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TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
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[00:00] SPEAKER_00: It's Edmonton's Podcast on the Canada's Podcast Network.
[00:10] Speaker UNKNOWN: Music
[00:16] SPEAKER_01: Hello, this is Mario Toneguzi coming to you today with Edmonton's Podcast, a member of Canada's Podcast Network,
[00:23] SPEAKER_01: where we talk to the entrepreneurs who are making it happen in Edmonton, Alberta.
[00:27] SPEAKER_01: So you can listen, discover and engage.
[00:31] SPEAKER_01: Today's guest is Todd Rutger, owner of Acapella catering at Edmonton.
[00:36] SPEAKER_01: Thanks for joining us today, Todd.
[00:38] SPEAKER_01: You're very welcome. I'm pleased to be here.
[00:41] SPEAKER_01: Tell us a little bit about Acapella and what it is and how it got started.
[00:47] SPEAKER_00: So I started quite a long time ago.
[00:50] SPEAKER_00: I'm actually, I think I'm in my 30 second year of being in business.
[00:56] SPEAKER_00: So while I was attending University of Alberta here in Edmonton, I worked at the Students Union bar called Room at the Pop.
[01:04] SPEAKER_00: And after I graduate, during that time, I really enjoyed the food and beverage industry,
[01:11] SPEAKER_00: even though that isn't necessarily what I was studying in school, but I became very interested in the industry.
[01:17] SPEAKER_00: And even before having graduated, I decided that that's what I would like to do.
[01:24] SPEAKER_00: So upon graduating, I kept working at that bar among other restaurants.
[01:30] SPEAKER_00: I was sort of gaining as much knowledge as I could by working for other organizations.
[01:35] SPEAKER_00: But I opened up a pizza stand in a rat room at the top.
[01:39] SPEAKER_00: And that sort of started the food service part of my business.
[01:45] SPEAKER_00: And that quickly sort of evolved into a cafe.
[01:50] SPEAKER_00: So I moved locations and started a cafe.
[01:53] SPEAKER_00: Painting became pretty quickly an important part of the sales profile out of the cafe.
[01:59] SPEAKER_00: And in fact, it outstretched restaurant sales within a couple of years.
[02:05] SPEAKER_00: And so in 91, I made the decision to move exclusively into catering and pose the restaurant and move to a warehouse and converted it.
[02:13] SPEAKER_01: I mean, the rest is history.
[02:16] SPEAKER_01: How has the catering business been these days?
[02:18] SPEAKER_01: It's been tough times in Alberta for the last five years.
[02:23] SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, I mean, a lot of people don't believe this when I tell them,
[02:28] SPEAKER_00: but we've actually experienced particularly in the last year, you're in a half.
[02:32] SPEAKER_00: We've experienced unprecedented growth.
[02:35] SPEAKER_00: So we've been doing really, really well.
[02:38] SPEAKER_00: I mean, we're kind of waiting for the glove to drop because I don't, I mean, we can't grow forever.
[02:43] SPEAKER_00: But the last 18 months have been between 20 and 30% growth year over.
[02:48] SPEAKER_00: So we've actually been doing really, really well.
[02:51] SPEAKER_00: What do you think that's been happening?
[02:55] SPEAKER_00: It's a really good question.
[02:56] SPEAKER_00: I think it's, it's a couple of different things a couple of years ago.
[03:00] SPEAKER_00: We really made it, made an effort to upgrade.
[03:04] SPEAKER_00: Certainly our image, but to, to evolve with sort of this new foodie trend going on in the food culture in Edmonton.
[03:14] SPEAKER_00: And we enhanced our presentation and a lot of different sort of menu items.
[03:19] SPEAKER_00: And we think that that increased our relevancy.
[03:23] SPEAKER_00: And, you know, gave us a little bit more of an inside track on getting new business.
[03:28] SPEAKER_00: But the main, the main thing was is we've, we've actually started actively selling.
[03:35] SPEAKER_00: So I don't know that many of my competitors do that.
[03:39] SPEAKER_00: And so I think that that's made a really big difference.
[03:42] SPEAKER_00: But I mean, overall, we've got, you know, we're very passionate about what we do.
[03:45] SPEAKER_00: And we relentlessly tried to deliver the best that we possibly can.
[03:49] SPEAKER_00: I think it's going off in the last few years anyhow.
[03:52] SPEAKER_00: What are the benefits of doing business in Edmonton?
