Granary Lake Retreat is a cottage resort near Blind River that is owned by a family of newcomers with roots in Trinidad and Tobago. All of the investors featured in this series are first time cottage resort owners, but you could say that our guest Chris Jaggarnath, his father Anand Jaggarnath, and his stepmother Bettina Abraham were truly rookies. They’d never even been to a cottage before. Yet, this story isn't about failure. It's a story of resilience, hard work, and embracing the northern lifestyle.  

Chris Jaggarnath is the Operations Manager at Granary Lake Retreat. Check out their Facebook and Instagram accounts for photos, amenities, guest stories, and availability.

Learn more about tourism investment opportunities in Northern Ontario at invest.destinationnorthernontario.ca. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn.

About the Destination: Northern Ontario podcast

If you came across a real estate listing for an affordable cottage resort deep in the boreal forest, would you be tempted to buy it?

If the answer is yes, then the Destination: Northern Ontario podcast is for you. By the end of this five-part series, you’ll learn everything you should know before buying or starting a tourism business in the north, and hear stories from people who’ve walked the path before and would do it all over again.

The podcast is hosted by Michelle Samson and produced for Destination Northern Ontario by Storied Places Media.

my family has never been to a cottage before,

prior to this, to be honest.

My dad looked at me and he asked, do you think this is

something that we could take on?

And, I said, you know, it is gonna be a challenge, but, uh, why not?

Let's do it.

I'm Michelle Samson host of the destination Northern Ontario podcast.

This series is for the dreamers who want to start a new life somewhere

simpler, somewhere that for the price of a condo in downtown Toronto,

you could buy a cottage resort.

That would be your business and your home.

The trail to your new life isn't necessarily paved and easy, but it has

been walked before with great success.

In this episode, we meet Chris Jaggarnath a young first-generation Canadian

who happens to be a man of many hats.

Well, hello, my name is Chris Jaggarnath.

Uh, I work as the loan manager at East Algoma Community

Future Development Corporation.

I also work part-time as a realtor in the area with, uh,

Royal LaPage Mid North Realty.

And my favorite job of the mall is being the operation

manager at Granary Lake Retreat.

Granbury lake retreat is a cottage resort near blind river.

That is owned by Chris's father, Anand Jaggarnath, and

his stepmother Bettina Abraham.

All of the investors featured in this podcast series or first

time cottage resort owners.

But you could say that Chris Anand and Bettina were truly rookies.

There's never even been to a cottage before.

But This story isn't about failure.

It's a story about a family who persevered.

And created a special place for themselves and their guests in Northern Ontario.

Their journey.

Northward began further south than you might expect.

Chris's birth.

Parents are from Trinidad and Tobago and they immigrated to

Canada in the early two thousands.

After they separated.

Chris maintained a close relationship with his father who, despite being a

busy engineering manager at an automotive company, always found time to take

Chris to a soccer practices and games.

So while Chris was at Ontario tech playing varsity soccer and working

on a commerce degree, he lived with his father and stepmother in Barre.

That's when the family started dabbling in real estate.

We were getting into real estate, my father and I, and my

stepmom and, uh, we were buying houses in Barrie and flipping them.

So, um, you know, that was going pretty well.

But during covid, we, we thought that maybe we can look for something

cheaper and, we decided to come to Blind River because we saw a

house actually, uh, on the market for about 69,000 that was gutted.

So we thought this can be a great opportunity for us to come here.

You know, I can take on a project over the summer and , we can

practice our, our house flipping.

Chris and, and, and Bettina got in their car and drove up to blind river

to see the house while they were there.

They met a realtor and it was the realtor who suggested another kind of property.

One that they never would have considered otherwise.

We went for coffee at Tim's.

and he was telling us, you know, like, there's this

cottage resort that's for sale.

We had no intention of buying we just wanted to go check it out because my

family has never been to a cottage before, prior to this, to be honest.

so, um,, we ended up going to the cottage resort.

Uh, it was called Birch Lodge at that time.

And, uh, we met the owner.

He, uh, he came outside.

He had no idea we were even coming, so it was quite an awkward introduction.

Pretty much he walked us around the, uh, the lodge.

We saw what it was like.

My dad looked at me and he asked, do you think this is

something that we could take on?

And, I said, you know, it is gonna be a challenge, but, uh, why not?

