Concrete Counter Makers Earn Innovation Award – Huddle.Today
MONCTON – For Emma Thériault, learning that DAS Concrete Countertops won the Chamber of Commerce’s Innovation Award was a “heart-stopping moment.”
Thériault, who founded DAS Concrete Countertops, said she and her husband, Co-Owner Yannick, were thrilled when they received the award on October 18, at Moncton’s Delta by Marriott Beauséjour.
“We knew we had a chance; you’ve got three people nominated as finalists [in our category],” she said.
The Thériaults were among 11 winners, chosen from 55 nominees, at the 2022 Chamber of Commerce for Greater Moncton Business Excellence Awards.
“We were really excited just over the fact that someone in the community decided to nominate us,” said Thériault. She noted that DAS had received past accolades from the chamber, winning a previous Environmental Excellence Award.
“It’s important for us and something we really take to heart. We were recognized, once again, in a room full of people and I find that really, really touching as owner of a small business that came alive during Covid.”
Thériault said the pandemic made it challenging to get the business rolling after its launch in 2019, since the product they were offering was new to the region.
Thériault told Huddle it can be a lonely road as an entrepreneur and that she and her husband value the community, and the ability to interact with the rest of Greater Moncton’s business community.
“It’s huge, just in terms of finding motivation to keep going, knowing there are other people who believe in what we’re doing,” she said.
DAS’s main product, and the reason it overtook fellow finalists Tireshack Brewing Co. and Propicsta, is the concrete countertop
“We like to call them surfaces, just to get people thinking what else they can use them for, whether tables, reception desks, or bench tops. It’s no new technology, we just have a different approach to what we’re doing.” Thériault said. “We’re always looking for where the niche is, that we can fill.”
Thériault said the key to DAS’s success is coming up with a new application for something that already exists.
“There are so many different ways to be innovative,” she said.
DAS – which stands for durable, accessible, sustainable – works with as much locally sourced material as possible in its Dieppe-based shop, offering custom and prefab countertops for indoor and outdoor spaces.
Thériault said working with a durable and easily repaired material as durable like concrete allows for lots of innovation.
In addition to countertops, she said DAS is expanding into solar-powered, glow-in-the-dark paving stones, an electricity-free stone that absorbs light throughout the day, and outdoor kitchen features.
With products on the way targeted toward municipalities, schools, and parks – like concrete ping-pong tables – DAS is busy coming up with new applications for concrete.
“We’re setting up a production line for that right now and looking to scale up so we can bring it to market at a reasonable price point,” she said.
Thériault said that DAS manufactures its countertops on a small scale, measures them to size, minimizes waste, and polishes its product with water.
“We have a whole system where we collect water and filter it, so we can use it or put it in the city sewers without polluting the drains,” she explained.
“If we have any bits of concrete left over, we use them to make concrete soap dishes and we mend trays and decorative items. We’ve made concrete gave stones for Halloween this year.”’
Sam Macdonald is a Huddle reporter in Moncton. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].