Cyril Meagher, Allendale Electronics

When engineer Guy Tipton approached Cyril Meagher, President and General Manager of Allendale Electronics in Lockeport, with the concept for a new product that would help solve a problem in the booming craft beer industry, Meagher invited him to join the team to build a prototype.

The FizzWizz was born.

Today, the FizzWizz and several other products for the craft beer industry are manufactured under the brand name BrewWizz. “It’s our main product,” Meagher says of the BrewWizz line. “But we also have a TempWizz that measures temperature, for example.” Allendale Electronics owns the rights to build, sell, and distribute the FizzWizz. BrewWizz is doing so well, it’s about to launch a new on-line store.

According to the recently launched website for the new BrewWizz brand, “The FizzWizz by BrewWizz, Bubbles Anywhere Edition, is a fully automated carbonation system that gets it right every time by solving the problems of inconsistent and unstable carbonation levels.”

Meagher describes Allendale Electronics as “a contract manufacturer for electronic products. Other people design things and we build it to their specifications.”  The latest of those products is now the FizzWizz.

The Shelburne CBDC has played a vitally important role in the survival and growth of Allendale Electronics over the years, providing it with the flexibility it needs to bring new products like the FizzWizz to market and making it an important component of Allendale Electronics’ workflow.

“They’ve been supporting us all along,” Meagher says. “The FizzWizz is one thing that came out of that support, allowing us to continue to build. Recently, they’ve given us a line of credit so we’re able to buy all the parts we need.”

Throughout their relationship, Allendale Electronics has worked primarily with CBDC Executive Director, Dixie Redmond. “She’s very understanding and easy to work with,” Meagher says of Redmond. “She likes to touch base at least monthly. It must be difficult because we’re different than a lot of businesses around here. We’re a manufacturer, and there aren’t a lot of manufacturers here.”

Given his positive experience, Meagher has some advice for the local business community. “It’s a good idea to contact CBDC if you’re starting a business or expanding. If you’ve got new business ideas that you want to try, they have a lot of good contacts. They steered us toward some banking resources, and they know a lot of the federal and provincial programs. They make sure we’re talking to the right people.” 

Meagher gives a recent example of how important it is to keep CBDC in mind. “Another one of the things they and ACOA have done is deferred loan payments because of COVID-19,” Meagher says. When the coronavirus outbreak in China made the news, Meagher saw trouble on the horizon. “We didn’t know what would happen to us,” Meagher says. “I was concerned about the supply chain, so I brought all the parts in to build the next 50 FizzWizz units. We just wanted to secure things as best we could.”

In the middle of the near complete economic shutdown, there weren’t many orders, says Meagher, but thanks to the CBDC, “We’re good to go as the economy turns around.”