Host (00:05)
you ready to start? cheers. I got my craft 42 beans in here.

Jeff (00:06)
Cheers.

very nice.

Host (00:09)
you got an interesting life story you saying.

Jeff (00:12)
Yeah. Yeah. Where do you want to start?

Host (00:14)
Well, I always like to know if you're from the area. Oh, wow. Let's start there.

Jeff (00:17)
No, from Winnipeg originally.

Sure. So I actually grew up in a manufacturing plant. My grandfather was ⁓ zinc and aluminum die cast manufacturer where we also did electroplating and powder coating.

Host (00:30)
Z

Jeff (00:36)
finishing of certain metals like for sports events like we did the Pan Am game metals and I started working for him when I was 10, 11 years old so like 86, 87 and he had several manufacturing plants before that and so he was an inventor and an electrician and ⁓

Host (00:45)
you

Jeff (00:54)
I was the oldest grandson, or grandchild. My mom's the oldest of five. So I was kind of like attached to his leg very early. I spent the first 24 years of my life hanging out with my grandfather.

Host (01:04)
Wow

Jeff (01:05)
They had a cabin in Lake of the Woods where we went sailing. I started sailing when I was born, you know. so it was close to Kenora, about two drive east of Winnipeg. We still have the cabin to this day.

I haven't been there in long time though, but ⁓ it's pretty much the most beautiful place.

⁓

He invented this part that was a, it's a window lock on windows and window crank. But the first one was a lock when he called it the cam lock. And when he made this part, like I was about, I think I was about 10 years old.

and the entire, spent the whole summer down at the cabin. So this experimental part would have to be, I'd have to like pretend that I was opening and closing it or just opening and closing this part over and over. And every time I hit a hundred, I'd click it once.

Host (01:46)
Yeah.

Jeff (01:50)
So I did it a million times over a summer, something like that. And he kept playing with the part and reshaping it. was using epoxy and stuff like that and grinding stuff off and he's doing this and doing And it ended up becoming his like number one seller to kick off his company when he reinvented himself late eighties. He had a company prior to that. It was a really huge company.

Host (01:53)
Yeah.

in the 80s.

Jeff (02:14)
I can't remember how many employees. I'd say maybe 40 or 50 employees maybe. And that was wire drawing machines, so they were

making nuts and bolts. The place just went bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. But I was very young then. I was like four years old. I don't remember it very much, but I still remember the smell more than anything.

That's pretty much where my whole life was around. It was the cabin and then working at my grandfather's shop. So I spent all of that time there. And you know, one of his biggest rules was to be your own master, your own, have your own business, find your passion. So that's like when things really started for me. That's when things completely changed in my life. So my 24th birthday, I packed my bags.

and I left Winnipeg. And I actually wanted to do stand-up comedy and act. And I was going to go to New York City. But I kind of ran out of gas in Ottawa, so... Well, I didn't have enough. Gotcha. Yeah. I'd have to like drive across the border with my car and then sell my car in New York City and then just go for it.

Host (03:01)
literally

Yeah.

Jeff (03:13)
Well,

that didn't happen. So I just stayed in Ottawa and I stayed there for two and a half years and started to do so I was 24 and I Drove straight Like I left Winnipeg at 3 in the morning and I got into Ottawa at 6 in the morning 24 hours later

Host (03:19)
Okay.

And did you know anybody in auto?

Jeff (03:34)
I had a friend that I went to high school with actually and I called him from a phone. June 27th, 2000 from parliament.

Host (03:39)
Hey.

Still.

Jeff (03:47)
And I was like, hey, Rich, how's it going? he's like, what the hell is going on? Why does it say a payphone is calling? I'm like, Parliament Hill, right? What are you doing? He's like, holy So he gives me his address. And it was actually about five minutes away from there, which was great. And then I rolled up there, and he was actually a chef.

Host (03:52)
I'm

I'm up right now.

perfect.

Jeff (04:06)
So he went to culinary school while I was working for the family business. But I always loved cooking. Always loved cooking. And you know, I used to, I was a big social butterfly. So I threw a lot of parties in high school and stuff like that. It's actually where the Chefry came from.

It's a story, it's really funny. I was 15, 16 I think. I think I was 16. And yeah, I was in grade 11. And we're at this party. Everybody's in the pool, living room, everywhere. And I was cooking again in the kitchen. And you know, it's high school, so whenever there's some, somebody brought some pot out. And they were looking for one of those grinders.

Host (04:32)
you

Jeff (04:45)
to.

crush all the weed. And they were spending so much time doing it but I was cooking in the kitchen I was like just give me that thing so I just took this big bud of weed and I just chopped it up with my knife and then the joint got rolled and then it starts getting passed around and there's this good friend of mine Jane and she's having a big puff of the thing and she goes you're jacked.

and you're like a chef.

You're like, Shafri.

Host (05:14)
And the name.

Jeff (05:18)
literally stuck immediately and it was a nickname of mine but I wasn't cooking. I was working for the family business, you know, but it was just always a passion of mine. I just always loved cooking. And

Yeah, it just stuck and it's pretty hilarious how the whole thing, you know, kind of panned out. yeah, and then I ended up turning it into my company 10 years ago now.

Host (05:31)
of foreshadowing.

Wow.

So we got a, so you're in Ottawa, you call up your

Jeff (05:43)
He's

a yeah, sorry I kind of bounced around there. He's a cook? Yeah. And a really very talented chef too. Like he had been, so he had actually cooked through high school and then ended up taking culinary. Oh. So he had been cooking at this point now for maybe like seven years, something like that. And very good too. Chef Rich, one of my best friends and I was in his wedding party too. So.

That's when I kind of started that, you know that journey that a lot of people do in high school where they're like job searching. You they're looking for stuff to try out this and try out that. But I was already 14 years of working for my grandfather. So I already had an entire career. When everybody else is kind of just getting out of university. Maybe, you know, still trying out stuff.

So I start my search for what the hell I'm gonna do now at 24. And I'd taken care of myself for a long time too. I'd always had a job because I worked for family. So I always had money and all that other stuff. But this was, it was very difficult. I didn't know anybody else except Rich. And he was really busy too, so we like barely saw each other too. And I needed to figure out my stuff. So was kind of a...

was like a transformation time. And I did everything I did. I worked at a grocery store. I worked for Peter the painter. I worked for Kurt the carpenter. I was doing landscaping. I ended up walking into a Moxie's in the mall. And I was thinking about applying to be a waiter or bartender or something like that. Not the kitchen though. I didn't want to go in the kitchen. I wanted to...

do the serving thing. So, walk in there and they say, can I speak to the GM please? And the GM walks over and he's a friend of mine that I used to play baseball with 10 years ago in Winnipeg. And so here's Joey Al, he's the GM at this Moxie's in Ottawa. And he's like, you gotta be kidding me. How's it going, Jeff?

I'm like, great, I need a job. He's like, sweet, you can start tomorrow. Don't worry about your resume. Let's go. So I literally started working the next day as a waiter and I'd never done it before in my life. It lasted a little bit. I started to get my taste of restaurants and seeing exactly what was happening in there. So I was 25 turning 26 at the time. And I had actually, I'd met this girl that I was really crazy about.

And she was actually moving to Calgary when I met her. Like five, six months later, something like that. And I actually wanted to go to Calgary. was actually, my time was up in Ottawa. You know, I was either gonna go further east or I was gonna go back west. And Calgary was a place that I wanted to go for a long time. So yeah, she ended up moving out there and I followed suits. I stopped in Winnipeg for a couple months because...

You know, I'd been gone for a couple years. So I stayed with mom and dad.

got a couple serving jobs and got to Calgary on Valentine's Day 2003 and I started to work I worked for Boston Pizza right away I their server trainee like I trained new servers and it sucked it was terrible

Host (08:27)
you

Jeff (08:31)
I was starting to get really tired of serving. Didn't know what I wanted to do.

And I kept meeting people in marketing. And they were like, you should go into marketing. You're good with people. You should be in sales and stuff like that. So I ended up getting a job.

at MEX clothing, M-E-X-X. Yeah, and I'd never done that before. And in three months, I was there. Top sales in Western Canada. while that's happening and I'm selling the clothes there, a lot of my clients were in like, a lot of real estate, a lot of pharmaceutical sales. sold a lot of clothing to a lot of like business women.

And it was just easy. I don't know. It was really easy job. It's like, here, you try on this pretty dress. Yeah, you look great. Okay, cool. Then they buy it. I don't know. I don't know what the secret is. Sales. I'm with that, And then I met this guy who worked for Maxwell Realty and he took me on and he wanted me to be his assistant. So, you know, I was doing this for four months, something like that.

Stop sales in Western Canon in like a minute, it felt like. Now this guy wants me to sell houses. I was like, this sounds great. So, he gives me this giant huge phone book. Times two. To read. And, um, I have ADHD, I'm not a really avid reader. I wasn't really interested in these phone books. Like, it's just not my gig. I just wanted to go sell. Where's the f***?

Host (09:35)
you

Jeff (09:51)
Let's go do it. So he let me do that. And I sold five houses in one month. And then I waited for my...

cut. So he takes me out for dinner. We get these

We had a couple old fashions, he was the part. These Cuban cigars, big huge steak. He's like, you did so great, and da da da da da. And he's like, I'm just moving some stuff around and I'm gonna get you a big check in the next two days. And I was like, great, so a week goes by.

And then another week goes by. And I'm calling him and I'm not getting any answers and stuff like that. And then in my mailbox the next day, 15 days later, after the steak, there's a check for $600. So I sold five houses in a month and basically got paid $125 per sale.

Host (10:28)
dinner.