[03:56] SPEAKER_00: It's a good question. And, you know, if you look at the benefits doing Edmonton compared to Calgary, for example, I think I mean, I'm not, I don't live in Calgary and I don't operate there.
[04:07] SPEAKER_00: But Edmonton has got a pretty diverse economy.
[04:11] SPEAKER_00: And I think that that's certainly in my business that's been really important to us to withstand, you know, downturn and oil prices and that sort of thing.
[04:20] SPEAKER_00: Edmonton's got a sort of a very robust arts community.
[04:26] SPEAKER_00: The provincial government is here. So there's obviously a significant amount of food service requirement associated with that.
[04:34] SPEAKER_00: Additionally, we've got a very sort of, you know, higher per capita post secondary institution, sort of rare than their cities.
[04:45] SPEAKER_00: So I think that that sector is important to us.
[04:50] SPEAKER_00: You know, we're kind of a healthcare center certainly for Northern Alberta and Northern Canada.
[04:54] SPEAKER_00: So there's a bit more healthcare than you would expect going on and all of those industries are important to Edmonton's economy.
[05:01] SPEAKER_00: And obviously the energy sector.
[05:04] SPEAKER_00: But I think our economy is less dependent on the energy sector or certainly my part of the economy than all those other things.
[05:11] SPEAKER_01: What about sort of the challenges these days of doing business in Edmonton?
[05:17] SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm going to talk about the other side of my mouth now and that is that with the cyclical nature of energy prices that obviously that's obviously a concern.
[05:29] SPEAKER_00: Notwithstanding what I said about a relatively diverse economy, obviously when the energy sector drops it does hurt people.
[05:37] SPEAKER_00: And I would say that that's a disadvantage. I mean, if Edmonton weren't so or our economy generally weren't so tied to one sector, obviously you would be an easier place to do business because then you would have more methodical growth.
[05:50] SPEAKER_00: You wouldn't have, you know, substantial drops.
[05:53] SPEAKER_00: I would say that that would be a disadvantage of operating in Alberta for sure.
[05:57] SPEAKER_01: Okay, what are you most excited about the business these days and what's your vision for it for the future?
[06:05] SPEAKER_00: Well, we've got a bunch of things on the go right now.
[06:08] SPEAKER_00: The main thing that I've been working on for almost a couple of years now or a year and a half is we've launched a food truck, which on the surface doesn't really sound like that big of a deal.
[06:22] SPEAKER_00: But we did it to enhance our brand and to sort of bring us into a place of relevancy in the industry because it is sort of a trendy cool thing to do.
[06:36] SPEAKER_00: But what it's done is that it's we we created a really interesting thoughtful sort of on trend menu that the food concept has been extremely well received by everyone who's who's had the food.
[06:49] SPEAKER_00: And it is a departure for us. It's kind of based on on smoke meat.
[06:55] SPEAKER_00: It's called curbside is the name of the truck and I want to take that curbside food concept and bring it into more more retail offering.
[07:06] SPEAKER_00: So for example, that food courts or or other sort of small installations of food service to use that food concept.
[07:14] SPEAKER_00: I think is a real is a real opportunity for us because the food is so well received.
[07:20] SPEAKER_00: That's the main thing that we're working on.
[07:22] SPEAKER_01: As an entrepreneur, what has been your biggest challenge in the business?
[07:28] SPEAKER_00: Well, I mean, you know, overall, I think, you know, and again, it goes back to the type of economy that we have in Alberta.
[07:36] SPEAKER_00: And that is, I'd say, you know, when we get into those intense boom cycles where there's labor shortages, that's, that's pretty challenging.
[07:47] SPEAKER_00: You know, when it's when it's when it's difficult to get workers and the ones that you do are not particularly motivated because of the position they are in that is their, you know, they're in high demand.
[07:58] SPEAKER_00: And so, so I think that that that's a challenging scenario.
[08:03] SPEAKER_00: But on the other hand, we have counter that by by treating our people extremely well.
[08:10] SPEAKER_00: And you know, our goal is to have in the highest paid in the industry.
[08:15] SPEAKER_00: Full benefits, all that sort of thing. So our retention strategies are good, but in the boom bus cycle, we do get hit during the groups.
[08:24] SPEAKER_00: For sure, I'd say that's the most challenging. I've had in the last 12, 10 or 15 years.
[08:30] SPEAKER_01: Okay, super. I'm going to go into some sort of personal type questions here Todd.
[08:36] SPEAKER_01: If you were looking at, you know, inspiration, where do your ideas come from?
