The Pulse: April 12, 2022

Markt Brands has leased a 10,000-square-foot space in south Edmonton to house up to 25 ghost kitchens, offering food entrepreneurs a chance to get into the restaurant business at a lower cost and with less hassle.

The space at 99 Street and 34 Avenue, which will be carved into bays of 200 square feet each, is set to launch in October. Markt CEO Kyle Ferbey said his experience in the food industry over the past two years led to the idea.

"We've seen two big trends in the pandemic," said Ferbey, who separately operates 16 Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen franchises in Edmonton. "The first is a shift to a delivery-based model. Our delivery numbers at Popeyes increased from 3% to 20%. Second, there are rising costs that make it more difficult to start and operate a restaurant."

Markt's model is similar to CloudKitchens, an American-based startup that operates in more than two dozen states and recently launched in Toronto. Markt vendors will pay $5,000 a month for basics like rent, utilities, and pest control, as well as marketing support, third-party delivery app coordination, and securing other backbone services such as accounting at competitive rates. Ferbey compares this overhead cost to an estimated $500,000 to launch a conventional brick-and-mortar restaurant.

"The goal is to eliminate a lot of the major challenges to open a restaurant and set them up as a success," said Ferbey. "I think there's a lot of that out there, people who are too afraid to start a restaurant because it's too financially risky. If someone comes to us and has really great food, we can help them create something great by eliminating the hassles and headaches."

So far, Markt has nine confirmed vendors, whose concepts include Chinese, Filipino, Thai, burgers, and vegan food.

"We have a mix of people who have never owned a restaurant in their lives to people who have owned restaurants and want to try a new concept, and one gentleman who wants to expand a concept," said Ferbey. "One woman is currently working at 7-Eleven and has always dreamed about opening a restaurant. We are taken aback that she trusts us."

Nghia Truong and his wife Nin are among the vendors who have already signed on to Markt. Along with his parents, Nghia ran Sweet Mango and then its successor, Mini Mango, for 13 years. Due to health-related challenges, the family decided to sell the business in 2020, but they are now looking to get back into the hospitality industry in a different way.

"Being a restaurant owner is one of the most challenging ordeals," said Truong. "When you're putting your heart and soul into making the best product, and if you have a young family, it makes it even harder. When we first opened Mini Mango, my son wasn't even one yet. It took a lot of years of sacrifice and time away from my kids to make it work."

• City council's community and public services committee voted 5-0 on Monday to develop a drug decriminalization strategy, the first step in lobbying the federal government for an exemption to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act for simple possession, or carrying illegal substances for personal use. If the plan is approved by council, Edmonton would join Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and Winnipeg on the list of Canadian jurisdictions exploring decriminalization. Last year, 1,771 Albertans including 674 Edmontonians died of drug poisoning, Postmedia reports.
• The committee also unanimously endorsed spending $1.765 million to study options for addressing derelict and abandoned properties. The city has identified 486 new "problem properties" since 2018, with the highest numbers in the Alberta Avenue, Jasper Place, and Garneau areas. Proposed options for addressing the sites include charging derelict property owners higher taxes and introducing a grant program to encourage the remediation of the properties. The Alberta Avenue Community League spoke recently with Global News about an increase in crime in the area linked to problem properties.
• A group of property owners has decided to sell an entire block near the river valley as a ten-house package for $12.5 million. The group's real estate agent said they felt selling the properties collectively could provide more housing than allowing the lots to be converted into million-dollar homes individually, though a future owner would need to apply for a rezoning to combine the lots. The listing includes nine houses along Scona Road and another near the corner of 93rd Avenue.
• CBC News spoke with 2SLGBT advocate Chevi Rabbit, who is critical of the city's recently approved plan to improve safety and well-being for Indigenous people based on the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG). "It was very glossy and self-congratulating," said Rabbit, who identifies as biracial and Cree. "I felt like [2SLGBT people] were pushed out in this reconciliation effort."
• PCL Construction has ranked 23rd on LinkedIn's list of the 25 best workplaces to grow your career in Canada, a list dominated by financial institutions and big tech companies. The company said its inclusion "speaks to its high employee engagement and retention, since companies with attrition of more than 10% are ineligible."
• Alberta's low rate of triple-vaccinated residents could contribute to the upcoming COVID-19 surge driven by a highly transmissible Omicron subvariant, experts warn. Only 43.1% of Albertans who are eligible for a third shot (currently those aged 12 and up) have received it, or 36.7% of the total population. Dr. Deena Hinshaw has said to expect an increase in cases in the coming weeks.

Unleashed is a podcast featuring interviews with thought leaders and authors, "all in the name of helping you become the best leader you can be."

It's hosted by Jeff Tetz, CEO of Results, an Edmonton-based business consultancy. The podcast launched in April 2020 for the same reason so many others did during the pandemic — what else can you do to reach people if you can't see them in real life?

"When the events industry collapsed, and it looked like auditoriums were going to sit empty a little while longer, we had to figure out a new way to build community," Tetz says in a video promoting the show.

Since then, he has hosted 46 episodes, featuring such speakers as Drew Dudley, Amy Edmondson, and Annie Korver. Over time, the production values have gone up, with an assist from the crew at Road 55, Rob LeLacheur's content studio.

Season 5 ended on April 1 with Work is Overrated, a conversation with Stanford University's Bob Sutton. Season 6 is lined up for this fall, but first, Tetz has returned to the auditorium, with the Business Execution Summit happening this week, and coaching workshops lined up in May.

You can find this and the rest of Taproot's podcast picks in our Listen Notes list.