Jeff (10:40)
Saw you got really pissed off and said I'm never gonna do sales again.

And I also quit my job with MEX. So now I'm kind of hooped. What am I going to do? I don't want to serve anymore. No one will hire me in manufacturing, even though I had all those years of experience. There's a lot of manufacturing in Calgary. Like there's tons, you know? And no one would hire me because they thought I was a spy. Because why would I ever leave a family business?

to, you know? Yeah, I experienced it a lot. I experienced it in Ottawa too, firsthand. Wow. That's why I walked away from the manufacturing in Ottawa as well. Because they were just like, it was like no one would hire me because they're like, why would you, you were at an amazing family company. Why would you leave? You must be still working for them or something. You know, like it was really I had no idea what I was going to do. So I

There's a coffee shop across the street from me where I was living on 17th Avenue in Calgary.

I was like, hey Phil, he's the manager. So you could go to a spot here. He's like, yep, you can start tomorrow. I was like, cool. Now I'm a barista. But like, you know, I was like 26, 27. You know, I'd made a lot of cash. I'd had some good jobs.

Host (11:32)
later.

of unknown.

Jeff (11:47)
making coffee. It was kind of depressing, you know? It's not like I didn't have like full time hours. The best part was that I walked across the street. Literally walked right across the street over to Second Cup. Job was right there.

You as a kid, I always watched... I watched the Food Network before the Food Network started because my first love was actually Walk With You. So I don't know if you remember or not, but it was on PBS. It's like a... or Yan Can Cook and So Can You. So was this... Chinese... and...

Host (12:14)
Okay.

So you were

young, so was this...

Jeff (12:23)
Yeah, I was four it was literally it like Sesame Street was on yeah, and then after Sesame Street it was like Julia child would come on and then there would be like and I just loved these cooking show like I distinctively remember watching these shows with like sometimes with my grandmother too and It was just hilarious It's so entertaining for me

Host (12:39)
you

Jeff (12:45)
So that's when I really fell in love with, I literally four years old. So because I've always watched these shows all throughout high school, watching the Food Network. And there's this chef that walks in and it was Chef Ned Bell. Into the second cup, And I was like, why is Ned Bell?

Host (13:04)
Net.

Jeff (13:04)
I love that thing that you did with the chocolate. You get talking.

He says, well, I'm running Marietta's. He's like, maybe you should come down. Come check it out. And I was like, sure. My birthday's coming up and I'm going to be out of town. So I'll come by next week. And he's like, that's great. So it was two days later and my dad drove in from Winnipeg. And so he was taking me out for a birthday weekend. And

Host (13:28)
you

Jeff (13:29)
We went out to Kimberly, did a bunch of golfing. It a great time.

But before we went out to Kimberly, so he drove from Winnipeg to Calgary. He got there. I made this big dinner and that was actually my birthday. 26th, it's my 27th birthday. And.

Host (13:41)
next

Jeff (13:43)
Excuse me. So I made this stuffed chicken breast on a wild mushroom risotto It was really delicious, but he'd been driving all day and my girlfriend at the time she was working early in the morning and we finished dinner and She's passed out and my dad's passed out. I'm like, it's my birthday. I want to go out so I went down this I took the bus I went down the street and

I ran into a friend of mine who's an artist and he just finished doing an art show and he had a check in his hand for $30,000.

Host (14:11)
from his show.

Jeff (14:12)
And he's like, how you doing brother? was like, I'm doing great man. was like, I already, he's like, I just had a show when he shows me this check. And I was like, holy crap. was like, it's my birthday. And he's like, well, this is going to be a good birthday. So he took me out. We went and played some pool. Had a bunch of drinks. There's another bar next door where there's a band playing. So we go in there and this is actually how my cooking career started. So while I'm waiting by the pool tables,

Host (14:23)
Thank

Okay.

Jeff (14:35)
He's leaning up against the wall, holding my pool cue, waiting for my turn. This fight breaks out. And this guy crashes into me and they pushed him off, off of me with my pool cue. Cause they just like barreled into me. These two guys just like smashed into me. So I, I pushed them off of me and then boom, someone jumps on my back and I'm in this fight out of the middle of nowhere and getting choked.

And then I get him in a headlock and then the bouncers come over and then they separate us. And the bouncers knew me there because I just go in there, I'd have a drink or two, I play my pool and I leave, that's it. Bouncers knew this guy because obviously he had been a lot of crap in there before too. He's a bit of a disturber.

Host (15:05)
and the

Jeff (15:11)
So he says, the bouncer says to me, says, Jeff, I know it's your birthday. Just keep it cool. And then the other guy says, Jeff, he says, Jeff with a G or Jeff with a J? I said, well, I'm Jeff with a J. And he's like, well, I'm Jeff with a G. And then he lunges at me again, fight me. And then the bouncer splits us up again and he says, Jeff, to me, you're going to keep it cool. And Jeff.

one more problem with you and you're never coming back in here again. So why don't the two of you guys go outside, have a cigarette, chill out, and come back in? So we did. So he says, what do you do? And I said, well, I work at a coffee shop. do you do? And he said, no, no, and that's not what I mean. He said, what are your passions?

Host (15:47)
and I did sales.

Jeff (15:53)
I said, well, well, cooking in comedy. And he's like, cooking? Really? What did you make for dinner tonight?

So I said I made this stuffed chicken breast, wild mushroom.

Host (16:00)
Minnesota.

Jeff (16:01)
He said, probably tasted like crap, didn't it? And I was like, no, it tasted good. I was like, what's your problem, He's like, well, I'm a chef. I'm Jeff Rogers, and I'm opening up Rick's Grill right now.

Host (16:06)
I'm

Jeff (16:10)
You got a lot of fire in you. Why don't you come try cooking?" I said, well, I'm leaving out of town for tomorrow. Gonna be gone for about three, four days.

Well when you get back, why don't you come down and drop off a resume? So I came down, I dropped off a resume, and I started the next day.

and I worked salads and appetizers. The shit just went to the floor. It was the beginning of Stampede as well. And they just opened this restaurant. And this, they had, I'm a skinny guy, and the only jackets they had were XLs. So I'm wearing this giant cape of a jacket. I have no idea what the hell is going on. I mean, I did work restaurants and I served, but I was never in the kitchen.

And so the guy that's training me says, grab that stack of plates. So I grab the stack of plates, but because I got this giant, huge, stupid jacket on, the sleeve catches underneath the plates. And when I'm pulling it, all the plates come down. And this is my first half hour in the kitchen and they smash and glass goes all over everything, all of the food. And I'm like, I'm going to get fired in my first half hour. This is crazy.

I've always wanted to do it, I'm here. There's just glass everywhere. So several of the chefs said a lot of colorful things. And they said, move back, you idiot. So I went up against the wall and in 30 seconds, every single insert that was in there was thrown into the garbage and was replaced with all of the backups. And then we carried on with lunch.

Host (17:08)
and

Jeff (17:28)
It was like one of the most impressive things that I had ever seen. How fast they fixed the problem and how much of a gel there was in this kitchen in the camaraderie and how fast they solved the problem. And I was just having a heart attack inside. Just felt like a total loser. whatever, the service went on it's the end of the shift.

Host (17:45)
you

Jeff (17:49)
Jeff Rogers comes over to me, he says, you're a complete idiot and a failure. So we'll see you tomorrow. I want you to do something for me. I said, sure. He said, we'll try to get you a smaller coat because you're not going to put on 40 pounds overnight. And I want you to go to a bookstore and I want you to buy a book. It's called Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. As I said, I'm not really an avid reader. It's the only book I ever really read in my entire life. Cover to cover

Host (17:52)
you

Jeff (18:13)
I read it in about five ironically enough, my life has ended up being extremely similar to Anthony Bourdain's life. Like the stories in there are actually, there's a lot of them in there worried, but it's actually me. And then like, I didn't do it on purpose. It's just the way that life went. And, uh,

Rick's Grill was an amazing experience. They had so much talent and skill in there. They brought in some of the most talented guys that they could find to kick this restaurant. And it worked. It was very successful.

Host (18:39)
you

Jeff (18:46)
I called them my original six. So there's six chefs there that had 20 years experience and they took me under their wing. And you know, I was going to be the salad person for six months to a year. And in five months I was running the line. And then I left. And I started my pursuit on hunting down restaurants and chefs and I didn't stop.

Host (19:05)
.

Jeff (19:05)
So I did over

43 restaurant establishments across Canada over the next five years. I was working two, three restaurants at a time. And when I got bored, and I just kept doing that, I focused on high end. So I did all of the high end in Calgary.

Host (19:18)
Was it this pursuit to gain?

Jeff (19:21)
I- it was-

it was just a ride. I was on like an adrenaline rush of passion with it. It

Host (19:25)
you

Jeff (19:30)
destroyed my relationship with the girl that I moved out there with very fast. It was like, it was over almost immediately.

Host (19:37)
must have been working just mad hours. else matters.

Jeff (19:43)
That's

that was it. That's that's all I did. Yeah. And and I was just such a sponge and I worked at some of the hardest places that you could possibly work at to like some of these kitchens were some of the chefs were total maniacs, like really out of the the Ramsey Book of Hell stuff. Yeah.

from.

you know, verbal abuse to physical abuse.

mental abuse and exhaustion. because I was older, because I started a lot older, lot of guys start in kitchens when they're, you know, 16, 18, teenagers, But I started at like 27 years old, 26. So I had a different kind of mentality going into it.

Host (20:17)
Thanks.

Jeff (20:21)
So no matter, know, the chefs like to get reactions out of you in the kitchen. So they'll say belittling mean things sometimes, certain guys. It's changed dramatically over the 23 years that I've been cooking. You don't see it as much anymore. It's kind of not especially the physical

Like these guys would have Friday night fights. On the line. Before service. They would fight. Physically. On the line. At 4.30. Before service. Like I got choked out.

