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TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
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[00:00] SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Canada's Podcast.
[00:06] SPEAKER_00: Hello, I'm Mario Toneguzi, managing editor of Canada's podcast.
[00:10] SPEAKER_00: Today, joining me on Calgary's podcast is Addy Dutta,
[00:15] SPEAKER_00: who is a co-owner of Monkey Breakfast Club and bistro in Calgary.
[00:20] SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining us today, Addy.
[00:23] SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Mario, for having me over.
[00:25] SPEAKER_00: Let's talk a little bit about the company first,
[00:29] SPEAKER_00: and then we'll talk a bit about your journey to there.
[00:33] SPEAKER_00: But tell me what Monkey is and what you guys do.
[00:38] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, certainly. Monkey is essentially an eclectic breakfast place.
[00:43] SPEAKER_01: You know, on the breakfast scene in Calgary or in Canada, in general,
[00:48] SPEAKER_01: was limited to the old breakfast options.
[00:51] SPEAKER_01: You would get at home when you get in the restaurant.
[00:53] SPEAKER_01: So we thought, you know, we are going to do some monkey business with the old classics
[01:00] SPEAKER_01: and do something different while keeping the flair of the traditional food.
[01:06] SPEAKER_01: That's what we do. We serve breakfast, we serve lunch,
[01:09] SPEAKER_01: and that's how we were founded. We have grown in it,
[01:13] SPEAKER_01: and we have served over 200,000 people so far.
[01:18] SPEAKER_00: So first one was opened when?
[01:22] SPEAKER_01: In 2016 is when we took over, and 2012 is when it was founded.
[01:28] SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay, then. So you took over an existing business.
[01:32] SPEAKER_00: And so currently there are three locations in Calgary, correct?
[01:38] SPEAKER_01: That is correct. We just opened that third one.
[01:40] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and so what's the plan for the future for monkey?
[01:45] SPEAKER_01: Yes, we are since 2016, we have had a strong push from customers
[01:52] SPEAKER_01: and then investors as well to expand.
[01:56] SPEAKER_01: We've put the brakes on it up until now.
[01:58] SPEAKER_01: We wanted to hone in and really see what we do well.
[02:02] SPEAKER_01: We found that. We've been validated.
[02:05] SPEAKER_01: And now we are looking to open at least two more immediately in Calgary.
[02:09] SPEAKER_01: And then go for our national expansion, primarily in Toronto, Vancouver, and Edmonton.
[02:15] SPEAKER_00: Okay, why do you think the brand will resonate out there with customers?
[02:22] SPEAKER_01: The customers particularly we find that take big cities, for example Toronto.
[02:29] SPEAKER_01: It's such a massive international destination, one of the top cities in North America.
[02:35] SPEAKER_01: And we just surprised that the number of breakfast options, so we're talking top and not just,
[02:42] SPEAKER_01: not just overly expensive, but somewhere where you go and you get a chaffee kind of meal,
[02:47] SPEAKER_01: not many options available in Toronto.
[02:50] SPEAKER_01: So we think that people are trendy, they love getting great food.
[02:55] SPEAKER_01: They want to feel going for breakfast as if they're going for dinner.
[03:00] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[03:00] SPEAKER_01: And that's why we think we can give that atmosphere to them.
[03:04] SPEAKER_01: We can give them the food and we can give them the service.
[03:07] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[03:08] SPEAKER_00: Breakfast is sure changed over years hasn't it, right?
[03:10] SPEAKER_00: From the standard two eggs and toast and a couple slices of bacon.
[03:19] SPEAKER_00: Certainly.
[03:20] SPEAKER_01: Certainly.
[03:20] SPEAKER_01: I mean, I sometimes get that too, but I tell you after eating that a couple times,
[03:25] SPEAKER_01: I do want to try something else.
[03:27] SPEAKER_01: And suddenly you realize that breakfast options are as elegant and as nice looking as dinner options.
[03:34] SPEAKER_01: So why not?
[03:35] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
[03:36] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[03:37] SPEAKER_00: So tell me how you got here as a corner of this company.
[03:42] SPEAKER_00: Like, talk a little bit about your journey, Eddie.
[03:46] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, long journey.
[03:47] SPEAKER_01: I was born and raised in India and I came to Canada as an international student.
[03:53] SPEAKER_01: So I went to McGill University for my engineering degree in Montreal.
[03:57] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[03:57] SPEAKER_01: Montreal set a tone for what city with many, many, in fact,
[04:04] SPEAKER_01: most number of restaurants would look like.
[04:07] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[04:07] SPEAKER_01: I come from a family that's found a food.
[04:11] SPEAKER_01: I have my sister lingering around today.
[04:14] SPEAKER_01: She's visiting us from Chicago and I tell you the first conversation when she landed today was about food.
