How a small N.L. transport company hopes to link the local supply chain and boost food security 

When Janice Ryan was asked if she’d take ownership of a courier business in Western Newfoundland, she wasn’t sure if it was the right move for her. 

She had no background in transport, no experience as a courier. She’d worked as a fisheries observer, then with the fish harvester and plant worker’s union in Newfoundland and Labrador, and with WWF Canada. She was far more comfortable talking to a harvester on the wharf in Bay de Verde or comparing resources at a processing facility in Iceland than drawing up payroll or vetting drivers. But what if, just maybe, she did dive in? 

Over the years, Ryan had seen enterprises of all kinds trying to keep pace with day-to-day demands. She knew the importance of supportive networks. And she knew how, for many businesses, a simple lack of ready transport could undermine everything. 

As a business, Rudy’s Courier Service was already established. It carried a solid reputation, thanks to owner Rudy Campbell. He was a driver before taking over and renaming the operation in 2018, steadily adding runs between the communities of Deer Lake and Corner Brook, moving everything from legal documents to heavy equipment parts. Then, a life-threatening cancer caught up with him and he passed away in December 2020. His namesake business remained; would family friend Janice Ryan take it over? 

“I started thinking a bit more about it,” Ryan recalled, speaking with Atlantic Business Magazine. She thought about her interest in serving the community. She thought about what maintaining the courier business would mean to the existing customer base but also who else could benefit. And if she took on the business—she was beginning to lean that way—could it be a platform for something more? 

Newfoundland and Labrador’s geography makes for great tourism ads, but it isn’t always a traveller’s friend. Drive along the highways once and you may or may not notice it, as you admire the views. The communities— some clearly defined, some not—pop up along a network of roads that are best understood at satellite height. On the island of Newfoundland, tree-like, each peninsula runs like a branch off the sturdy, central limb of the Trans- Canada Highway. Circle routes are few, with still more kilometres of highway per resident than in any other province. People often run up the harbour, or down the shore and back again. And it’s not considered odd even now to stay to your own ‘branch’ for years at a time. Too often, local products also can’t make the trip from one place to another. That might be because of the cost, or the lack of a particular type of transport service (refrigerated, small-scale shipping for example), and/or timing. 

Ryan’s past work linked her into conversations on food supply and food security, as well as sustainability, and she had developed a passion and hope to help improve things where she might. Like many people, she had heard about the challenges in getting food products from producer to consumers. “Just traveling to different places, you hear stories of how hard it is just to get stuff from Point A to Point B. I mean… the Twillingates, the St. Anthonys, off the Trans-Canada,” she said. And looking at the courier company, she wondered if that could be the root of a new arm for the business.

She made the leap and took ownership. Next, she had to learn the ropes, the basics of Rudy’s Courier. She wanted to first and foremost serve Rudy’s customers. At the same time, she started researching and planning for new work for the company. She reached out to small-scale producers around the province, to hear what they had available to them in terms of transport services. She began test jobs.

 

 

Rudy’s Courier won out on a request for proposals in early 2021 from the non-profit Food First N.L., delivering for the Western Food Hub, an online store aimed at connecting local food producers with local consumers, with the goal of improving regional food security. That’s how Gros Morne Farm and Market co-owners Laurie Haycock and Boyd Maynard first became aware of, and eventually connected with, Ryan. 

The Western Food Hub service finished up for the year in early fall but the Gros Morne Farm in Norris Point was still producing. There were greens, microgreens, peppers and more, and the farm partnered with another small farm pulling up a wealth of root vegetables. Hancock quietly floated the idea of selling a run of late fall-early winter produce boxes. There was a lot of interest from customers, including some located a little too far for small-scale delivery by Haycock or Maynard.

“A lot of people from the Deer Lake area reached out and wanted to join and we’re like well, we’ll get back to you if we can come up with some way for delivery. Because for us it wasn’t feasible,” Haycock said.

 

We had [Five Brothers Cheese] in our (produce) boxes one time and our customers just loved it.”  But few of the customers knew the whole story of what it took to get local cheese to them.

—Laurie Picard-Haycock, owner and operator of Gros Morne Farm and Market

 

A quick glance at a map of the island and it may not look too far, but it’s 73 kilometres from Norris Point to Deer Lake, or just under an hour’s drive one way. That’s a far cry better than the hour and a half for Haycock and other farmers in her area to get to the market in Corner Brook, but still a tall order. In Haycock’s case, her farm is still relatively new and was only in its third year of growing, with the owners handling everything, and a lot of work to be done. An on-site market was also being added in 2021 (building to a successful opening in October, complete with pumpkin patch and fall festival events). Taking time away for regular deliveries to Deer Lake wasn’t in the cards. Then Ryan said Rudy’s could take care of it. “For us, Rudy’s Courier made all the sense,” Haycock said. 

Apart from dealing with the farm, Rudy’s started a twice-a-week run to Rocky Harbour and Norris Point. The courier company also has regular runs to White Bay. Ryan hopes that promising start will grow to reach more locations. 

