Earth Movers
Darren: Dwayne and I have very creative sides, that desire to start with nothing and make something that is esthetically pleasing to look at. In high school I thought I’d be an interior designer.
Once you get into the oil industry, it’s hard to get away from the money. I saw the potential for less back-breaking work and I became a tool hand. When you’re younger, the lifestyle doesn’t bother you so much. The landscaping business gave us the potential to make money and take us away from the oilfields, to have a more normal life.
My girlfriend would like to see me at home more, but she understands that more work now means less down the road. I wouldn’t say it doesn’t affect us at all – there are a lot of long hours, long days. Working for yourself has a lot going for it, and at the end of the day it isn’t all about the money but enjoying what you’re doing.
Table for Two
Dwayne & Darren: A downtown restaurant was closing and we saw a lot of potential in the location, even though a lot of people thought we were crazy. It was within our price range. In January 2008, we opened Restaurant 27; that’s how old we were at the time. We wanted to do something different: support local farmers, use local produce, make everything from scratch. We even make homemade ketchup.
We do charge a little more than a franchise. It took six months to get people in the door and we lost a lot of money initially. We knew it would be hard the first year; we knew the landscaping company would have to pay the bills for a while. Now we’re busy six days a week. It didn’t strain our relationship because of our mentality: there’s one way to do things, and that’s the right way.
A few months ago we were just getting to the point where we were taking Sundays off, and maybe another night a week, when we saw the opportunity to open another, larger restaurant. (We hope to have it open this spring.) We plan to keep our downtown location a place for upscale breakfast and lunch, and the new location for dinner. Our plan is that by the time we’re 35 we can take our time, travel two or three times a year, and have the businesses provide for us at the same time.
It’s not always easy, we have to struggle sometimes. We find it cool that people appreciate what we’re doing, when we’re just kind of trying to live our dream. We grew up in Newfoundland, so we know you have to put in the hours to get what you want.
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[...] As told by Lindsey Norris [...]