A Pointe au Baril marine facility has acquired its neighbour.
Desmasdon’s Boat Works has bought Beacon Marine Ltd. The two facilities are across from each other at the Pointe au Baril Station Harbour and are the two largest marine facilities in the community.
“We wanted to protect our own interest and the interest of the town and the current employees of Beacon. We now have the ability to store over 1,000 boats, dock over 300, the ability to park over 500 cars and we now have 10 marine technicians so now we have over 70 employees,” said Matt French, Vice President of Desmasdon’s Boat Works and now Beacon Marine.
“The decision to add Beacon Marine to the Desmasdon’s Boat Works family came as a result of a conversation we started having in 2017 with the Goodwin Family, the previous owners. Desmasdon’s has built its reputation since 1946 as offering the best customer service experience available and we felt Beacon always strived to treat their customers well and fairly. At the core, our values are the same and we saw great synergies in adding Beacon Marine to our portfolio,” added French.
“At the very core of what we do, are relationships. We take great pride in our relationships with our customers and our staff team and felt this was the best thing to do for both groups. We wanted to ensure we continued to push forward and create as many opportunities for our staff team as possible, all while trying to push the bar and endeavour to offer the best service experience around. We are thrilled to add the team from Beacon Marine and look forward to working with all of them to hit the water running in the spring of 2019”.
While French says it is committed to maintaining the current workforce at Beacon, it is also looking to add even more marine technicians.
“We’re looking to hire as many good marines techs as we can find. We’ll hire as many as we can get,” commented French. He went on to say there are plans to get some summer students as well and that the company is always looking to add good people to its team.
In 1998, Desmasdon’s Boat Works was purchased by Andy and Tonia Blenkarn. Over the past 20 years, along with their two sons, Mike and Chris, they have grown the business. In 2017, Matt and Nicole French became partners with the Blenkarns in Desmasdon’s. Matt had worked with Andy and Tonia since 2003, and Nicole since 2010 so, to them, the step seemed logical. They will be running Beacon Marine together as a family and continuing to involve Lorne Goodwin and include him in the management team and decision process.