10.1 Boss Sauce

Description: small shop that makes custom sauces and spreads for people from scratch. Focus on fresh, no preservatives, very customizable for dietary restrictions.

Bell rings when customers show up, when they enter the doorway, they can’t see cashier so cashier can do homework, etc. This would be mentioned on hiring the cashier as a perk. It also looks more professional if the customer can’t initially see the cashier using their cellphone or computer when they walk in.

Pros: people like home grown organic stuff, buy local no preservatives. Walk in store is good. Showcases local manufacturers as well. The popularity of vegan/vegetarian diets makes sauces and spreads more essential for flavour when you don’t have meat.

Cons: food industry margins can be tight, online sellers could undercut this. The lease costs of a storefront could be too high to turn a profit.

10.2 Swamp Racing

Description: boats are built to race in a swamp, drivers sign up to race, all the boats are exactly the same in speed, engines etc. Boats are given out by lottery. Track is set up using buoys and small barges or houseboats are used to house spectators. The houseboats can be older models that would only be used as a grandstand. Can jumps be set up? You would need fan boats or hovercrafts for this due to the weeds.

It makes a racetrack out of previously unwanted, unused swampland. Negotiating a fair insurance rate for this would be essential.

Pros: could be a form of entertainment using cheap to acquire land, less initial cost than a racetrack. There would be less maintenance than a racetrack and the likelihood of proximity of houses complaining of noise is lower. As racetracks disappear due to rising costs, this could fill the void as a lower cost alternative.

Cons: regulations, insurance and danger involved could make this expensive to run possibly unprofitable. Would the public be interested in this as they become more online focused and less outdoors focused? Environmental groups may try to shut this down, make it illegal.

10.3 Getting off the streets

Description: documentary where teams of 1 woman and 1 man have all their ID, money and clothes (except 1 pair) taken from them and are put into a city they don’t know. They have to go from being homeless to housed using any resources they can in the city they’re in. They use hidden cameras to document how its going and occasionally get picked up in a van to do interviews by the film crew. They compare how hard/easy it is to get off the streets in North American cities. The people can’t work in their own profession, they have to work entry level jobs.

The participants have to be a variety of racial backgrounds, this likely will have an impact on how they are treated.

Has to give back to the charities that we find actually helped out at the end of the season/episode.

Pros: human interest, a test of our support systems, could be very watchable and start debates and change policies. This could show the real barriers to housing to an interested public that sees an increase in homelessness in their cities. The potential controversy of doing this could make this “must-see” TV.

Cons: There is a possibility of danger to the participants. This could be used by politicians to speak ill of homeless people. Could be taking services from those who need it. Has been done as journalistic efforts before? There could be backlash from local politicians, service providers to homeless people and religious groups if the show exposes flaws in their approaches.

10.4 Church hostel

Description: renovate a church to be used as a hostel as well. Church has to be existing in an already touristy area or near one. The sleeping quarters could be the sanctuary, everyone has to be moved out for Sunday service or they may sit in for it. The code of conduct could get interesting/dicey. The kitchen can be shared by church staff and hostel-goers.

Pros: hostel customers would have interaction with Christians, this is a possible ministry for the church. It provides a revenue stream for churches who in North America are often struggling financially.

Cons: hostel people may never be interested and simply go somewhere else, vandalise the church, be drunk and disorderly.

10.5 Twenty Four hour music showcase

Description: a 24 hour bar or restaurant, coffee shop, ect that pays musicians well to play there, 24 hours a day, 6 days a week. Close one day for a deep clean, maybe monthly. Could possibly do 24 hours straight a few days out of the week and expand if possible. You would need an alternative business running during the off days to make this work. Live streaming may help supplement income. Possible forced silence code, removal of cellphones (or cellphone banned section near stage) when musicians are playing. The goal is to give local musicians a place to play for real wages. The pay scale would have to represent votes by audience, live stream, sales. Must be a minimum dollar amount per act, per member of an act.

There may need to be a cover charge to enter as sales from food and drink may not be enough.

Pros: people like live music, there’s a demand for this particularly in cities with high real estate costs contributing to existing venues selling. This has the potential to become a locally famous venue if it can last more than a few years profitably. Other venues are closing, this may corner the market.

Cons: margins may be so tight you can’t do it. Restaurant/bars are notoriously hard to run, tight margins and complexity.

10.6 Canadian Bar

Description: make a bar that looks like a house party, cheap Canadian beers on tap. Mis-matched tables and chairs. Have hockey, MMA, Lacrosse, Curling and other Canadian popular sports playing in the background. Possibly have a TV section and one without TVs. Need to have hockey paraphernalia, Canadian food including obscure dishes only found regionally (tortiere, Halifax donair, Vancouver’s odd pizza etc) . The market for this is inner cities where actual house parties are difficult to throw or places heavily backpacked by Canadians. Possibly this would work in some parts of the US.

Hats on the walls, what else is uniquely Canadian décor, ask the internet/social media as a poll.

Pros: unique and patriotic, there is no restaurant/bar that properly makes fun of Canadian culture.

Cons: may not be an interest for this, possibly only outside of Canada. The intentionally ugly décor may keep women away, and therefore men as well.

10.7 going ape

Description: a video game based on construction sites that’s turn into a melee. You choose what kind of tradesman you want to be, and they will be more proficient with their tools and tools that they occasionally use for their job. You can use a wide variety of tools to do different things. Blinding people with job lights, use cement mixers to make a trap, ect. The violence has to be comically unrealistic to avoid any copycat real life construction incidents.

The characters need to be based off of some of the colourful personalities seen on construction sites. Real construction workers need to be interviewed about the strangest/wildest characters they worked with.

This could work well as a phone-based game, construction workers would play this on their breaks.’

The levels could include the construction phase of a: high rise, cargo ship, motel, bridge, castle, submarine, subway tunnel, industrial plant, etc.

Pros: construction workers would love this, general public too if done well.

Cons: This may incite jobsite violence, violence in general, other video game companies may simply steal this idea and make a better copycat version.

10.8 Nursing home & daycare

Description: In one building you have a nursing home and a daycare. Certain areas are solely nursing home other solely day care. There are cross over areas where the kids and seniors interact, or the seniors can simply watch the kids. Involve pets too in certain areas where folks who aren’t allergic can only go.

There needs to be a way to quarantine both sides in the event of a pandemic.

Pros: better use of two types of space, similar food served to both. Staff get a change of work interacting with both ages of people. Seniors and young children generally love each other, the interaction would be beneficial for both.

Cons: Kids could spread germs to the elderly. Some elderly people could be abusive to the kids. Frailty of older people and young kids could mean both get injured.

10.9 zero emission demolition

Description: A demolition service using only electric trucks and electric tools/hand tools. Market properly disposing the materials removed as opposed to simply throwing everything into the trash. Emphasize quieter demolition as well due to lack of engines, generators.

This can be a promotional tool for construction companies, showing their commitment to being green about their waste. There is a lot of room for improvement here as construction sites dump a lot of recyclable materials.

Pros: less maintenance of tools and trucks, marketable as an environmentally friendly company. Proper disposing can mean more metal recovery, meaning money made off recycling metal.

Cons: contractors won’t care about this, demolition is likely low-ish emission already. Contractors are unlikely to be held accountable for their lack of recycling.