Kingston, ONTARIO

At the north-east corner of Lake Ontario, where the St. Lawrence River begins, lies the stately, old colonial city, former capital of Upper Canada, Kingston, Ontario.

Cramming the narrow, old streets, lined with oak and maple trees, are hundreds of vehicles; small trucks, moving vans, trailers and hatchbacks.

For it is at this time, end of April, beginning of May, every year, that thousands of Queens’s University students, living in what is affectionately known as the Student Ghetto, are either vacating or moving into, one of the hundreds of century plus old houses that surround the campus.

We are here to move our daughter out of, then into, one such place.

We, more mature adults, wouldn’t think such living quarters would be suitable for anyone with a reasonable mind but for a student – many living away from their parents for the first time – nirvana. Never mind the dirt, flaking paint, slanted stairways and dubious appliances.

Most such places probably earn the owners 2 to 4 times any mortgage payment, almost always keep the damage deposit and never bother cleaning or repairing the units for the next group of unsuspecting tenants.

Quite the business model!

What about the “stay-at-home” essential moving around only, edicts that came recently from Queen’s Park?

A major impediment if you want to get any supplies from your local hardware store or the all-encompassing Canadian Tire.

You can’t just walk in, mask not-withstanding, 25% occupancy or lower.

No!

Those stores don’t sell groceries. So you have order online or by phone, (make sure you have the 10 digit product code) and hope you get curbside pickup today.

I’m sure upper management is already thinking how they can add a small grocery aisle so they can compete with the major grocery and drug chains that are open and competing by having cleaning and hardware goods available in addition to food.

And then there are the independent restaurants!

Most are suffering massively. But not all.

And in that is a lesson for all independent, small business owners.

We ordered take-out last night from a restaurant that has been in business here sine I was a student. (eons ago for those who want to know….)

They are doing well for many reasons, but these few stand out:

• They are an authority on quality food. (they have their own cookbook(s), which my wife purchased the last time we were here, close to 20 years ago) Having a book, on your key subject, is the best business card you can have.
   
• They are a premium place. They do not try nor compete on price. They basically created their own niche.
   
• When they make a sale – they ask for the next.
  Included in our bag, were two flyers advertising their Mother’s Day special, 3-course dinner or special brunch package.
   
• They package their offerings (see above) to work.

The only area they fell down on, in my opinion, is that they did not ask for a review with a system that would also simultaneously help them to build a list. So, 4 out 5.

I imagine too, they have good margins on their food, otherwise, they would not have been able to renovate last summer, during that lockdown. Not understanding profit margins or business financials, has sunk more businesses than bad marketing.

We go over these fundamentals every week with our live business Academy and Street Smart MBA members. If you’d like to protect and immunize your business or professional practice, then I encourage you to join. The first 2 weeks are free.

To your health and success!

Hugh

The “Profit Accelarator”
StreetSmartmba.org

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