At the Gros Morne Farm and Market, Haycock said they will likely require the occasional delivery of local products. Shipping in, just like shipping out, has already proved to be a challenge. In Haycock’s experience, even some of the province’s most popular brands are struggling to find the right transport solutions at the right time. One example she offered is Five Brothers Artisan Cheese. “We had that in our (produce) boxes one time and our customers just loved it,” she said, but few of the customers knew the whole story of what it took to get local cheese to them. 

 

 

The idea of supplying cheese for the farm boxes was welcomed by Five Brothers Artisan Cheese owner and cheesemaker Adam Blanchard, but he’s over 700 km away on the east coast of the island. Haycock couldn’t find a timely shipping option that worked to get the cheese to her location. “I actually had friends from St. John’s who were coming for a visit and we co-ordinated for Adam to drop the cheese off at their place and then they brought it across to me,” she said, noting the lack of options took regular additions of Five Brothers Cheese off the table, at least for now. 

For his part, Blanchard has heard from Ryan at Rudy’s and discussed the possibility of new options for moving goods with Rudy’s. He said more options, Rudy’s or otherwise, are needed to give local producers the chance to build their businesses feeding local demand. “I’d love to see one or two (transport) companies focus on the small, independent food producers here on the island,” he said. 

Operating with a personal desire to meet the needs of small business owners and boutique shops off the beaten path, serving local residents and tourists alike, Blanchard has tried shipping about every which way. He’s gone with very small orders by Canada Post with no success. “We’ve packed it in coolers with ice packs and sent it on the DRL [the bus line known for its cross-island runs]. We’ve had to inquire about people we know who may be traveling across the island. We have worked with Cisco as a distributor, but Cisco is a large distributor and they only go to certain spots and they’re not going to go to small stores or boutique stores, they’re going mostly to restaurants. And it’s really been a struggle. It’s something I’ve talked about for years,” he said.

He did his own deliveries around St. John’s and surrounding communities for a time, but there’s only so far any one businessperson can stray from their centre.

 

“It’s difficult to get things shipped across the province… And where we deal in perishable items that have to be kept cool, it’s even more difficult.

—Adam Blanchard, owner and cheesemaker, Five Brothers Artisan Cheese (Photo: Gabby Peyton)

 

“It’s difficult to get things shipped across the province. If you want to consider getting stuff to Labrador—that’s a whole different ballgame altogether. And where we deal in perishable items that have to be kept cool, it’s even more difficult,” he said.

Ok. But brass tacks: has the challenge of transport really limited the ability of Five Brothers Cheese—one of the province’s best-known, small-scale manufacturers—to sustain and grow? “I totally think that it has,” he said.

Depending on the destination, there’s a great deal of time spent trying to effectively build a system of delivery. In some cases, established transport services don’t regularly stop in the area. In others, it’s prohibitively expensive based on listing costs or the size and type of the shipments involved. 

“We really like what Janice is doing and where she’s going with her business. Her focus. Her passion being with food and she sees the opportunities and the struggles. I’m not the only one who feels this way,” he said.

Owner of the Saucy Newfoundland Co., Julia Allingham, took a break from offloading a shipment of bottles from Nova Scotia to her manufacturing site in St. John’s to echo the fact transport options for in-province shipments by companies based in the province has been a persistent challenge. Allingham has experience operating on both the west and east coasts of the island. She started her company with three other people on the west coast in 2017 and, after some changes along the way and a move, has now re-established operations in the capital.

 

 

 

“When I was on the west coast, I had the same issues as I do on the east coast. You produce a product and you’re a small company. You’re trying to produce a quality product so you’re using quality ingredients, local as much as possible. You’re trying to access local packaging and bottling and labeling and that sometimes runs you a few extra dollars. But you produce a wonderful product and then you’re limited in your ability to get it out to customers,” she said. “Within the province (shipping) is a major issue, especially if you want to get it up to the northern tip (of the island) or off the Trans-Canada, off on the peninsulas. It’s near impossible.”

She too has relied on family and friends to help with lengthy transports, and been unable to send shipments by Canada Post given the weight involved. She’s balked at pricing on occasion but also often hasn’t found a match in services, in timing and locations. She was excited by a recent order, set to ship with a gross value of about $800, but the shipping price from a courier to Happy Valley-Goose Bay was $400 and that meant it wasn’t viable to fill the order. And while online purchasing has jumped up in the pandemic, direct shipping costs even to customers on the island are keeping the Saucy Newfoundland Co. largely out of that game even as larger companies ship in. 

Allingham believes transportation, specifically the lack of suitable options when needed, has held her company back. “That is one of the reasons I could not expand,” she said.

In the latter half of 2021, she said, the company signed with Loblaw. Saucy Newfoundland Co. products have started appearing in large grocery stores. But before that, what she considers specialty stores—independents—including Bees Knees and Urban Market 1919 in St. John’s were locations helping her to sustain her business. And by all accounts those are exactly some of the hardest places for the newest and smallest companies to reach in Central Newfoundland, on the Burin Peninsula, Notre Dame, Baie Verte, the tip of the Northern Peninsula, the south coast.