Host (20:40)
you

Jeff (20:50)
It was crazy. It was insane. But they're still my favorite guys that I worked with for some reason. I don't know. It's so twisted. But

Host (20:56)
You

Jeff (20:58)
Yeah, so that journey just kept going. like I said, was just who's the best chef? Who's the best Italian restaurant? Who's the best French? So I just started doing that. before I knew it, my tenure in Calgary was coming up. It was about four and a half years that I was there. I needed a break from Calgary.

Host (21:08)
you

Jeff (21:18)
my relationship was just cooked, so I went home for Christmas. And I didn't even know if I wanted to go back to Calgary. the home was Winnipeg, so my mom was back in Winnipeg. And I went home and we go to Costco. And this is where I thought, like I thought my cooking journey was gonna be over, kind of, I didn't know. And so we go to Costco.

Host (21:22)
Thanks.

And then...

Jeff (21:40)
I see my friend Rich from Ottawa in Winnipeg. And he's with his mom. And Rich and I haven't been in contact for like five years now actually.

I left Ottawa, a completely different life, I ended up becoming a chef, da da da da da. And he's like, holy crap, he's like, what are you doing here? I was like, oh, I'm just visiting mom for Christmas. And he's like, oh, me too. And I was like, well, actually.

broke up with my girlfriend and I don't know, I might stay in Winnipeg for a while now. And he goes, well, I broke up with my fiance and I'm living with my mom in her basement right now too. So here's these two guys that went to high school together and we're both back at home 13 years later, living with our mommies at Christmas through a breakup. I'm like, well, what the heck are you doing here?

Host (22:19)
You

Jeff (22:20)
He's like, well, I'm

opening up a British restaurant. What do you do? I'm like, I'm a chef. And he's like, you're kidding. Why don't you come down? Come and check it out. So I went down. I hung out. He saw my skillset. What I had learned over the last four or five years. And he's like, you're one of the best sous chefs I've seen in a really long time. You want a job? I was like, I don't know, man. I got all my stuff in Calgary. I don't know what I'm doing.

Host (22:25)
you

Jeff (22:41)
We're friends too, this could get messy, you know. So we'll each try it out for a week.

So nine months later I ended up leaving, but I was there for nine months. And we really raised the bar in F***ing Sheffield was a very, very talented, very talented man.

Host (22:52)
food. ⁓

Jeff (22:56)
We became one of the toughest, hardest kitchens in Winnipeg. And we didn't tolerate a lot of stuff. had difficulties building a team because if you weren't good, you couldn't stay.

think we went through 28 guys in four months. Yeah, something like that. It's a crazy number. He knows the number for sure. I can't remember it exactly.

Host (23:08)
Wow.

Jeff (23:14)
It was pretty wild. It was very intense. We were running seven days a week and we were usually averaging 14 to 16 hours a day. And we did that for months.

Starting off with like, you know, bourbon and coffee in the morning. 6.30. Season the pans, turn on the ovens. Start preparing the duck. It was wild.

slept there a couple nights for sure. And when that came to an end, I didn't know if I wanted to stay in Winnipeg. I just, never wanted to stay in Winnipeg. And I ended up getting a job.

I was staying at my mom's place and I went for a walk at about 10 o'clock at night and I had an encounter with four gentlemen. That just a gentleman, four guys that walked up to me and asked me for a cigarette. I said, sure. And he said, well, do you have one for my buddy? And I was sure. He said, well, do you have a light? I said, well, do you want me to smoke it for you too? And then three other guys came out from a back alley.

And

next thing I know, seven on one. And I was down on the ground, and they robbed me. And there was a piece of metal against my head. And I don't know if it was a gun or if it was a tool. I don't even know what it was. And they pulled out my identification, my driver's license. And they said, look at this, because it's the last time you're ever going to see your face.

Host (24:04)
you

you

Jeff (24:25)
When they smashed my head on the ground, I was still conscious. Count to 100. And they scattered. And at five, I jumped up and I jumped over a fence and another fence and made it to my mom's backyard. And I packed my bags. And at six in the morning, I drove. Ended up in Jasper.

Host (24:42)
Holy smokes. That is scary.

Jeff (24:45)
And

that's where I stayed in Jasper.

Host (24:48)
joke from

Winnipeg to Jasper Street. Yeah. That's a drive. ⁓

Jeff (24:52)
That's a piece of cake.

I love driving.

Yeah. I stopped in Calgary, saw one of my old neighbors and then just kept going. Pick up stuff? No, I didn't pick up anything. up anything? No. It was a bad breakup. I didn't pick up anything.

Host (25:03)
up since.

Did you have your knives though? Your chef knives?

Jeff (25:11)
Yeah, that's all I had really. my knives, my clogs. Small TV, a little PlayStation.

Host (25:19)
Some clothes. I can't see you having time to think.

Jeff (25:22)
I didn't even, I still figured it out. didn't even have winter clothes with me and I was driving to Jasper in September. And it's the end of the tourist season so there's really no work actually. But I managed to get a job. It took me three days. I got a job and I got a staff accommodation.

And there was an interesting hire too because the chef was out of town. He was out east and the manager, the general manager hired me. And nobody in the kitchen wanted me hired.

Host (25:47)
That's awkward.

Jeff (25:47)
because they said

that the chef does the hiring, but then I was hired by the GM because the GM actually wanted to get some guys out of there. And it was an ample opportunity to get rid of some guys when the chef was gone and then he hires new hothead Jeff.

Host (25:59)
you

Jeff (26:00)
So it was an interesting predicament. And then the chef comes back about a week and a half later, and I'd been working there. He says, well, I didn't hire you, so you're fired. I said, but I got staff accommodation. I already paid rent. So it started this problem. But I stayed. He couldn't get rid of me. I was overcooking all those guys there. And then I got another job at Jasper Park Inn.

Host (26:18)
you

Jeff (26:21)
or lodge, was one or the other. Lodge or the inn, I can't remember. And then I started doing private catering too. So I just started taking over the town and in-house private catering. So I would just show up and I'd cook, I'd put a menu together and just come over to your house and put on a show.

Host (26:29)
Like private catering.

Jeff (26:38)
That's cool. It was really cool. And that's when I first kind of started doing my own catering too. Met a lot of people, did a lot of partying, blah, blah. And I tried to leave. My car got towed in the winter and it went to an impound. And you just walk everywhere in Jasper, so I kind of didn't care. But I wasn't thinking about the fact that it's sitting in an impound.

Host (26:46)
you

Jeff (27:01)
I just kinda carried on. So I up having a pretty big bill when I had to get it out.

Host (27:05)
have to pay for it be in a pound? I didn't know that.

Jeff (27:07)
I

had had flat it had a flat tire on it and it was the winter and I couldn't move it so it got towed and then While it was in there. There was like I think the insurance ran it. I don't know. It was crazy I don't know. I was I was working and partying so much. I don't even I can't it's pretty fuzzy I just know that I was having a good time And And then Yeah, then he tried to leave

and I got my car out and I was gonna go to Vancouver cause my brother lived there. And then I got this offer to be the chef at a place just out of town called Moline Canyon. And I went and worked for this family that ran this place. And it turned out to be a total nightmare. He was pretty evil person to work for.

Host (27:47)
you

Jeff (27:58)
very mean, very belittling, not just towards me, even towards customers, towards all staff. And it was a very nasty ending. And I got in my car and I drove to Vancouver. So this was summer of 2009.

Host (28:03)
Thanks

Jeff (28:12)
The very first gas station that I roll into in Port Coquitlam. I'm putting my gas in my Honda Prelude and I look across.

Host (28:19)
you

Jeff (28:20)
Then I say, Johnny? And he looks at me and he goes, Jeff? What the hell are you doing here? And I was like, Johnny, how are you doing? We haven't seen each other in like 10 years. Johnny was one of my best friends from high school. This Jewish fellow that I grew up with.

Host (28:32)
She was Johnny.

What you think?

Jeff (28:40)
Yeah, and the last time I saw him was actually when I was visiting him when he was in jail

A long time ago when I was like 19, so yeah, I'd been like...

Host (28:49)
You're in your 30s by now, right?

Jeff (28:51)
Um, I was... Yeah, yeah, 32. 33. Yeah. So it had been like 14 years or something since I saw him, right? And he's like, this is hilarious. was like, yeah, this is hilarious. So, what are we doing now? And he's like, why don't you go back to my... come back to my apartment. Let's catch up. So we go back to his apartment.

We catch up. We're drinking some Grey Goose. It was great. And then he says, you know, I've got a... I've got a meeting planned tonight for a dinner with some of my business associates. I was like, what kind of business associates, Johnny? He said, just business guys. I was like, okay. He says, why don't we go to Granville Island and go pick up some ingredients? You're a chef. Why don't you cook dinner for us tonight? Sure. Let's go.

Host (29:22)
you

you

Jeff (29:35)
So we went to Granville. I picked up bunch of king crab, huge jumbo shrimp, some tuna, couple beef tenderloins, scallops. I could pick up whatever I wanted. That's what he said.

So I load up and I'm making some crazy four course meal at Johnny's place, starting it at like four o'clock. Dinner's at seven. My brother's off work at midnight, so I'm gonna hang out. So in walks through the door are these two really big Russian guys and these two really big Persian guys. They were his business associates, so I cooked dinner for them. By nine o'clock at night, they said that they wanted me to have my own pizzeria.

So I ended up opening up a pizzeria for the Olympics.

Host (30:08)
What? It's so random.

