Two local entrepreneurs shared the stories of their longstanding businesses that have stood the test of time.
Rick Suche, CEO of Fort Garry Fire Trucks, and Gary Dealey, founder and CEO of Big Deal Custom Cases, provided entrepreneurial insights based on decades of experience at a recent WTC Talks outing. The Oct. 16 networking event, hosted by World Trade Centre Winnipeg and sponsored by BDC, drew a crowd to Kilter Brewing Co. to listen to the business owners speak about their journeys.
More than a century ago, Fort Garry Fire Industries got its start as a tire repair shop called Fort Garry Tire and Vulcanizing located in the back alley between Fort and Garry streets.
In 1979, Rick Suche expanded the company’s offerings by adding fire apparatus to its product line. Over the following decades, the company continued to grow with custom-built pumpers, aerial ladders, water delivery tankers and more.
In 2008, Suche sold his shares in Fort Garry Industries but retained ownership of its fire apparatus division — and he renamed the bustling business Fort Garry Fire Trucks. In 2013, the company moved to a new facility in CentrePort where it continues to thrive.

Today, Fort Garry Fire Trucks is the largest fire apparatus manufacturer in Canada, and the local business supplies fire departments across North America and beyond.
“We export worldwide. We’ve got trucks in Africa, China, South America. One of our largest customers is United Arab Emirates. We’ve got over 50 trucks in U.A.E. We do a lot of export. I just got an order today for a truck in New York, two trucks in Springfield and four trucks in Winnipeg — so it was a good day today,” Suche said, eliciting laughter from the crowd.
Meanwhile, Gary Dealey began his foray into his business in 1976. At the time, he was touring as a technician for well-known musicians including Pat Benatar, Trooper and Burton Cummings. He noticed that equipment cases would often get damaged during the tours, and he was determined to find a solution by building more durable cases.
He had been working as a storeman loading boxcars at CPR railway, and on the side, he was making cases for his friends in the music business. A lighting company was looking for a technician, and he landed the job.
“One day, I was in the steel gantry of the CPR and the next day I was in a plane flying over it to going to Vancouver for a Burton Cummings tour,” Dealey said.
“When I would get back from the tour, I would make lamp cases for the lighting equipment and then I would go back on the road again.”
One day on the tour bus, someone asked him what he planned to do with his life.
“I said ‘I’m going to make boxes’ —and that’s what I’ve done,” he said. “So it worked out well.”
Initially, Dealey worked out of his basement and garage until he eventually rented a shop on Jarvis Avenue as his business hub. Now the company’s facility on Durand Road spans 20,000 square feet.

“I took what was a part-time job into a full-time job,” he said. “It was quite simple to do — I just kept making boxes.”
Since then, Big Deal Custom Cases has expanded its client base to also include professional sports teams, the RCMP, the Canadian military and medical equipment companies. His cases are truly out of this world, since NASA is also a client. Exports now make up about half of the business.
With a growth mindset, Big Deal Custom Cases usually puts out about 1,500 cases per year — and Dealey is preparing for an even bigger order ahead.
“I’ve got an order right now for 4,000 cases,” he said. “I don’t know how the hell I’m going to do it, but I’ll take the order and say yes.”
Looking back on when Fort Garry Fire Trucks first started exporting, Suche said it was challenging to not know what he was getting into.
“It was a scary, scary thing,” he said. “Was it going to work? Were we going to get paid? … It was a very big learning experience.”
Today, about 10 per cent of their products are exported outside of Canada, while the remainder is shipped across Canada.
“We’ve been trying to grow our business by 10 per cent a year,” Suche added. “Our biggest problem is finding people that want to get trained.”
He recently hired a dozen Ukrainian newcomers — and in addition to training them for their job, he’s also running English classes two evenings per week.
For other aspiring entrepreneurs, Suche encourages them to look for opportunities and not be afraid to try.

“If you want to do something, take a chance,” he said. “And if doesn’t work out, then try it again and again and again until you get it.”
Likewise, Dealey offered similar advice.
“You can’t be afraid to fail. You’ve got to just keep doing it until you get it right — and that’s not always easy,” he says. “And you’ve got to have a happy customer. If you don’t have a happy customer, you have nothing.”