{"id":57498,"date":"2019-04-15T16:41:54","date_gmt":"2019-04-15T20:41:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=57498"},"modified":"2019-04-15T16:41:54","modified_gmt":"2019-04-15T20:41:54","slug":"business-matters-brews-up-conversation-on-craft-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2019\/04\/business-matters-brews-up-conversation-on-craft-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Business Matters brews up conversation on craft business\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Geoff Dillon plans on talking a lot in 2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

He has a story to tell, but as Ontario\u2019s first craft distiller it’s a story he hasn\u2019t felt compelled to share until now.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since opening Dillon\u2019s Small Batch Distillers in Beamsville in 2012, Dillon has seen the proliferation of what he calls \u201cphoney craft\u201d spirits hit the market. It\u2019s liquor produced by large companies on behalf of distillers branding themselves as artisanal. Their bottles are adorned with quaint, eye-catching labels, and the booze is sold significantly cheaper than Dillon\u2019s spirits made in small, time-consuming batches.<\/span><\/p>\n

But consumers willing to pay more for Dillon\u2019s gin, vodka, or peach schnapps get local fruit in every bottle and help to keep 18 people employed at the small business, he explained.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m telling that story a lot this year,\u201d Dillon said. \u201cPlease listen and care.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The young entrepreneur was part of the annual Business Matters panel discussion hosted by the Goodman School of Business Thursday, April 4. Moderated by Goodman Marketing Professor Todd Green, this year\u2019s theme, Crafting the Brand, was intended to shed light on what it means to take an artisanal, authentic approach to running a business. <\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to Dillon, the panel included Goodman alumni Conrad Davies (BBA \u201914), general manager at Breakwall Brewing Company in Port Colborne, and Nadia Senchuk (MBA \u201907), co-founder of Leaning Post Wines. Tamara Jensen, co-owner of Dispatch restaurant and brand strategist for Form & Affect, a boutique brand development agency in St. Catharines, rounded out the panel. <\/span><\/p>\n

Green pointed out that consumer interest in craft businesses is pushback against big corporations more concerned with the bottom line than building and supporting community by making superior products, much like Dillon and his co-panelists do with their enterprises.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCraft has a buzz quality to it, but it’s well-enough established beyond a buzz phenomenon,\u201d Green said about the impetus for the night\u2019s theme. \u201cPeople really like it and want to support it. They want to meet the brewmaster at Breakwall or the owner of Dillon\u2019s. There\u2019s an inherent value to saying you\u2019re small and caring about what you\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That message was echoed by the panelists.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe big thing is the story. People want to be part of that,\u201d Senchuk said. \u201cPeople tell me I\u2019m living their dream. They want to be part of something bigger and they want to learn more and be part of the journey.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As such, they\u2019re also willing to pay to do it, particularly when that artisanal business is producing a better product than the competition, Jensen noted. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFrom a consumer perspective, there\u2019s more of a value perception with a craft brand,\u201d she said. \u201cYou\u2019re not one of the big guys, and you\u2019re not going to get something for $5.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, big isn\u2019t bad, Davies said. In the world of beer, people love to bash big breweries, but he pointed out they make a \u201cgood and consistent\u201d product. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt might not be to my taste,\u201d he said. \u201cFor us, we\u2019re trying to push the limits of what a small town can do. We\u2019re growing the community.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to hearing the panelists\u2019 ideas and challenges with their small businesses, Green was hopeful the evening would help other aspiring entrepreneurs. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to engage the community and put a spotlight on what people are doing in Niagara, but also give people the chance to hear how that business grew,\u201d he said. \u201cBudding entrepreneurs may be wondering \u2018What if I opened a craft brewery, a craft winery or a boutique social media agency? Is there room for me?\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Business Matters series is supported by the Willmot Foundation and is part of the D.G. Willmot Leader Series.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Geoff Dillon has a lot to talk about this year. The young entrepreneur was part of the Business Matters panel discussion hosted by the Goodman School of Business last week, which aimed to shed light on what it means to take an artisanal, authentic approach to running a business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":57499,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[119,39,7484,3319,1,4],"tags":[5130,7815,7755,7814,594],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57498"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57498"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57500,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57498\/revisions\/57500"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}