Jeff (30:10)
And

yeah on on Main Street next to the cobalt and my design of the of the pizzeria that I designed there originally in 2009 and got opened Just before the Olympics 2010 ⁓ Is still there it's pizza Farina I think wow and it's still the original oven

Host (30:22)
you

Jeff (30:28)
The whole plate, I mean outside of changing the paint and putting a couple decorations on them, it's all still my design. It's all the exact same thing. And they do a dough quota as well too, and that's what I did there. I'd make so much dough for the day. And when I'm sold out. Oh, I was about to ask. And then that was it. And it was a really, really, really wild ride. Like I moved to Vancouver. I'm not even moved to Vancouver. I didn't even unpack my bags.

Host (30:43)
next

you

Jeff (30:54)
And by 10 o'clock at night, I had some people that thought I should have a restaurant. And so it took about two months or so to find the spot. And then,

Yeah, I got a condo right behind it. I'd also never made pizzas before. I mean, made a lot of stuff, but I never made pizzas.

Host (31:11)
And from you cooking king crab and scallops and shrimp and tenderloin, they wanted you to open up a

Jeff (31:19)
Yeah,

they're like this guy's really good. We'll open up something. And I was like, well, know, pizza should be easy enough. But there was no pizza oven in there. It was like a rotisserie chicken place or something like that. It was just crap. Like the place was just nasty.

Host (31:25)
Okay.

Jeff (31:37)
I spent like four months reno-ing it just to bring it and it wasn't even, it was just like cleaning basically for four months. It was just so gnarly. And I went to a car auction and I bought a pizza oven at a car auction for $500. And it cost $1200 to get it in the building.

He had to take the frame out and needed a tow truck with a crane because it's so heavy Yeah, anyways, there's a lot of red tape to get getting the restaurant open as well too with the city because of the Olympics coming and It took

a lot of tries to get it open. Actually it was really frustrating, very hard. I almost walked away multiple times. It was like five, sitting for like five, six months before I could open the door. So it was really difficult. Five months I think. And, but we got open. And then the same year too, Vancouver went to the Stanley Cup finals too. So the pump downtown kind of just didn't stop, you know? So it was, was good for business.

But, you know, was friends, old friends, that got involved in this experiment. And I was just working. I was just in the kitchen. And every day I'd just take my dolly with me and I'd go walk into Chinatown and just get fresh ingredients every single day. It was really cool. And...

Host (32:50)
cool.

Jeff (32:52)
I wasn't watching any of the books. I had no idea what was happening. I was just, make some money, rent's paid, okay cool, whatever. What I didn't know is that Johnny wasn't paying any rent there. So eventually, I walked in there. And I couldn't walk in, because there was a giant padlock on the door.

Host (33:01)
Thank

Jeff (33:07)
and I found out that Johnny hadn't been paying the rent.

So it was over.

And then I just ended up kind of not wanting to cook anymore. I felt pretty defeated.

Host (33:18)
you put so much into that.

Jeff (33:19)
Yeah, and, you know, it wasn't even a year and it was over. nine months or something like that.

But,

Host (33:24)
you

Jeff (33:25)
I did meet a lot of people. I had this huge following, like overnight, which was really wild once I opened. I met so many people. And I met someone that's very dear to me. His name's Dave, Dave has a farm in South Surrey that he inherited from his dad. Seven acres.

so the journey with the pizza place ended. I had no idea what I was going to do. I was seeing this girl and I was like staying at her place. My condo was gone. I got a couple jobs here and there. I worked at the tea house at Stanley Park. And I worked with Francois Gagnon, who's a great chef too. I worked at Sea for Chef Robert Clark. He's a really big deal guy. He started the Ocean Wise program actually.

Host (34:03)
wow.

Jeff (34:03)
Yeah. And, but I just

didn't have that, you know, I now I've been working for myself for a while, even in Jasper, when I was doing private catering, it started to feel like I couldn't work for anyone anymore.

or it had to be a very short period of time. It needed to be a contract or something like that. So that was the only thing I was really interested in doing in the kitchens now. I still wanted to cook, but just working in restaurants was just not.

Host (34:27)
you

Jeff (34:28)
I started to just not tolerate chefs anymore. Instead of just being like, yes chef, I'd be like, what are you talking about? My tone changed, my experience changed. I didn't want to be questioned. I just finished having my own place. And I hadn't even really been cooking for very long and I already opened up my own place. Sure, it wasn't very successful. It was, it did end up in a failure in less than a year. But it didn't matter because I got that taste. I want to run my own.

Host (34:34)
Mmm.

Jeff (34:54)
stuff now.

Host (34:54)
Doing it your way the way you want. Yeah

Jeff (34:56)
So now everything's

on my terms now and it didn't matter where. If I didn't like it somewhere, I just walk out the door. didn't care. I go get another job. And that's what it very quickly became. And I really just had enough of traveling across the city and everything else. So I called Dave. I Dave, like, can I stay in that piece of crap trailer over there and just stay on the farm? Because I like, I got to get out of the city. I'm fried.

Host (35:11)
you

Jeff (35:18)
I can't do this right now.

He's like, yeah, he's like, well, I mean, you could probably go cut grass with one of the landscaper guys around here. So I did. And started just doing landscaping throughout the summer, cutting grass. And then Dave said, well, you can grow whatever you want. So Dave was, still is, he's a wholesaler for seed for farms.

Host (35:27)
you

Jeff (35:40)
So next to the little crappy trailer that I was staying in was another little crappy trailer. And that thing was filled full of seeds of every plant and vegetable you could imagine. So he said, here's the keys to the tractor. You got to put diesel in it. Those are raspberries. Here's how you kind of cane them. Here's how you do this. If you have any questions, let me know. Plant what you want.

Host (35:46)
you

you

Jeff (36:02)
So over the next two seasons, I ended up.

taken over like three acres or no, not quite three acres, about two of the acres. And I just kept painting lines with the tractor and digging up soil and putting in stuff. My last season I had like from seed, like 200 tomato plants. And I just like fell in love with like gardening and agriculture.

and it took me away from the city and it was just a really beautiful experience and in the winters I took off and I'd go cook on a mountain because I could go do that for a couple months I could tolerate that

And that's actually where I met my ex-wife was at Apex.

Well, things changed after that. I was going to become a dad. And the journey changed again. So I was actually very invested in the farm. And I wanted to stay there. But that's not what happened. We had to move back to Winnipeg. She was previously married. There was another kid involved, stuff like that. So we went back to Winnipeg, which was my nemesis. I didn't want to go back there ever again.

for more than enough reasons and now I was cooking at an old folks home.

and just overcooking the crap out of everything and trying to bring that up without offending their teeth. And it worked okay for a year. And when the contract was up, I ended up getting another contract where I went up to Churchill for the polar bear season.

Host (37:08)
mushy and flavorful.

you

Jeff (37:24)
Did a great job. Made a lot of friends.

A lot of people loved my food and all the features that I was doing up there because I was doing a lot of really cool stuff too. And the mayor, I got to know the mayor. And then when the contract was over, I think it was like...

end of November, mid to end of November. And the mayor says, I'd like to make you an offer. So what's that? Well, I want you to cook a New Year's Eve dinner for the town of Churchill. I was like, well, how many people? It's gonna be about three, 400 people. It's like, I'll buy everything. We'll fly you in on a private jet. And I'll give you four grand for your day.

I I'm gonna need a guy. I might need two guys actually. No problem. We'll get you a couple guys. So I did that. And then I came back and I said to my ex-wife, I'm gonna open a catering company and food truck.

we're gonna stay in this stupid town. I'm not working for anybody. I've got some money. Let's do this. So I got part of a program. I was laid off, so I got an EI. And I had some money saved. And I applied for this run your own business program through EI. And it's kind of tough to just get it actually, especially with food and restaurants.

but they bit it. So I got into this program. At the same time, my ex-wife's ex-husband left town again. And I was very fed up with Winnipeg and wanted to move back to BC. But I didn't know where. And I mean, we were a new family too. Real littles, know, six months. Six months and four and a half.

and

I started putting this plan together to move to Kamloops because I thought it was perfect because it was central. So if I built my kitchen on wheels and it doesn't work in Kamloops, then we can drive to Kelowna. We can go to Vernon. We can go the kitchen needs to go.

So because the program was in Manitoba and now I wanted to move, this complicated things, even though it was a federal program.

Now I'm crossing borders and going to another town. So they said, well, we've never done this before. So, well, who cares? It's a federal program. Shouldn't even matter. So, well, we'd like to see you in Kamloops. So we fly out to Kamloops. This was like spring

2013? Yeah, spring 2013.

I'm sorry, 2014. Anyways, we go out there. My ex has a couple interviews. She's got jobs immediately. I meet with these guys at the program. They said, you know what? We're gonna do this. This is great. So we're just gonna transfer all the paperwork, blah, blah, blah, blah. You can still get your funding. I think it was like up to $35,000 or something. And that was gonna be substantial for the build. So we moved in June again and on my birthday.

I arrive in Kamloops and a week later I'm starting this program.

No, the original design that I had was for a calzone truck. But I was like, I want to do catering. Kamloops is a small town. So there was a someone in city council who got wind that there was a new chef in town and that was going to be opening up a catering company. And he also had a catering company.

So, suddenly, about a month later, after I had already bought my first truck and trailer, and now I had to start filling it up with equipment, I think it was kind of all in.

Host (40:15)
Yeah.

Jeff (40:15)
They pulled the pin on me and said that they'd teach me how to run my company, but my funding was no longer approved. We just moved across Canada and I lost everything.

Yeah.

