100,000 emails later, Farmer's Daughter still gets inquiries about free land and job offer

The email account of a store and bakery in rural Cape Breton that offered free land and a job to people willing to work there continues to be flooded with new inquiries.

This week, the number of queries hit 100,000, said one of the co-owners of the Farmer's Daughter in Whycocomagh, N.S.

In August, siblings Sandee MacLean and Heather Coulombe posted a job ad online that noted successful applicants would receive two acres of land on the condition they work at the store for five years.

"It's gone way beyond what we ever imagined," Coulombe told CBC's Information Morning Cape Breton.

More employees needed

Even though the sisters have hired three full-time employees, all from B.C., about 500 emails arrive daily, she said.

In addition to the original hires, Coulombe said the business has hired somebody from Edmonton who will begin working at Farmer's Daughter in the spring. She said the business is looking to hire an additional three or four people so it can keep up with growing demand for its products.

Oatcakes in particular are selling like hotcakes.

The bakery was forced to significantly reduce its shipments to Sobeys this summer since it was doing more business at the Whycocomagh store, likely due to all of the media attention, said Coulombe.

By hiring more staff in the new year, she expects to be able to meet orders from Sobeys of any size.

The widespread media attention has made the store a popular spot, with some people dropping in to have selfies taken with the owners, said Coulombe. She said some people visiting from Greece and Scotland even came into the store and told her they'd heard about the business's unique job offer.

Farmer's Daughter documentary?

Coulombe said a television documentary series may be in the works about the store and the people they've hired.

"We've had 10 different TV producers approach us. We've been in negotiations to follow our people as they build their off-the-grid home up on our land," she said.

Ironically, the offer of free land for a job was never a marketing ploy, said Coulombe.

"We were desperately in need of people," she said, adding she and her sister were "panicking" over where they would find employees when the summer students went back to school in September.

Coulombe said they expected maybe 100 responses to the job posting and were hoping they might find a couple of people suited for the job.