Trump’s tariffs brought the Canadians to the barricades. They not only rebel politically, but also when buying food.
At FAIRTOUNT Bagel – the oldest Bagel bakery in Montreal – customers get freshly baked doughs for 24 hours. The classic: the sesambagels that the Rhonda Shlafman family has been producing for generations.
In order to make your customers happy, Rhonda keeps thinking something new. When she heard from the US tariffs against Canadian products in the car radio, an idea came to her. “I thought to myself: Why don’t I make a red and white bagel to symbolize Canada?”
Rhonda has the first one the next morning “Canada-Bagel” made. In addition to the normal white dough, she also kneaded a second that she got bright red with food coloring. From both types of dough, it rolled longer stripes and connected in a spiral into a round, red and white bagel.
Rhonda Shlafman and hers “Canada-Bagle”. The red and white dough rangs are asked all over the country.
Canada bagels popular across the country
This was great for customers, reports Rhonda: “People called or wrote to us that they are totally happy, that we make something that represents Canada.”
Orders suddenly came from all over Canada – even from further distant provinces such as Alberta or British Columbia. Because the Canadians are crazy about everything that strengthens their national pride.
This newly sparked patriotism has to do with Donald Trump. His attacks against the formerly closest ally not only determine the Canadian election campaign, but also the everyday life of people – especially when buying food.
Supermarkets characterize Canadian food
In Montreal’s supermarkets, more and more customers are paying attention to buying Canadian products in a targeted manner. Above all to support the battered domestic economy. They boycott products from the USA.
Supermarket employees are asked more often where the products come from. Some chains even mark Canadian food with red and white ribbons or a maple leaf on the price tag.
The two software developers Chris (left) and Alex want to make consumers easier to see through where a product comes from the supermarket.
Recognize Canadian food via smartphone
To make it easier for the Canadians, food “Made in Canada” The two young entrepreneurs Chris and Alex have the app “Buy Beaver” developed. If you download the application, you can specify which countries supports when shopping and which should be boycotted.
Afterwards, users can scan the barcode of a product with their smartphone camera and are displayed from the app a score. The higher the score, the more the product corresponds to your own purchase preferences. For example, it depends on where the company sits that sells this food or in which country it was produced.
Developer Chris demonstrates the app on a pack of Barilla Spaghetti: “In this case, the app shows a low score. I chose that I want to support Italy but would like to boycott the USA. And the product was manufactured in the USA.”
Once scanned, you already know where it comes from: the app “Buy Beaver” is available worldwide, also in Germany.
App is available all over the world
The app is available free of charge for everyone, even in Germany you can use it. They were able to develop Chris and Alex with the help of donations. Many Canadians wanted such an application and supported the two developers.
This can also be seen from the overwhelming feedback, explains Alex: “We received thousands of positive reviews in the app stores and get hundreds of emails every day. People are just happy that young entrepreneurs are trying to help Canadians.”
