Future
The entrepreneurial journey is never a straight line, there’s always ebbs and flows. Start ups typically have a number of zigs and zags, ups and downs but for Al Truistic’s the pandemic and province closing its doors the same day they were ready to start visiting local craft brewers with bread baked with their beers to break bread. Craft beer breads were a value added product and Do It Yourself kits would help them sell more beers. Wholesaling the DIY kits would help establish volume.
One activity they had planned as a second revenue stream was to hold intimate Beer Bread Baking Classes to help utilize space. Alas another plan shot down. Some local brewers started selling the kits and they were retailing kits through their storefront in Gravenhurst.
The Gravenhurst Community Market was in their first year and Al Truistic’s signed up to be a full time vendor where. He attended the Baysville Walkabout, Sundridge Sunflower Festival and a few others. They were gaining traction. They started to introduce Frozen Craft Beer Bread Dough which was being well received.
With no financial support from governments due to timing, in time AL Truistic’s closed their shop. About six months after closing their doors Al Truistic’s Beer Bread Bakery received their Trademark Registration.
Over the next two years Al Truistic’s focused on attending many markets and events throughout Muskoka, Almaguin, Parry Sound, Simcoe County, Barrie, Newmarket and Toronto. As always part of the booth on display there is always information about Ontario Parents Advocating for Children with Cancer (OPACC). Dave has had many humbling experiences meeting many families both bereaved and survivors including a bereaved sibling of more than seventy years, a young girl lost to leukaemia.
Vacuum packed Frozen Craft Beer Bread Dough was re-introduced to the market early 2024 and started selling at smaller markets being kept in coolers with ice to reduce thaw. A better system such as portable freezers with a renewable power source for keeping the doughs frozen during the warmer months is needed. Once packaging is finalized they will be able to start taking samples of both frozen dough and fresh baked bread to brewers.
One day as Dave was searching for a certain style of beer for the Apple Pie Brown Ale bread, a style that is not commonly brewed by the local Sawdust City Brewery he went to the south end of Gravenhurst where there’s an LCBO and Sobeys who both have decent selections of Ontario Craft Beer. He parked between them and went into Sobeys first.
Through a chance meeting at the beer fridges in Sobeys Dave was telling Al Truistic’s Beer Bread Bakery to the Owner, Jesse. When he explained starting with DIY kits because millennials like the Do It Yourself experience, being a millennial, he agreed. Dave told him about working out the packaging details Jesse said they would sell in his store.
Al Truistic’s is also looking at licensing their Craft Beer Bread Recipes. These will be ideal for breweries with suitable kitchens or breweries in small towns with a small bakery, B&Bs, cafes and sandwich shops, grocery stores with in-store bakeries and more. Licensing is a mostly passive income that will give Al Truistic’s a steady monthly income on royalties.
AL Truistic’s needs a kitchen of their own to continue to grow and bring their delicious Craft Beer Breads to Craft Beer Enthusiasts and Foodies alike. Once a kitchen is re-established the future will see us continue to grow in with a focus on northern brewers and specialty shops. White labelling our kits is another option. We continue to work towards Incorporation and our business and in time B-Corp Certification to be good environmental and social business.
Of course supporting OPACC is an important piece of the puzzle moving forward and we are committed to increasing our commitment to OPACC as our financial success grows. We can further help our childhood cancer community in a unique way. Depending on the cancer and its treatment adult survivors may have barriers to employment; adult survivors of malignant brain tumours may have acquired brain injury from the radiation they have when their brains were still developing so they may have memory problems or balance issues. They may be missing a limb or be hearing impaired. Accommodating any person so they can enter the workforce is priceless.
We have lofty goals, we know but we believe these can be achieved especially because of the qualities millennial shoppers have. In order to achieve these goals we’re always looking for funding and know that Incorporating is an important step to add credibility to investors so this will be a priority item.
If you’re interested in the investment opportunity …