Editor’s note: This article was first published in February 2018, though it draws on a July 2014 source. The Toronto venues and businesses it describes may have closed, moved or changed concept since. Nymi’s $79 pre-order price and “Bionym” name date from 2014; the company later renamed itself Nymi and moved to enterprise products.
Toronto in particular, Canada’s most populous city, is a breeding ground for creative and innovative new businesses.
In this city, innovation and originality pay. Melia Robinson and Sara Bower (Business Insider) have rounded up some of these new businesses, with ideas that could be worth applying in other parts of the world.
10 business ideas to import from Canada
Also in this series:
1. The Beaver: a venue that does it all
It used to be an art gallery. Now it has turned into a place where you can have breakfast (café), lunch (restaurant), and at night there are cocktails and organised events, even with a DJ (bar).
Sometimes it’s also a karaoke venue, or at least they say they have more than 30,000 songs in case anyone wants to sing them. They have also specialised in vegan food, although if you want a good lamb burger, that’s no problem either.
The secret of this innovative café-restaurant-bar’s success is its rotating event themes.
(Read: 5 ideas for original restaurants)
2. Nymi: the beginning of the end for passwords?
The company Bionym wants to make passwords obsolete. The idea was born at the University of Toronto, where they invented the Nymi, a small wearable device (it comes as a wristband) that measures your heartbeat and turns your heart rhythm into a unique biometric identifier. That way, as long as you wear the wristband, your car, computer, smartphone and other devices that need a password will recognise you and unlock.
It’s an innovative idea, though I see some gaps in it. While the end of passwords may well be heading in this direction, I’m not entirely convinced. Still, you can already pre-order the device for 79 dollars on its website.
(Read: 9 businesses that could be very profitable in the short term)
3. Cineforum
It isn’t your typical cinema, and its creator isn’t your typical fan of award-winning films. Let’s just say the owner of this cinema is a very eccentric person, and so the films it shows tend to come from very different genres.
The film is often followed by a talk in which Reg Hartt, the man behind the idea, gives his own opinion, with the aim of entertaining and educating the audience.
4. Cold Tea: a hidden bar
You’ll probably never stumble across this bar unless you’re deliberately looking for it. It’s discreetly located, tucked away, with a secret entrance. Once you find the way in, you can enjoy one of the best cocktail bars in Toronto.
This secrecy, and the need for detailed directions to find it, has worked better for the bar than any advertising spend, because what is hidden and mysterious attracts us, and it also gives us a feeling of exclusivity.
5. The Gladstone Hotel: 37 rooms of pure art
No two rooms in this hotel are alike, so it has 37 completely different room designs.
The hotel hosts more than 70 art exhibitions a year and has four event spaces and two restaurants, and it has become a landmark in the city for both art and the local economy.
6. Itty Bitty Pie: a mini-pie truck
There are plenty of food trucks of every kind, but in this case the entrepreneur’s innovation is specialising in mini pies, something very common in Spain but apparently quite new in Canada.
The truck usually posts its route on its website, along with the days it will be at particular spots, because it really does have customers who wait for it to arrive so they can try its products.
7. Lost & Found: coffee and clothes
This place is a hybrid menswear shop and café. What makes it interesting is that the menswear boutique offers high quality: the merchandise is handmade by local workers. And the coffee is good too.
(Read: The 33 profitable businesses of the future and the industries that will create jobs)
See also: 23 side business ideas while you work full time
8. A shop specialising in rare books
Biblio-Mat is a well-known shop where you’ll find all kinds of rare books, but the most original thing about this business is a “surprise vending machine” for books which, for just 2 dollars, will give you a book you didn’t know you were looking for.
In other words, it’s based on the old belief that every book is a message from an author, and that it’s really books that choose us, not the other way round.
On top of all this, Biblio-Mat also buys and sells second-hand books.
9. Toronto Temperance Society: a members-only cocktail bar
Only members are allowed into this bar. It’s a select venue for a select clientele who pay an annual fee, with stellar, top-notch service (or so they describe it), where you’ll find the finest spirits.
It’s open only to members, although there is a policy allowing members to bring guests. It also sometimes holds spirits tastings and seminars. What’s interesting about this place is its exclusivity.
10. Rolo: a shop specialising in odd things
Rolo has been operating in Canada for 10 years now, and this shop selling quirky gadgets and odd objects already has several locations, as a franchise, we assume.
Every now and then you’ll see some product online and think: “What on earth is that for?” Chances are you can buy it at Rolo.
They already stock Hello Kitty USB drives and a sort of keyring voice recorder called the “Benedictaphone”, a nod to the Pope.
See also: 8 new business ideas from around the world (part 2)
See also: Some booming business opportunities in 2018
Featured image: Robert B. Moffatt, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr.