[08:44] SPEAKER_01: And like what kind of things do you do to get inspired, I guess, that are outside of outside of the business environment?
[08:56] SPEAKER_00: Well, that's there's kind of there's two different. I mean, I take that question in two different ways.
[09:02] SPEAKER_00: One thing that I do is that I find is where I really get a lot of thinking done and I come up with ideas and I and I think ideas through and and.
[09:13] SPEAKER_00: And you know, kind of conceptualize plans is is I I go on really long walks.
[09:20] SPEAKER_00: And what I do is I actually walk home, doing from work. I certainly don't have time to do that all the time, but I do it as often as I can.
[09:27] SPEAKER_00: It's quite a long walk. It's an hour and a half. Oh, wow.
[09:30] SPEAKER_00: And that a I'm getting a little fitness in, which is important to me, but your mind can really when you're you're walking, you don't really have to think about anything. It's not even like when you're driving.
[09:41] SPEAKER_00: So I find that I can really the brain really starts to work and I can come up with some either solutions to problems or brand new ideas and a lot of my what I think have been significant sort of plans or ideas.
[09:57] SPEAKER_00: And what I think is that we've moved on here at Akkapella have come during those moments, how's it going along hikes. That's a longer thing. I do winter back country scheme.
[10:06] SPEAKER_00: Same kind of thing.
[10:07] SPEAKER_00: And then the other part of the other way to answer that question, where do I get inspired is whenever I'm going to a restaurant or going on holidays and constantly looking at.
[10:17] SPEAKER_00: You know, other food, other cultures, how different people interpret different, you know, recipes and menu items. So that's always an inspiration. I bring that stuff back.
[10:27] SPEAKER_01: Well, that's cool. What about advice that you have for people like, first of all, like, what's the best piece of advice you've ever received for for being an entrepreneur.
[10:40] SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, I saw I knew that you asked that question and I thought about it. And I think the answer might surprise you because the advice that I got was actually negative advice that I acted on the opposite.
[10:53] SPEAKER_00: Okay.
[10:54] SPEAKER_00: So long time ago when I was struggling, I mentioned some of the early versions of Akkapella was a pizza stand and then a restaurant.
[11:00] SPEAKER_00: Well, everybody knows how notoriously difficult the restaurant businesses and mine was certainly no exception. And in fact, I was told by my bank to close the business down because in his my bank and my account manager in my account manager's mind, the cash flow and the financial reality, the business was so dire that his recommendation was for me to close the business.
[11:27] SPEAKER_00: And I also had a real minor investor, like a couple thousand dollars and I hadn't reneged but I was late on paying that person and he, he told me the same thing.
[11:40] SPEAKER_00: He told me I should just quit while I was ahead, get a job and move on with my life.
[11:44] SPEAKER_00: Those that moment had happened around the same time in that moment, I completely dug in and said, oh yeah, is that that's your advice? Well, just just watch.
[11:54] SPEAKER_00: And so I mean, it inspired me to dig deeper and do better and I've never looked at it.
[12:02] SPEAKER_01: So if you weren't doing it, if you did take that advice and ended the business, what do you think you'd be doing today?
[12:09] SPEAKER_00: Well, I don't know. I mean, that's really tough. I mean, I, I've always, I've always thought I would back when I was in university, I always thought I would like to be a journalist and I still am quite engaged with media and I find it really interesting. I wouldn't be surprised if I was a journalist.
[12:25] SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay, bad timing for this these days.
[12:29] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no kidding. No, okay, well, I don't think I think now my career path is pretty well set.
[12:34] SPEAKER_01: Okay, so everybody has a bucket list, a personal bucket list these days. What sits the top yours?
[12:42] SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, that's a, that's a good question.
[12:46] SPEAKER_00: You know, I really obviously might, you know, my family is extremely important to me and sort of continue to sort of grow with my family and, and you know, do interesting things is always going to be my, my priority.
[13:03] SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm also, I'm 57, so I'm also looking to retirement. So I've got some ideas about what that might look like.
[13:12] SPEAKER_00: A lot easier said than done when you're, you know, quite involved with the, with business. So those are, those are bucket list items, get myself in a position where I can, where I can exit the company.
[13:25] SPEAKER_01: Do you read, do you read any books or I do anything you're reading right now that's caught your attention?
[13:31] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the, the Marrow thieves is a real good book. I can't recall the author, but it was, I think it was a government generals and word winner and it's a Canadian book. It's, it's fantastic.
