Every New Markets Review produces six things. Here is a complete set, start to finish, so you know exactly what lands in your inbox.
Read this first: Tidewater Sushi Co. is not a real business.
We invented a sushi restaurant in a Nanaimo shopping centre so we could publish a complete review without redacting a real client’s supplier list, margins, or contracts. The business is fictional. Everything else is real — the tariff facts, the research method, the analysis, and the six deliverables are exactly what a paying client receives. Nothing here is blurred out, because there is nothing to protect.
Most agencies show you a testimonial and ask you to imagine the rest. We would rather just show you the work. If you read the sample review below and think “this is thin”, do not buy the review. If you read it and think “I did not know my takeout containers were taxed at 50%”, that is the point.
Canada’s counter-tariffs came into force on 8 September 2026. They are live now, and the talks that might have prevented them have broken down. The US Section 338 measure has been in force since 22 August 2026. Both halves of the problem are real costs on this quarter’s invoices, not a forecast.
Last reviewed 10 September 2026.
The Six Deliverables
1. The written review
The core document. A deep research pass over your business and your sector, then a human review against the actual tariff schedules to correct what the model got wrong. It covers direct and indirect exposure, an eventualities matrix scored by likelihood and impact, immediate steps, and a costed menu of what we would build.
It answers two questions, not one. What are the tariffs costing you? And which markets outside the United States would buy what you make? The second half names specific countries and channels, and what it would take to reach them.
Read the complete sample review → — unredacted, the full thing.
2. A private NotebookLM knowledge base
A Google NotebookLM notebook grounded in your own material — your website, supplier invoices, catalogues, contracts — alongside the review and the current US and Canadian tariff schedules. It is yours to keep. Your team asks it questions in plain language and can check the source of every answer.
For Tidewater, that means someone can ask “which of our packaging lines are US-made?” or “what did the cheese surtax do to our roll margins?” and get an answer grounded in the restaurant’s own invoices rather than the open internet.
3. A slide deck
Built for the conversation you have to have with a partner, a lender, a landlord, or a management team. The review is for reading; the deck is for presenting. It covers the macro-to-micro chain, the tariff timeline, a risk heatmap, the strategic pivot, and a phased implementation roadmap with hour estimates.
4. A one-page infographic
The whole picture on a single page: timeline, risks, mitigations, and the service menu with estimated hours. This is the one that goes on the wall of the back office, or into an email to someone who will not read eleven slides.
5. A video overview
A narrated walkthrough of the findings. Useful for getting a team aligned without scheduling a meeting, and for the people in your business who will absorb this better watching than reading.
6. An audio overview
The same findings as a conversational audio briefing you can listen to in the car or on the line. Several of the owners we have spoken to say this is the one they actually consumed first.
What the Sample Analysis Actually Found
The headline: it is not the fish
The obvious assumption about a sushi restaurant is that its tariff exposure is seafood. We checked that first, and it is wrong. Fish and seafood are not on Canada’s counter-tariff list, and fish is explicitly excluded from the US Section 338 measure.
Ask a general-purpose AI about tariffs and a sushi restaurant and it will almost certainly lead with salmon. It would be leading with the one input that is fine. This is what we mean when we say the tooling is not the product and the judgment is.
Where the exposure actually is
Tidewater does not export a single thing to the United States. It is a sushi counter in a Canadian mall. It is still exposed on three fronts, and the owner would not obviously have spotted any of them:
- Its takeout packaging is captured at 50%. Canada’s counter-tariffs, in force since 8 September 2026, cover US-origin cartons, boxes, bags and other packing containers at 50%, and plastic tableware and kitchenware at 50%. That is a cost on every single order the restaurant fills.
- Its cream cheese is captured at 25%. Cheese and curd are on the list at 25%, and concentrated milk and cream at 50%. Cream cheese runs through a large share of a modern roll menu, and nobody costs it as a tariff-exposed input.
- Its landlord’s foot traffic is the real structural risk. Broader economic pressure from the 50% US measure reduces discretionary mall spending across Vancouver Island. A restaurant entirely dependent on walk-ins has its revenue tied to somebody else’s traffic.
The eventualities matrix
| Eventuality | Likelihood | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Packaging & container cost spike (50%) | High | Critical |
| Shopping-centre foot-traffic dip | High | High |
| Dairy input increases (25–50%) | High | Moderate |
| Shift in consumer demand to value items | Medium | Moderate |
| Equipment replacement inflation | Low–Medium | Low |
| Seafood price increases — assessed and ruled out | Low | Low |
What we would build
| Tool | Why | Est. hours |
|---|---|---|
| Supply chain & ingredient cost analyzer | Tags every input by country of origin and flags recipe prices before they hit profit | 12–18 |
| Local SEO, website & direct ordering | Captures local sales and avoids third-party app commissions | 20–30 |
| B2B catering acquisition tool | Builds predictable revenue independent of foot traffic | 15–22 |
| InfiniteUp Tasks deployment | Centralizes kitchen prep, schedules, and stock checks | 10–15 standard 25–35 custom |
Note what the menu is not: it is not four things we happen to sell. Two of the four are about finding revenue that does not depend on the mall, because for this particular business that is the more durable answer than shaving costs.
For a business that ships a product rather than serving walk-ins, the same logic points outward instead. The review names the countries that already buy what you make, and that work sits beside the cost analysis rather than after it.
Get your own
Same six deliverables, built for your business, starting within 48 hours. And before you spend anything, check the $7.5 billion in federal support you may already qualify for — we do not run those programs and take nothing from them.
Start your New Markets Review →
Related
- The complete sample review for Tidewater Sushi Co.
- Where else in the world would buy this?
- How to apply for tariff remission
- Tariff support programs for Canadian businesses
Tidewater Sushi Co. is a fictional business created for demonstration. Any resemblance to a real restaurant is unintended. The tariff facts referenced are accurate as of 10 September 2026 and sourced from Finance Canada and published legal analysis; they can change with little notice. This is operational guidance, not legal, customs, or tax advice.