National Post (National Edition)
Tapping into the sweet rewards of the maple syrup market,
Building demand for millions of untapped maples
What longtime Canadian industry is innovative, worldclass and export-minded, and also tastes delicious on pancakes? Maple syrup is a tasty tradition that dates back centuries, to the native communities that celebrated the running of the sap with an annual Maple Dance under the first full moon of spring. (In case you feel like dancing, the “Sugar Moon” takes place this year on March 27.)
But with a reduced crop last year due to an early spring, and a delayed harvest this year due to colder-than-average temperatures, maple syrup producers have to dance faster than ever. Canada (mainly Quebec) produces about 80% of the world’s maple syrup, but it still has millions of untapped sugar maples and could produce much more if it could only convince the world to buy more.
Bob Jakeman, a fourth-generation maple-syrup producer from Beachville, Ont., produces about 1,200 litres of maple syrup a year. He also represents 100 southern Ontario maple producers who recognize their strength is tapping trees, not selling sap. As a result, Jakeman’s Maple Products is one of Canada’s most innovative maple producers, constantly striving to develop new product lines and kindle more interest among global markets. “I think maple syrup is a very underdeveloped crop,” Jakeman says. “Someday, if my dream comes true, Ontario will be a much larger player in the industry.”
Like many entrepreneurs, Jakeman is innovating on a shoestring. “It’s been a rocky road,” he says, “but we’ve survived, and we’re growing.” Here are a few reasons why:
Some of Jakeman’s best overseas customers, in Ireland, the Netherlands and Australia, contacted the company to buy maple syrup, maple-cream cookies and maple candies. That has freed Jakeman to focus on emerging markets, such as Singapore, Indonesia and Taiwan.
On a recent fact-finding trip to supermarkets in Mexico, Jakeman saw evidence of growing demand for maple. He’s heartened by Goldman Sachs’ prediction that Mexico will be the world’s fifth-largest economy by 2050, especially since syrup can be shipped there by truck.
In recent years, Jakeman combined maple syrup with another Ontario delicacy — ice wine — to produce a high-class “maple ice wine syrup” that’s perfect for cooking or as a dessert topping. It won a 2012 Premier’s Award for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence, and Jakeman says it now generates 20% of his company’s sales.
Jakeman’s product line includes granulated maple sugar, maple popcorn, maple-flavoured coffee, gift baskets and corporate recognition packages. This year, it introduced maple syrup in collectible bottles shaped like hockey players. Jakeman hopes this will motivate local hockey teams to sell syrup for fundraising.
For his next big thing, Jakeman is working with a chocolate producer to develop a maple chocolate — a hybrid that has so far eluded maple marketers. He’s also considering a sap-based beverage, but is watching to see how well a new maple drink from Quebec performs before entering that market.
And there is another selling point. Canadian producers have been slow in getting the word out about the medical marvel that is maple. “People don’t think of maple syrup as being healthy,” Jakeman notes. In the past few years, scientists have discovered maple syrup contains many beneficial compounds, including antioxidants, anticancer and anti-inflammatory agents. And that’s on top of the high quantities of riboflavin, manganese and potassium found in just a spoonful. “There are real health benefits here,” Jakeman says. “We’re all looking for nutritional substitutes.”
Jakeman has high hopes for his granulated maple sugar product, which sells in a 150gram shaker for $10. “When you granulate maple sugar, you get a whole new frontier of nutrition,” he says. “We’re seeing demand in very large quantities.” But Jakeman’s lacks the equipment to produce it in quantities above about 23 kilograms at a time. “Right now, there is no off-the-shelf item that will produce hundreds of pounds at once. We haven’t been able to access the engineering and technology to put a machine together.”
Jakeman has looked at subsidy programs such as IRAP and SRED, but says they require high investment levels that Jakeman’s can’t afford.
That inability to ramp up production confines Jakeman’s products to airport gift shops and pricey gourmet-food stores. Jakeman estimates that maple’s production cost is only 33% more than that of cane sugar. But given the popularity of lowerquality substitutes such as “table syrup” and mass-market maple cookies made with maple “flavouring,” Jakeman says his products have trouble competing in supermarkets.
Asked if the dominant Ontario grocery chain, Loblaw’s, wouldn’t make a natural partner — especially with its high-end President’s Choice line — Jakeman confesses he has never called on them.
But then, he is still more of a farmer than a marketer, he says: “I’m really transitioning to the next generation.” He and his wife Mary are counting on their sons, Devin (the production guy, 31) and Chad (the marketing and financial guy, 28) to take the business to new heights. “Hopefully they ’ ll innovate in better ways than their old man.”