Let's do it.

So pretty much that day we decided as a family that we would take on this project.

And, uh, we put the offer in for the lodge and, and here we are now.

Our new investors bought the resort and now they

had to figure out how to run it.

Since Anand and Bettina, we're still working in Southern Ontario.

And Chris had the summer off before his final year of university.

It was Chris who took the lead.

I actually had one of my best friends, Noah, come and stay

the summer with me because I was too scared to stay by myself.

So he actually came up with me for the first four months.

we owned the resort.

We had no idea what really went into running this resort.

We thought that, we were just buy this resort and, uh, people will come

and they're gonna rent our cabins and we don't have to do anything.

We just, we just sit back and do nothing really.

And that was completely wrong.

Cause it is a lot of maintenance and there is a lot of work that goes

behind the scenes to ensure that the place is kept to a certain standard.

pretty much the whole time I was thinking, you know what?

I don't know if this is for me.

It's, uh, it's very different.

I miss being at home.

I miss being around my mom and my, my mom's side of the family.

So it was a really huge change for, for me personally.

, But, as the summer progressed and I saw what it was, and I, I really

started to fall in love with the, with the area and how quiet it was,

and a lot different than the city.

Um, that summer we ended up finishing up at the lodge.

We went back to university.

Uh, I, I played soccer with Noah on the, on the varsity team.

we played out our final year together.

And I'll be honest, that whole year I was thinking to myself, do I really

want to come back to Blind River?

And, um, I did make the decision.

I told my dad that, you know, I am gonna move up here and, um, help them run the

lodge because I'm the only child to, to come up here and, and run it for them.

So, um, after I finished with my degree, in May, I was back up here,

uh, running the lodge for them again.

As time has progressed, we really want to keep it in our family

and we really want to grow it.

And we love Blind River now, and we see opportunity here for more tourists

to come, uh, more people to move here.

So we definitely see an opportunity for us here.

With the help of a groundskeeper.

Chris ran the resort by himself for a little while longer before

Amanda and Bettina were able to join him in blind river.

The Tina found local work at Algoma public health.

While an aunt moved into a remote position with his employer.

But even with his parents nearby, it still took some time for Chris

to settle into his new community.

It's been tough settling in.

I would say, you know, it's much different than, than the city.

Um, especially coming in as, uh, as someone who's new to the community

and a lot of the relationships within the community have already

been established over so many years.

Um, you really have to get out there and, maybe join a group, maybe join a club.

Um, being the loans manager at the CFDC had really helped to

meet a lot of business owners.

So I've been out there playing golf with some of them going out for coffee.

Um, in terms of, you know, going out to eat and, restaurants and going

out to with my friends on a Friday.

You know, a lot of those things are, are not really available here.

But in turn, I, I have other things that I like to do now where I like to go.

ATVing, I love to go ATVing, I love to be out there in the bush, in the mud.

Now, I never fished before, but I do like the fish now.

I had to get over my fear of actually handling the fish, but now here I am.

I wish you well on that, Chris.

Like the other investors featured in the series, Chris and end and Bettina

bought the property, understanding that renovations were part of the deal.

In this case, some cottages needed more work than others.

When we first took over the resort, there was five cabins that

they had, and at that time, they were only renting four of them.

Uh, one of them was, pretty much needed to be gutted and redone for sure,

because it was pretty much falling apart.

But we had two newer cottages that were built in, uh, about, I think 2002.

And those cottages were in excellent condition.

The previous owners, they really kept the cottages very clean, and that's

something that we really loved and we took that in and ran with it.

You know, cleanliness is something that we really appreciate at our resort.

So those two cottages were perfect.

We have three older cabins , our plan is to slowly renovate those ones.

We, we started to renovate one of them, so we've gutted it out completely

and, um, we actually have a, a, a plan in mind to turn that into a small

convenience store because there's no convenience store within the area,

especially how we live north of town.

So that's one of the ideas we have there.

Um, with some of the older cabins, the one that's, that was completely,

uh, falling apart, our plan is to actually tear that down and turn

that into either a yurt or a geodome.

So that's another plan we have in the works.

So there, there is renovation to be done within the cottages, but

we are just planning to see how we want to move forward with it.

How are you financing the renovations?

We have a loan through the cfdc, uh, access to capital loan.

