Why we do what we do.

'We' are Kim and Adam McKinty.

Comfortable with our seats in the stands, we found oursleves lobbing opinions onto the court about what's wrong with the way business is conducted.  Discussing and debating this sort of topic is fine, even important, but we had come to recognize the futility of these discussions.  Debates and opinions shared with friends and family became repetitive and increasingly pointless.  It seemed like a time to take an academic/philiophical discussion and make it real.

Along came Burnstown. 

We stumbled across this small village in the Ottawa Valley. 

Burnstown is a unique village that evolved from a hard living business center of the lumber baron era, through the honest hard working living of the farmers and producers and finally the free thinking creativity and living of the hippy generation, the place is heaven. 

Here, along with the idiosyncracies of any small town was a population of people who seemed to feel that doing things with a little style and grace was important; that doing business with some personal integrity was paramount..  We loved it.

Opportunity Knocks.

Thirteen years on, we found ourselves in the position to purchase the old one room schoolhouse on the main corner of Burnstown.  We decided to, well, get off the pot and find out what happens if a company acts like a person with integrity, a neighbour?  So may companies operate in a manner that reflects the personal immunity and faceless lack of accountability that corporations espouse.  What if it were different.?

Philosophy in action.

Our approach at Neat is guided strongly by a three core beliefs.  We feel that if we take care of these things, the fiscal health will take care of itself.

Community.  We hire and use local talent (it is abundant).  We source local products and support local causes.  We don't carry solely local products, but we always try to find a local alternative.  Our shop is designed to be a local hangout.  We live here and pay taxes, we spend almost all of our money here and we buy from companies that do the same.  We enjoy knowing our customers by name and caring about them the way neighbours should..

Craft. The way things are made matters.  Products that are headed for the dump are not sold in our shop.  Everything we sell is prepared with care; be it food, drink or hardware.  Efficiency and cost effectiveness come after mastery.  There is an elegance to a solution that is well made without undue impact to environment, societies, or workers.

Fresh. In a climate like ours fresh is difficult, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try.  We make an almost fanatical effort to make just enough to sell.  Our coffee beans are roasted 8 pounds at a time, our baking is gauged daily on flow, our espresso and lunches are made from scratch when they're ordered.

Well there you have it.  We hope you'll drop by to see us and tell us what you think.