Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:01 Good morning, Fort McMurry, wood, Buffalo, and the rest of the world. You've tuned into the Mac city morning show. I am your host, Elliot Pierre. And as per usual, we're going to start this off the same way we always do with a moment of gratitude. I want to thank everybody. Who's watching this either live and or the recording later on. I know you could be doing a million other things with your time, and the fact that you choose to spend with us does mean the world to me
Speaker 1 00:00:25 On that note, Tanner. Oh, she caught me, loves near listen to the next <inaudible>
Speaker 0 00:00:37 Okay. And we're back. All right. These are my favorite type of guests, individuals that I've never met before. Never had a conversation with, I just get excited about these type of guests. So we got a good one today as per usual. I do not introduce my guests because they can do a better job at that than I can. So on that note, sir, can you please tell the people at home who you are and what you're about?
Speaker 2 00:00:59 Hello people at home? I am Gavin yeoman. Um, we, I run the company, our company it's called the chubby group and, uh, we just, uh, we suffered a devastating blow in Fort Mac with the flood and we lost our original Joe's and, uh, almost a year since we closed to date, um, we're opening back up. So we're quite excited to be back operational in the mouth.
Speaker 0 00:01:25 There we go. Nice. Okay. So you kind of threw me for a loop there when you said the chubby group. So what's that about? So you guys own more than one restaurant or more than one thing, like what's the chubby group all about?
Speaker 2 00:01:36 Well, we started, uh, my dad started this, uh, started it with a single franchise in 14, John, um, 26, 28 years ago, w w okay, cool. And so he started growing and, uh, he grew the company until we needed a name and he landed on chubby group. So I inherited a name that I did not quite know what was going on.
Speaker 0 00:02:05 I love it. Okay. So like how many different types of, so you had AWS now you have original Joe's.
Speaker 2 00:02:13 Yeah. So he started that, uh, and then just, we've always, he's always like, had a good, humble approach to business and we started really, he started slow. And so we always like to grow where we can, um, you know, if the market allows us and then we'll buy a store here and there. Yeah. And our goal is just to kind of keep growing year after year. And
Speaker 0 00:02:35 That's awesome. So family business. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:02:38 Well, it's a family business. Um, so I've been running it now for, I've been working in the company for eight years and, uh, been running the, you know, the whole company for the last two years.
Speaker 0 00:02:50 Fantastic man. Great. Your dad obviously has a lot of trust in you.
Speaker 2 00:02:54 A lot of trust, a lot of hard work and dedication yet, an opportunity, you know, a lot of, you know, second Jenner's coming in, you know, I, uh, put my head down and worked and, uh, paid off. So
Speaker 0 00:03:06 That's awesome. Now, is it just you and your dad, or do you have any siblings or other family members help you?
Speaker 2 00:03:11 I have a sister guy and she, she doesn't have, she's a nurse, so she's her own thing and, yeah.
Speaker 0 00:03:18 That's awesome. So how many chains do you think you have at this point?
Speaker 2 00:03:21 AWS and original Joe's yes.
Speaker 0 00:03:24 Nice. I got a question about a and w for you, one of my favorite menu items on a and w was the whistle doc. What happened to the whistle dog, man?
Speaker 2 00:03:35 Well, I believe it wasn't going with, uh, the new beef or the better beef program, uh, and then just didn't fit up to the standards with having a steak on the menu. So I believe that's kind of why, and it wasn't selling very well. It was a few people's popular, right?
