Luke Brocki

It’s a typically cold and rainy December morning on a rooftop in downtown Vancouver. The revolving restaurant atop the Harbour Centre skyscraper peeks above some closer buildings to the north, the pious spire of the Holy Rosary Cathedral marks south. Steps away, the concrete roof supports a massive greenhouse filled with plants and machines making noise. This is our next stop on an exploration of the power of local business relationships.

The setting is a warehouse in an industrial park in the Vancouver suburb of Richmond. We’re surrounded by big burlap sacks of green coffee beans, stacked several pallets high. The air warms up and sweetens as we approach the roaring roaster. Now and then a circular cooling tray spits hot brown beans into buckets while the machine’s young operators consult nearby computer screens. My tour guide is Salt Spring Coffee president and CEO Mickey McLeod. He’s wearing horn-rimmed glasses and a dark grey sweater over a blue shirt. His upper lip is hidden by a bushy Movember handlebar moustache. He says his company’s sales were up 12 per cent to some $9 million last fiscal year. And that it couldn’t have happened without nurturing local business connections.