[13:44] SPEAKER_00: Books I read in the past precious cargo, another Canadian book, excellent book. Anything by Malcolm Gladwell is always thought provoking, you know, and important, I think.
[13:57] SPEAKER_01: Okay, then if you had one word to pick to describe yourself, what would it be and why?
[14:03] SPEAKER_00: Well, I don't, I mean, I, I, I suppose perseverance is probably an important attribute that I have.
[14:15] SPEAKER_00: So, you know, I would say determined would probably be a pretty good word. I mean, I, you know, I gave a the anecdote about being told I shouldn't pursue business and, and I did and, and I'm, and I'm really glad I did.
[14:28] SPEAKER_00: In fact, if I were giving advice in business, that would be my number one piece of advice would be to just keep on, keep on working hard and digging deep because you get better and you learn.
[14:39] SPEAKER_01: Outside of Edmonton, is there any particular place in the, in the world that you like to visit travel to spend some time at?
[14:47] SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah, I, you know, I was thinking about this because I actually do travel quite a bit.
[14:53] SPEAKER_00: And I think my favorite city on earth is still Manhattan. I think it's just a tremendous city and super interesting and I love, I love being there.
[15:03] SPEAKER_00: But opposite of that, I love the west coast of Canada. I, I sail a lot. And in fact, I had a boat on the west coast for 10 years and, and you know, the remote regions basically between say, the Nino and then North all the way up to Alaska is absolutely the most stunning, beautiful, interesting terrain and landscape I've ever seen.
[15:28] SPEAKER_01: That we're all creatures of habit. I'm wondering if you have a daily routine that you follow each and every day.
[15:36] SPEAKER_00: I'd say when I'm working, if I'm in all these obvious things different, when I'm working, I, I like to get up fairly early and I like to, you know, drink coffee, read my emails, kind of collect my thoughts for the day.
[15:48] SPEAKER_00: And then I, I ride my bike to work often. So I'll ride my bike to work with I also find quite stimulating. It's kind of fun to travel right through the city. And then, and then I kind of hit work and I usually have two or three projects or tasks on the go and I'll kind of chip away at each of them and, and either equal amounts of time or what I feel is a priority.
[16:12] SPEAKER_00: And then I go home and do things with my family.
[16:16] SPEAKER_01: Okay, we're going to end this, Todd with a kind of a strange kind of unique question.
[16:23] SPEAKER_01: So just imagine this scenario that we're going to drop you off at a tropical island somewhere in the middle of the ocean, nowhere.
[16:31] SPEAKER_01: And it only has one phone booth there. No technology whatsoever. So no internet, no phone access.
[16:39] SPEAKER_01: At any time you can access that phone and call us and we're going to come and pick you up a couple of things. How long is it going to take you to make that phone call?
[16:50] SPEAKER_01: And what do you think you'd be doing on that island while you were there?
[16:54] SPEAKER_00: Would I have, would I have anything? But I had, could I bring some books or?
[16:58] SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, you can be good. Just no technology.
[17:00] SPEAKER_00: Okay. Well, I can, you know what? I would look at that as a great opportunity.
[17:06] SPEAKER_00: And I mean, I'm often back in university, I took an art course and really liked it.
[17:13] SPEAKER_00: So I might do some, some visual arts and painting. I've always, I mentioned my interest in journalism.
[17:19] SPEAKER_00: I probably do some writing, perhaps reading, get fit.
[17:26] SPEAKER_00: I think I could last quite a long time. I mean, I, I think I probably missed my family, but they were there. I could probably hang out for a very long time.
[17:34] SPEAKER_01: Okay, excellent. Now, is there anything you'd like to add before you leaving us today, Todd?
[17:39] SPEAKER_00: No, I, you know, only that it's been a really interesting career for me. And, and, you know, there's never been a day and over 30 years of business where I wasn't highly motivated.
[17:51] SPEAKER_00: And I think most entrepreneurs would say the same thing because kind of the, the buck stops with you and, and, and therefore, you know, I'm always inspired and I, that's what I love about it.
[18:04] SPEAKER_01: Okay, great. Thanks for joining us today, Todd.
[18:08] SPEAKER_01: Hey there. Thanks for taking the time today to listen to Edmonton's podcast on Canada's podcast network.
[18:16] SPEAKER_01: We hope you enjoyed the show today. Make sure you sign up for our newsletters and write a review for us on iTunes and then connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, at Canada's podcast.
[18:29] SPEAKER_01: You can also check out what other entrepreneurs are doing across the country. See you next time.
