A decade in the making, a community built jar by jar, and an opportunity now open for the right person to carry it forward.
When Natalie Gaunt started layering salads into mason jars out of a Stratford kitchen in 2015, she was not thinking about franchises, operations manuals, or national expansion. She was thinking about the moms she had worked for as a nanny. She was thinking about what was missing from their fridges.
"I was trying to nanny for more than one family at a time, but they all wanted me to do the same thing," she says. What those families needed, she had come to understand, was not just help with the kids. It was help with the food. Nutritious, ready-to-go meals that could hold up in the fridge for a few days and not require anyone to scramble at 6 p.m. on a Tuesday.

Nestled off a small dirt road just outside of Port Stanley, ON, is a unique space rooted in nature and connection. Down a tree-flanked gravel pathway into a beautiful cove of the Carolinian forest is a space where A Place in the Woods founder Cathy Kostendt found nature, peace, and inner healing for years – right in her own backyard. The property has been home for Cathy, her husband Tim, and their children for years. A place to retreat to after a long day of work. A quiet space to spend time alone to recenter themselves and connect with nature. A natural playground for their children to explore and grow up in with their friends and family. Over the years, Cathy saw and experienced first-hand how the forest space impacted her family, and herself – connecting them with nature, calming their minds, and welcoming them in with open arms.  ​

For Austin Pitman of Pitman Safety Solutions, his business isn’t just inspired by passion, but by deep, personal connections and lived experiences that have been passed down through four generations. “My great-grandfather served on horseback in the trenches of Europe during World War I,” Austin explained. “Of the full regiment he left with, he was one of only fifty who came home. After surviving a war on foreign soil, he was killed just six months later in an industrial accident while working in a factory. His death changed the course of my family forever.” Austin’s grandfather became one of the founding members of what is today the Infrastructure Health and Safety Association (IHSA) after his father’s death, and he spent his life advocating for safety workplaces after returning from World War II as a Typhoon Pilot. Austin’s father also experienced a severe workplace injury as a young worker, further cementing the family's passion for safety and prevention. “He was burned from the waist up in a preventable workplace incident,” said Austin. “He survived – and he used that experience to teach me about courage, responsibility, and the importance of standing up for those who safety depends on someone speaking up. Those lessons shaped who I became.” Now, Austin is the fourth generation of his family to carry on the legacy and passion of health and safety. ​

​Strong networks and strategic partnerships can accelerate the growth of your small business. Whether you’re looking for new clients, collaborators, or mentors, effective networking opens doors to opportunities you might not find on your own. Here’s a practical guide to building meaningful business connections.

Many business owners think growth comes from bold strategies or big investments. But one of the most powerful tools for improving your business is already within reach: your customers. When you treat customer feedback as a form of ongoing marketing research, it becomes a strategic asset rather than just a collection of comments.