Garnish Girls” Garner Benefits of Local Business Start-up and Mentoring Program

Three young Vancouver entrepreneurs, The West Coast Garnish Girls Inc. (Garnish Girls), are spicing up food and drinks and slicing preparation time. With start-up financing and mentoring provided by Canadian Youth Business Foundation (CYBF) and utilizing their industry experience, The Garnish Girls are serving up a great new business venture.

The Garnish Girls offer the convenience of prepared garnishes to the food and beverage service industry and retail market. By removing the step of preparation for bartenders and consumers alike, creatively garnished food and drinks can be made easily and offer better quality.

After working as bartenders, Danielle Tatarin, Tina-Marie Pelletier and Alejandra Parra decided they could make a contribution to improve the quality of garnishes. Through their combined experience and worldly backgrounds the Garnish Girls have taken the idea of garnishing food and drinks to a new level. They began by providing the typical lemon and lime wedges and have now developed shelf-stable signature creations such as infused candied apple slices, candied lemon and orange slices.

"Since we started in October, we have been fortunate to have financial advice and business guidance from a mentor introduced through CYBF's loan mentoring program," explains Tatarin, "Dale Owen has met with us on a regular basis and consistently supports our vision to never set the bar too low."

Mentoring, the transfer of information from an experienced businessperson, is the key ingredient for young entrepreneur's success. This is why participation in the structured CYBF mentoring program, Ment2B, is mandatory for all loan recipients.

Owen has also found mentoring to be a great experience, "Working as a mentor I see the real benefits of CYBF. Not only the access to start-up financing but working with a mentor. Learning from someone more experienced, rather than learn the hard way - that usually costs money."

About Canadian Youth Business Foundation (CYBF) The Canadian Youth Business Foundation is a national charitable volunteer based organization. CYBF is the national leader in youth entrepreneurship through mentorship and financial support resulting in sustainable economic development.

cybf.ca