Andrew Meades finds himself in a sticky situation almost every day, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.
The owner of Meades Restoration has found success in the business of dirty work — removing chewing gum from sidewalks and parking lots, mainly.
Meades, 31, got the idea after reading about kids in Montreal who were using steam machines to remove gum in that city.
“It kind of stuck in the back of my mind,” said Meades, who was doing snow removal and property maintenance at the time.
He launched a website, and the calls started coming in. He purchased a commercial steam machine and completed his first job in downtown Toronto, where he removed about 15 years’ worth of gum that had accumulated on a property. It took him 16 hours.
“I was thinking to myself, ‘What am I doing?’” he said. “Then I saw there was something to it.”
He began taking on big jobs for corporations such as McDonald’s and he has been upgrading his equipment ever since.
He scaled back his operations when he and his wife moved to Orillia from Markham in July 2018. Now he’s trying to find a comfortable balance as he maintains clients in the Greater Toronto Area and builds a new customer base here.
“In the off-season, right now, I’ve been networking,” Meades said.
He has also been getting creative, looking at other ways to put his talent and equipment to good use, exploring architectural metal refinishing and acid-washing boats.
He has also removed graffiti from a West Street plaza. With the City of Orillia in an ongoing struggle with graffiti, Meades might strike gold again.
“Now that we’re up here, I’ve got to create my new vision for the business,” he said. “I haven’t decided where I want to go with it yet. I’m in the process of figuring that out.”
Gum removal will certainly be a part of it. That end of the business, and the opportunities it opens up with Meades for his other services, brings in more than $100,000 per year.
It’s a money maker, but it’s become a passion for Meades for more than one reason.
“This is where we want to raise our family, so we want it to be a nice place to live,” he said.
Gum and cigarette butts are common “small litter,” he noted, but cigarette butts are easier to remove than gum. More awareness of chewing-gum litter is needed, he said, noting the United Kingdom “is about 10 years ahead of us” in dealing with the problem.
The U.K. has advertising campaigns and even installs bins — made from recycled chewing gum — for people to discard it.
“I think that’s something we should look at,” he said.
Meades has turned to the local Community Development Corporation to help him with his business. He received a grant and is benefiting from the agency’s mentoring program. It has been helpful, but he is also looking for a mentoring opportunity outside of that organization.
“I’m on the lookout for a mentor who wouldn’t mind helping out a young business owner,” he said.
Keep up with Meades Restoration on Instagram.