[04:20] SPEAKER_01: So food was was important.
[04:23] SPEAKER_01: As an engineer, I thought that I would that would be my professional outlook and set the tone for rest of my life.
[04:31] SPEAKER_01: But that wasn't to be.
[04:32] SPEAKER_01: I ended up becoming a business management consultant with Deloitte.
[04:37] SPEAKER_01: And over years, I realized that after touching many industries, the one industry I really never worked in was food, food industry.
[04:46] SPEAKER_01: So me and my university buddy, we quit our jobs.
[04:51] SPEAKER_01: He was an investment banker and we opened up a food truck.
[04:54] SPEAKER_01: And that food truck does did super well.
[04:57] SPEAKER_01: It was it was gourmet street food from Germany that we were serving.
[05:03] SPEAKER_01: And Calgary, Calgaryens, we have a strong rooted community from Germany, Poland, Ukraine.
[05:11] SPEAKER_01: So we thought that this would resonate well with them and it did.
[05:14] SPEAKER_01: We expanded that to two food trucks until the city changed the bylaws.
[05:19] SPEAKER_01: And that didn't stop our interest in food and let alone let it be our our professional future as well.
[05:29] SPEAKER_01: So we took over monkey, which was the previous owners, lovely owners.
[05:33] SPEAKER_01: They wanted to part ways. They wanted to do other things without this.
[05:37] SPEAKER_01: This is this is a brand where we go to and others should know about as well.
[05:43] SPEAKER_01: And that's the journey that took us to monkey and never looked back.
[05:46] SPEAKER_01: It's it's been just incredible since taken over monkey.
[05:50] SPEAKER_00: Well, okay, I got to ask you that with a background in engineering.
[05:56] SPEAKER_00: What are the things that you learned that you know through engineering and the business world that kind of works well for you as a you know as a corner of a of a food place.
[06:10] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's a very good question. In fact, I get asked that often like how's an engineer behind this in this kitchen going to serve me X Benedict and I did a cook.
[06:22] SPEAKER_01: I would say I'll speak for the world of engineering.
[06:28] SPEAKER_01: We are we are trained primarily to be conscientious.
[06:33] SPEAKER_01: So whatever we do we have to do well. I will quote my my professor, my thermodynamics professor, I'm saying, you know, next time you're in the aircraft and you're sitting at the window and you're looking at that wing.
[06:48] SPEAKER_01: You sure hope that the engineer who designed the wing did a good job.
[06:52] SPEAKER_01: Didn't you?
[06:53] SPEAKER_01: And that resonated with me so well. So we were taught to whatever you do do it well. Otherwise, don't do it.
[07:00] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[07:01] SPEAKER_01: When we got into the restaurant industry or any industry for that matter along in our life, we realized that as long as you know what has to be done.
[07:12] SPEAKER_01: How it has to be done, then it's just a matter of doing it properly.
[07:18] SPEAKER_01: So I would say after the quick training sessions of how to cook in a commercial setup, you know, you cook at home, I cook at home, I know you're your father food.
[07:30] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[07:31] SPEAKER_01: Cooking at home is one meal or one type of meal you're cooking in a restaurant. Imagine you've got 10 hungry kids and you've got 20 mums and dads waiting for the food and they all have different ideas of what they want to eat.
[07:49] SPEAKER_01: Cooking all of that at the same time took a little bit of time. I would say good six months.
[07:53] SPEAKER_01: I'm a backpacker. I travel the world and I travel for food. So I will go to different places, understand how they're cooking with the same ingredients.
[08:02] SPEAKER_01: And in the end, it is just I think it's just another language.
[08:06] SPEAKER_01: So once you once you kind of figure out. So what is the syntax of the language, then you go ahead.
[08:12] SPEAKER_01: So I think engineering allows engineers to problem solve things in a much different manner rather than thinking that, oh, since I'm not a cook, I cannot cook.
[08:24] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[08:24] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[08:25] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I hear you.
[08:26] SPEAKER_00: So, you know, when when you first started on, you know, as a business owner, what was the biggest challenge you had to overcome?
[08:37] SPEAKER_01: All right. Yeah. That goes to engineering too.
[08:40] SPEAKER_01: So I assumed, in fact, both of us, me and the business partner, Cache, we assumed that almost everyone is conscientious.
[08:52] SPEAKER_01: Until we took over the business and we realized that our motivations of cooking great food at the right time with the right quantity and the price may not be the same motivation for someone we just hired.
[09:05] SPEAKER_01: Maybe they just want to do their nine to five and go home and that's it.
[09:10] SPEAKER_01: This was a big learning lesson for us that we have to find like minded people.
[09:15] SPEAKER_01: We know that if we just get people who have worked in great restaurants would would suffice and be a great team to support.
