The Pulse: Sept. 6, 2023

An Edmonton-based frozen food innovator is extending its equity-crowdfunding campaign to give supporters more time to help fund its expansion.

Uproot Food Collective's fundraising effort on FrontFundr was set to expire next week, but the company has decided to extend it by 90 days, giving it until December to raise its goal of $570,000, co-founder and CEO Chris Lerohl told Taproot in an email this week.

The company plans to use the money for expansion across Canada and, eventually, into the United States.

"If we can get the capital, then we can expand market and expand into a bigger business, open up to more local food, and really grow the business," Lerohl said in an interview before the extension. "We believe that we have a business opportunity that's worthwhile for people to invest in."

The campaign, which launched in June, has raised $225,000 from 34 investors so far. Lerohl attributed the shortfall to a later-than-planned start and the distractions of summer holidays. "In late June, we were doing fairly well," Lerohl said. "Then summer hit and it just kind of went down."

Unlike platforms such as Kickstarter, FrontFundr backers are investors rather than recipients of perks (though there are perks associated with Uproot's campaign as well). The platform allows non-accredited investors to get in on the action, which differs from other forms of investment.

"It allows private companies to almost act like a publicly traded company," said Lerohl, who used to work in business development at the now-defunct TEC Edmonton. "It goes back to my days in the innovation ecosystem … one of the things that always kind of irked me or frustrated me was that I wasn't able to get in the deal flow, and I wasn't able to get in on the investments because the regulations only allowed accredited investors."

Uproot, a vertically integrated "scalable commercialization platform for growing authentically original brands," sprouted from Honest Dumplings, a frozen dumpling company Lerohl co-founded with his wife Ray Ma in 2014.

Around 2016, he mentioned to farmers' market neighbour Jamie Scott of South Island Pie Co. that he saw a gap in scale-up opportunities for food companies. Uproot was soon born, involving a merger with South Island and an equity acquisition of chocolate brand Natural Kitchen Delights (commonly referred to as NKD). Today, it has an office, production facility, and retail storefront at 10552 114 Street NW and an e-commerce platform called Uproot Food Store. The food store carries more than 80 Alberta brands and serves customers in 85% of Alberta.

• The Northeast River Valley Park is set to open to the public on Sept. 24 at 11am. The 190-acre park, located at 903 153 Avenue NE, connects with river valley trails and includes barn bridges, an ornamental lake, and an events centre. Opening day events will feature an open house, an Edmonton Public Library story walk, food trucks, and a city trade show. The city originally planned to unveil the park in August but delayed the opening until after the migratory bird season ended. The city said it will seek public input on long-term plans for the park, including its name, starting this fall.
• The city lost its appeal to avoid paying photo radar and red light camera tickets received by city fleet vehicles. In a decision released Aug. 30, the Alberta Court of Appeal upheld previous arbitration decisions supporting a policy requiring the city to pay the tickets. The policy changed in July 2021 after an arbitration case found making drivers pay the fines in addition to receiving disciplinary action punished them unfairly. Since then, the city has paid nearly $50,000 in photo enforcement fines. The policy only applies to photo enforcement tickets and not to drivers who are pulled over and ticketed.
• Residents of the Castledowns Pointe condo building in northwest Edmonton were advised to evacuate immediately because of concerns about the building's structural integrity. The four-storey building, constructed in 1999, was found to be structurally unsound by engineers investigating damage caused by a fire in March. In a letter to residents, the property management company said the engineers found that "under certain conditions, all or a portion of the building could fail structurally (i.e. collapse)." A city spokesperson said the city would issue an official notice to vacate on Sept. 5.
• The Alberta Human Rights Tribunal ruled that the Edmonton Police Service discriminated against two Black men, Yousef John and Caesar Judianga, who had called 911 for help in May 2017 after witnessing a disturbance outside their home. In its decision, the tribunal found that the officers' treatment of the men was based on stereotypes regarding Black men, "including that they were 'angry' and 'aggressive' and likely responsible for perpetuating a crime, not for trying to stop one." A spokesperson for the police service said it will apply for a judicial review of the decision. The tribunal hearing is expected to reconvene to determine how the men should be compensated.
• As thousands of Edmonton students went back to school on Sept. 5, the Edmonton Police Service and Alberta Motor Association were outside of schools to remind drivers about traffic safety. During the 2022-2023 school year, drivers received 3,526 tickets in playground zones. Police said they plan to increase enforcement in school zones. "There are those that don't care or don't pay attention or think they're above it, so hopefully we'll encounter those people and get them straightened out," said Sgt. Kerry Bates.
• Edmonton's Food Bank is continuing its appeal for donations as it experiences a high demand for its services. The food bank typically sees an increase in families requesting hampers during the back to school season, said Tamisan Bencz-Knight, a manager with the organization. She said the food bank is providing extra items that are suitable for kids, and noted that about 40% of the people it is currently helping are children. In Edmonton, 88 schools use the food bank for initiatives like the S.N.A.C.K. program, which provides students with healthy food at no cost.
• The Alberta government announced it will provide $27.3 million over four years to the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary through the Major Innovation Fund. The investment is intended to help accelerate research and commercialization of medical devices, electronic and mobile health, clean energy, and space and defence technologies. The universities will partner with other post-secondary institutions and industry partners to attract investments in the tech sector. Alberta NDP critic Court Ellingson said in a statement that the funding isn't enough to attract necessary talent and investment in the province.

