so validating as an entrepreneur.
27:07
SPEAKER_02: And as we talk more about stories and who's behind them and why you created this, I think that's why people will put money towards your business because they know of you, whether the outcome is positive or not, right?
27:21
SPEAKER_02: They know you.
27:22
SPEAKER_02: So after meeting hundreds of entrepreneurs, what are some of the patterns you see?
27:26
SPEAKER_00: Patterns that I see.
27:28
SPEAKER_00: People crave connection again.
27:30
SPEAKER_00: Like after COVID, everybody wants to network and talk and connect, which is great because that's my motto, and I love doing it too.
27:40
SPEAKER_00: Like Stampede, the trade commissioner has a hyper invite-only trade show, and I was invited to it this year again.
27:48
SPEAKER_00: And um it's exciting.
27:50
SPEAKER_00: I love networking and I can't wait for it.
27:52
SPEAKER_00: People are craving connection again.
27:55
SPEAKER_00: And I think it was really awkward for people after COVID because they've been cooped up for so long.
28:00
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
28:01
SPEAKER_00: But that's something that I've noticed that people really crave that personal connection again.
28:07
SPEAKER_02: Has anyone told you a story, whether they're an exhibitor or vendor, where this has changed their life or changed their relationship with food, gluten-free food specifically.
28:20
SPEAKER_00: There are a few businesses that have come through the doors at the Calabre Gluten Free Expo that signed up for the trade show, the CPG trade show.
28:31
SPEAKER_00: And they were like, Yeah, I I I am technically gluten-free, but I don't know if I should come.
28:37
SPEAKER_00: And I've tell them of how many people show up.
28:40
SPEAKER_00: And then I say, Okay, I will give it a try.
28:43
SPEAKER_00: And they said, I had no idea how many gluten-free people there are, or celiacs, and how popular my product would be, even though it's not gluten-free bread, it's just a gluten-free energy drink or pickled sausage for Caesars, right?
29:00
SPEAKER_00: Those people have changed their mind and the way that they think about the business.
29:05
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna put gluten-free, like a gluten-free label actually on my packaging now, because beforehand I was like, well, yeah, it's gluten-free, duh.
29:13
SPEAKER_00: But for celiacs, not everything is gluten-free, duh.
29:17
SPEAKER_00: You have to go at Lady Gritty and check the ingredients.
29:20
SPEAKER_00: And some ingredients seem like they're gluten-free, but they're actually not, right?
29:25
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I've changed a few people's minds on being a little bit more proactive on gluten-free labeling and um reaching out to more gluten-free individuals because their products are safe for CLIX.
29:38
SPEAKER_02: How is building local change to you as a person, not just an entrepreneur?
29:43
SPEAKER_00: As a person, I value entrepreneurship so much more than I did previously.
29:50
SPEAKER_00: It has changed my confidence even more in I can do that.
29:57
SPEAKER_00: Because before I even started the chocolate brand with my best friend and business partner back then, I was like, yeah, I'm a confident chef, but now I am creating this as my palette, and I think this tastes good, and everybody should love it.
30:16
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Hugo, pay me money for this.
30:19
SPEAKER_00: And then all of a sudden, people did, and you're like, okay, cool.
30:23
SPEAKER_00: Oh God, I hope they like it.
30:25
SPEAKER_00: And then all of a sudden, the next market, they came back to I had this last week, I had to come back just for yours.
30:30
SPEAKER_00: And you're like, ding.
30:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
30:33
SPEAKER_00: Now you're like, okay, I'm not just some average person chef here.
30:38
SPEAKER_00: I can create something, right?
30:39
SPEAKER_00: So that kind of gets you from hurdle one before hurdle two, and then start continuing that business.
30:46
SPEAKER_00: I was afraid, I'm like, oh, computer and websites, I can't do all that.
30:50
SPEAKER_00: So my business partner was really involved with that, and I would just deal with food safety and production.
30:55
SPEAKER_00: And so when that business collapsed and we closed it, I was like, okay, I can't really do a business on my own because you know I can only do the cooking part, but I can't do all the techie part and the advertising.
31:07
SPEAKER_00: I couldn't do that because my business partner was doing all that for me.
31:11
SPEAKER_00: And then I tried it.
31:13
SPEAKER_00: I tried one gluten-free market and I created my own website.
