ISTOCK APRIL 202SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 BCBUSINESS 49
ichael Wiebe is a
good person to ask
about side hustles.
Even before
COVID-19, the
Vancouver city councillor was
moonlighting as co-owner of
popular Main Street eatery
Eight 1/2 Restaurant Lounge.
When the pandemic forced
its shuttering in March,
Wiebe and his team opened a
sandwich service for take-
out only, at the side of the
building. Aptly named Side
Hustle Sandwiches, the place
was an instant hit, with its
finely crafted ingredients and
hilarious names (credit general
manager Alex Sparling for
monikers like The Dr. Bahn Mi
Henry) inspiring mass lineups.
"When
COVID hit, we
started to have some conversa-
tions about what the future of
Eight 1/2 was," recalls Wiebe,
who has started exploring
options to use the restaurant as
a sort of community hub.
Part of that was letting other
creators like Sparling fulfil a
long-held dream of operating
a sandwich shop. Bartender
Adriana Goettisheim runs
In B.C., COVID has helped drive the rise of the side hustle.
Just ask these entrepreneurs b y N A T H A N C A D D E L L
A S K A L E A D E R
LOOKING AHEAD,
WHAT LEADERSHIP
QUALITIES WILL BE
MOST IN DEMAND?
Empathy. In a time
when it's harder
to connect with
people, to see
their facial expres-
sions or hang out
with them socially,
empathy will play
an even bigger role
in leading people.
We'll need to be
conscious of the
increased mental
health concerns,
child-care and work-
from-home sched-
ule demands that
impact our teams.
– GREG SMITH,
co-founder and CEO,
Thinkific