Speaker 0 00:03:55 Oh, that makes sense. From a branding standpoint, that actually makes a lot of sense now from the people not buying enough of it. Um, I'm sorry. Ain't w I should have been buying more. It was my favorite thing on the menu. If you bring it back, I promise I will come in and he'd all lot more of the whistle dog. It wasn't my favorite thing. Then
Speaker 2 00:04:15 It was a good one. It was, it sold well in some stores, but in most stores, it didn't
Speaker 0 00:04:20 That's right. That's right. But I think your, your thought process in regards to like their whole branding that they're doing right now. Yeah. It doesn't really hit the Mark. Okay. So now you're up here. We met, uh, at your restaurant here, original Joe's. So tell me a little bit about that place. Like you guys were hit kinda bad by the floody
Speaker 2 00:04:38 Bad by the flood. Um, yeah, we actually only owned the store for two years, so it's pretty new to us. Um, I know after the fires, a lot of things changed in Fort making Marie, and then this happened and other huge devastating blow right. In the midst of COVID it was a gong show to get everything going and restored and, and yeah. Now we're open. We did our friends and family last night, and that was a big success. We had a lot of fun. The kitchen did well in the front did well. And, uh, now the grand opening is today, so we're open to the public today.
Speaker 0 00:05:16 Okay. All right. Well, definitely we'll, uh, we'll promote the crap out of you guys. Uh, Tanner Tanner shouts you guys out all the time. Um, it's his favorite restaurant in town? That's his like cheers, basically. Um, and yeah, we went there last night and it was, it was awesome. The place was packed in regards to like, people were separated. So social distances with all the rules and regulations were followed, but you guys had a decent amount of people in there and your servers were top-notch. Our waitress last night was amazing, man. That is great to hear. Yeah, she, I play this. It's not a game it's just for years, I used to travel on the road. And so I don't pick my own food. Um, just, you know, that's more than I get my waitress to always order my food for me. And it's a surprise when it comes out and she recommended some stuff that I would've never have chosen to eat. And it was incredible. So good job for your waitresses.
Speaker 2 00:06:12 The kitchen does the menu at original Joe's. The franchise does a really good job at picking some great menu items and, and putting a lot of, you know, quality and effort into making it. So we do, like, we have a large extensive prep list every morning. We make all our own sauces and Oh yeah. So the prep and everything that goes into making the food is, is, you know, 50% of the work. So it's a lot of work in the kitchen to the lot of work.
Speaker 0 00:06:41 Nice. Yeah. So in regards to yourself, how long are you going to be in Fort McMurray? Kind of managing the operations?
Speaker 2 00:06:48 Well, uh, if Tina who I've now known, she's a bit of a local story.
Speaker 0 00:06:55 Yeah, she is. Yeah. She is
Speaker 2 00:06:57 Who was running the store before the flood, and then since it's relocated, um, so she's now insured park working with us, but so we don't have a GM, so we didn't have a GM at the time of opening. And, uh, so I thought I ended up my family and I actually moved up here. We rented a house for a month and then we'll probably go home and come back again. Yeah. And coming periodically, we do have it. I do believe we do have a GM now, a guy we've known for a while. And, uh, and we've been, yeah, we've been on him for a while, wanting him to join our team and he finally committed. So we're quite happy.
Speaker 0 00:07:42 Oh, that's awesome, man. Yeah. Big smiles about that. Tatters, given fist pumps over there. I think he knows who this guy might be. I think I do know. Okay. We're not going to blow it up yet. It's not official, so we're not going to drop any names here, but, uh, no, that's good. It's like my background is I'm actually human resources. So I know how hard it is to find, not just individuals, because you don't need a warm body. You need like the skill set to actually do the job. That's not always easy, especially in those managerial roles.
Speaker 2 00:08:11 No, it's not. It's, it's a tough job. Um, we do, we do offer, uh, in our company, we always offer partnerships. So we're not looking for just a GM. We're looking for someone to buy in and be a forever partner with us. Um, and then they own it. So they treat it like it's theirs. And my job is not to come in and teach them or tell them how to run their store. Just, you know, he's going to do it different than I'm going to do it. Right. You know, it doesn't mean one is better than the other. It's just different. So yeah. Hope, uh, you know, we like to throw them in the deep end and see all these women, I think, uh, in this particular situation that's going to be great.