31:17
SPEAKER_00: And all of a sudden, oh my God, it worked.
31:19
SPEAKER_00: People came and nobody complained, and everything worked.
31:22
SPEAKER_00: That next hurdle, right?
31:24
SPEAKER_00: And so now when I see entrepreneurs that are struggling to take the next step, I'm just like, as long as you're not killing anybody and you're following the rules, what's gonna happen?
31:35
SPEAKER_00: It might flop and then you move on.
31:37
SPEAKER_00: Nobody cares, nobody thinks about it, right?
31:40
SPEAKER_00: So the confidence level has completely changed over the last eight years.
31:48
SPEAKER_00: I used to be a little shy, little Garrett, and now I'm just like, yeah, let's go.
31:52
SPEAKER_00: Let's do this.
31:52
SPEAKER_02: Well, it's containing yourself outside your comfort zone, especially when you're wearing all the hats, right?
31:58
SPEAKER_02: When you don't have a business partner and you're doing it alone.
32:00
SPEAKER_02: Do you think new entrepreneurs should start with a business partner?
32:04
SPEAKER_02: Or do you think they should just go all in by themselves?
32:08
SPEAKER_02: Now you've had both, which one do you prefer?
32:11
SPEAKER_00: Hard to say.
32:12
SPEAKER_00: It depends on the person.
32:13
SPEAKER_00: If the person is confident enough to take a risk already, then if and you have like maybe a network of support or already a product that people already like, but you're not selling it, like, oh, Carissa, keep bringing your mayo salad that you do so well.
32:32
SPEAKER_00: And you're like, okay, people already like my salad.
32:35
SPEAKER_00: The hurdle of people liking my product is already done.
32:38
SPEAKER_00: I just need to find a way to get it to market.
32:41
SPEAKER_00: It really depends on where you start and how confident you are, I think.
32:46
SPEAKER_02: I like that.
32:47
SPEAKER_02: And anyone that knows me knows that I wouldn't be doing mayo salad because I hate mayo and I'm not good at cooking.
32:53
SPEAKER_02: So the last segment here.
32:58
SPEAKER_02: Every entrepreneur in meat is building toward something, not just growth, but impact.
33:03
SPEAKER_02: I'd love to finish by looking ahead.
33:05
SPEAKER_02: As local continues to expand, what excites you the most about this next chapter?
33:09
SPEAKER_00: It's reaching more gluten-free and celiacs that are underserved and might be struggling financially to find the resources and the food that they need.
33:20
SPEAKER_00: Because food should be something everybody has plenty of or enough of.
33:28
SPEAKER_00: And eating gluten-free and celiac is super expensive.
33:31
SPEAKER_00: And it's not like a vegan lifestyle where you could eat meat and not die.
33:37
SPEAKER_00: It's just not your morals.
33:38
SPEAKER_00: But for celiacs, it's a it's a necessity.
33:40
SPEAKER_00: It's not like, oh, I've just decided to be gluten-free today because it's a cool lifestyle, right?
33:46
SPEAKER_00: So they need to eat gluten-free.
33:48
SPEAKER_00: And of course, you can be like, oh, I'm just gonna eat eat rice and plain meat and vegetables all day, but everybody likes to have some fun and splurge and have treats.
33:58
SPEAKER_00: And that includes usually breads and things that are usually full of gluten, right?
34:02
SPEAKER_00: So I'd like to figure out how to manage food insecurity in the gluten-free industry going forward.
34:10
SPEAKER_00: I had have a few plans and a few ideas of directions.
34:14
SPEAKER_00: They may not happen this year or not next year, but there is things I'd like to figure out.
34:20
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I like that.
34:21
SPEAKER_02: Where do you see the gluten-free expo going from here?
34:25
SPEAKER_00: I would love to keep it where it is and just hone down and focus on making the Western Canada shows uh explicitly good.
34:35
SPEAKER_00: Maybe go as far as Saskatoon, Winnipeg, because that's part of the West, and focus on having a few more local markets like the smaller ones uh in those areas as well, getting to know the smaller businesses in those areas and communities.
34:52
SPEAKER_00: And maybe even take a brand and elevate them and bring in to a trade show and have them become a nationwide brand or something.
35:00
SPEAKER_00: That'd be cool.