It was pretty, yeah, it was pretty cool. So now I gotta go get a job. My EI is gonna run out. It was very tricky to work around with my ex-wife. Hours as well too. She did respite so she was gone for three days at a time. And we got little ones and yeah, and we just moved across the country and da da da da.

Host (40:37)
you got your little

to

have like a network of family and friends.

Jeff (40:45)
No, we're just getting started. don't know anybody. I mean, I get to know people pretty fast. know, like, yeah, I go meet people. kick a lot of doors. Yeah, right. You know, just too new. Yeah.

Host (40:54)
You're gonna watch your kids breathe.

So what did you do?

Jeff (41:00)
well, I started to make some plans to work at this crappy little pub at the bottom of the road in Barnhartville. I shouldn't say crappy little pub. It's a really fun little pub actually. I spent a lot of time there. Not working though.

Host (41:13)
you

Jeff (41:14)
It

was more of a go play pool and have a pint kind of place. kitchen was so small there was a nightmare. So I started working there for about a week or two. This is like at the end of August. my brother came to visit me from Vancouver and he hung out for a couple days.

Host (41:19)
Yeah.

you

Jeff (41:30)
And on the last day, my ex was out doing a respite. I put the kids to bed and I actually passed out reading to the kids.

And at 10.30 all of a my brother's standing over top of me and he says, Jeff, there's a fire. I said, what? So I go and look and there's an electrical fire that's starting outside of our door.

I didn't know it was an electrical fire. These flames are shooting out from the side and it's an old cedar home. So we grab the kids and we go out the door and this only took about 15 seconds and in that 15 seconds the entire archway was completely on fire. Giant huge flames. had blankets over top of the kids. We went through a rolling ball of flames.

Host (42:09)
Holy

smoke.

Jeff (42:10)
And I passed my son over to my brother on the other side of the fence and I grabbed the hose and started soaking the soffit and I'm watching this fire just crawl across the house and fire trucks were there really quickly actually they were probably there in about Three minutes five minutes because it's actually just right the firehose right down the road. It's five minutes maybe right

And they did manage to save the house. And we just moved there. We're new family. It was crazy. We didn't have insurance in there anything either. But our stuff wasn't burnt, but everything was smoke damaged. was just crap. so now there's the insurance and all this other stuff. And we don't know if we can live there anymore.

So the kids and I went to my mom's place in Oliver and we were hanging out there for like, I don't know, 10 days or something like that. And, know, I'm going back and forth and my ex was working and then like, it was just crazy to sort out. I don't know, I think about two weeks went by or something like that and we ended up getting back in And then I'm still working down at the pub now too. So we get back in.

Host (42:58)
you

Jeff (43:12)
And I'm really struggling to try to build this business because we had enough for rent and food. I couldn't start buying equipment. It was really terrible. kind of start getting back on our feet about a month later. And we just did a big grocery shop. were at Costco just packing up when we get a phone call from our landlord. And she says, I have some really bad news. I was like, well, what's going on?

She said, well, the place is completely flooded. There was a pipe that broke in the So we get there. From our grocery shop, there's like six vans that are parked out in the yard and all over the place. There's like a dozen blowers going, those big, huge blowers. There's guys walking around our place everywhere. There's water everywhere. was that? Like November 14th or something like that?

Host (43:56)
almost

comical here this is this is one

Jeff (43:58)
This is wild. is wild. I'm like, is Kamloops is a really bad idea. Like we gotta get the hell out of here. And I was actually feeling like that too. I'm just like, let's go. We gotta go somewhere. I ended up finding a place in two hours and it was actually live. It was like, yeah, it was the 14th of November and

Host (44:10)
Wow.

Jeff (44:18)
There was a place that wanted someone to take over halfway through the month the next day. And it was six minutes from where we lived, still in Barnhartville. So we took the place. And then I ended up getting a job at Savino Specialty Plywood outside of town and started building. So I started saving up some checks and then I bought a sink. I bought a stove.

I didn't have anybody to install this stuff yet, I'm still getting to know people and everything. I mean, if I was in Winnipeg, I could call a hundred guys. If I was in Calgary, I could do the same thing. Even in Vancouver. But, you know, I didn't know anyone in Kamloops. So it took me a while to find the right guys and stuff like that. And eventually the trailer ended up getting built. And, you know, this is ten years later now. But,

Kamloops is very not very user friendly with food trucks. There's a lot of rules, the bylaws out of hand. There were a lot of like extra fees that I thought were just completely unfair. The times were completely unfair. like city council would change stuff around. It was really frustrating. And I, I don't even know how, but at the end of the first year, well, I do know how the end of the first year I ended up.

owning my business outright. So that was like a good season. My like 10th customer was this guy, Sean Mayo, who he had another job, but he also ran festivals, music festivals, like raves and stuff. So he comes up to me and it's literally like my second day of operation, I think something like that.

Host (45:34)
you

Jeff (45:39)
when I first started and had some music on and I was dancing around and I was happy and I was in my business and here we go. Couldn't be any happier. And he's like, I want to try everything on your menu. was like, holy crap, okay. So then him and his friends, they hung out for a little bit and we got to know each other and he says, hey listen, I threw a huge festival in two weeks. I could really use a food vendor.

was like, well, I'll try it out. I had never been to a rave in my life either. I had no idea. I mean, I was older too. I was like 38, you know.

And my mom came up from all of her, she watched the kids. I went and did this festival and my mom said, how was the gig? And I had this garbage bag and I dumped this garbage bag full of cash on the table. And I said, think I found something here. And because it was the first big rave of the season, there was a lot of coordinators there from all other raves as well. So at the end of this one and a half day party, two day party,

I had.

12 to 18 cards from other festival coordinators that all wanted me to be at all of their festivals. So that's what I did and ended up being the rave party executive chef guy. Yeah. There's a lot of failures in it too. There's a lot of bad stuff that happened, you know, like I had to have an older truck because I couldn't afford to get a new truck.

Host (46:45)
Wow.

Jeff (46:54)
So my transmission blew up on one gig, you It was 45 degrees out. I got a trailer with four grand and food sitting on the side of a mountain. Ended up getting towed up by another party guy. Pull off the whole weekend, still did it. Like, it's just one story after another story after another story. I don't have to.

Host (47:12)
you journal at all?

Jeff (47:16)
I can pick, like I can literally go through the entire thing.

Host (47:20)
That's why.

Jeff (47:20)
Yeah.

Host (47:23)
and you're still living in cantaloupes. So this was all these raves where...

Jeff (47:28)
They were

everywhere too, like, you know, mean, like Beaverdale or Rock Creek or whatever. I was doing rodeos. I was doing mud races and monster truck rally things. I was doing fundraisers for schools. I was doing, I did center of gravity here in Kelowna. I did,

Host (47:37)
how?

Jeff (47:51)
weddings. I did movies. Like, I literally did everything in my first year. Wherever I could go make a buck. And then 2017 came, so that was the, my second year of operation. And the fires in Williams Lake broke out. And this changed the dynamics of my company after this point.

There are a couple things that changed it dramatically. COVID obviously is one of them too, but.

There were thousands of people staying at the Sandman Center from Williams Lake. Like just beds everywhere, right? And I get a phone call from a friend of a friend. And they said, Jeff, listen, we've got like 450 people that need lunch tomorrow. Can you do it? And I was like, yeah.

Host (48:27)
Let's go.

Jeff (48:27)
This is a government gig, should be a good paycheck. So, I cooked all through the night, get this thing ready. I think I cooked till like three in the morning, and I had to leave by like nine. Get set up, feed everyone. And I had two little helpers.

Host (48:30)
you

Jeff (48:42)
So this is on a se-

Host (48:43)
Friday.

Jeff (48:44)
Yeah, it was on a Saturday. And so I finished the gig. I don't know if anybody liked it. I don't even know when I'm gonna get paid, but whatever.

And at 10 o'clock at night, I get a call and they're like, Jeff, Jeff, that was the best food that we got so far. Listen, we need, we need you to do it for 600 tomorrow for dinner.

Host (49:00)
I gotta ask, what'd make?

Jeff (49:01)
I did a roast beef dinner. And I said, was like, yeah, sure. So it's 10 o'clock at night. They want me to do this big, huge dinner. Dinner's at five.

All my suppliers are closed. It's Sunday. I don't have any stuff, so I'm gonna have to go to like Superstore and Costco and blah blah blah blah blah.

Host (49:10)
Thank

you

Jeff (49:18)
So I call my friend Jeff, who's the store manager in Vernon, at home.

Host (49:23)
at 10 o'clock.

Jeff (49:24)
Yeah, so he's the store manager for the wholesale club and I'm like, hey Jeff, it's Jeff. He said Jeff it's 10 o'clock. I'm like, yeah Hey listen, I need to get a lot of meat tomorrow morning What time do you open? He's like, well we open out like, you know, I think it was like seven or eight o'clock or whatever He's like, but I'll be there at six. I was like, okay sweet So I left cantaloupes drove to Vernon left at 5 a.m. Picked up all the meat Did a big shop

Host (49:33)
you

Jeff (49:46)
and started prepping and cooking the entire day. The roast beef was actually still cooking in the ovens when I was driving to the gig. It was still in the oven warm.

and everything was ready. I had like a full buffet set up and all these big bowls and everything for the salads, et cetera, buns. And we got there. There's so much traffic and like it was so crazy around there because it's just like there's roads closed all over the place because, know. Yeah, yeah, just everything. Like the army was there and stuff too, right?

Host (50:09)
fire.

Jeff (50:13)
So we had to get like, you know, special pass to get in. I've got this giant huge trailer. It's not easy to maneuver around, little parking lots and stuff. And by the time I got set up there, I had like 20 minutes before dinner. And I'm just opening the door. Now everything was like ready, but the beef wasn't sliced. So I had to literally, by hand, was slicing roast beef for 600 people.

