New Businesses Demonstrate Increased Diversity in Rural Community

With a 27% population increase over a five-year period, and still growing at the same rate, Neepawa is a ripe location for new businesses to set up shop. More and more of these businesses are coming directly from Neepawa’s newcomer population, and in the process changing what a typical prairie town looks like.

We take a closer look at four of those businesses and the local entrepreneurs behind them. Many of the owners open up about the challenges of opening a business in Canada and the unique opportunities a small town provides.

Catherine Vego has big plans for her food-based business, which started out of her home supplying local grocery stores and has expanded into two locations and growing. It already includes baked goods, bulk groceries, and catering, and next year a sit-down restaurant will be added to the roster. She focuses on traditional Filipino foods and delicacies, both sweet and savoury. Vego particularly stresses the need to adhere to the local laws and regulations around the business of food production, which are very different from those in her home country.

Richard Rotor and his wife opened Rotor’s Bakery to cater to the growing Filipino population, and in fact moved to Neepawa specifically to open a business after discovering the size of the potential market. However, they also do great business in takeout pizza - the best in town, depending on who you ask - an addition specifically for the Canadian market. This plays into the advice he offers future entrepreneurs, especially in the food market: “Make sure your product is for everyone.”

The donair, an east coast staple, has been introduced to Neepawa by Kumar Patel, who opened a franchise of Prairie Donair this summer in his Neepawa hotel, although depending on how much of a purist you are, many of the options on the menu may lean towards the shawarma side. It may also be the first restaurant in Neepawa to serve only certified halal meat.

And finally, Christine Saavedra originally envisioned her bubble tea start-up as a traditional restaurant, but the pandemic changed her plans and almost derailed her entirely. Instead she made a pivot to starting a food truck, one of the first the town has seen. It’s definitely the first that serves bubble tea, a sweet treat that many in the community are trying for the first time, particularly those that do not travel often to larger centres.

Saavedra received initial funding from What’s the Big Idea, an annual Shark Tank-style event for local entrepreneurs to pitch their projects and match up with sponsors and investors.