Here’s the deal: Pay a $200 entry fee, express your entrepreneurial passion and business concept, and you could win a popular Guelph café worth about $90,000.
Shelley Krieger says entries are beginning to come in for her “Win a Café” contest, a new concept in the divesting of a business, and part of the sharing economy movement. Krieger hopes to garner 500 entries.
“I’ve received tons of questions, emails and interest,” said Krieger. “The entries are just starting to come in over the last few days, and there’s lots of them.”
The entry process is being strictly handled by a Guelph law firm, and Krieger is not aware yet how many entries there are. The contest was advertised across Ontario. Learn more and enter at www.winacafe.ca.
Krieger runs two locations of Red Brick Café in Guelph. The first opened 10 years ago on classic, one-way Douglas Street downtown, and has been popular from the start. It’s not the one up for grabs.
The Westmount Road location is the prize. It is surrounded by middle class homes, situated inside a medical building, and is across the street from a long-term care health centre and a high school. The location is a good one, Krieger said. It opened in 2009.
“People are trying to make sure it’s a good fit for them, and wanting to get all their questions answered,” she said, adding she may extend the March 3 contest deadline.
On Saturday, about 30 people eager to know more about the business and the contest turned up for a Q&A session with the owner at the Westmount location. Krieger told them that running two cafés for a number of years was a daunting undertaking and she needed to simplify her life.
Everything in the shop including the furniture and fixtures, the crockery and coffee machines is included in the prize - a turn-key café with a ready-made clientele, a desirable product, and a reputation.
Shara Inotay and her husband Miki came out on Saturday.
“We’ve been looking to do something together for some time,” said Shara, who has a hospitality background. Miki is a chef.
They have an idea that is close to their hearts, she said. Her father has Alzheimer’s disease, and it is nearly impossible to find a café that is non-judgemental, where caregivers can bring people with dementia. She wants to start such a place.
“It’s just really hard to find places where people like my dad are not judged if they do something silly,” Inotay said. She dreams of creating such a place at the Red Brick Café.
“I just love the idea of the contest,” she added. “It’s very cool. And very Guelph.”
Krieger landed on the idea of putting the café up as a prize after learning more about the sharing economy, and seeing similar things being done in the U.S.
In the sharing economy model, goods, services, even businesses are shared with others for a fee, sidestepping more conventional commercial transactions.
Krieger’s idea is to collect the value of the business by getting hundreds of people to share in a chance of owning it, each paying a relatively nominal fee for that chance. The prize comes with three months of free rent, 80 hours of training, the temporary use of the business name, and all the equipment and furnishes. The winner must agree to keep it open for one year.
Entry rules are on the website, along with lots of information about the business. Entrants are required to write a 400-word essay outlining their dream and their plan, and can include a three-minute video.
A group of 20 finalists will be chosen by Krieger (she won’t see their names), with the final decision being made by an independent panel of judges.
“I think it will work, but it just needs a bit more time,” she said. “Once people got the basic idea they started getting really excited about it. The word is getting out there.”
Her customers at the Westmount location appreciate that she is passing the business on instead of closing it, like so many business owners do when they want to wind a business down.
