Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Silvia Streit, co-owner of Alpine Bakery, located in Whitehorse, YT, Canada.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
We are proud to be the first certified organic bakery and Cafe North of 60. We are much more than a bakery, offering artisanal bread, pastries, lunch, and other homemade goods in our store. Alpine Bakery is Yukon's premier provider of exceptional organic artisanal breads, baked goods, lunch menus, and other homemade goods. Our work and values inspire Yukoners and set standards of well-being, community spirit, and social equality. The bakery is run as a social enterprise. Our vision includes promoting and encouraging social and environmental well-being as well as social change. For us, this change starts with organic food and the promotion of local organic farms. Our customers share our vision and question the food industry as much as we do. They know about the value of organic, homemade products and produce and consider the many impacts of what we are eating. By choosing organic, we are putting less chemicals into our bodies, supporting sustainable agriculture, and fighting climate change.
Tell us about yourself
We are Walter and Silvia from Germany. We used to live a very different life until the call for a simpler way of living - closer to nature and to the wilderness brought us to the Yukon.
Becoming the owners of the Alpine Bakery allowed us to follow our beliefs. We dream of a greener society where the environment, human well-being, and social equity are at the top of all decisions. We believe that every small action for a healthier planet can have a positive impact. Everybody can reach a healthier lifestyle and reduce their ecological footprint. To see our customers supporting our idea and goals motivate us every day to fight the challenges of being a certified organic business in the far North.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Running a social enterprise and having a small footprint in the North is not easy, but it is important to us to:
- Paying a fair wage, above the living wage for Whitehorse, and be an employer-of-choice.
- Working toward zero waste.
- Reducing our environmental footprint wherever possible.
- Buying local whenever we can.
- Other surpluses are reinvested in the employees (salary increases, private health insurance, bonuses, etc.), equipment, building, maintenance, innovation, and an emergency fund.
Because we produce as much as possible ourselves, we create more jobs than is usual for a small bakery. Also, we developed and implemented the label "Yukon Organic," of which we are very proud.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
- Finding enough qualified staff.
- Finding reliable suppliers and affordable and enough organic supplies, products.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Consider very well if and how much staff you need to run your business!
- Do your research about the labor market in your area.
- Consider very well with whom you enter into partnerships (financially or other partnerships).
- Make sure you have enough financial staying power and mental resilience.
Is there anything else you'd like to share?
Go for it! If it is your passion and dream, then it will work out!
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.alpinebakery.ca/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlpineOrganicBakery/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/organic_alpine_bakery/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
Feel inspired to start, run or grow your own subscription business? Check out subkit.com and learn how you can turn "one day" into day one.