35:02
SPEAKER_02: If someone listening has never attended one of your events, describe the experience.
35:07
SPEAKER_02: What experience are they missing?
35:08
SPEAKER_00: You would get to discover brands that you may have never heard of because they come from other parts of the country and they're not in grocery stores yet.
35:17
SPEAKER_00: And you also get to know the people, the businesses behind your favorite gluten-free product, which I think is interesting to know maybe like the backstory of how the brand came about and where they are at, and asking them questions and where they see themselves in the future and giving them feedback on the product is invaluable for businesses.
35:47
SPEAKER_00: It's a cool experience for you to see who's behind a brand, just seeing the person, like being like, Oh, it's a six-foot-tall guy with blonde hair with an immigrant, and he created this huge company.
35:59
SPEAKER_00: Good for him.
36:00
SPEAKER_00: Cool, I'd love to support your product, right?
36:02
SPEAKER_00: Like we also have a speaker stage, so like Celic Association, dietitians, um cooks and chefs will present on stage and educate you on why celiac is so important to be diagnosed and and stay on the diet, and um cooks will tell you how to use certain gluten-free flowers to replicate gluten-like breads.
36:26
SPEAKER_02: I honestly I'm one of those people that loves going to these events because I love hearing the story.
36:33
SPEAKER_02: I've been on the other side of selling at expos and trade shows, and it's amazing the connections you make.
36:39
SPEAKER_02: So I've been a vendor and a consumer, and both are amazing.
36:45
SPEAKER_00: When we used to connect, we used to set up our chocolate brand at trade shows or even just markets.
36:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
36:51
SPEAKER_00: I would ask my business partner, are we good?
36:53
SPEAKER_00: Are we set up?
36:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
36:54
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
36:55
SPEAKER_00: And then I would literally walk around and network.
36:57
SPEAKER_00: Not because it's a thing to do.
37:00
SPEAKER_00: I don't think it's I don't connect with people because I'm like, oh, I gotta make a business connection.
37:04
SPEAKER_00: I just go because I'm so curious and I actually want to just meet people.
37:08
SPEAKER_00: And then it just falls into connections.
37:11
SPEAKER_02: I absolutely love what you're doing and showcasing a certain niche is very inspiring.
37:16
SPEAKER_02: One last question for you.
37:18
SPEAKER_02: If another entrepreneur came to you today with an idea they're kind of stopped thinking about, what advice would you give them?
37:23
SPEAKER_00: I would be like, do you see yourself doing this every single day and thinking about it 24-7?
37:33
SPEAKER_00: And will you get sick of it?
37:35
SPEAKER_00: And if a customer goes, I didn't like it, or that's expensive, how would you feel about that?
37:42
SPEAKER_00: Would you still be able to get up in the morning and be like, no, I have a great product?
37:46
SPEAKER_00: Because that's basically being an entrepreneur.
37:48
SPEAKER_00: You have to test it off and be like, Yeah, sure, I didn't do, I didn't have someone at the stage when you were there because you got in late because lineup was too long.
37:58
SPEAKER_00: Sorry, you made a mistake, brush it off, move on.
38:01
SPEAKER_00: Or will you ponder on it all day, all night, and try and change your business or find a job again?
38:09
SPEAKER_00: Loving your business and setting out.
38:12
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that keeps you going through the the hard days.
38:15
SPEAKER_02: Tapping into that grit and perseverance.
38:18
SPEAKER_02: I like what you said.
38:19
SPEAKER_02: If you're thinking about it 24-7 and at one point you go, uh, I'm tired of this, then probably don't start it.
38:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
38:28
SPEAKER_00: If it's like if it feels worse than the job you did before, like, you know, is that like work somewhere, then it's not for you.
38:37
SPEAKER_00: At the beginning, um it's all roses and butterflies, and but then it can go in the deep, deep, deep black hole for a while.
38:45
SPEAKER_00: Not to be negative.
38:47
SPEAKER_02: That's where the other part of networking comes into play because then you don't feel so isolated.
38:52
SPEAKER_02: You can rely on those relationships and go, hey, you know what?
38:55
SPEAKER_02: I'm in a dark place, or I need to just brainstorm some things.
39:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
39:01
SPEAKER_00: Let go of some customer feedback and see how they feel about it and say, Oh, yeah, I felt the same way.
