Source: Queen's Gazette
BY ANDREW LUBOWITZ
Apr 4, 2022
Photography by Candice Ward
When Ted Fleming, Sc鈥00, launched a Kickstarter campaign for his non-alcoholic craft beer company in 2017, the move seemed like a departure from his engineering roots. But for Fleming, what he learned as an engineering student at Queen鈥檚 still applies to his work in the non-alcoholic brewing industry. Now the founder and chief executive officer of in Toronto, he explains that the lessons offered by a Queen鈥檚 engineering degree allowed him to approach his business from a problem-solving perspective.
鈥淚 think that鈥檚 partly why I chose the program; it helped with my adaptability. In engineering, you face difficult problems, but also get exposure to social sciences and things that help you look at how issues impact people. That adaptability was a key lesson for me, and I think that鈥檚 how I鈥檝e approached business. Every business is just a series of problems that need to be solved, and I鈥檝e found having an engineering mindset is very important to managing that process,鈥 says Mr. Fleming.
After making dietary changes necessary because of a Crohn鈥檚 disease diagnosis in 2005, Fleming realized what he missed most was the social connections that blossomed when friends and colleagues would go for a drink. Switching to non-alcoholic beer introduced him to a space that had been neglected by brewers, retailers, and the hospitality industry.
For Mr. Fleming, it was a new problem to solve.
Wanting to create an inclusive space where those drinking non-alcoholic beverages didn鈥檛 have to compromise on taste or experience, he developed a non-alcoholic craft beer that offered consumers a low--calorie alternative but still provided the craft beer experience. It鈥檚 a product that鈥檚 resonated with consumers and Partake has grown considerably since its Kickstarter roots five years ago. The company was completing its second financing round in March 2022, raising $16 million, and earlier this year Mr. Fleming was named a 2022 Globe and Mail changemaker. Partake鈥檚 success hasn鈥檛 gone unnoticed and is changing the conversation in the wider industry.
鈥淲e鈥檝e had this tremendous shift towards people who are drinking non-alcoholic beer who don鈥檛 have to be. And they鈥檙e choosing to do so partially because companies like ours are creating great products and it鈥檚 no longer a compromise to drink non-alcoholic beer. It鈥檚 a fundamental shift in terms of who鈥檚 coming into the category and it鈥檚 very exciting. We can pitch to any beer drinker now because they鈥檙e not missing a beat socially or in terms of health.鈥