Speaker 0 00:08:51 Okay. Awesome. Now this is a family business you've been helping out probably since you were a child. No doubt about that. Yeah. What's the most interesting job that you've held in this organization?
Speaker 2 00:09:03 Well, uh, I, well, so I w after school, I went to college in Vernon, BC for four years. And then when I was done, it was time to go to work. And, you know, I've never, uh, I've only ever worked for my family business, like never even wanted to have another job. So I got thrown into her and original Joe's and Edson. Um, and I had been dating who's now my wife for, uh, for about two months, she was living in Vancouver. I was living in Vernon and, uh, she was coming to see me on weekends. And then, and then I moved to Edson Alberta,
Speaker 0 00:09:44 Right. And the far move
Speaker 2 00:09:46 Vancouver from burdens North, I went and, uh, she came to visit me there and I had somehow managed to swindler into moving to EDS from Vancouver. Okay. She loves you. And, uh, and then I moved. So in that year I moved. So this was the interesting part of the job is I moved from Edson I'm and then opened our Fort St. John original Joe's location. And then I moved to grand cache and moved like three times in two years. And then I moved to Dawson Creek. So I moved. And then now Edmonton. So the span of three years, uh, I moved like five times.
Speaker 0 00:10:34 So you've had lots of different roles in all these established yeah.
Speaker 2 00:10:37 I've worked at li you know, I started, uh, started in the kitchen and I started from the ground up. Didn't I didn't just get thrown into GM position. I would have been nice.
Speaker 0 00:10:50 Okay. Oh man. She, she loves you to go to the, I've been to all those locations and they're all beautiful. I'm not saying they're not beautiful. Um, they're just very different, obviously from Vancouver. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:11:03 And she's a Montreal girl. Oh, Jesus. She's a city girl. Then she's a big time. City girl loves her hair and makeup. So this was like a huge shift for us. Yeah. Yeah. So it turned out great. It's just a long road getting there. There you go. Now you're
Speaker 0 00:11:22 In Edmonton. So you know what? She's back in the city
Speaker 2 00:11:25 Now. She's quite happy with that. But then I think she'd be happier with Vancouver, but what I'm offered. Exactly. Yeah. You're not in Vancouver. She's going to be happy wherever you are, man.
Speaker 0 00:11:36 Is it all right? We're at the part of the show called the Mac city minute. So this is Tanner segment now. So Tanner is going to ask you some questions. I have no idea what he's going to ask you. Good luck, man. Good luck. Yeah. Tanner hit him with the Mac 80 minute.
Speaker 2 00:11:50 Ready? I'm ready. Let's this question?
Speaker 3 00:11:54 Number one. What is one thing on your O'Jays menu? You think everyone should try? Oh, that's a good one.
Speaker 2 00:12:00 Oh, the Rashada fettuccine. So you had last night bruschetta. Fettuccine. Yeah. It was where you got it. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:12:08 Last night it was a banger. Like I would have never have even thought about ordering that it was literally delicious, best thing I've had on your menu. And I've had a lot of stuff. So, awesome. Banger
Speaker 3 00:12:20 Question number two. What is your favorite menu item on both O'Jays and a and W's menus?
Speaker 2 00:12:28 Um, I like the crispy chicken burger at original Joe's and I eat the chubby chicken burger and legislate. And then, uh, in the last one is the cheddar bacon onco burger. Let us wrap it. W if you're trying to eat healthy, it is, uh, it is great. I am not
Speaker 3 00:12:52 Question number three. How does Fort McMurray compared to having franchises in other places?
Speaker 2 00:12:59 Uh, Fort McMurry is, is, uh, is like I'm new to Fort McMurray, but it is the town that supports local. And we love that. So we try to do the same. That is the kind of the big message I've always heard. So when this open happened in the past, we've kind of got gathered all our equipment and brought it to the location. And, uh, this time we bought, tried to source as much parts and, and resources we could locally. And, and at the friends and family, we had so many local businesses that helped build us, uh, come into our friends and family. That's awesome, man.
