The fifth-annual Immigrant Entrepreneurship Awards saw seven Nova Scotian businesses and business owners honoured at the Halifax Central Library on Oct. 15. Presented by the Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia, these awards celebrate the progress made by immigrant-owned small businesses throughout the province, and how entrepreneurs contribute to innovation, economic growth and job […]
Business
Posted inArts + Music
This new comedy club in downtown Halifax has big ambitions
After a successful soft opening last weekend, Halifax’s newest comedy club plans to take it up a notch. Halifax Live, located at 1737 Grafton Street, seeks to be the city’s premiere comedy club, promising to bring in up-and-coming acts from the city as well as favourites from across the country. Their first night saw […]
Posted inFood + Drink
Making room at the table for diners with disabilities
It may not rank alongside beaches, Maud Lewis and lobster fishing as an integral part of Nova Scotia’s identity, but with 229,430 Nova Scotians reporting at least one disability—a full 30 percent of the population as of 2017—we have the highest percentage of people with disabilities in Canada. Despite this stat, Nova Scotians with disabilities […]
Posted inFood + Drink
Where I work: Frédéric Tandy of Improv Café
WHO HE IS Ten years ago, Frédéric Tandy opened Ratinaud French Cuisine, a charcuterie brimming with cured meats, rillettes, sausages and imported cheeses. Since then, it has grown into a thriving business on Gottingen Street. But few know that, instead of a charcuterie, Tandy’s original plan was to open a French bistro. “I had this […]
Posted inFood + Drink
Where I work: Booza Emessa ice cream shop
Who he is Before he spent his days making ice cream, the frozen dessert was a rare treat for Samer Aljokhadar. “I loved ice cream as a child, but we were from a poor family,” he says. “We couldn’t have it all the time.” As a young adult, Aljokhadar worked for an ice cream factory […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Mass exit at Ruby’s Rhinestone
Ruby’s Rhinestone Reception and Lounge has only been open a few months and already the Salter Street business has seen a serious turnover in staff. Five employees of the downtown country bar jointly walked out three weeks ago over allegations that owner Steve Caryi failed to provide a safe work environment. In a hand-written complaint […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Nova Scotia offers $1.8-million rebate for innovative ice cream
Nova Scotia Business Inc. is giving Quebec dairy giant Agropur a $1,843,776 rebate to create an “innovative production line, novel to the national ice cream market in Canada.” The presumably bold and world-class ice cream will be produced at the former Scotsburn plant in Truro. Agropur purchased the Nova Scotian company two years ago to expand […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
A tech scene to be seen
The Coast is very much into local people doing cool things, but it has a blind spot in relation to Halifax’s tech scene. That’s because tech firms don’t usually have an inviting retail presence like the stores and restaurants we obsess about in ShopTalk, and tech creators tend to be making things for consumption by […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Harbr’s building momentum in the construction tech field
Some tech companies are started in dorm rooms. Harbr traces its roots to Dave Kim’s living room. Kim is a transplant from Australia to Nova Scotia. Long story short, while travelling in his 20s he became friendly with some Cape Bretoners in upstate New York, and decided to check out their home turf. Sure enough […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
5 tips for starting a tech company
“I planned to be a millionaire before my 30th birthday,” Katelyn Bourgoin writes on her website, describing the ambitions that lead her to launch a social networking company. But despite her intentions and the international press accolades she received as founder of the what looked like the next LinkedIn, the business fizzled. “Trying to build a […]
Posted inLifestyle
New Brunswick’s high hopes for cannabis
1. With Canada’s Cannabis Act, Bill C-45, passing its second senate reading, recreational legalization is middling toward reality across the country. As the provinces scramble to prepare for the unknown date, New Brunswick is notably on the ball when it comes to cannabis industry development. The province’s 2016 Economic Growth Plan naming cannabis as a […]
Posted inLifestyle
Green is the new gold
“What would you do-o-o for a Klondike Bar?” sings the commercial, a nod to the epic discovery of gold in the Yukon in 1896. In the ensuing gold rush, after news of the Klondike’s riches reached the outside world, tens of thousands of would-be gold-diggers giddy’d up and headed for Canada’s north. News of Justin […]