London Inc. June 2022 - 16

Upfront Micro Business
FIRE STARTER
With an eye for detail and
user experience, a small
firewood supply business
quickly heats up
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IT'S A PRETTY accurate depiction to say Andrea Stuart
came to her small-business startup, Campfire Ninja
(www.campfireninja.com), honestly.
Stuart's home in Ilderton is wood-heated, so
she and her husband were regularly buying
cords of wood and splitting them for their
own use.
" I thought I would take some of the
wood we use to heat our home and put
a few bags of firewood at the end of
our driveway, " Stuart recalls. " To my
amazement, the wood was gone within
a couple of hours and there was money
in our mailbox. "
Formalizing her small business in
the early days of the pandemic, Stuart
benefitted from the wave of people embracing
outdoor activities and looking for fun ways to get
out of the house. Backyard firepits became more popular
than ever, stoking demand for the firewood she was selling,
and it wasn't long before she expanded her product offer16|londonincmagazine.ca|JUNE
2022
ings to include specialty woods for smokers, pizza ovens,
barbecues and egg-style ceramic cookers, and accessories
like fire starters and grates for cooking over a wood fire.
Sourcing her wood from a local supplier, Stuart
has set up a heavy-duty canvas shelter on her
property, which operates on a self-service
basis and is open year-round, seven days
a week.
" Self-serve has been key, " Stuart
says. " We often have customers show
up at ten in the evening to buy wood for
their campfire. We keep the lights on to
make it easy for late-night shoppers. "
Because her business is on the same
property as her home, Stuart says she
can keep an eye out, giving customers a
wave from her front door or going out to say
hello when she can. The location on Vanneck
Road brings drive-by clientele, and Stuart also relies
on word-of-mouth for promotion and spends a lot of time
communicating with customers through social media.

http://www.campfireninja.com

London Inc. June 2022

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