New business owners pursue passion projects despite growing cost of living

Despite anxiety around the rising cost of living, many entrepreneurs in London, Ont., haven't shied away from launching their dream business in the city this past year, according to the non-profit organization that provides support and training for business startups in the city.

Steve Pellarin, the executive director at Small Business Centre in London, Ont., said his organization works with about 300 to 400 new startups each year and this year, despite rising economic uncertainty, those numbers haven't changed. 

"People start businesses for a lot of reasons," said Pellarin. "[Entrepreneurs] want to bring that idea to the world and they probably have ambitions to turn it into something big."

Those ambitions seem undeterred by rising prices, rising interest rates and fears of a wider recession in a post-pandemic economy that has been anything but predictable. 

Still, small business owners, like Tara Davies, who opened her doughnut shop Dough EV in Old East Village in August, are willing to take the necessary risks to make their dream a reality. 

"Food cost is a huge challenge, we feel it in our house," Davies said on CBC Radio One's London Morning Tuesday.  "The sticker shock of food is an incredible challenge to work through."

On top of that, Davies has had trouble marketing to new customers but has luckily won a few regulars that frequently buy from Dough EV.

"We're still finding our footing in our neighborhood," said Davies. "People don't come down here unless they have their reason to."

Despite the challenges she is currently facing, Davies is passionate about what she does.

"I had done donuts in Montreal previously and my husband and I moved here," said Davies. "When we started discussing this space, it kind of seemed like the right time and the right place to have a business." 

Bethanie Meiji, executive director of Argyle BIA, said Londoners' persistence in pursuing their passion is exactly what transformed the Argyle neighbourhood in East London into what some people have started calling "Little India," thanks to a recent influx of new arrivals. 

In 2022, Meiji saw a boom of Indian restaurants opening in the area and today, East London has a diverse range of food options that locals have welcomed with open arms.

"Food does bring people together and all of these businesses are busy," said Meiji. "You have the Malibu and the Del-Mar diner that [has] been open since…the mid 20th century, but then you go down a little bit and you see the Taj Mahal, you see Rajdhani and you see all of these really amazing businesses that are also open."

While inflation has been causing growing anxiety among Londoners, one business owner said she's been lucky enough to avoid falling through the cracks through the support of the London community.

Kirstie Leedham is the owner of Hello Maker, located on Richmond St. in London, Ont. that was launched in March and provides locals with the opportunity to try out new artistic hobbies in a small group for a much cheaper price. 

"After the pandemic, everybody has learned a couple of things," said Leedham. "First of all, that community is really, really important and being creative and making things with your own hands is really important. And so we're giving people that environment to do it."

Leedham emphasized that she received massive support from the Downtown London BIA and encouraged those interested in launching a business to reach out to their BIA for guidance.

"There's no point in inventing the wheel. Someone can give you the information you need."