A Brief History of Driver Dave

My name is Dave Wolpin. I’m the guy that started Driver Dave’s in Halifax. As a student, I realized there was a huge market for safe, friendly, trusted and affordable transportation to the Halifax Stanfield International Airport. The system was broken and I knew how to build a new one.

I took courses at Dalhousie and King’s and graduated in 2010 with a degree in Political Science. I was born and raised in Hampton, New Brunswick, which is 40 km outside Saint John. As a child, I loved to grow food. This passion sowed the seed of my future. I started by selling rhubarb and berries, then had chickens and sold eggs from my driveway. At age 11, I started working at a seasonal farm market in my hometown and worked my way to management by the time I was 18 years old. While at university, I managed the market from April to October, commuting in the spring and fall. I also started a farm called Dave’s Produce Packs that offers a weekly box program in Southern NB. While I took classes at university, I was equally hyperactive. I did snow removal, helped landlords with property management and drove everyone I knew and everyone they knew to the airport and back.

Once I finished school, I expanded my farm, bought the market that I had been managing and built Driver Dave’s into the business it is today. Recently, I added 8000 square feet to the market, making it into a year-round grocery store that features the best of everything Maritime grown, creates unbelievable food in the commercial kitchen, butchery and bakery and boasts the largest organic produce selection in the Maritimes. My store exists as a host to the products of the region. I want my grocery store to be the catalyst to develop and create a regionally specific atlantic solution for grocery distribution that both inspires agricultural excellence and cultivates culinary culture. But this doesn’t have anything to do with Driver Dave’s…yet.

I won’t go into detail just yet, but I have some pretty cool ideas to take student services to a whole new level in Halifax. I loved my time in Halifax, but think about the aspects of student life that are unreasonably challenging or inconvenient. I have experienced them and I have solutions. Ultimately, if there are any entrepreneurial grads out there who have raw horsepower and integrity, it would be a good idea for us to have a conversation because my projects require more hands and minds than mine.