 

 

For decades, Newfoundland and Labrador has been told, and the government itself has talked about, efforts to strengthen the local economy through the creation of more small and medium-sized enterprises. There is a need to foster new industries and for organic growth as opposed to reliance on megaprojects and dumps of capital. There is no arguing that outside investment is still an essential element today as much as in the 1980s (look no further than excitement in corners around a possible Bay du Nord offshore oil development), but the advice overall hasn’t changed. It’s not about complete self-reliance but about having more local for local in a healthy way.

In 2019, the provincial government released an economic development report from consulting firm McKinsey & Company that said the government’s “Way Forward On Agriculture” plan, targeting an increase from 10 to 20 per cent in food self-sufficiency by 2022 was “an important objective to enhance food security and supply growth of the economy by supplying local needs.” It suggested expanding and developing agricultural assets tied to transportation, including cold storage and food processing facilities, specifically mentioning Five Brothers Cheese and any other “boutique” producers as the only existing, in-province secondary dairy processors. The report also promoted increasing the range of products supplied locally and marketing local specialty products that might—if the businesses can develop—be exported, mentioning local berries, honey and saltwater lamb. “These specialty food products could serve as the basis of new export businesses,” it stated. 

There have been multiple reports on the clusters of rural entrepreneurs establishing themselves in places like Trinity and Bonavista and working to build networks of new, local businesses. And in the wake of the pandemic, there are reports of even more young professionals from larger Canadian cities resettling in rural Newfoundland and Atlantic Canada, being both potential product consumers and creators. 

In the Town of Bonavista, Crystal Fudge, owner of Bonabooch Kombucha has seen her small-batch product, infused with local foods and flavours, consumed by some of the newest arrivals. With a following, the young entrepreneur’s kombucha has also popped up off the Peninsula, on other parts of the island and beyond, with a strong showing about 300 kilometres away in St. John’s and surrounding area. Despite many successes, she’s still struggling with wholesale transport and distribution. 

“We like to support local as much as possible, so we’ve made arrangements with a local company that does daily courier service from Bonavista to St. John’s. They pick up really early in the morning and by lunchtime, whatever business is ordering kombucha in St. John’s can have their kombucha,” she said. 

“Where our difficulty comes from is exactly why I reached out to Janice (at Rudy’s): moving it across the province. We can’t have kombucha sitting in the sun or a hot place or anything like that. You also don’t want it to be sitting in a container or truck for multiple days. That’s not going to work for us. So it’s the consistency, the pricing and maintaining the quality. That’s where our issues come from. We do use shipping across the province, but it could be better, it could be more efficient.” 

She described abandoning an order from the Northern Peninsula due to in-province shipping costs. The costs covered two different shippers, with a need to switch along the way. At the end of the line, the shipping would have cost more than the kombucha and made it completely unreasonable in price for the café and consumer. 

Fudge started expanding her reach by wholesaling close to home. Every time she’s looked at moving product to more than one seller in a new area on a regular basis, she’s had to find time for extensive research on what transport companies service the area, as well as their costs and shipping options. She said it was particularly difficult when she first started. “This one (shipping) company sent me a table. It was absolutely the most confusing thing I’ve ever seen and I had to call them and say, like, I don’t know how to read this table for pricing and weight,” she said. 

She’s glad to have secured her courier to St. John’s and a few other relationships. But she is also quick to say she’s looking for more options for reaching throughout the province, excited at the possibility of one more addition in Rudy’s. 

 

 

In Deer Lake, Ryan knows there are no guarantees in business but also that if she’s going to be in business, she wants her work to be of some service. So far, she has taken the reins and re-launched the little courier that could in Western Newfoundland. She has also done her homework on options for small local manufacturers and local food supply. Her struggle now is two-fold. First, is to find ways to make new runs of local product viable. That really means finding enough customers to fill her vehicles in either direction.

She was readying a test run of goods between the west and east coast, Corner Brook and St. John’s, but will have to pin down collections of regular customers and pilot new options onto the peninsulas over time. Her dream for her first company is not yet reality, and there’s also more to it. She wants the new arm of her company—made particularly to support and encourage companies with fresh and local foods and products—to be a low-carbon enterprise. 

Ryan has been investigating the latest in electric vehicles and trying to establish potential timelines on the arrival of utility vans and other commercial vehicles that could serve the needs of the courier business. The EV option will require a hefty up-front investment and she’s been investigating options for financing her goal. She’s also watching the introduction of EV infrastructure, dictating potential for EV routes. It’s still a bit of a grand dream for someone who was once hesitant about even stepping into the courier business. 

It’s one day at a time for the new owner of Rudy’s Courier. And like so many small business owners smattered along the highways of Newfoundland could tell anyone, that’s the only way to do it. •