Speaker 3 00:13:35 Question number four. What is one thing people might not know about original Joe's?
Speaker 2 00:13:43 Um, it's hard to, you know, you don't know what you don't know, but no, I think original Joseph's is a great food place, you know, it's, uh, it's a pretty easy going place, has great food, um, and have 18 beers on top. So there's lots of variety and
Speaker 3 00:14:00 Good deals on booze. Good
Speaker 2 00:14:02 Deals on booze.
Speaker 3 00:14:04 And your final question. What is one thing about Fort McMurray that you haven't noticed anywhere else?
Speaker 2 00:14:13 That's awesome. I've never seen that every truck have the same Ford or the same sticker in the window to see those Murray stickers in Edmonton. You see him everywhere and it's a, it's a pretty cool thing. There you go.
Speaker 0 00:14:29 That's awesome. Yeah. We, uh, we love those stickers. Like back in the day, it used to be, um, Newfoundland flat, like it was Newfoundland themed. Um, but then after the fire, it was just like, or max strong and every window. Yeah, man. It's a, ah, like, it's a beautiful thing to see. We like, like you said, it's a, it's a community we like to support local. We really like come together. And that deco is just one of the many signs of that. Yeah. Yeah. That's exactly wild. How, how, like this, the city has done together through these tough times. It's crazy. Yeah. We're a, we're a scrappy bunch. No doubt about that. Yeah, man. So, um, before we cut you loose, I want to know just a little bit about, I want you to do a shameless plug of your spot of the original. Joe's tell everybody where you guys are, how will they can get, uh, how they can come down, what the protocol is looking like.
Speaker 0 00:15:24 Let's hear all about original Joe's here and format. So we were right by the save on foods in the elementary school and the hospitals who were right downtown. Um, we have all the plexi glass. So we're at a boat, 80% capacity. There's lots of good ways to social distance, all in all those COVID protocols. Um, and yeah, it's, it's a pretty, it's a, it's certainly an uplifting restaurant compared to what it was. It is looking sharp, sharper than ever. And yeah, come on down. Okay, cool. And you guys are good for staff right now. We got lots of stuff. We're always looking for new stuff. Um, you know, always use some great front of house and kitchen staff. So we're always looking for stuff of course, but we do have enough stuff to get open, which is a bonus. There you go. Perfect. That's awesome.
Speaker 0 00:16:16 All right. Well, I know I had a great experience last night, the food was delicious. I know Tanner lives at your restaurant. You're going to be seeing a lot of him down there. Um, I think you guys knocked it out of the park from food to service, to environment, to safety protocols across the board. It was awesome at so good work where people can come and see me. See my face, say, yeah, nobody gets to see Tanner. And he's all like, he's just the voice. Yeah. If you want to see Tanner, know what he looks like original. Joe's three out of five days of the week. He's probably posted up at the bar. You just need to listen carefully. Cause you won't know what I look like, but you'll know what I sound like. There you go. Awesome, man. Thank you very much for coming in.
Speaker 0 00:16:56 Appreciate it. Just so you know, this is not like a one-time deal. If you want to come back on the show again and again and again now you know what it is. It's just you and me having a conversation. Yeah, man, if you have any, uh, employees too that want to come on the show, I'm excited. Tina Kelly down here. Yeah, let's do. Let's do. Tanner is very excited. It's been bragging about her for weeks. All right. On that note for McMurry wood, Buffalo and the rest of the world. Thank you very much for tuning in to the Mac city morning show. I've been your host Elliot Pierre. And once again, thank you for spending the time with us. I really do appreciate it. Have a great day and we'll see you tomorrow. Peace.
Speaker 1 00:17:34 I just dies at desk another maximum morning. Show dog.
Speaker 0 00:17:51 Talk about quenching your ugly thirst.
