A new way to rate local businesses
Published Monday February 16th, 2009
Businesses with bad reputations are going to have a harder time covering them up after the Maritime Better Business Bureau launched a grading scale for local businesses earlier this month.
The Better Business Bureau reliability reports assign businesses a rating based on a total of 16 factors revolving around trustworthiness and ability to resolve customer concerns.
The rankings, which replace a less complex satisfactory and unsatisfactory model, can be found at Maritimeprovinces.bbb.org. Currently there are ratings posted for 6,000 Maritime businesses.
"Given the current tough economic conditions, consumers literally can't afford to make bad buying decisions," said bureau president and CEO Don MacKinnon in a media release. "These reports make it extremely easy and convenient for consumers to research and compare local businesses before they buy."
Houseboat business looking to expand
When Larry Jewett decided to buy a houseboat 18 months ago, he had no idea that something he thought would be a summer hobby would turn into a year-round job.
Jewett is the owner of Lakeway Houseboat Vacations, a business based out of the Mactaquac Marina that rents out houseboats for summer cruises.
"My original interest in this was for personal use. I was looking at buying a cottage or something like that and I ended up getting a used houseboat, basically thinking that I would use it all summer and rent it out a little bit when I wasn't using it," he said.
"Things started to change when I started to look at the Mactaquac area and discovered it is really just an ideal location for houseboat rentals. After that, I did some investigation and basically bit the bullet shortly after that.''
After settling on turning houseboats into a business, Jewett, with the help of ACOA funding, built another boat for renting. Now preparing for his second summer season, Jewett already has both boats 50 per cent booked and is thinking about expanding his business again.
He said he would like to get local investors to help pay for the construction of two new houseboats.
"This business is capital intensive and I see a large opportunity for this waterway," he said. "We are just starting an investor program and we want people to invest in boats and we will get them some rental revenue.
"The big perk, of course, is also that when the boats are not rented out, the investors would have the opportunity to use a boat when they wish."
For more information about Lakeway Houseboat Vacations visit Lakewayhouseboats.com.
Bringing home the hardware
A Fredericton entrepreneur has put together quite the run at the Atlantic Canada Craft Awards of Excellence.
Trudy Gallagher, president and owner of Bejewel on Queen Street, took home the award for outstanding exporter for the third consecutive year at the awards dinner in Halifax recently.
Gallagher was also chosen for the industry leader award for her contributions to the craft industry, which include teaching and volunteering with the New Brunswick Craft Council.
Chamber upgrades website
The Fredericton Chamber of Commerce has a new website and CEO Anthony Knight couldn't be happier with it.
The organization debuted the site Feb. 9, complete with a new community calendar, additional information on the chamber itself, an interactive directory and a more user-friendly layout.
Knight said it brings the chamber into the 21st century.
"It's easy to navigate and it will give people a chance to connect and to access information quickly and efficiently," Knight said.
The chamber's new website, which can be found at Frederictonchamber.ca, was designed by Fredericton-based web design firm Red Cow Technologies. Knight said it's a work in progress and urged anyone with any ideas on how to further improve it to contact the chamber.
Chris Fox is a freelance journalist. If you have news items for Networking, e-mail news@dailygleaner.com and put 'Networking' in the subject line.
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