Published by Leonardo Calcagno
Who are you and what is your background?
We are a husband and wife team, and we both come from a winemaking background. We’ve spent about 15 years making premium cool climate wine, largely in New Zealand, as well as France and the West Coast of the USA and Canada.
Your current job:
As we’re a new business, the two of us currently make up the entire team of Goodmore Kombucha. Between us, we do everything involved in running a small craft kombucha business…brewing, bottling, product development, marketing, sales, bookkeeping and of course cleaning!
In which city:
We have a great little lakefront brewery in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia…just across the harbor from Halifax.
How did you discover kombucha?
We both first tried kombucha in New Zealand and really enjoyed the “taste good, feel good” nature of the drink. Given our love of experimenting with all things fermented, we immediately started brewing it at home.
What prompted you to start your company?
A year ago we were ready to head home to Halifax after many years spent living overseas, and we wanted to be a part of the exciting food and drink scene here. There’s a quality-driven local food revolution happening in Nova Scotia! Given our winemaking backgrounds, along with our passion for fermented food, fine flavors and a commitment to health and well being, kombucha felt like a natural fit.
What makes your product unique?
Each of our flavors is individually fermented with different teas and natural botanicals. This allows us to create a unique and balanced range of kombucha flavors that really celebrate tea. We never dilute our kombucha with fruit juice, which is uncommon among commercial producers and results in a purity of flavor that we enjoy.
What do you want to convey through your brand image?
Goodmore Kombucha is not just a health drink, but rather as one person put it “it’s a sophisticated non-alcoholic taste experience”, and we wanted our branding to showcase that. We focused on creating a label that was beautiful and eye-catching…something that stood out from the crowd.
What are the main challenges in your company?
Our main challenge is finding enough time in the day to get everything done! We launched Goodmore Kombucha the week we were due with our first child. Luckily our little guy was a couple of weeks late so we had a bit of extra time to get our business up and running before welcoming our baby into the world.
What tools are essential for your work (app, software)?
Our labeler! We were painstakingly handed labeling each bottle for the first while, and getting a simple labeling device was a game-changer.
A word to define what type of worker you are:
Alexis – a perfectionist. Kevin – determined.
What does your office space look like?
We have an old farmhouse table from New Zealand set up as an ‘office’ in our nano-brewery. It’s a well-loved table (with battle scars to prove it) made from native NZ timber. We aim to leave it completely clear at the end of each day, but during work hours it’s a rotating hub of activity. At any given moment it could be covered in paperwork, computers, and speakers, labels, tea, dried botanicals, bottles, picnic lunch, you name it. Otherwise, an old bread box filled with all kinds of the office like odds and ends completes our so-called office.
Do you have a way to organize your days to optimize your work?
Because we currently bottle-to-order and we’re constantly brewing, our days are organized around the stage of our kombucha ferments and what orders we have planned for the day.
What tips would you give to improve productivity?
Get the equipment you need to do the job efficiently.
What is the best advice you have been given?
If you’re going to be an entrepreneur, be certain you love what you do because you’ll live and breath your business all day, every day.
What are your end-of-day and early-day routine?
We start the day with a coffee in bed and have a Goodmore meeting in pj’s. And after the brewery is cleaned up for the day, we have a bit of a debrief and planning a session, usually with a beer or glass of wine in hand.
Apart from your computer and your phone, what gadget cannot you do without?
The labeler! And our pH meter.
Upcoming products or projects?
Setting up a small tap space in our brewery for tastings and growler fills.
goodmorekombucha.com | instagram.com/goodmorekombucha | facebook.com/goodmorekombucha |
