Alcohol

Building Alberta’s first craft distillery

From drinks executive to diplomat, adventure travel outfitter to creator of Canada’s largest chain of veterinary clinics, David Farran is a pioneer.

David connects a love for agriculture, a deep understanding of craft artisanal spirits and a conviction that Alberta should be the home of ‘best in class’ distilled products. David’s storied career gave him a special skill set to support the founding of Alberta’s first craft distillery.

David’s awards and accolades include Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year, Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies, Alberta’s 50 Most Influential People and many others.


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Persevering through tough times

Mark Freeland is the Founder and Distiller of Two Rivers Distillery. He graduated from the class of ’99 from the University of Saskatchewan with a double major in History and Archaeology. Freeland spent 18 years in upper management/executive positions in the fast-paced Calgary residential construction industry. He also has experienced 38 years as a part-time professional musician with the pinnacle of achievement being as a member of the Canadian recording act Zuckerbaby.


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Bringing Latin-inspired cuisine to Edmonton

Hifa Maleki specializes in fast-paced strategic planning for aggressive growth models and is known for building, scaling, and executing brand and business systems/best practices to support strategic, successful and sustainable growth.

For the last 13+ years, she has been incredibly active and relentlessly committed to building and growing great franchise brands in Canada. She has driven unparalleled growth across Canada through effective Strategic Growth Planning which includes impacting high-level achievement in both Franchise and Unit Level Sales. She has been directly responsible for the growth of Orangetheory Fitness in Canada, building over 110 locations within 4 years while ensuring that quality and company values were being retained and delivered through each location. She believes in working with talented people, training, developing, and coaching them to drive the success of the companies she works with. She feels very strongly that the success of a brand is highly connected to the people behind it at corporate and the people in front of it, the staff. Her approach to successful business development is to appropriately and carefully select great people, select great real estate, and work very hard to protect the brand promise for the consumers.

Hifa is currently an owner and managing partner at El Corazon, El Beso and Pablo Cocktail Lounge. For El Corazon, as a new brand, she built all the systems, processes, training, and resources to ensure the business was set up for success operationally and supports managing the operations with the current management team. Hifa is also incredibly experienced with cocktail and menu development, working closely with her business partner and the Chef to ensure that all brands in this group’s portfolio are aligned with the respective brands while maintaining profitable cost control thresholds.

Prior to Orangetheory Fitness, she was in the hospitality industry in senior-level positions for over 12+ years. Operating one the busiest Joey Restaurant in Canada with over $11M annual revenue then joining the Famoso Neapolitan Pizza brand and supporting its growth of over 40+ locations within her 4 years with the company.


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Tyler Crowdis brews cider for people with Celiac Disease

Tyler Crowdis and his wife started Bramble Cider to create ciders that were not available in Canada, due to his diagnosis with Celiac Disease. From the kitchen of their tiny century home, his crafts were gaining many fans through friends and family. Wanting to bring their innovative ciders to the masses, Alicia and Tyler are embarking on a journey to bring craft cider to Calgary and beyond. Inspiration comes from the growing West Coast cider scene to the funky ciders of Northern France and sours of Spain. You can find Bramble at SunnyCider taproom and all the cool places to get beers and spirits in town!


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Mark Kondrat wants you to discover craft beer across Alberta at festivals and events

Mark Kondrat, CEO, Alberta Beer Festivals, produces beer festivals in the province – Calgary International Beerfest, Edmonton Craft Beer Festival, The Mashing (Calgary & Edmonton), Banff Craft Beer Festival and The Jasper Beer & Barley Summit. He’s been working with breweries, agencies and restaurants since 2005 to promote the craft beer industry in Alberta. He’s a serial entrepreneur with other ventures such as Pitched Tent Coffee and a podcaster.


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Two former engineers pursued their passion a few years ago to establish the ‘spirits’ making company Bridgeland Distillery

Daniel Plenzik and Jacques Tremblay are founders and owners of Bridgeland Distillery. The former engineers pursued their passion a few years ago to establish the ‘spirits’ making company just outside the downtown core in Calgary where they distill award-winning beverages.


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