A microbrewery in the Laurentians will double its beer production capacity in the spring thanks to the bright idea of its owner, who is also a restaurateur, to start producing cured meats and pizzas at the height of the pandemic.
When COVID-19 struck in early 2020, fledgling microbrewery Shawbridge on Route 117 in Prévost had only had its brewing license for six months, and its restaurant operations, like those of other Quebec restaurants, were badly hit by government-imposed sanitation measures.
Genevieve Quessy/ QMI AGENCY
“In the beginning we had little money. We already served pizza in our restaurant and when we were forced to close the dining room, we thought about making some to offer to the grocery stores. We had to get the employees to work and save the company,” says Hugues Néron, owner of the microbrewery.
The entrepreneur managed to acquire equipment to speed up the entirely handcrafted production, namely machines to weigh and press the pasta balls and a pizza oven straight from Italy.
Genevieve Quessy/ QMI AGENCY
“It was super fast! The construction sites were closed at the time for sanitation, so we tore down with the staff and turned an office space into a pizza lab,” says Mr. Néron.
Shawbridge pizzas were an instant hit, thanks to the support of grocers who displayed them in Tomb freezers. “Today we make 3,000 pizzas a week distributed in nearly 200 stores in the Laurentians, Estrie and Montreal. We were also able to create five jobs. I’ll always remember that and one day I’ll think pizza saved my life!” said Hugh Nero.
But that’s not all, the dynamic entrepreneur does not only rely on pizza for his business success. Thanks to an expertise acquired during a nine-year stay in France, where he managed several restaurants, Mr. Néron also managed to enter the charcuterie. For example, customers at Shawbridge microbrewery can enjoy a beer while watching how hams, sausages and even the Grison des Laurentides, a cured beef similar to the Bündnerfleisch produced in Switzerland, are dried.
Genevieve Quessy/ QMI AGENCY
“Because of the protected geographical indication, we couldn’t call it Bündnerfleisch, so we invented Grison des Laurentides!” he said.
Its products are also stocked in the small shop next to the microbrewery near Shawbridge’s old train station, so close to the popular P’tit train du Nord walking route, which makes for a good clientele.
The expansion of the factory, made possible by the profitability of this diversification of the company’s activities, will therefore allow the company to double its beer production in a few months, currently 3,000 hectoliters a year, predicts Hugues Néron, who also owns the restaurant Saint Sau , in Saint-Sauveur, also in the Laurentians.