On this day in 1906, plans were underway for Edmonton's first public telephone building.

Edmonton got into the telephone game early. The area's first phone line was installed in 1885 between Fort Edmonton and St. Albert by Alex Taylor (the same businessman who co-founded Edmonton's first newspaper five years prior.)

Back in a time when phones were mainly for talking into and had wires attached to them, they needed an exchange to work properly. The exchange would be where the actual connection between different lines would happen and could generally handle all the telephone subscribers for a small, specific area.

For the first couple of decades, the exchange for Taylor's tiny telephone company bounced around to different locations near downtown Edmonton. At various times, Edmonton's telephone exchange resided in a jewellery store, the post office, and other buildings. By 1904, the telephone system was straining under the weight of 500 subscribers.

Seeing the advantages that a good telephone service would have to the booming city, Edmonton purchased Taylor's business in 1905. It was renamed the Edmonton District Telephone Company, and work started on a new, purpose-built home for the wandering exchange.

When the Municipal Telephone Building was finished in 1908 on 100 Street and 102 Avenue, it was likely the most advanced telephone exchange in the country. Edmonton decided to spring for an automated exchange, whereas most other cities in Canada would continue using manual systems for another decade or so. The new, expanded system could have somewhere around 2,000 subscribers.

That expansion would last only a few years. The city was growing — both in size and prosperity — and telephone service was a sought-after luxury. The North Edmonton Exchange and Oliver Exchange were both built in 1912 to accommodate the soaring demand.

By 1919, there was around one telephone for every five people living in Edmonton, outgrowing the original Municipal Telephone Building. The equipment was moved to a new facility next door, and the original building became Labor Hall, the headquarters for the city's trade union council. In 1945, both Labor Hall and the newer telephone building were demolished to make room for the new, expanded Churchill Exchange on the corner of 100 Street and 102 Avenue.

Phones have only become more a part of people's lives in 2023, although there isn't the same need for huge buildings to house bulky, heavy exchange systems. Still, many of Edmonton's old exchange buildings survive — Churchill Exchange now houses a bank, the Oliver Exchange is a community-commercial space, and the Northern Edmonton Exchange was converted into a research lab by the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital. And as it was back in 1908, Edmonton remains a place for innovations in communications, such as a NAIT project that is looking to address connectivity gaps in rural prairie communities.

This is based on a clipping found on Vintage Edmonton, a daily look at Edmonton's history from armchair archivist @revRecluse — follow @VintageEdmonton for daily ephemera.