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New Co-Packer Recurve Serves Booming Startup Market

New boutique co-packer Recurve helps startup brands, including those formed during the pandemic by individuals re-evaluating their work situation, to navigate the world of packaging.

Recurve addresses the needs of growing to medium-sized businesses for customized, flexible, small production-line co-packing and fulfillment services.
Recurve addresses the needs of growing to medium-sized businesses for customized, flexible, small production-line co-packing and fulfillment services.

The story of Canada-based boutique, custom co-packer Recurve Solutions is one of innovation and optimism in the midst of a global pandemic. It’s a story of identifying like-minded entrepreneurs and developing a business tailored to their unique needs.

Recurve, located in Calgary, Alberta, is a newly minted division of Bullseye Packaging, a co-packing company with a 14-year history that provides secondary packaging services to a range of food and beverage, liquor, and other Consumer Packaged Goods companies. Bullseye serves national accounts with orders by the truckload from its two facilities, located in Chilliwack, British Columbia, and Calgary. 

Bullseye was founded in 2008 by Stephen Peters to address the lack of professional co-packing businesses providing specialty and custom pack formats in Western Canada. Says Eira Braun-Labossiere, Customer Care Leader at Bullseye, “With the introduction of Bullseye Packaging, we have filled the gap in services in this region and continue to grow each year as a result.”

Over the years—and especially through the pandemic—Bullseye recognized another white space: the need for a co-packer that could help small, startup businesses navigate the world of packaging. “We noticed that the entrepreneurial spirit Western Canada is known for was growing exponentially,” explains Braun-Labossiere. “That meant more small businesses springing up that had a huge learning curve before them.”

Leveraging Bullseye’s considerable co-packing experience along with its network of resources, in late 2021, Braun-Labossiere, along with Peters, Adrian Houser, and Darren Bolko co-founded Recurve. With Peters at the helm as CEO, Houser serving as Director of Operations, Bolko as Plant Manager, and Braun-Labossiere as Customer Care Leader, Recurve addresses the needs of growing to medium-sized businesses for customized, flexible, small production-line co-packing and fulfillment services.

Pandemic spurs growth in startups

While there’s no doubt the pandemic had a crushing effect on many small businesses, particularly in apparel, foodservice, and hospitality, at the same time it also provided the perfect conditions for new businesses to arise. In the U.S., a report from research initiative GoDaddy Venture Forward found that there were 2.8 million more online “microbusinesses,” or businesses with 10 or fewer employees, in 2020 versus 2019. According to the report, there are several reasons for this. Among them, unemployed workers looking for new income streams, pandemic relief checks providing the funds for new businesses, and greater digital fluency lowering the barrier to entry for online marketing and sales. Another factor: The Great Resignation.

In Canada, it was much the same. Says Braun-Labossiere, “The pandemic forced a work-from-home situation wherever possible. For many, this allowed for deeper evaluation of their current work; a realization of what could be accomplished in business from home and also what it was we could offer the world when we set our own boundaries and goals,” she says.

“I think many people re-evaluated their work happiness and lives in general, leading some to the decision of making a shift to something they felt they could own, something they could manage on their own terms,” she adds. “They started investing their time and money into side-hustles or a homegrown business they could throw themselves into completely.”

Even before the pandemic, however, Canada’s small- to mid-sized businesses (SMEs) dominated the environment. According to the Government of Canada’s SME statistics, as of December 2019, of the 1.23 million employer businesses in Canada, 1.2 million (97.9%) were small businesses and 22,905 (1.9%) were medium-sized. Within Canada, Alberta ranked within the top four provinces, with 160,000 small businesses and 2,936 medium-sized businesses.

Establishing relationships is key to Recurve

In October 2021, Bullseye began accepting smaller-volume projects and/or more detailed projects through Recurve, officially launching the new company website in March 2022. For growing and mid-sized businesses, Recurve provides the same secondary packaging services as sister company Bullseye. This includes repackaging, rainbow/season/specialty packs, hand assembly, shrink-wrapped bundles, club packs, product samplers, POP displays, and many other services. In addition, both companies hold their own Excise and Warehouse License and AGLC (Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis) License, which allows them to handle beer and liquor products. Both companies also hold a Food Handling License, follow GMP Guidelines, and have the same Standard Operating Procedures.

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