The Rural Voice, 2000-07, Page 32lin the pickle-making hits its peak at The Pickle
Guy's factory later this summer there'll be no
need for local advertising. The rich, spicy scent
issuing from the Markdale alley where the factory is
located soon lets everybody within blocks know a new
batch of pickles is being made, jokes Ken Bustin, the
Pickle Guy himself.
But strong as the smell of vinegar and spices may be, it
only goes so far and the fame of the pickles created by
Bustin goes much, much farther. The reputation of Bustin's
pickles has spread to the point 90 per cent of the business
at the little out-of-the-way Markdale shop comes from
Toronto-area people heading to the cottage or the ski-hill.
As well there's an expanding retail network of stores
carrying the growing line of Pickle Guy products.
Not bad for a guy who started making pickles as a
hobby and 12 years ago, at the urging of friends, started
selling his products to the public.
He started out, Bustin recalls, growing all the vegetables
he used in his pickles. Today he's too busy pickling to
plant, tend and harvest the quantities needed to keep up
with demand for the growing business, he says. Each year
as the business has grown, he's never had enough
inventory to last until the next pickling season arrives.
The biggest advance in recent years was the move, a
little over a year ago, into the present building that
provides a store-front retail location plus a government-
inspected kitchen. Just as in the pickles, this expansion
came from a unique recipe.
Maureen Curtis and her husband Dave had moved to the
Markdale area several years ago and found out about
Bustin and his pickles. Sure that the pickles were a winner,
Maureen urged him to expand but he was growing slowly
as the money became available.
But Curtis had another interest in Markdale — a local
investment club that got together to discuss business
opportunities (usually onthe stock market). Though pickle
making wasn't exactly what the club originally had in
mind, members got excited when Curtis brought the idea to
28 THE RURAL VOICE
Ken Bustin and his assistant Carol Morrison bottle a
batch of pickles (below) and at the retail store (above)
show off some of the company's products.
them. Bustin tound himself putting together business plans
and charts to present to the investors. 'In the end, nine
investors put forward $2,500 each to buy preferred shares
in the business and the expansion was on. Back then the
expansion was knocking out a wall at the house to expand
kitchen facilities, but with demand constantly expanding
that lasted less than a year before there was need for the
current facility.
Setting up a commercial kitchen is hugely expensive,
Bustin says, even when you're buying used equipment,
Recently he wanted to get a commercial -size Cuisinart to
speed up production but the cost of even a used machine
was prohibitive and he decided it would have to wait.