The Yorkton Chamber of Commerce has unveiled its speaker for the annual Business Dinner in October.
Manjit Minhas is certainly the inspirational kind of entrepreneurial success the Chamber looks for in speakers.
Manjit was a 19-year-old university student studying petroleum engineering in Calgary when the Alberta government privatized the liquor industry in that province in 1993. Recognizing a wide-open opportunity for small players, she and her brother Ravinder, then 18, scraped together $10,000 and launched Mountain Crest Liquors. Their idea was to produce premium liquor at discount prices.
It was successful enough that they decided to do the same thing with beer in 2002 with Mountain Crest Brewery.
They again expanded in 2006 by purchasing the Joseph Huber Brewing Company of Monroe Wisconsin. The second oldest brewery in the United States with roots dating to 1845, was now owned by the youngest brewers in the world.
Minhas Craft Brewery is now the 10th largest brewer in the United States producing 90 different beers, spirits, liqueurs and wines for 18 countries worldwide. Their group of companies, which also includes the Minhas Micro Brewery and Pizza Brew brew pub in Calgary, generates more than $155 million in revenue annually.
At a Chamber of Commerce press conference June 11, event co-chairs Carol Yaholnitsky and Stephanie Buckle were thrilled to make the announcement over a couple of cans of Minhas Creek Classic Lager.
“She is a young woman with a business dream who has turned her dream into reality,” Buckle said. “As a specialist in brand development, marketing, sales management and retail negotiations, she has been recognized with several business awards, including being named Profit magazine’s Top Growth Entrepreneur.”
She is also a high profile draw having been chosen to appear on CBC’s hit reality show Dragon’s Den starting this fall.
Yaholnitsky said her youth and gender was also a deciding factor.
“We’ve had a lot of male speakers coming and we wanted a female entrepreneur to come in and speak, because it’s not just males who start businesses, it’s women too,” she said.
The Saskatchewan Gaming and Liquor Authority currently sells the mass-produced bargain brands Minhas Creek Classic Lager, Boxer Beer, Boxer Light and Clear Creek Ice. In keeping with their discount roots, Ravinder has said if the Saskatchewan government would let them sell it cheaper, they would.
SLGA also carries several of the company’s craft brews including Chocolate Bunny Stout, Imperial Jack Double IPA, Lazy Mutt Farmhouse Ale, Mystical Jack Traditional Ale and Thumper IPA.
The dinner is scheduled for October 7 at St. Mary’s Cultural Centre. Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are now available through the Chamber office.
