We are close to 50 independent sugar bushes to propel the My Cabin at Home (MCALM) movement. We are heirs to a long tradition. Every spring, we welcome Quebecers to our sugar shacks to celebrate the sugar season. But for the past two years, the pandemic has made life hard for us. And if our own cabins are still in operation, it is largely thanks to My cabin at home.
• Read also: Sugar shacks in the face of uncertainty
• Read also: Another atypical sugar season in 2022?
The idea behind this initiative is to offer meal boxes so that Quebecers can experience sugaring-off at home. In 2020, following a cry from the heart launched by Stéphanie Laurin of the Association des salle de reception et érablières du Québec, Sylvain Arsenault of the Prospek agency answered the call by proposing a unifying project. They joined forces to put together this initiative in 75 days, without any help or guarantee that their concept would be a success. Without their leadership, this project would never have seen the light of day.
With their teams, they created a website, independent online stores, a virtual show, television advertising, a Quebec-wide marketing campaign and more.
And it’s all up to us.
In 2021, we were touched by the response of citizens, who purchased 110,000 lunch boxes directly from our sugar shacks through the MCALM platform. Through this movement, it is our family recipes, our authenticity and the identity of our sugar shacks that Quebecers have encouraged.
Hundreds of jobs
The initiative enabled us to preserve hundreds of jobs, to employ our local suppliers and to generate spinoffs of $11.5 million in the regions of Quebec.
But when launching the initiative, let’s remember: no one could predict whether the huts would be open or not and whether Quebecers would be there. The two co-founders took all the risks, financing the entire operation. They found partners and sponsors to cover the expenses.
Finally, our participation costs were practically nil.
Today, we are in shock to see the treatment reserved for Stéphanie Laurin and Sylvain Arsenault in the media and on social networks. Some criticize the fact that the trademark belongs to them. It is important to note that we use this brand for free and that all purchases of gourmet boxes are made directly on our online stores. Brand owners receive no royalties from these transactions. It will be like this for as long as we want.
We are part of this project and we are ready to offer a reinvented traditional dining experience. In these special times, we want to offer happiness to Quebecers. Last year, the majority of people who ordered a box lunch said they wanted to repeat the experience. We sincerely hope they will, because solidarity tastes so good!
Signatory sugar bushes:
Through the seasons — Marylene Renaud
On the maple trail — Josée Majeau
Sugar Shack at Délices Des Sucres — Chez Rosa — David Fuoco
Bertrand sugar shack — Marie-Claude Filion
Chabot Sugar Shack — Mario Chabot
La Martine sugar shack — Martine Bernier
Lalande sugar shack — Claude Charbonneau
Leclerc sugar shack — Guy Tessier
Massicotte sugar shack — Louis Massicotte and Julie Trudel
Osias sugar shack — Catherine Mailhot
Cabane Dupuis — Josée Lanctot and Roxanne Ricard
Chalet des Érables (Cookshire) — Joanie Paquette
Creek Cottage — Sylvain Lahaie
Agricultural city — Julien Paris-Roy
Domain of the Guardian Angel — Sylvain Leger
Domain of the Artisan — Michel Thibodeau
Domaine du Sucrier — Manon Shallow and Guy Berthiaume
Sugarbush at the Rhythm of Time — Josée Daigle
Red Roof Maple Tree — Marylin Boucher
Érablière Charbonneau — Mélanie Charbonneau & Alexandre Jourdain
Érablière D’Astous — Guillaume D’astous
Chelsea Sugar Bush — Nathalie Martin
Maple grove of the covered bridges — Marianne Filion, Nathalie St-Jean, Luc Filion, Michael
Maple grove in the Village — Maximilien Leblanc-Bolâtre
Maple JBCaron — Frédéric Carle
Érablière l’Autre Versant — Hélène Belley
Érablière La Goudrelle — Luc Gingras (continued on the next page)
Érablière la Grillade — Pierre Gingras
Érablière Martin — Geneviève Boisvert
Érablière Maurice Jeannotte — France Jeannotte
Sugar Shack Nathalie Lemieux — Nathalie Lemieux
Érablière St-Germain — Véronique Lortie-Bourgeois
Érablière St-Henri — Marie-Claire Pinglot
Guénette, Yan Desharnais
The sugar bush at the Four Winds — Marie-Eve Plouffe
The maple apple shack — Nathalie Labonté
The Runner’s Hut (Maple Pleasures) — Marc-Antoine Dionne
The little cabin on the coast —The logs — Simon Bernard
The Rose in the wood — Roseline Brisson
Maple Bistreau — Noémie Gautreau-Régnier
Les Boisés d’Amelie — Fabiola Toupin
Relais des Pins — Anne Lachance
Sugar Blouin — Julie Blouin
Mountain Sugar Factory — Pierre Faucher
Gallant Sugar Factory — Linda Gallant
Local sweets — Guy Marcotte
Lavigne Sweets — Marie-Pier Lavigne