That was one of the main financing tools we have, both my parents are working,

so they are investing some of their own personal funds into this project, which is

why we haven't been able to, uh, move at the pace that I, I have hoped that we can.

So, um, we are slowly deciding how we're gonna spend the money wisely.

I know that we are not looking to take on more financing or more debt

right now to do these renovations.

So what we're doing is just trying to stabilize what we have and make

sure we maximize our occupancy rate for the next couple months and use

the business revenues in order to do some more of these renovations.

A Brief aside here, if you were paying really close attention to Chris's

introduction, you might have noticed that he's alone manager for the east Algoma

community futures development corporation.

Which is the same organization.

His parents got a loan from for the record that happened before Chris got the job.

No funny business there.

That said CFD sees.

These are a great financing option for small businesses in the north.

In episode five of this series, we're going to learn all about it from the

executive director of another CFTC.

Aside over back to my conversation with chris

how are you guys doing for bookings?

Both this year and, um, and last year if you were open, which I think you were,

So, uh, last year we did okay.

I would say that for the summertime period we were about 70% occupied, so there was

still some room for improvement there.

Um, in the winter months, we, we didn't run that much in the winter last year,

so we didn't really have any bookings.

Uh, coming into the fall months of last year.

We had a couple people come in for hunting and ATVing.

fast forward to this year, were actually doing much better than last year.

We've had bookings throughout the winter.

Um, I would say, 90% occupied in the summer with just a I think one or two

weeks available for one of our cabins.

So, um, we are progressing really nicely there and, and a lot of it is to do with,

uh, our marketing online through Facebook.

Uh, that's been one of our major drivers of, uh, how we're getting our customers.

Uh, even for now, we have bookings in September and October and

November for hunting and ATVing.

We didn't have that last year.

So it is a good trend that we're seeing.

Um, it is a lot more than just putting it out there.

You actually have to go and post about it and reach the customer directly.

You know, sometimes you have conversations and we talked for about a couple weeks,

and then they book somewhere else.

So you have to just, you know, keep on going and not get discouraged by that.

But overall it's, it's been really great in how we're, how we are

progressing with the business.

And what's the occupancy like in the winter?

This winter in particular, I would say that we are

running at about 25% occupancy.

And we are looking to grow that of course, because our two newer

cottages are both heated with, uh, propane heating, so they're available

to rent throughout the winter.

Um, we are working with, uh, some, some anglers in, in the

region that wanna do ice fishing.

So we are offering them to come there, bring their group, uh, maybe stay there

for a weekend for free on us, just so they can bring some of their people

there and they can experience the lake.

They can experience what we have there.

Um, another interesting thing that we are working with in the

wintertime is to do with ice climbing.

And there's a ice climbing society that runs out of Blind River.

So we are trying to, uh, to get in touch with them so that we can have

people stay and do the ice climbing here at, uh, at Granary Lake.

So that's another avenue that we are exploring for sure.

Do you have any, um, return guests?

Yeah.

Uh, we actually have, maybe four long-term guests who

have stayed on with us.

When they first came, they, the previous owners never even told they sold.

So when they saw us there, it was a big surprise for them.

But, um, I think that with our personalities, like my family's

personality and how we really took on the project, were very outgoing people.

I think that that's one of the key aspects, uh, to owning this resort is

having that high energy and having those great people skills because people are

there at the end of the day on vacation and you know, they just want people.

To be friendly and, as helpful as they can.

So, um, I think that as, as a team, like my parents and I, that's one of our

major strengths, is that we are there for the people and we want to ensure

that they are having the best time.

That's a great philosophy.

So, uh, the near term plan is to kind of keep, you know, renovating these cottages

and, maybe the, uh, the convenience store.

Do you have any, plans beyond that?

Um, yeah, actually we have a few other plans.

Uh, we are, we're looking into doing ATV tours and rentals through the resort.

Our groundskeeper, he actually just recently, , got certified

to become a, uh, ATV instructor.

So we are looking to get businesses like such as Hydro One, um, some other

businesses that need some certification for people to be out there under atv.

So we are looking to explore that avenue in terms of how can we get people to stay

at the lodge as well as do the course.

we really like the idea of glamping.

We have about 46 acres that we can pretty much, uh, grade

down and put a few geod domes.

We do like the idea of geodome.

