Young Cape Breton entrepreneur finds success in silver lining of COVID-19’s dark cloud

SYDNEY, N.S. — Dillan MacNeil could also be younger however he has deal with on which means the wind is blowing.

The Sydney entrepreneur, who is not any stranger to the restaurant business after having had his first go within the aggressive hospitality market on the age of 20, has opened three eateries over the previous six years. Two now not exist, however the third goes sturdy after opening within the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’m very fortunate to be right here,” mentioned the common-or-garden 26-year-old restaurateur, who established Dillan’s On Townsend in December 2020.

“There have been lots of locations that didn’t actually make it by way of COVID and others that say they’ve but to get again the misplaced enterprise which is what occurred on the different location.”

The “different location” that MacNeil referred to is Dillan’s at Wentworth. That’s the coffeehouse he ran on George Road from 2018 till late final month when he closed the store to pay attention his efforts on his Townsend Road initiative. He refers to his newest enterprise as a “small takeaway-style store with big flavour.” It has proved to be transfer given the recognition it’s loved since opening a year-and-a-half in the past.

Born into the biz

MacNeil could declare that luck has helped him alongside the best way, however he additionally possesses a enterprise intuition that has been growing since childhood. His father was a pastry chef and his aunt ran eating places for greater than three many years. And as a baby, MacNeil made sweets and treats that he would promote on consignment on the former Wentworth Perk espresso store that he would later buy and alter the title to Dillan’s at Wentworth.

In 2016, he and enterprise associate Nick Paruch established Joe Hollywood’s Connoisseur Take-Away in a small plaza on Victoria Street in Whitney Pier.

“It was enjoyable however I used to be actually younger, perhaps a bit naïve,” recalled MacNeil.

After six months, the companions referred to as it quits with MacNeil transferring on to some business jobs earlier than opening his Wentworth Park-area espresso store in March of 2018.

“Ha, issues have been going good after which the world shut down due to COVID,” he mentioned, including that enterprise fell drastically as a result of lockdowns, journey restrictions and the general public’s basic worry of being in crowded locations.

“It’s onerous to compete once you don’t have a drive-thru like Tim Hortons or Starbucks the place individuals are lined up each morning.”

MacNeil tried plenty of initiatives to maintain Dillan’s at Wentworth afloat through the pandemic. A 12 months in the past, he launched a pasta pop-up expertise he hoped would draw clients again to the store.

“We spent final summer season doing the pasta pop-up and whereas the reception was fairly first rate there was nonetheless a complete lot of need for us to get again doing the espresso and pastries, which is what the constructing was identified for,” he mentioned.

“So we ended up switching again over round Labour Day final summer season however we stored a few of the extra widespread objects from the summer season and integrated them with the café menu.”

Change of route

On the identical time, MacNeil was discovering success along with his Townsend Road operation.

“There was lots of demand for me to give attention to Townsend Road,” he mentioned.

“So I seemed into seeing if I may end off my (Dillan’s at Wentworth) lease and it turned out that the owner was going to be itemizing the property in order that was good for the each of us.”

MacNeil now dedicates all of his skilled efforts, and portion of his personal time, to Dillan’s on Townsend which continues to do nicely as society eases its means again towards normalcy.

“We opened this retailer through the pandemic as a result of so many individuals have been ordering takeaway,” he mentioned.

“Since we have been identified for our burgers and sandwiches once we had Joe Hollywood’s down within the Pier, I assumed that perhaps an identical menu may assist us recover from the COVID hurdle till we may get again to regular. However it simply took off. And since then it’s grow to be our principal focus.”

Subsequent steps

MacNeil plans to restrict his Townsend Road operation to 5 days every week later this summer season. After six years of intensive effort, he’s in search of a bit extra free time. Nevertheless, he admits he’ll seemingly spend most of that point engaged on two tasks expensive to his coronary heart.

He desires to complete off a cookbook that he’s been engaged on for a while and he’s focused on cracking the specialty sauce market.

“We began working with sauces for the pasta pop-up and have experimented with every kind of components,” mentioned MacNeil.

“We’re hoping to get at the very least one product on the market over the subsequent few months. We’ll have it on the market right here and on-line. We’ll attempt to get into boutique shops after which hopefully larger shops like Sobeys, but it surely’s too early for these conversations.”

Spoiler alert – the most definitely “Dillan’s” sauce to make the retail grade is his bacon jam that he describes as a “bacon, caramelized onion, candy molasses-like” unfold.

“I don’t know what to name it but, but it surely’s our hottest sauce by far,” he mentioned.

Within the meantime, MacNeil plans to maintain providing his widespread fare on the most affordable costs he can.

“We have been experiencing provide chain points, however now the whole lot is simply costlier,” he acknowledged.

“Via COVID, we must await sure issues however now it’s simpler, it simply prices extra. The factor is, we don’t wish to gouge anyone, however enterprise is enterprise and we wish to keep in enterprise. And we don’t wish to reduce corners. So, there could also be a small enhance in costs. However with that mentioned, we’ll cost the fairest worth that we are able to.”

David Jala is a enterprise reporter on the Cape Breton Publish.