Community Futures North Okanagan (CFNO) is hosting weekly virtual roundtables to help local business owners discuss challenges, solutions and resources around operating during the COVID-19 health crisis. Business owners can also access one-on-one support in telephone and virtual meetings with CFNO advisors.
North Okanagan Weekly Business Roundtables
These weekly community meetings give
business owners an opportunity to connect with each other and our advisors to
share and get answers to important questions, including:
How is COVID-19 impacting your
business?
What kind of changes are you making
in your business?
Where do you need help?
What resources are available?
How to participate in these weekly business roundtables
All you have to do is click on the Zoom
virtual meeting link below during your community’s meeting. It’s the same link
and time every week. There’s no need to register. Just log in and join us!
The roundtables are open to all business
owners. Your participation is so valuable as we collaborate to support a
changing business landscape and each other.
Other ways we are here to support your small business right now
We’re adapting
how we deliver our services to support your small business, but we are still
here to help you!
Here are some of the ways CFNO can offer
you the resources, support and capital you need to help your business keep
going right now:
Quick turnaround of
business loans up to $25,000. We can also offer
flexible terms and payment schedules to help your business get through this
period.
Telephone or
virtual meetings for business coaching and advice. Just call Business Services at 250-545-2215 ext 204 to arrange an
appointment with one our advisors.
Curated and
regularly updated resources and information for small
businesses navigating the impacts of Coronavirus on our social media channels.
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
You can also find a wealth of information
in this live, constantly updated #COVID19 Resources for BC Businesses document
from the BC Economic Development Association.
Take care and know we’re here to help!
The Community Futures North Okanagan Team
https://www.futuresbc.com/wp-2/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/cf-vernon.jpg10001000Kazia Mullinhttps://futuresbc.com/wp-2/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Community-Futures-North-Okanagan-Logo.pngKazia Mullin2020-03-21 13:30:242020-03-21 13:30:24Virtual Roundtables & One-on-One Resources: Supporting Your Business
Blair Wilson looks up at the steam wafting from the crown of his copper still. The sweet smell of apples enters the nostrils as the vapour passes through two shiny plated columns that resemble giant flutes. The steam condenses back to a liquid, drops, then evaporates before continuing its journey. The process repeats and repeats.
As the owner of an orchard, Wilson has churned his Okanagan apples into liquid gold, producing quality 25-times and 50-times distilled vodkas at his Kelowna distillery, Forbidden Spirits.
The fruit of all this labour has been well worth the effort. Wilson is now set to export his vodkas to international markets, thanks to the help he has received from Community Futures.
“I heard about the program through the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce and met with Ken MacLeod at Community Futures, who has been coaching us since the very beginning. He has been especially helpful in helping us deal with all the documents and the certificate of origin that are needed to export products overseas. There are at least 12 different documents you need to prepare when exporting an item, so it’s a lot of paperwork to get through,” Wilson says.
Fermenting an
Idea
Before fermenting
fruit into alcohol, Wilson ran a chartered accounting practice in North
Vancouver and started a software company. He even served as Canada’s first
elected Green Party MLA. However, it was an investment made overseas that got
him into the food and beverage industry.
“A client of mine from Poland had a pizza-making company. I was doing the books for him, and after seeing the location and how people were lined up for pizza, I decided to invest. This took place after the Berlin Wall came down when the demand for anything western was huge,” Wilson says. “I drank a lot of vodkas when I was in Poland but never thought then that I would ever own a distillery.”
After retiring in
Kelowna with his wife more than four years ago, Wilson says he soon became
restless.
“I wanted to do something that I have never done before.”
–Blair Wilson
That’s when Wilson decided to invest in an apple orchard. However, he soon found the market for the fruit to be less than fruitful.
