What does your social enterprise do?
Carlington Booch brews small-batch kombucha (or booch, as we call it) to help fight addiction in Ottawa. Our goal is to revitalize our community while fighting alongside the underdog. We do this by providing jobs and volunteer opportunities to people in recovery from addictions; sharing our stories and reducing the stigma around addiction and mental health; and presenting workshops on addiction and mental health.
Where are you located and when did you start?
We have a small brewery in the heart of the Carlington neighbourhood where we started production in 2018.
What was the inspiration behind creating the social enterprise?
I was addicted and homeless in 2005 and found new life and hope in recovery. With the epidemic of addiction in our society today, we want to inform, educate and inspire others that recovery is possible and that they are not alone.
Tell us about the people you serve? How do they typically find you?
We serve a few different types of people. One type is the person in early recovery trying to stay sober. Usually having trouble finding employment and an understanding community we come along side and offer hope through employment and volunteer opportunities. Another customer are the professional workplaces where addiction and mental health issues cost companies large yearly losses. We also do workplace workshops and have a confidential message centre for people that are struggling.
How has CSED helped you?
CSED had given us resources to succeed by providing professional advice and education to really understanding our product, customers and business.
What challenges do you face day to day?
Working with an unstable work force can be challenging at times. As well as breaking out of being a start up to becoming a viable business.
What are some of the lessons you and your team have learned along the way?
So many lessons!!! Professional expertise is worth its weight in gold!!! Asking and getting help for scaling our product, production of our product and understanding what our social impact is and how to scale our business.
What is Carlington Booch’s vision moving forward?
Our vision is to continue to have social impact by breaking the stigma of addiction and mental health issues.
What makes you most proud?
Being able to give hope to people in our community that have suffered with the same issues I had.
What keeps you up at night?
The addict on the street fighting for his life. And payroll!!!
How can CSED help you further?
We hope that CSED will continue to support us along our road to success to give us tools and resources to have maximum impact on our communities.