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VIDEO: Buoy, that crane’s big
Hawboldt Industries of Chester has just built a crane for the Coast Guard that will pull massive navigation buoys out of the water like ornaments off a Christmas tree.
Small biz to Santa: Buy local, please
With bubbles burst and lockdowns looming, independent businesses are asking people to step up for local. Store owners are trying everything from e-commerce and local delivery to peer-help seminars like one just run by the Cape Breton Regional Chamber of Commerce. They caught one break this week, though, in the form of a revamped rent subsidy program that doesn’t depend on the landlord signing on.
Open or closed: restaurant woes
Early in the week, Halifax-area eateries were split on whether to stay open. Then the province made the decision for them, allowing restaurants to do take out or delivery only. You might blame young people partying and bar-hopping for the second wave taking hold in Halifax but the real enemy is a two-headed beast, COVID and complacency.
What’s better than butter chicken poutine?
If you’re rookie restaurateur Dinu Mathew, it’s being able to open, if only for takeout and delivery. Spice Hub leans toward South Indian specialties but turns down the heat to suit Maritime tastes. And yes, they make butter chicken poutine, a Canadian take on Brit favourite curry and chips.
Steele. SMU pair up to train entrepreneurs
St. Mary's University in Halifax is doubling down on entrepreneurship with the help of Rob Steele. Steele, head of the Steele auto group, is putting up $2 million to double the size of the Master of Technology Entrepreneurship and Innovation program, pay a full-time professor to teach it and fund scholarships to help students pursue it. Steele says he went to SMU but didn't finish his degree. It certainly didn't seem to hold him back.
Medline medals
Empire’s Michael Medline, brought in three years ago to right the ship after Sobeys ran aground on-boarding Safeway Canada, has just made the Most Admired CEOs list for Transformational Leadership. Sobeys and Empire are having a fantastic year and Medline scored some points with customers last month by suggesting the feds bring in a grocers code of conduct. Killam Apartment REIT was a winner for most admired corporate culture.
Wine and cheese party
Planning a little holiday get together? Try putting some medal-winning cheeses from PEI on your platter. Cows Creamery snagged the highest combined score at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto. Here’s a video on how its Clothbound Cheddar’s made.
And you could do worse than chase it with one of the Lieutenant Governor’s Award wines from Nova Scotia. Gaspereau Vineyards just took two of the five awards, one for their good-every-year Riesling. The rest of the list’s here.
Going green
Taking a break from Black Friday and Cyber Monday? A few retailers are pushing products that take it easy on the planet. Kim Hickman and Katie Thompson (St. John’s mom and daughter) have designed a backpack that uses 17 recycled pop plastic bottles in its lining alone.
Thinking outside the box
Maritime Paper Products of Dartmouth is bringing in high-tech, low-waste machinery that will reduce the company’s carbon footprint but not its workforce. They’re betting the online buying binge and boxes that go with it will be a thing for a while. If that’s true, cutting down the waste is good news all around.
Eyes in the sky
A ship runs aground, two collide in the fog, a drug smuggling boat gets away. Dartmouth-based GSTS has just been hired by the Canadian Space Agency to do something about it by pulling together data from hundreds of satellites that point their cameras downward from orbit each day.
PERSPECTIVES
CHARLEBOIS: Lockdown the Sequel not as scary on food front
Why? Food professor Sylvain Charlebois says grocers learned, restaurants adapted and shoppers got smarter and more methodical.
BRADLEY: Gold’s a risky roller coaster ride
Tom Bradley breaks down the when, why and how of investing in gold. Four words of advice: hold onto your hats.
POLL: Daylight Savings? Very nice.
Business tends to like daylight savings time. Less dark, more driving, shopping and outdoor dining. Judging by a new Narrative Research poll it seems like Canadians are coming round to the idea of making daylight savings permanent. Goodbye extra hour of sleep.
That’s the wrap!
Back next Friday. Until then, I’ll be looking for excuses to head out for butter chicken poutine.
Brian Ward is SaltWire Network's managing editor for business.
