Every once in a while a business development story comes along that is truly amazing and inspiring. Economic tragedy has been averted for Buffalo… not in a way that would have brought the city crumbling to its knees or anything, but in a way that is an mid-sized economic victory – one that we can raise high above our heads. Remember when Mike Canfield wrote about The English Pork Pie Company? What a great example of young Buffalonians making a go of it by leaving an industrious mark on the local food production industry. Not long after that article was posted, Donn Esmonde painted a different picture as we learned that the start-up had outgrown its production facility and was heading for Ohio. Owners Damian and Vicky Parker could not find a USDA facility in WNY that would accommodate their growth rate. It was one of those moments that you wanted to bang your head against the wall and scream, “Buffalo!!!!”
As luck would have it (and we’ve been pretty lucky these days), tragedy really has been averted thanks to a British term called “Gazumping”. That’s when a handshake deal falls apart and one party gets trumped by another party (often times with more money). That’s what happened to Vicky and Damian when, at the last minute, another company swept in with a lot more cash and snatched the Ohio production facility from underneath them. Suddenly the couple found themselves left out in the cold, with no facility, no sales, no production, no orders and barely any hope. “We had three realtors looking for us in WNY for a year,” Vicky told me. “We scouring the area for a USDA certified plant that would allow us the room that we needed to grow. Nothing came up. When Damian learned that the Ohio deal was dead, he got back online and began to search. That’s when he came across a long vacant hydroponic tomato plant (Village Farms) on South Park Avenue. The facility is under contract, which means that we’re moving from a 6000 sq.’ building into a 37,000 sq.’ fairly modernized building that was only built in 1997. Our dream had always been to find a location that would give us room to build an English Village with a British pub where we brew our own beer. That’s what we’re planning on doing. We also want to open a traditional fish ‘n chips shoppe, bake our own English bread and make desserts. We have seven acres of land and we’re on the river. We’re five minutes from downtown, in the city, and we couldn’t be happier. We have a solid customer base here in Buffalo and we plan on breaking into the Canadian market. In the end, this is a much better scenario for us than what we were looking at in Ohio.”
If this isn’t an incredible turnaround story, then I don’t know what is. If you’re not familiar with The English Pork Pie Company, and what an exciting win for Buffalo this is, then be sure to read Mike Canfield’s piece. After meeting Vicky and Damian, and seeing their operation first hand, I have no doubt that they will do something truly incredible with the formerly dormant hydroponics facility. I’m also happy to have two ingenious Buffalonians back in our midst… I mean three! Congratulations on the latest addition you two.