[09:25] SPEAKER_01: Instead, we ended up building a training program which helped us figure out a simple example to figure out whether this person fits the job or not.
[09:36] SPEAKER_01: For example, speed.
[09:38] SPEAKER_01: We call it every person who comes into a breakfast place is hungry.
[09:44] SPEAKER_01: They're hungry and they're angry and they're having eaten and they want their food now.
[09:48] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[09:48] SPEAKER_01: So what we thought is if we make a person instead of asking where you worked to theoretical questions, if you give them 40 pounds or 20 pounds of potatoes and we say go ahead and cut it and just timing.
[10:05] SPEAKER_01: And if they are, they are cutting these potatoes at the same rate as a existing staff.
[10:10] SPEAKER_01: They're great.
[10:12] SPEAKER_01: Second, can they be trained if they are not.
[10:15] SPEAKER_01: If they're not, if they are kind of slow, but we feel that they can be trained in the showing signs of learning, sponge mentality, the outcome and all understand whatever you're doing.
[10:27] SPEAKER_01: That's that's when we started making our decisions at the onset, followed by the training of giving them specific metrics as to what our expectation is so that it gives them the best chance to be able to do it.
[10:40] SPEAKER_01: Get there.
[10:41] SPEAKER_00: You know, you've moved around and you lived in a couple of different places and what do you like about Calgary as a from a business perspective and being a business owner.
[10:53] SPEAKER_01: Calgary, I find has a pension for entrepreneurs.
[10:58] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[10:58] SPEAKER_01: So now within entrepreneurs, you can say people or entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs rather.
[11:06] SPEAKER_01: So if they want to, let's say we get lots of immigrants, we get lots of migrants within Canada.
[11:14] SPEAKER_01: Generally, the people who get attracted just like I came to Calgary is because of job opportunity, being close to the mountains, so better health, better life.
[11:25] SPEAKER_01: So they have they've made a conscious decision of something better in their life beyond just money.
[11:32] SPEAKER_01: So they say great job, obviously I could never get this anywhere else.
[11:36] SPEAKER_01: Of course it pays once, once we see people applying with that kind of mindset, money, of course you have to be competitive.
[11:44] SPEAKER_01: You can almost get money anywhere for the same type of job, but what is the quality of the job that you're going to get?
[11:51] SPEAKER_01: Yes, we find Calgary is young, it attracts entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs.
[11:57] SPEAKER_01: We have had people who worked in monkey and went on to open their own bakeries or restaurants, which is incredible.
[12:04] SPEAKER_01: They give their best one year, two years of their life to us.
[12:07] SPEAKER_01: We discuss it at the start and off the go.
[12:11] SPEAKER_01: That's what we rather get than people or staff, which is just lingering around.
[12:20] SPEAKER_01: That's one big human factor is a big factor in Calgary, other than the whole meat industry and the fact that we have such good organic meat coming from the local farms.
[12:31] SPEAKER_01: The type of food we give to cattle is so different than what you get south of the border and such.
[12:38] SPEAKER_01: You know here it's grass raised mostly, whereas elsewhere it's all corn, which doesn't sit well in their stomachs and whatnot.
[12:45] SPEAKER_00: Interesting. So are you also a business coach or you're not?
[12:51] SPEAKER_00: Yes, I am. You can talk a little bit about that.
[12:54] SPEAKER_00: Adi just said and what you do there.
[12:58] SPEAKER_01: Certainly. So I'm a firm believer of one.
[13:02] SPEAKER_01: That means everything comes together as one in life.
[13:06] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[13:06] SPEAKER_01: So personal, you know, you can't you can just switch on and off your personal and your professional.
[13:11] SPEAKER_01: So what that means is that if if let's say you you feel that right now,
[13:18] SPEAKER_01: she don't feel enough confidence in getting out in the world, be dating, be it your hobby and you're struggling there or whatnot.
[13:27] SPEAKER_01: You're almost guaranteed you're going to struggle in your professional life as well.
[13:31] SPEAKER_01: So what happened over time is I got blessed with with folks around me who who really did believe that I was doing something great and I could help them.
[13:40] SPEAKER_01: Especially for my consulting background.
[13:44] SPEAKER_01: Lots of startups reached out specifically one e-commerce north accelerator program.
[13:49] SPEAKER_01: I remember recently that I did.
[13:52] SPEAKER_01: They they they select top 10.
[13:55] SPEAKER_01: Startups in the tech industry.
[13:59] SPEAKER_01: And they hired me to help them with strategy.
[14:02] SPEAKER_01: Likewise, I get lots of independent applicants who come over and want to talk about how can I make my big business bigger?
[14:10] SPEAKER_01: But they recognize that you did a small changes in life that you have to do on a personal front that also help you in your business journey entrepreneurship journey or even at your work if you're working for someone else.