“I didn’t think it
would be this much hard work. Let’s say we were happy when the snow hit the
ground,” he says. “There was no money in apples as the market price was
too low. I had to find another use for them. I thought about a cidery, but when
I did up a business plan and looked at the financial statements, I found the
cost of cans to be too high and the results of all that labour to be too small,
plus the competition was fierce.”
Searching for
options, Wilson experienced a revelation while attending a whisky conference in
Seattle.
“I was told I
could turn apples into vodka,” he recalls. “I then encountered other distilleries
at a trade show in New York who were making vodka from apples. Whenever there
is a craft distiller, they use the sugar source that is the most available and
least expensive. In the Prairies, it’s wheat. In the Caribbean, it’s sugarcane.
In the Okanagan, it’s apples.”
After hiring a
chemist to conduct the research, Wilson started looking for equipment and found
a state-of-the-art 1,000-litre copper column still from Germany.
“We spent more than a year in the laboratory
perfecting the recipe, getting the fermentation right, and investing in a still
that would offer us the very best product on the market. Now we spend half our
time cleaning it,” Wilson laughs.
That was three-and-a-half
years ago, and today business is booming.
The first bottle of Forbidden Spirits vodka came off the line in January 2019. In May, Wilson opened a tasting room on his property and also started offering tours so that visitors could see the still in action.
“We had a hugely
successful summer and were able to hire someone to market our product in
Vancouver and Whistler. All I have to do is get people to try our vodka. The price
point is competitive, and the quality is superior. It is some of the best-tasting
vodkas in the world.”
Infusion of
Interest
With domestic
sales on the increase, Forbidden Spirits is now ready to hit the shelves in
Europe and Asia.
Earlier this year, MacLeod encouraged Wilson to apply to Anuga, one of the biggest food and beverage trade fairs in the world. Sponsored by the Canadian Ministry of Agriculture, Forbidden Spirits was accepted, and in October, Wilson travelled to Cologne, Germany, setting up a booth to promote Forbidden Spirits.
“It was
incredible. It was a huge show that took place in eight buildings the size of
BC Place. We had importers and buyers from different countries learn about our
vodka, and we came back with a fistful of business cards,” Wilson says.
At Anuga, Wilson connected
with a food and beverage broker in Europe as well as an importer from China. In
December, he travelled to China to meet with a national chain of department
stores interested in carrying his vodka.
Now the real work
has begun, as Wilson is packaging, marketing, and shipping his product overseas
“The language and
size regulations have to meet EU standards. We have to repackage our quantities
from 750 ml to the EU standard of 700 ml,” he explains. “There are
also the requirements for language, the percentage of alcohol, and where the product
is made that have to go on the label. We’ve been lucky to partner with a company
that helped us get our first container shipped.”
A Smooth Finish
With Forbidden
Spirits ready to liven taste buds around the world, the next hurdle is to keep
up with demand while remaining profitable.
To do this, Forbidden Spirits is working with local
companies such as Kelowna’s SunRype for more juice concentrate and Vernon bottle
printers Universal Packaging to help with the brand expansion.
“We have also
looked at our pricing. Rebel Vodka was originally priced low to break into the
market. It’s been below our craft competition and our multi-national
competition. Now we’re able to raise our price because we’re competing with
international premium brands. We’re at that level,” says Wilson.
During this whole
process, one of the essential things Wilson says he’s learned is to be willing
to take risks and not take no for an answer.
“It’s critically important that your product is top quality before you get it out there. If the label isn’t right or the cap doesn’t work properly, then you’re going to have problems. Your product has to be ultra-premium from the bottle design to what’s inside the bottle. You need to be better than your competition to break into new markets.”
https://www.futuresbc.com/wp-2/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Forbidden-Spirits-e1575480044337.jpg6691000Kazia Mullinhttps://futuresbc.com/wp-2/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Community-Futures-North-Okanagan-Logo.pngKazia Mullin2020-03-05 09:36:292020-03-05 09:36:29That’s the Spirit! Community Futures helps distillery reach new markets