In this edition:
- Banner season predicted for Niagara Falls tourism
- 2023 State of the Region sold out
- Niagara-on-the-Lake launches online building permit application software
- More than 40% of farm operators to retire by 2033: report
- Niagara College business students raise almost $40,000 to prevent homelessness
- New Indigenous programming coming to Lincoln Museum
- Bench Brewing acquires Niagara Cider Company
Banner season predicted for Niagara Falls tourism
If the prediction of two hotel management analytic and leisure consulting firms comes to fruition, Niagara Falls is poised for a banner tourism season.
“Smith Travel Research and CBRE have both predicted that Niagara Falls will lead the country in rev-par growth this year,” said Doug Birrell, president of Niagara Falls Canada Hotel Association.
After two years of being decimated by closures and restrictions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, Niagara Falls, often referred to as Canada’s No. 1 leisure destination, saw domestic visitation roar back in 2022.
2023 State of the Region sold out
All tickets for Niagara Regional Chair Jim Bradley’s State of the Region address on April 12th have been sold.
At the address, Chair Bradley will make a number of announcements regarding key issues facing Niagara.
The event, powered by PenFinancial Credit Union, will feature the annual Chair’s address, followed by a fireside chat with Tim Denis, including audience questions.
Click here to join the waitlist.
Niagara-on-the-Lake launches online building permit application software
The Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake is launching Cloudpermit, an online software for building permitting that will benefit applicants, builders, contractors, and third-party agencies.
In 2022, the Town received a $122,366 grant for Municipal Modernization Program Intake 3, of which $35,000 was allocated to e-permitting software. Cloudpermit is an easy-to-use, accessible, and integrated e-permitting system that will help to improve the building permit application process.
More than 40% of farm operators to retire by 2033: report
A new report says more than 40 per cent of farm operators will retire over the next decade, leaving Canada with a shortage.
The report from the Royal Bank of Canada, Boston Consulting Group Centre for Canada’s Future and Arrell Food Institute at the University of Guelph says the country will be short 24,000 general farm, nursery and greenhouse operators.
It also estimates that 66 per cent of producers do not have a succession plan in place.
Niagara College business students raise almost $40,000 to prevent homelessness
Five weeks of participating in Raising the Roof’s Toque Campaign by Niagara College business students culminated in a donation to the tune of almost $40,000 to help prevent homelessness.
More than 350 students began selling the toques in late January for their Professional Sales course, which is required for most term two students in the College’s School of Business and Management. By the time the project wrapped up five weeks later, the students sold more than 1,000 toques.
Raising the Roof’s Toque Campaign has been running for 26 years and has raised more than $9 million towards homelessness prevention initiatives across Canada.
New Indigenous programming coming to Lincoln Museum
In order to bring a diverse perspective to the Lincoln Museum and Cultural Centre, Courtney Corbeil of Mohawk and Settler Heritage offers an Indigenous lens to its collection.
The museum has been fostering its relationship with the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.
The museum is also pursuing approval to change the Jordan Hollow project to an Indigenous name, with an area for ceremonies and opportunities to teach non-Indigenous people about its history.
Bench Brewing acquires Niagara Cider Company
Bench Brewing has acquired the Niagara Cider Company, a business started in 2018 by Matt Dixon and Rich Houghton. The deal closed at the end of March, and will allow the Niagara Cider Company to expand its production and distribution across the province.
“We are thrilled to welcome Niagara Cider Company into the Bench family,” said Matt Giffen, founder of Bench Brewing Company.
Focus on Small Business
Canada is stuck with tipping — and we’re worse off for it
Imagine a local business where employees are compensated by age, gender, attractiveness and with some extra dollars if they flirt with customers. It would end up before the human rights commission and lead the local newscasts.
Yet this is how tipping works. It’s a deeply embedded custom and an unquestioned part of everyday life. But as the average tip percentage goes up in Canadian restaurants, tipping is coming under more scrutiny.
When the COVID-19 pandemic began, there was a belief that the crisis would be such a shock to the status quo of the hospitality industry that tipping as a custom might collapse. As we’ve seen, the opposite has occurred.
Should you let employees break the rules to make customers happy?
Organizations are increasingly relying on technology to deliver simple transactions in a standardized way. Things like self-order kiosks at McDonald’s, bank mobile apps for check deposits, and FAQ chatbots that enable consistent and efficient service delivery to customers. Most day-to-day service encounters, from mobile ordering for a cup of coffee to returning products online, are relatively simple and straightforward.
However, not all customer needs and wants can be met in these ways. Despite the widespread use of technology, frontline employees continue to play an important role in delivering quality customer service, especially when automation cannot help solve complex customer problems.
Through the Daily Updates, the GNCC aims to deliver important business news in a timely manner. We disseminate all news and information we feel will be important to businesses. Inclusion in the Daily Update is not an endorsement by the GNCC.