Host (50:29)
you

Jeff (50:35)
And I was just like, the meat is last. And I just kept cutting the meat. I was like, take everything out, but the meat is last. the girls were just, they worked pretty hard that day. It was pretty good. And then right after that, there was actually a food truck festival that was going on. So we did the dinner and then I drove over to the park and then we did a food truck festival.

where we did another 400 meals. Wow. So I did a thousand meals. I did a thousand meals in, well, in the actual service time, a thousand meals went out in four hours.

Host (51:07)
Holy smokes. Not hilarious, that's impressive.

Jeff (51:10)
It's hilarious.

The girls wanted to kill me at the end of it, but it was a lot of work.

Host (51:18)
Good memory, good story.

Jeff (51:19)
yeah, it was a good day too for the pocketbook, that's for sure. But then that changed everything. Because now I was actually focused on doing like emergency service catering. flood, fire, displaced communities. So my brain just started going heavy on that. And especially with the name of my company being Shafri911 Catering. ⁓ So it's a food emergency.

Host (51:40)
Great.

Yeah.

Jeff (51:46)
There were a couple other opportunities over the next couple of years. And then there was 2023, which changed things again too, because there was the fires were really bad in 2023 up in Lytton where I ended up getting a phone call randomly from someone that her husband worked for CN and they didn't have any food and they were rebuilding the tracks and they're in the middle of nowhere. So I ended up getting the call and doing a gig for CN.

And I was there for eight days by myself and did...

I don't know, about 250 meals a day, I think. That's what I was doing. And it was tricky, too, to get supplies because everything was, you there was no stores close by, so I'd have to go into Boston Bar. Actually, I had to go down to Hope to get food from where I was at.

Host (52:29)
Wow.

Jeff (52:31)
Which was

really expensive too, because I was buying food from save on. And it was like

Host (52:36)
the food

to them? Like how could they drop it in?

Jeff (52:39)
Well I

just drove down, picked it all up, threw it in my van, drove it back up. I was doing like 18 hour days again too. And it was wild. It was hard to just get someone because I just got the call and I just didn't have like staff at the time and all that other stuff.

Host (52:52)
Good adrenaline rush though,

Jeff (52:53)
Oh, it's wild. That was wild.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. And just changing the menu every day, just giving them whatever I want. And they loved it. And that was that was the point. It's like just just feed them. Yeah. So they had the head guy there that hired me for it. He's like, you if you knock this out of the park, you're going to be you're going to be a first call for CN for any emergencies. And I remember taking the video on the side of the road in the summer and I was like, well, it's been fun.

Host (53:12)
you

Jeff (53:19)
You know, did this crazy gig, blah, blah, blah, blah. I'll never be back here again. You know, thanks CN. It's been a good gig. A couple months later in 2023, Lytton gets hit again with a flood. The flood of the century that went through there that destroyed the valley and the train tracks again. So it's November.

Host (53:38)
you

Jeff (53:40)
and I get a phone call and they're like, it's CN. Remember that place you were at? We're gonna need you on the side of the highway again to feed these guys for a week. And I said, sure, absolutely. Well, it's not gonna be very easy, because there's no supplies anywhere.

And that flood affected everything too. was kind of like COVID-ish. For all the stores, even in Kamloops too, like the shelves were going bare. All the trucks couldn't get through because the Coca-Halla was closed. The Coca-Halla was washed out too, right? There's thousands and thousands and thousands of trucks just literally sitting there parked. There's trains that can't, it's right on the main vein there too. So supplies can't come in on the tracks. There's this madness going on for supplies in the entire lower mainland.

So I went to Costco and completely filled up everything. I took as much food with me as possible and had no idea what to expect. 32 days later I ended up going home.

It was very intense. I had groceries that were getting dropped off to me by helicopter on a pallet in a blizzard swinging away outside my trailer and I have no idea what the food is either. It's all just like we don't even know what we were getting. So surprise in the box.

Host (54:48)
Wow.

What's your truck run on propane? Did you have to propane dropped in too? Like how did you keep the...

Jeff (54:53)
It runs on propane.

Yeah, well, fortunately, you know, in working with CN, like

I mean, the guys there will say like, it's never organized, but it really kind of is. It's a really interesting machine to watch CN in emergencies and how much they can get done. And it was a very, very difficult, was like, I think it was in history for CN, it was probably one of their biggest challenges that they've ever experienced. The mountain just kept coming down. So they just kept rebuilding the tracks and they couldn't keep up.

with Mother Nature, she just kept taking everything out. It was very dangerous, those guys were completely exhausted, but the best part of their day was what's in the box for dinner. And so that that reward was, no, no, never, never, right? Yeah, like every day, you know, changing it up and feeding them. So that, you know,

Host (55:34)
Yeah.

not baloney sandwiches on white

Jeff (55:46)
By far the most rewarding thing I have ever done in my entire career is doing those emergency services.

Host (55:53)
Do you still do that?

Jeff (55:54)
I do, but not very often. You know, after doing, or was that 2021? Yeah, sorry, that was 2021. Cause that 2023 is when I did the airport in Kamloops for another, for the other really big fires. Yeah, sorry. I apologize that it was 21.

Host (56:09)
Terrible

dates, the years all blend together. Oh yeah, it's only 2045, that would have only been two years. Yeah.

Jeff (56:12)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. So anyways, um, yeah, it just, uh, it changed a lot of stuff. You know, I made a lot of money from it too, which was great. Um, but when I did the fires in 2023, I pushed myself to exhaustion and almost.

Like I would not be doing this anymore. Cause I went like, I basically went 90 days straight. Yeah. Yeah. Made myself pretty sick at the end of it. Like I was totally dehydrated. I lost a lot of weights. Yeah, I was completely exhausted and I actually ended up in hospital for about 10 days. Needed some IV pumped in me and

Host (56:35)
burnt out to an extreme.

Holy smoke.

Jeff (56:52)
I ended up developing pancreatitis. Yeah, it was extremely painful. It's the worst. You have it for life too, once you get it. It's there for life. It never goes away.

Host (56:55)
⁓ that hurt.

Jeff (57:02)
It was really bad and you can like you can in a snap you can become a diabetic as well, It's it's very dangerous

you gotta watch what you eat. gotta watch what you eat. It's a serious, serious thing. yeah, anyways, and then things changed with ⁓ my family and stuff and I ended up, you know, moving out here in September of last year.

Host (57:21)
2024 because I was just about to ask so Kamloops was your home base through all of this 2024 you've come to Kelowna

Jeff (57:29)
Yeah,

and in October, November, I met with Matt and Rob over at Railside and saw that there was a post that they were looking for a food truck. And I was like, when can I start?

Host (57:41)
Yeah.

Jeff (57:43)
and

I told them what I had planned on doing if they chose me to take it, which was using a lot of their beer from the microbrewery into a lot of my recipes that I use, right? So I'm using it with the batter for the fish, I'm using it with the chicken, I'm using it with the pulled pork.

And yeah the more and same with the muscles as well too I use some of their beer and with the muscles, you know, there's like so many options with the beer So I'm just trying I was trying to keep it like that and that's how I've kind of made this British pub Spanish

Italian menu that I'm running right now, which is going really well like it's It's it's been pretty well received and you know, I've changed it up a little bit But we're not even busy yet and But the guys over at real site are great guys over at rocket subs are great the craft 42, you know Like it's a really cool little corner. Oh Yeah, so Yeah, that's kind of the

Host (58:34)
Yeah, it's a great little hub there.

Jeff (58:40)
the short of it with all the other exciting stuff that I'm just going to save for my book actually. This is a lot of stuff I'll be putting in the

Host (58:47)
You have such a

good voice, you should have an audiobook.

Jeff (58:49)
maybe. Thanks.

Host (58:50)
People listen, you know? They like to listen.

So you can be sitting there when you're at work if you have a quiet period and just roll off story.

Jeff (58:59)
I actually have been doing that too. I've been doing some of that. I've been doing it into my phone. I've been, yeah. I kind of started doing that last spring, started recording. That's how I do my journaling for the most part. Yeah.

Host (59:13)
You've had a lot of life. You're not even that old.

Jeff (59:15)
There's... That's

not even all the cool stuff. Like, there's cool stuff though. But again, I think I gotta save that for the book. My fictitious book. Of a chef's journey.

Host (59:25)
you going to talk about your sauce?

Jeff (59:27)
the sauce. Yeah. Yeah, it's actually kind of funny that you mentioned the sauce too because Okay, so I've been told so the sauce started back at the pizza place That's when my sauce starts. So this is like this is 15 years ago six fifteen sixteen years ago Everywhere I've been I've made that sauce since the pizza place and even prior to the pizza place

Host (59:46)
you

Jeff (59:49)
I've been told that I should be bottling this stuff and selling it for well over a decade.

Host (59:54)
Yeah,

it's, it's. Think you could be like can eat it like soup. It's so good.

Jeff (59:55)
Thanks. It is really good.

And

you can literally make soup with it. You can just dilute it and add some chicken stock and Yeah, give it a little shot of cream. Boom. There you go. There's a look look cream of tomato soup Throw some fresh basil in there, right? Yeah, maybe a couple little nugs of bocacini to Little drizzle of olive oil fresh grass and pepper

Host (1:00:19)
I'm gonna be writing all this down.

Okay, okay. I'm glad this is

Jeff (1:00:27)
right. yeah, there's always been a lot of interest in the sauce itself actually And I've wanted to do it for a long time and actually wanted to start selling it here as well to at real side I've got a pretty good space at home for storing a lot of jars I mean the recipe is locked down. I've been doing it for so long. So It's pretty simple for me. That's for sure

Host (1:00:46)
What are the hoops that you ought to jump through with?