39:07
SPEAKER_00: Like, okay, maybe I have a problem.
39:08
SPEAKER_02: All right.
39:09
SPEAKER_02: Last few questions here.
39:11
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna do a little bit of rapid fire about our city.
39:14
SPEAKER_02: Just say whatever comes first to your mind.
39:16
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
39:18
SPEAKER_01: Ready?
39:19
SPEAKER_02: Favorite Calgary restaurant.
39:23
SPEAKER_00: Heaven restaurant 100% gluten-free on 17th Avenue.
39:26
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
39:26
SPEAKER_02: Viewers, go check it out.
39:28
SPEAKER_02: Favorite hidden gem in Alberta.
39:30
SPEAKER_00: Gluten free expo.
39:32
SPEAKER_02: Favorite hike?
39:33
SPEAKER_00: It's not hidden, but No Sill Park is underrated.
39:36
SPEAKER_00: It's so huge and it feels like you're out in nature and you can just drive there and it's not far.
39:42
SPEAKER_02: Favorite neighborhood in Calgary?
39:43
SPEAKER_00: Huntington.
39:44
SPEAKER_02: Huntington Hills.
39:45
SPEAKER_00: Because that's where I live.
39:47
SPEAKER_00: I love my community and I love my neighbors.
39:50
SPEAKER_00: It's very close to Noes Hill Park.
39:51
SPEAKER_00: It's close to um Deerfoot.
39:54
SPEAKER_02: Mountains or prairies?
39:55
SPEAKER_02: Mountains.
39:57
SPEAKER_00: Just because mountains is so much more to do.
40:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
40:01
SPEAKER_00: Hiking, skiing, waterfalls, camping, freshwater, um, mountains.
40:09
SPEAKER_00: The air is different.
40:11
SPEAKER_00: Morning person or night owl?
40:12
SPEAKER_00: Night owl.
40:14
SPEAKER_00: I usually get all my ideas at nights.
40:17
SPEAKER_02: Is there a brand you work really close with for your events that you would shout out?
40:22
SPEAKER_00: The brand Revida is an energy drink that is healthier for you.
40:28
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
40:29
SPEAKER_00: Because it doesn't have all the sugar in it and it's better for you.
40:32
SPEAKER_00: The caffeine levels are not at heart attack level and it's not full of sugars and full of dyes, which most of these energy drinks are eating.
40:39
SPEAKER_00: They have focused on their flavors.
40:43
SPEAKER_00: It's very deliberate.
40:45
SPEAKER_00: And their appetizing, their marketing, and who they approach and what they do with the facility and the people behind it.
40:51
SPEAKER_00: Uh, Mitch and Carly, they're great people.
40:54
SPEAKER_00: Oh, and they're local, yeah.
40:55
SPEAKER_00: And they've made it into Costco and Walmart.
40:59
SPEAKER_00: And they're one of those brands that I think they have surpassed the threshold of, oh, they're cool.
41:06
SPEAKER_00: Are they gonna make it?
41:07
SPEAKER_00: They're at, they're cool, they're making it, they're staying, they're not gonna disappear.
41:12
SPEAKER_00: And then in a few years, everybody will be like, oh yeah, that's a Calgary brand.
41:16
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know that was from Calgary.
41:18
unknown: Yeah.
41:19
SPEAKER_00: I think that's that's where they're going.
41:21
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'd love them on the podcast.
41:23
SPEAKER_02: That'd be really cool.
41:25
SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for taking the time to join me today.
41:29
SPEAKER_02: One of the reasons I started the 403 podcast was because every business we walk into, every event we attend, every product we buy exists because someone had an idea and decided it was worth building.
41:40
SPEAKER_02: Most of us only ever experience what's on the surface.
41:43
SPEAKER_02: But beneath every business is a story of risk, resilience, leadership, and countless decisions that most people never get to see.
41:51
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for giving us a glimpse beneath the surface of local and for helping us better understand not just what you've built, but why you built it.
41:59
SPEAKER_02: If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to subscribe to the 403 podcast as we continue introducing you to the people, businesses, and ideas shaping Calgary in Alberta.
42:09
SPEAKER_02: Because every city has stories, ours just happens to be told by people building it.
42:15
SPEAKER_02: We'll see you next time.