55 Dunlevy Avenue in historic Railtown is home to a winery that is changing the way that many Vancouver restaurants serve their wine. Founded in March of 2011, Vancouver Urban Winery has spread its reach through offering a unique method of packaging wine that ensures lasting quality when pouring by the glass. Their FreshTAP system allows restaurants to purchase wine in special 19.5L wine kegs and then serve to order, on tap. After wine is received from over 50 local BC wineries it is meticulously repackaged and tested to guarantee that the quality of a freshly opened bottled is retained, glass after glass. Vancouver Urban Winery is challenging the traditional method of serving wine from a bottle by educating restaurants and consumers in their innovative process.
Innovation, a trip to a historic part of Vancouver and of course BC wine culture was more than enough to make this local startup an excellent choice for our class’ first corporate visit. Once again our entire group piled into a yellow school bus in front of the SFU Residence buildings and headed to Railtown. The Vancouver Urban Winery is located in a beautiful 1920’s building whose original wood beams and vaulted ceilings make you feel as though they could have come from the same trees that built the traditional wine casks that were stacked up inside. When we arrived we were treated like houseguests and made to feel welcome. It was clear that groups of our size were not out of the ordinary for this small winery. What followed was a one-stop information tour by Account Coordinator, Tage Harris. She gave us valuable insight into the challenges and the successes that a startup faces when offering a unique and innovative product. These challenges include creating a new way of looking at a proven product and changing the initial perceptions of an established method. Our teams will face similar challenges when trying to take our ideas for sustainability through to the implementation stage. On the other hand the success that the Urban Winery has enjoyed through growing their brand is something that our teams can and will look to for inspiration. Through a multitude of questions thrown her way, Tage was able to give us a great idea of why they have enjoyed success and what role the passion of the owners and staff has played in those accomplishments. Finally, our trip ended off with the opportunity for wine tasting and many of our Grenoble students let their inner wine connoisseur come out as they sampled a taste of what BC has to offer.
Please stay tuned later in the semester for our upcoming corporate trip to Dolly’s Delicious Treats and our curling field trip!
Jordan is currently in his third year at the Beedie School of Business and is concentrating in Accounting and Entrepreneurship. Although enrolled in Beedie for 3 years, the past year has seen him start to take advantage of the amazing opportunities that are offered outside of the classroom. Jordan started his involvement in the Business Administration Student Society (BASS) as the VP Internal, overseeing such events as BASS FROSH and the BASS Mentorship Program. His experiences with BASS have opened up opportunities with the Royal Roads Case Competition Team and the GEM Joint Semester in Entrepreneurship and Innovation.Jordan looks forward to future involvement with BASS and hopes to have an opportunity to compete in International case competitions.