There’s no ifs ands or buts about it, Cam Lawton simply loves beer.
It was based on that passion he helped build Bayley’s BrewHaHa, a home wine and beer making business that started out in Penticton over five years ago. When he took over from his father as owner last year, Lawton expanded with new stores in West Kelowna, Kelowna, Osoyoos and Langford.
His commitment to quality and customer satisfaction earned him the Young Entrepreneur Award at this year’s Business Excellence Awards from the Penticton and Wine Country Chamber of Commerce.
“I was surprised,” said Lawton of hearing his name called at Saturday’s awards ceremony. “We have a lot of fun here and we want to share that with the community. We have such a great staff and customers who come through those doors.”
While Mayo the bull dog greets customers as they come in, the company is named after Lawton’s other dog Bayley. The rest of the company’s name came after a night of sipping on some beverages.
“I’m not going to lie,” said Lawton with a smile. “It was after a night of drinking some beer that we came up with the name, and we thought it was pretty humorous so we just went with it.”
Along with the unique name, he has created an atmosphere to go along with it. Lawton made a boutique environment catering to those who enjoy premium wine, beer and other beverages. Each store is built with state-of-the-art equipment, high-end bottling and filtering equipment, filtered water, high-end giftware and accessories. In 2010, a leader in the home wine and beer making products, RJ Spagnols, selected Bayley’s to be part of their winemaking academy. In Penticton, Bayley’s is the only store to receive this designation.
“Your unique store image is simply breathtaking. The vision and passion is something we’ve needed in this industry for a long time,” wrote Barbara Vanin, account manager for Interior BC for RJ Spagnols about Bayley’s. “Your stores set a new standard of excellence ...”
The locations all have themes as well. The Osoyoos store has a desert theme, the Kelowna store, situated close to the Harley-Davidson store, has a theme designed to appeal to the Harley-Davidson customer.
Dedicated to the community, Bayley’s supports the Vees and other local sports teams and regularly donates prizes for fundraising events.
For more information on Bayley’s visit www.bayleysbrewhaha.com