Skip to content

Zero-waste grocery store pitch most popular at LEAP launch party

The people have spoken and they want waste-free grocery options on the Sunshine Coast.
LEAP
Douglas Bevans gets a hug after winning the Coaches’ Choice Award.

The people have spoken and they want waste-free grocery options on the Sunshine Coast.

“I really hope this is going to spring me forward,” said entrepreneur Chris Lynn after learning he’d won the People’s Choice Award for his pitch for a zero-waste grocery store.

Lynn was one of nine entrepreneurs who pitched business ideas at the Dec. 5 launch party celebrating the 2019 cohort of the Local Entrepreneur Accelerator Program (LEAP).

The nine-week business program has been operating for seven years, through a partnership between Simon Fraser University and Sunshine Coast Community Futures. It’s intended to assist people with their fledgling small businesses, with a focus on addressing social, environmental, or economic challenges on the Sunshine Coast.

Lynn is looking at a retail space in Sechelt and has plans to open 1Zero1 Market by spring 2020. He got the idea while working at a traditional grocery store and observing people’s desire for less throwaway packaging. “The frustration is real. People are committed to making the change, they just don’t have access to the product in that way,” he told Coast Reporter after receiving the award.

Another entrepreneur, Douglas Bevans, won the Coaches’ Choice Award for his business, Sunshine Coast Art Tours, which is already up and rolling. He offers “art tours and workshops with a focus on unique access” by driving his customers to art studios on the Sunshine Coast in a 15-seat van.

“One of my clients recently referred to this tour as a champagne and chocolate kind of tour. That works for me,” he said during his pitch to the crowd gathered at the Gibsons Public Market. Organizers praised his extensive preparation and market research.

Nine entrepreneurs presented at the launch and competed for the awards. Businesses ranged from a Sechelt Inlet water taxi service to mushroom edibles.

Approximately 50 entrepreneurs have used the program to launch their ventures. “Some are thriving, some are getting by and some have gone on to other things,” but together they have “put ideas into action,” Community Futures executive director Janice Iverson told the audience.