So we are thinking about maybe implementing about three or

four over the next five years.

I would say that those, those two aspects, the ATVs and the, and the

glamping would be where we're kind of moving towards as well as obviously

the, uh, the rentals themselves.

Awesome.

So, you're just hoping to, uh, to slowly build all that as you, uh,

make money through the resort.

Well, another interesting thing is that we are looking for investors

to come and invest in terms of the, like I'll use the Geodome example.

That business owner, he's looking to invest in these small campgrounds.

So he proposes things like, he would put a geodome up, on his funds

and we would do a profit share for about four or five years.

As you can tell Chris is definitely keeping busy with the retreat

on top of his position with the CFTC.

But he is an ambitious guy who enjoys real estate.

So he also works part time as an agent.

For all of you who aren't familiar with the northern ontario real estate market

i asked him to describe it for you

I would describe the Northern Ontario market as, affordable.

A lot of my friends down south my age, they always tell me, Chris, I don't think

were ever gonna be able to own a home.

And, they all want to live in Toronto.

They all want to live in the gta.

But there is a, a whole different world in Northern Ontario where there's

opportunity for especially young people and, and newcomers to the country to come

and own houses here and build a life.

And, you don't have that, that stress or, the financial burden

of owning a home, uh, down south.

And I tell my friends all the time, you know, like, uh, your real friends,

the ones that love you, your, your family members, they're gonna travel.

Even if it's three hours , they're gonna come and see you because

you know, you matter to them.

And personally, I've seen that with my friends and family.

I live five hours away from, from them.

And, you know, we see each other every couple months.

They come, they drive down, they see me.

So I think that that idea of, um, moving away and not being able to see people is.

Is maybe a false idea.

And, um, I would say that you have to take the plunge and maybe just come and

see for yourself what it's like here.

Because a lot of people that come, they really fall in love with the

beauty of Northern Ontario because it truly is , something special.

And we travel all these countries to see these beautiful things when

they're right in our backyard.

You guys have been sort of blazing that path You've moved up

here and you've bought this business and you're getting it going two

years since buying the property.

How are you and your parents feeling about the investment?

We feel good.

Like I know there, there is some like arguments we have,

you know, like every family.

And, but the thing about it is that we're all working towards the same thing.

We're all working towards making this something special and

creating something for our family.

So I would say that the transition was difficult because all of us stepped out

of our comfort zone being here, um, my dad is a huge advocate for never feeling

comfortable, and never feeling satisfied.

So that's something that he's really instilled in me.

Um, being here, I'll tell you that I've never felt comfortable really until, you

know, a few months ago where I started.

Thinking to myself, okay, let's slow down a little bit.

Not everything needs to happen next year.

There's a, a large plan here at hand, and once I changed my mentality

a little bit, I've, um, I really.

Appreciated the journey a lot more.

And I think my family's doing the same thing, uh, once we've slowed

down a little bit and understood that this is something that we're

gonna grow over years and decades.

So, um, I would say that it's been a great investment for our family.

We've, we've become even closer.

We, we talk a lot.

I think that my family has really opened up to us speaking and it's been a really

healthy, healthy thing that we've created.

And that's beautiful.

Any final thoughts?

I guess, owning a resort it's not easy work, but it is rewarding . For me

personally, when guests come, I, they're like an extension of our own family.

I just want to ensure that they have a great time and they

remember the time they have.

Um, that's something that we are really pushing.

Um, one thing I would say to anybody that's that's looking to own a college

resort is, um, never give up because there's days where you, you don't want

to do it anymore, but in the end it is.

Something that is really special because you're in a beautiful place.

You're surrounded by new people, new personalities, it's an

experience that very limited people would be able to have.

So I, I've been very happy and I'm excited to see what's in store.

Thank you, Chris Jagger, neath.

Death for being our guest on episode four of the destination,

Northern Ontario podcast.

Are all of these stories making you seriously think

about buying a cottage resort.

I hope so.

In episode five, we're talking money as in money that could

help you achieve that dream.

Follow us on your favorite podcast platform to be notified when it drops.

In the meantime, why don't you go browse the investment opportunities

that are on the market right now?

You can find them on the new destination, Northern Ontario

investor website at invest dot destination, Northern ontario.ca.

The destination Northern Ontario podcast is produced by storied places, media

and hosted by me, Michelle Samson.