Sam Macdonald Featured, Fredericton, New Brunswick 0

Stefanie Loukes, the owner and founder of Rabbittown Beverage Company , hopes to parlay the support and fame she gains from an appearance on Dragon’s Den to bolster Rabbitown’s presence from Edmundston to St. John’s.

Loukes will make an appearance in an episode of Dragons’ Den airing on September 29. She will pitch her business to Canadian business luminaries Wes Hall, Michele Romanow, Vincenzo Guzzo, Manjit Minhas, Arlene Dickinson, and Robert Herjavec.

“It’s kind of bonkers. Apparently I’m good on camera and they liked my pitch video,” she said, noting it was the second time she pitched Rabbittown to the show.

“It’s crazy because I was only just starting to build this company in 2020. I didn’t have the sales or any networking or distribution – so I can see why they said no [the first time] because I was just a tiny little company.”

Loukes hopes to use the support she can get from the “Dragons” to expand Rabbittown’s footprint. But she noted the business is already in a state of expansion. She said the goal for this year and at least the next year is to stay focused on Atlantic Canada.

“I want to saturate this market and get [Rabbittown tea] in the hands of every Atlantic Canadian,” said Loukes.

“It’s grown on its own, at a rapid rate, in the first two years. If things happen organically, so be it, and if not I’ll work hard to get it across the country.”

RELATED: Fredericton Maker Of ‘Cold Brew Teas’ Reaches Top Five In National Competition

Loukes noted Rabbittown was founded in the early days of the pandemic.

“I planned on having it come out that year, but then the pandemic hit, and I was like ‘well, it’s a grocery item,’ so I figured people aren’t going to stop drinking things, so I’d do it anyways,” she said.

Since then, Loukes has secured a berth on shelves in Sobeys stores across Atlantic Canada for her line of flavoured iced teas.

Rabbittown bills itself as an alternative to mass-produced beverages, specializing in cold brew teas, brewing two-to-three times a month.

Loukes noted demand is strongest in Nova Scotia, where she and her one employee work fastidiously to keep up with demand.

“We need a ton of inventory there because they blast through it so fast,” she said.

To keep up with that demand, Loukes works with a Fredericton-based co-packer, Craft Coast Canning. It’s the same co-packer that works to bring N.B.-made products like CocoLemon craft soda and Work Water to market

“We literally work side by side and pump out as many as we can. I needed a third-party co-packer because I didn’t have the overhead to start on my own,” said Loukes. “You need a lot of equipment and pumps in the canning line.”

To make iced tea, Loukes needs a Class 5 Manufacturing License, and uses similar equipment to a brewer.

“I’m not fermenting anything. I just use loose leaf tea and steep it in a brewer’s bag for X-amount of time — so you develop a juice base and mix with sweeteners and ascorbic acid and citric acid and carbonate it – or you don’t – and it goes right into a can,” she said.

Loukes is collaborating with another Fredericton business to bring a new beverage to the market.

Rabbittown and Grimross Brewing Company are developing a hopped tea, mingling the herbal bitterness of hops in beer with the antioxidants and savoury taste of tea.

“There’s no sugar and alcohol, so for people who like craft beer but don’t like the effects it has on you, and your calorie intake, etcetera, this solves that problem and has the added benefit of tea’s antioxidants,” Loukes said. “It tastes almost like a pale ale but is really good for you.”

Rabbittown and Grimross have already firmed up distribution at health food stores across Canada for the product.

“We saw that some craft breweries were launching non-alcoholic beer and we didn’t want to go that route, and wanted to create something completely different,” Loukes said.

“We didn’t want to reinvent beer – just make a whole other product.”

Sam Macdonald is a Huddle reporter in Moncton. Send him your feedback and story ideas:  [email protected] .

Featured, Fredericton, Halifax, Moncton, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Saint John

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