Bankrupt!

Okay, so a lot of people were shocked by my openness about the closure of my business on yesterday's show.  There's been a lot of misinformation around, and people are naturally curious, so here it is, once and for all, the answer to the question "what REALLY happened?"

I started Nectar at the age of 25, fully aware that I lacked business experience.  I made every mistake in the book, and depended on the niche nature of the business and the fact that it was tailored to my unique skills to allow it to stay afloat while I figured out how to be a business owner.

After years of trial and error, I managed, with the help of a dedicated and hardworking team of people, to make the business profitable, functional, and an entity capable of operating without my day-to-day involvement (something that should be the ultimate goal for every business owner!).  That being said, those early mistakes meant that even though the business was making money, it was still at least 2 years of hard work away from being debt-free.
 

I had been in dispute with my landlords since 2008.  We were in negotiations for a new lease, and couldn't reach an agreement.  We had been working toward a solution, with various successes and setbacks, for years.

After going without a real vacation for over four years, I took a whole month off in July, accomplishing a goal my management team and I had set out the previous year: to get the business to the point that it could run without me for an entire month.  I spent the entire time in France with my sister, cooking, getting re-inspired and developing plans for where I wanted to go next.  I found out I would be on Top Chef Canada while I was there, and planned to return to Calgary, get over jet lag, prepare for the show, and jet off to Toronto.

Instead, I arrived home to an eviction notice.  Initially, I thought my landlords just wanted to get my attention, but quickly realized that, for their own reasons, they were not interested in any negotiations.  They were within their rights, we had been without a lease for several years, and they had come to the decision that they wanted a different tenant.  Blurry with jet-lag, I considered my options, and came to the conclusion that we would have to shut down.

The best metaphor I can come up with for what it felt like was a divorce : the relationship had been rocky for a long time, but I had really hoped things would work out.  Instead, I came home one day and the other party had decided : "I want out."

I talked with my managers, who felt strongly that I should still do the show.  I stayed up until 3 in the morning the night before flying out to Toronto, writing letters to my staff and trying to tie up loose ends.  I was barely over jet lag, and definitely wasn't well-prepared for the culinary competition of a lifetime.

When I got kicked off the show, I rushed home, and was greeted with hugs ranging from consoling to frantic.  I realized that there was no way that I could have stuck it out on Top Chef and left my staff to close the restaurant for me.

The entire crew knew we were closing, but the announcement hadn't yet been made public.  I briefly considered moving to a different location, even looking into a few potential spots, but realized that the additional investment that would have been required to make that happen would push our break-even goal back from a manageable 2 years to an unrealistic 4 or 5.

I decided not to drag out the closure.  We had the option to continue operating until September 15th, but I felt that once the announcement was made, I wanted it to be short and sweet.  I sent out the press release August 22nd, and closed on August 29th.

Wrapping up the affairs of a business takes a long time, people are surprised to hear that it's still something I'm in the process of completing.  It did involve a bankruptcy, which is something people in our culture don't like to talk about, but essentially, it's a legal tool to assist when - for all kinds of reasons - a situation exists where there is more debt than assets.

In the meantime, I've taken the opportunity to travel, sleep and do all the things you don't get the chance to do when you're a business owner.  I created home-version recipes of Nectar's most popular items, and published them in a book, a way to continue sharing my desserts with the people around me.  I've done work as a consultant, using my knowledge, experience and perspective to help other business owners, something I've really enjoyed doing.

I always have about 10 business plans floating around in my head, and right now I'm waiting for the right moment and the right opportunity to to put one in place.  I have no doubt that there are more businesses in my future, I have the sickness common to all entrepreneurs : the burning need to create.