Jeff (1:00:48)
I don't

even want to know I just want to sell it and just put a sticker on it. Whatever

Host (1:00:53)
you just

have it on your menu as... That sounds terrible, Jeff's sauce. like you could bring your own mason jar and you fill it up for you. I'd walk over with a mason jar, get some fresh sauce, yeah, and then come home and...

Jeff (1:00:57)
Super blam tomato sauce

What the f-

and sauce day.

Host (1:01:18)
And then you're environmentally friendly, can spring your own container. You know, people love that stuff.

Jeff (1:01:21)
that's not a idea.

Yeah.

So yeah, I actually it's something that an or even at farmers markets to right to just sell them that make giant batches of it because it is my so the truth of my tomato sauce. The reason why it is so good is because it's my actual savior. So if I'm like having a bad week or something really crappy happens.

Maybe I'm depressed. I don't know. I make tomato sauce and I immediately feel better. It's like my, it is my savior, my tomato sauce. I don't know what it is. I don't know, it's tomatoes. I don't know if it's the garlic. I don't know what the heck it is. But it's my favorite thing to make. And it always like, it kind of like levels me out. It's like a

It's like a pill or a joint, I guess, or something. I don't know. It just chills me out when I make tomato sauce. It's pretty wild. And if I'm in a good mood, I'm in a really good mood after.

Host (1:02:19)
This

It's good that you recognize that too, because if you are feeling a bit blue.

Jeff (1:02:25)
It's been my go-to for like a good decade. A good decade.

It's just like the smell. It's like when the garlic hits the oil. I don't know what it is. Well, I mean, I do know what it is. It is all of it. It's like just the stirring over it, watching it turn into molten lava. I don't know.

Host (1:02:41)
Yeah, you gotta sell it. I'm just gonna be on you until you start selling.

Jeff (1:02:44)
No problem. I could use another push. I have absolutely nothing better to do. I'm only working 15 hours a day right now, so I might as well make more sauce. Shouldn't be my day off. It should be sauce day. Oh yeah, it freezes great. That's how I carry it at work. I usually, Wednesday right now is kind of like my big bulk day. That's when I do all my stuff in ovens and my big batches. So I'll be doing my pulled pork and my beef.

Host (1:02:55)
Freeze it. They don't freeze pretty well.

Jeff (1:03:10)
for the tacos, the, and my tomato sauce, yeah. Risotto as well too, for the arancini. And I'd like to switch up the arancini as well too, because I do a couple different sauces too, right? So instead of it being a red sauce, it could be like a cream. So like an Alfredo with mushroom and spinach. It's really nice too. Yeah.

Host (1:03:28)
Yeah.

Jeff (1:03:28)
cream is just really expensive though. The price would have to change on on the risotto balls a little bit. yeah.

I definitely do want to sell the sauce. But Jeff's sauce, it's.

Host (1:03:38)
No,

you need a better

Jeff (1:03:39)
I think 911 tomato sauce is still good. That's good.

Host (1:03:43)
Because it's connected, you've branded yourself with that.

Jeff (1:03:46)
Yeah, exactly. you know, like I've won it. It's so it's like any any other business owner, you know, it's like, this is my last year. I've said that every year for like the last eight years, pretty much. Because there was another trailer, too. So in 2017, my second year on October 28th up Lakeshore, I did this big party, kind like a Halloween party rave and.

There was a lot of rain that night. And when I came down in the afternoon the next day, I got into a very serious car accident. Well, a trailer accident. I literally almost died, actually. So there was a washout. where the... There was a logger road for about 4K, and then it switched from a four degree decline to like an eight or nine degree decline.

Host (1:04:31)
to Steve.

Jeff (1:04:31)
And it was right where the asphalt was and right where the washout was, so it was like mud. And my tires were like grease lightning. So I was only doing 10 kilometers at the top of this corkscrew. And at the bottom, when I just about went off this cliff with my brakes fully engaged, I was doing 75 kilometers an hour in a complete slide.

and I was going to go over this embankment where there's like a hundred foot drop and then I tried to get out the door and that didn't work the handle broke in the adrenaline I pulled the handle and snapped the handle and then I was coming up to this you know cliff

Host (1:04:58)
my goodness.

Jeff (1:05:10)
And instead of going left around the corner in this big slide, I turned the wheel to the right and I went up the embankment and I hit these poplar trees in like a pinball. I did a 45 degree turn. The truck smashed into the trees. And then the truck did a 45. And so did the trailer. It was like we're flying through the air. Came, down on the side, went up the embankment and then landed on my side.

And speaking of sauce, I opened the door and it looked like blood. It looked like blood because there's tomato sauce everywhere. And it's just like leaking tomato sauce out everywhere. And one of the fire extinguishers is going off. It's like, and the glass is everywhere. like fridges were smashed. There's food everywhere.

Host (1:05:56)
But you were at the last.

Jeff (1:05:57)
But I was alive. It destroyed the truck, it destroyed the trailer and then that started another giant huge journey with insurance and it took me, so that was October 28th and by the time the build was finished and I finally got started up and fired up was Canada Day of the next year. Wow. So I lost months and months and months and months and months of work. Yeah. It was very difficult. I almost quit then too. I almost built it and then just sold it. Wow. Because it was so hard.

And lost all my business too and I had movies lined up in the fall and the winter that I was going to be doing too and there's nothing that you could do about it. You just don't have it now. Yeah. There's no like loss of wages with your own business.

Host (1:06:36)
No, it's part of being the business owner. So I would imagine you don't go up Forest Service Roads very often.

Jeff (1:06:42)
No,

I don't and if I do going up those roads then I My whoever's hiring me for it that they can take it up

Host (1:06:53)
Yeah.

Jeff (1:06:53)
I don't drive it. Yeah. That's the big difference about this year too because I've never been parked in one place. But this is the best part about this year is that I really don't want my wheels to be moving at all. Yeah. Yeah. Like at all. But.

Host (1:07:04)
He got a home base.

Jeff (1:07:07)
Rob and Matt both know that there is a possibility with the fires It's just that I wouldn't commit to any more than 30 days and they do know that it is a possibility that if I get the call from the government that there's They're gonna need food But I do have a cap on how long I'm gonna go for this time. I'm not gonna be like, yeah, okay I'll do it the whole summer. No Forget it. It's it's too hard

It's exhausting. You have to stay so focused. You gotta stay extremely hydrated. It's hard to get staff for it. You need a special kind of staff. It's hot, hard, you run out of food. It's like your numbers change daily a lot. It goes from 150 people. No, there's gonna be 320 people today. Crap.

Host (1:07:37)
Yeah.

That takes a unique person who can do that.

Jeff (1:07:51)
So, you you need to like a grocery shopper on hand at all times.

Host (1:07:55)
You gotta

have a lot of experience to be able to pull that off too. Understand everything.

Jeff (1:07:59)
It's pretty wild. Well,

like I say good luck to anybody that wants to just that they think they can just pull it off. Yeah. So that's book number two.

Host (1:08:09)
Yeah.

Jeff (1:08:10)
Is so you think you want to run a can food truck?

Host (1:08:13)
Yeah.

Jeff (1:08:15)
good luck. So you want to start a food truck, hey?

tips. yeah, there I think it was just called Chef, right? Yeah. love that movie. That was great. Yeah. Yeah. That was really funny. And it was very real, actually. There a lot of stuff that was very real with it. But um...

I designed this company and the trailer specifically to do high volume scale. That's why it's so big too. And it's not even like, you know, it's not like the biggest, it's not the, you know, the best design in the world and all that other stuff. Like I've seen these like RVs are like, you know, semi ones where it's literally a semi truck, you know. That's cool. I always wanted one of those. But,

This is what I, yeah. this size, this trailer, it's right for me, it's my ship. I love it, that's what I call it. I actually call it the Virgo 3, because all that sailing that I did with my grandfather, had a sailboat and it was Virgo 2. ⁓ Was the name of the boat. ⁓ awesome. So this is, this is, yeah, this is Virgo 3. It's the ship. And,

Host (1:09:10)
isn't it?

Jeff (1:09:15)
It's a very, very difficult grind to do food trucks. And for the volume and scale that I do in those scenarios.

adrenaline experience, a little bit of mad scientist is there for sure. Cause you know, especially in those winter gigs when you're doing that stuff, you know, it's minus 20 outside.

It's not much warmer in that tin can. And you gotta, you know, you gotta stay hot or warm-ish. You know, your hands are cold. You're trying to vegetables in this cold environment. And then on the other side of things, it's, you know, I'm on the tarmac and Kamloops at the airport. And we took the little temperature thing, the little, with the little.

Host (1:09:56)
thermometer.

Jeff (1:09:58)
red

beacon that goes on the cheek and my cheek says 55 degrees. And so you're working in that as well too. So the extremes are extreme and it really does take a special person to work in there and everyone just gets completely exhausted. Like

Host (1:10:16)
I'd imagine tempers too, like your...

Jeff (1:10:18)
Yeah,

yeah, it definitely yeah, you you hit It's like the first week. Yeah, you know the average person the first week. Okay Yeah, yeah, this is so cool. I love working in here and then the temperature goes up like five degrees outside and then The days are no longer 10-hour days now. They're 12s and 13s Holy crap. I just put in an extra 15 hours this week. Yeah

Host (1:10:23)
some.

This is fun. This is a bit...

you

Jeff (1:10:44)
We're doing it again next week. See you in 48 hours. Sometimes see you in 24 hours. Enjoy your one day off. Okay, third week. I don't think I can do this anymore, chef. is crazy. It's too hot in here. I'm sick of cabbage. You know, whatever it is. I'm not peeling anymore goddamn potatoes. Why don't we do something easy?

