Flower Buds to Nasty Cracks: How some P.E.I. businesses chose their creative names

Islanders have long been known for their creativity and sense of humour, and that is evident in the names of some businesses on P.E.I.

Here are a few of those businesses, and how they came up with their names.

Flower Buds

Flower Buds was a cool name long before cannabis became legal in Canada. But co-owner Vikki Sweeney says now, particularly, some people think it's more than just a flower shop.

Sorry, dude.

"When cannabis became legalized, we would get calls for other plants, you know," Sweeney said with a laugh.

The name has a much more innocent origin. Sweeney and co-owner Sandra Walsh worked together at another flower shop and 13 years ago decided to start their own business.

"We tried everything that we could think of — like Flower Basket, Flower everything — but because we're buddies, we're flower buds, and because we were selling flowers, we thought it was very apropos."

Nasty Cracks

If you're the owner of a business called Nasty Cracks, you must like a good joke.

James Peterson, who has owned the concrete repair business for eight years, certainly does.

On storm days in the winter, he gets a kick out of calling the Ocean 100 storm line and listening for host Kerri-Wynne MacLeod to read the list of closures on air.

"She has to put on the radio that 'Nasty Cracks will not be open today,'" he said with a giggle.

Peterson said the name Nasty Cracks has been an ongoing joke over the years, but he came by the name honestly.

"Just thought of it. You know, some cracks in the walls, and a fella would look at it and say, 'Geez that's a nasty one', and then we thought it should be called Nasty Cracks."

He said he's never had a negative comment about the name, and people often stop and take a picture of the logo on his truck.

"Most people just kind of laugh and chuckle and say, 'Love the name.'"

Just be careful if you Google it.

The Tree Feller and The Branch Manager

For a tree-cutting business, it's tough to beat the names of two on P.E.I. —  The Tree Feller and The Branch Manager. A third, Chainsaw Jim, is pretty clear-cut, as well.

Evan Simpson, who started The Tree Feller about three years ago, said he wanted to come up with something that would stick when people saw his truck drive by.

"My wife and I were brainstorming," he said. "We didn't want 'Evan's Tree Service' or something like that."

Simpson has two other fellers working for him. He said they get lots of comments on the name.

"Usually people get a chuckle out of it."

Jerry Arsenault, owner of The Branch Manager, said his business name came about almost by accident. He said he tried to explain to a guy in a bar one time what an arborist was. He said the guy thought an arborist sounded more like someone who wore a suit and tie and, without realizing the pun, said "Aw, you're just a branch manager."

Voila! He had the name of his business.

"The only downside," Arsenault said, "is that when I call people, they think I work at a bank."

Nimrods'

The actual meaning of nimrod, according to the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, is "a skilled hunter." But that was before Bugs Bunny called inept hunter Elmer Fudd a "nimrod" during a Looney Tunes episode on TV.

Nimrod then became synonymous with, well, someone like Elmer Fudd.

Mikey Wasnidge says when he and Jesse Clausheide launched their first food truck on a whim a couple years ago, they had never worked in a kitchen before and felt a self-deprecating name might cut them some slack with customers' expectations beyond what they could deliver.

"We're not hip, talented chefs, so the name couldn't be hip; it had to be a little irreverent."

He said Clausheide suggested Nimrods' because it was a term of endearment his mother used when he was a kid.

"It was kind of a joke but I just really loved it and it kind of stuck," Wasnidge said. "We thought if we do a good job, we could kind of give a new meaning to this word."

More partners came on board as the business grew from a food truck to a popular pizza shop on the floating dock at Peakes Quay in Charlottetown.

But who is the nimrod?

"We specifically put the apostrophe at the end of the name because we were all nimrods," Wasnidge said. "So there's no one nimrod, it's multiple nimrods."

Buns & Things

Bill DeBlois took over the bakery from his parents Rob and Elaine about three and a half years ago.

When his parents originally purchased the business, it was part of a national franchise called Bun King.

So when they decided to get out of the franchise about 30 years ago and go out on their own, they needed to rename the business.

"The business had expanded from more or less just bread and rolls into other items such as sweets and pastries and that kind of thing so they wanted to describe that in their name."

They also wanted it to have the same ring to it as Bun King, DeBlois said, so they came up with Buns & Things.

The name has stuck — for the most part.

"In typical Island tradition, there are still some people who call us Bun King."

King of Clubs

Franklin Doyle thought about naming his golf shop Ace of Clubs, but the logo just wasn't as attractive as a king holding a golf club instead of sword. 

So, the bridge player and avid golfer says, King of Clubs it was.

He even had the name and logo registered so nobody else could copy it.

That was about 25 years ago. Doyle's son, Brett, who worked at the shop for many years, now runs the business.

"He likes to work and I like to golf, so it works out perfectly," Doyle said while walking down the 18th fairway at Belvedere last week.

Jercules Beef Jerky

When you have a history degree but you're a butcher by trade, it only makes sense to name your beef jerky business after the Greek figure Hercules.

"It was the only way to combine the two," said owner Chris vanOuwerkerk.

Why stop there? His flavours are all named after Greek gods, as well. Hades, for example, is hot and spicy; Aphrodite, of course, is sweet. 

VanOuwerkerk often sets up at the Downtown Farmers' Market on Sundays in Charlottetown. 

He said the name gets a lot of interest, "whether you're a history buff or just someone who likes jerky."

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