Chamber of commerce hears story of entrepreneur’s journey

By Rob Vogt, Local Press Writer

It all started with two friends trying to find a use for used wine and whisky barrels, and has grown into a multi-million-dollar business.

Nick White, of Burgundy Oak, was the guest speaker at the Claresholm and District Chamber of Commerce’s annual general meeting at  Casa Roma Pizza and Steak House Restaurant on Feb. 13.

He explained Burgundy Oak, based in Calgary, takes wine and whisky barrels and re-purposes them into furniture and decor pieces.

For White, the story starts in Grade 12 when he was working at Wal-mart and essentially was managing a store at 16. After high school he intended to go to law school, but did not have the money.

He continued to work, got head-hunted and ended up managing 24 stores.

At the time, his friend Zac Hartley saw wine barrels and thought there has to be a better use for these.

He looked on YouTube and saw that a barrel could be turned into a smoker for food.

So he made a page on Instagram, and fashioned a smoker.

A reporter from CTV saw the Instagram page, took interest and reached out to Hartley.

He did a story and, after it aired, he sold five smokers over night.

Hartley called White for some assistance.

“I’ll help you with that,” White said.

Burgundy Oak was started at the same time, making furniture and decor items, by two engineers.

One saw the piece on CTV and reached out to Hartley and White.

They met and decided to collaborate. They could be more efficient by going together on purchasing barrels and equipment and other aspects of the business.

They did trade shows together, and even took orders for each other.

This became confusing for customers to the point they agreed to merge companies.

One of the engineers wanted to do other things, so he agreed to be bought out.

At this point, White said, they had to decided if they were all in or not.

So they quit their full-time jobs and dove right in.

Working out of a garage, they sub-contracted everything, but marketed their operation like a large company – and it worked.

Orders began to roll in as word spread.

They were growing way too fast and had no plan.

Burgundy Oak moved into a 2,200 square foot space but quickly outgrew that.

The company took on another partner, Torin Hofmann, who wanted an online presence for the company.

They then moved into the space they occupy now, 8,300 square feet with 2,000 square feet outside. They will likely have to move again this year.

This past year saw Burgundy Oak bring on Home Sense, Co-op and Canadian Tire as customers, after expanding into the United States last year.

They are also officially licensed by Jack Daniels to use their whisky barrels

Burgundy Oak is in its fourth year of business, expanding from a few guys in a garage to 18 employees, doing $3 million in business this year.

On Oct. 11, they also made an appearance on CBC’s ”Dragon’s Den”.

It was not so much to pitch their business idea but gain exposure. The show has more than 500,000 viewers across Canada and their appearance was like a commercial for Burgundy Oak.

“It gave us legitimacy as a business,” White said, and how they got Co-op and Canadian Tire as customers.

“Hopefully, we keep moving forward,” he said.