Host (1:10:52)
Yeah.

you

Jeff (1:11:05)
We should just order pizza for them. Like, you know, the millions of things that have been sad, you know?

Host (1:11:10)
every excuse to get out of it,

Jeff (1:11:12)
Yeah, and

then a meal so not having the patience after a while too because I've done so many of them and just being like fine go home I'll do everything myself

Host (1:11:20)
Hmm. That's problematic.

Jeff (1:11:21)
So yeah,

but I mean, that's, but that's the other side that, mean, I'm, I'm a human as well too. And these scenarios I can only take so much. So that's why I've, you know, after all of these years and all of these scenarios that I've been in, we're let's cap it at 21 days. Yeah. And then it's, it's, it's turned out cause I can go very, very strong for 21 days. Yeah. Even 30, but most people can't go past the 21.

So if I don't have a switch out, most people can't go past the two weeks, actually. Well, I mean, through trial and error. Yeah. I can't put people through it anymore like that because it is really that hard. Yeah, it really is. And it's like, it's, you know, it's just.

Host (1:11:50)
Let's get you recognized.

But still, you still.

Jeff (1:12:05)
Keeping up with it and the food's going in and out and in and out. It is a good sized trailer, but it's still just a good sized trailer. There's no walk-in cooler. There's no big dry storage area. I brought extra freezers with myself and lined the entire back of my trailer with freezers. But then you also need ample power for all of this.

So you need your generator, need to the, you then you gotta get your propane, you gotta get this, you need water. You can only hold so much water in there. So you're constantly having to get like a water truck show up or your, maybe it's too cold and your water lines are freezing on you. And so now you're boiling water to wash your dishes, but you need the real estate to cook the food. And then you're just constantly.

solving this moving puzzle problem and

Like I can kind of do it with my eyes closed now. It's like, well, what's the pro like I, how many problems have I, I've seen every problem in the 10 years. What else is going to surprise me?

Host (1:13:00)
Is part of you kind of searching for that what else though because you seem like somebody Show the fact that you've seen it all it gets boring for you I'd imagine so I almost is there a part of you that looks forward to a New problem like a new challenge. Yes something new going wrong. Yes, I even solve it, right?

Jeff (1:13:04)
I love this. I love the challenge. I love the

Because, genuinely,

I do, that's important like inside. But then there's also the profitability from it. Cause I actually know how to make some really good money at some of these gigs and I'm getting better at it too. But I can just like direct so much better now instead of trying to just take everything on myself. I've learned so much from it so that I can.

Host (1:13:33)
Well, and you'd want to.

you

Jeff (1:13:43)
I can put the, sometimes you can put the right people in place to execute it. But I've realized where I need to step back now on certain things and where, I mean, I love doing all the cooking, like, mean, on those kinds of gigs, I can't do it every day. This scale right here is going to pick up as well too with Railside, because it's not even, we're not even at busy season yet. We're only just kind of getting started.

I think right now, like that's what my focus is right now. I just wanted to keep things smooth, successful and tight at real side. And I don't want to move my wheels, which would be the first time in the 10 years, right? This is longest, I mean outside of like winter, that's the longest I've ever been like, cause we're, I think we're about six weeks now, something like that. Yeah. About six weeks I've been operating.

Host (1:14:16)
Mm-hmm.

Jeff (1:14:26)
That's the longest that trailer's just like sat and hasn't had to move. But you know, like I said, I just, I have no intentions of moving it.

Host (1:14:33)
Well that's awesome. And your food's so good. And you're gonna be successful because your food's so good. People like good tasting food.

Jeff (1:14:39)
Thanks, yeah. It's been really well received so far, like I said. I'm trying some experiments out too, you know, because I've got a bunch of plates in there, right? Not just boxes, I've got a bunch of plates. And I'm starting to get more comfortable with how the flow is in there, where I can start experimenting a little bit more. And training some more people as well too. So I'm starting to build staff and team, right?

Host (1:15:00)
Are you still like hardcore expectations or are you living the easy still hardcore?

Jeff (1:15:04)
Yes.

Well, well, I'm way more laid back. I'm not like that guy that was back in Winnipeg at the Brit Cafe with Chef Rich. No, no, was a long time ago. I think I think kids will do that to you as well, too. Either one or the other, he will get even worse or. Well, you know.

Host (1:15:23)
Also the new generation of kids is a lot softer than...

Jeff (1:15:27)
Yeah, you

need a lot of patience. lot of patience. um, you know, like just the other day, was it two days ago and had some regular customers came down and they were looking at the board and they were like the menu board and they had this like blank look on their face and they've eaten so many times. I was like, you guys all right? You guys look exhausted. And they're like, we are. So what's going on? They're like, well,

Host (1:15:48)
you

Jeff (1:15:51)
We had a garage sale today. And I was like, oh.

Host (1:15:54)
Well

Jeff (1:15:55)
Why don't I do make something for you off the menu? And so like I've done this a few times now and the goal is to do some plated food for random customers to start the buzz for the fall because I want to do a Thursday, Friday, Saturday or two days, whatever, where I'm doing a plated event once a week at real site.

Host (1:16:08)
you

Jeff (1:16:14)
So instead of you getting in a box, you get a four course meal and you're sitting in rail site. And I can do it. I can pull it off. So this is what I want to start introducing all throughout now through the summer and booking all of my private catering for either in-house private catering or banquet halls, weddings, et cetera.

Host (1:16:18)
That's cool. ⁓

Jeff (1:16:32)
Cause I am new to Kelowna. mean, I'm not new to cooking and the area that much really. Cause Kamloops is just, you know, it's a quick click away from you. And I've done a lot of work here too with a lot of catering already, but that's what my focus is from throughout this season now. That's what my looking for challenges is to fill the books for the fall and winter. That's the whole goal of this.

Host (1:16:47)
you

match your, I was just thinking of like, you know, they have wine pairings, you're gonna be like, grail side beer pairings with here, four courses. That'd be cool. Yeah.

Jeff (1:17:03)
I did a similar thing with Chef Rich in Winnipeg actually. Yeah. I did a lot of gastro pub stuff there, which was really cool. Yeah. Really miss working with that guy actually. As crazy as it was, were just like... we just fueled off of each other. The dishes we made were so cool. And he was so much more like... He still isn't more knowledgeable than me, but...

Host (1:17:07)
Okay.

the camaraderie.

Yeah, do you miss that at all cuz you went from gaining all this knowledge? Cuz now ⁓ by yourself

Jeff (1:17:30)
totally. totally. Like now.

Well I've been on the other side of it for like a decade now where I'm training everyone right.

Host (1:17:38)
You're now the, you've gone grasshopper to mentor.

Jeff (1:17:41)
Yeah, but then but that the other part is like, you know stay humble so like I want to do a tour through Europe and go get my butt kicked again by a bunch of New chefs. Yeah that are really really good

know, it's gonna take some time and some cash to go do that kind of a journey. hopefully March of next year. Mid-March through mid-April, I'll be gone for a month. That's kind of the goal. Yeah. France and Italy are the plan.

Host (1:18:05)
Okay, to in Europe.

solo or family.

Jeff (1:18:11)
With a new friend.

I mean, I'd like to take my son. My son is 12. He's a December baby.

Host (1:18:13)
Come on this evening.

Is

he following your passion at all for this?

Jeff (1:18:20)
Not at all. Not at all. No, I don't encourage it. No, I encourage the cooking. However, doing it as a career is very difficult.

Host (1:18:24)
Fair, fair.

Jeff (1:18:32)
The amount of times I've wanted to quit, and how hard it really is. I think everything's hard though. You always have to challenge yourself. If you're a computer programmer, you still gotta keep going back to school and taking new programs.

If you're a teacher, you're never really satisfied. gotta see, you still keep going and taking more courses on your teaching so that you can upgrade yourself to be at like a principal level or teaching at a university. We're always challenging ourselves. I mean, I hope so. Trying to expand, you know, knowledge and learn more and push ourselves more.

But I mean, I've had so many attempts at trying to, like I had two attempts at trying to start a restaurant in Kamloops and they were both failures while I was running my company too. They didn't open a lot invested into it and just like, it can only take on so much. And that's why this year is very unique for me to slow everything down and just completely focus on the 911 and with RealSight. And getting all of my...

Catering ready for the fall and winter. That's the biggest thing to just a smooth smooth Year is what I would like for once. Yeah, know just tired of hitching up and driving hitching up and driving Where are we gonna get groceries from how much water is there?

Host (1:19:40)
you

you

Jeff (1:19:48)
Did someone get more diesel for the generator? And just, God, it just never stops. We've got to change hotels now. It's just exhausting. It's not for everyone.

Host (1:19:57)
Well, here's for a good year, good season at Real Side.

Jeff (1:20:00)
That's gonna be awesome. It's already started off great. I've so many people, you as well.

Host (1:20:05)
Well, and thanks for coming on by the way and your story is pretty cool It's really cool your life I guess is really cool Like you don't know and you're just walking by you see you there you've no idea the the story behind the person and I Think people some people would be like wow

Jeff (1:20:10)
thanks very much.

Yeah, it was like I said.

Yeah. Wow. Yeah. There's a couple twists in there too, like I said. we'll save that for the book. Yeah.

Host (1:20:30)
Absolutely. But should we wrap it up? Sure. That sounds good. We can always come back for part two next year or something. When season's done.

Jeff (1:20:34)
Sure.

Yeah, whenever.

Or when, cause I have the, you know, plans for the, two cookbooks and I have plans for two life books.

Host (1:20:46)
Yeah,