[14:25] SPEAKER_01: This kind of mentality.
[14:27] SPEAKER_01: I don't think exists as much as it should.
[14:30] SPEAKER_01: And the fact that that's the kind of service I offer.
[14:33] SPEAKER_01: I've been blessed for people to to come over and seek that advice.
[14:39] SPEAKER_01: The how can I just be a better person overall and manage my family, my work together.
[14:44] SPEAKER_00: Okay.
[14:45] SPEAKER_00: So, you know, if you had a young person come up to you seeking advice.
[14:53] SPEAKER_00: The one they had an idea they want to be an entrepreneur.
[14:57] SPEAKER_00: What would you tell them?
[14:59] SPEAKER_01: The first question is why.
[15:02] SPEAKER_01: Why do you want to do what you're pitching need to do?
[15:05] SPEAKER_01: Is there an is there a right answer?
[15:08] SPEAKER_01: The right answer remains in them.
[15:11] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[15:12] SPEAKER_01: So the whole journey.
[15:13] SPEAKER_01: So for example, the next two, three sessions will be to uncover whether your internal answer that you truly believe.
[15:21] SPEAKER_01: Is it the same that's coming out of your mouth?
[15:25] SPEAKER_01: And I'll give you an example.
[15:27] SPEAKER_01: Recently, I had the chance of working with a fantastic lady.
[15:31] SPEAKER_01: She started.
[15:32] SPEAKER_01: She she did a startup.
[15:36] SPEAKER_01: And she wanted to change the world through the product.
[15:39] SPEAKER_01: Well, it all turned out that the reason why she was doing that was to give a better financial life for her parents.
[15:47] SPEAKER_01: So the money that she will make out of this and whatnot.
[15:51] SPEAKER_01: But it was not the product.
[15:52] SPEAKER_01: So that means if I switch over the product and I give you a money in a different way, would you take it and the answer was yes.
[15:59] SPEAKER_01: So it's extremely important that why you're doing what you what you're saying you're about to do.
[16:06] SPEAKER_01: Is it your your own internal truth?
[16:10] SPEAKER_01: That is the right answer.
[16:12] SPEAKER_01: And uncovering that is very important be it your personal or your your professional.
[16:18] SPEAKER_01: I mean, I've had many startups and I can tell you that you know, they want to be the next billion dollar company.
[16:25] SPEAKER_01: Yes, we all in the entrepreneur world want to get to the to the next 500 million.
[16:31] SPEAKER_01: Yes, seven million or one billion.
[16:34] SPEAKER_01: Yes, some of course I say what is good enough for them.
[16:37] SPEAKER_01: That's another example I had startup.
[16:40] SPEAKER_01: They were husband and wife and they said my good enough is about five million a year of revenue.
[16:48] SPEAKER_01: My family will will survive well and we will make a positive impact in the world because their product was was environmentally sustainable alternative to what we currently use.
[16:58] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[16:59] SPEAKER_01: I found that fascinating after after discovery sessions of about four discovery sessions we realized that that's the honest truth.
[17:08] SPEAKER_01: So for that person to go seek money from venture capitalist would not make any sense.
[17:14] SPEAKER_01: Instead you should go to the bank.
[17:17] SPEAKER_01: You should go to friends you should go to family and they did.
[17:21] SPEAKER_01: So this is the the magic of once you find your path that you honestly and truly believe in.
[17:28] SPEAKER_01: Everyone else will see the genuine intent behind it and they'll follow you interesting.
[17:38] SPEAKER_01: Okay.
[17:39] SPEAKER_00: So when you're not doing your business coaching or running a business what are your interests and I know you you mentioned cooking and traveling.
[17:52] SPEAKER_00: Tell me a little bit about what you what you like about those two areas and anything else you like to do.
[17:58] SPEAKER_01: Yes. Yes.
[18:00] SPEAKER_01: I actually recently sought my campervan so I spent a lot of time in the campervan.
[18:05] SPEAKER_01: I am traveling with my wife my recently married wife to Germany and we are going to buy a campervan there and travel around.
[18:15] SPEAKER_01: So I would say exploring geographical locations by driving around and and spending in nature for that area is some of the big interest.
[18:30] SPEAKER_01: Number two, I love spending time with my dog.
[18:35] SPEAKER_01: We rescued a dog couple months back.
[18:39] SPEAKER_01: She is quite a project and seeing that little change I tell you the last two and a half months we've spent hours a day on her.
[18:51] SPEAKER_01: At some point we were about losing hope that you know we will never be able to take her out from her negative past and her to think that world is a better place.
[19:01] SPEAKER_01: And suddenly last week she's actually sitting right below me so I'm looking at her.
[19:05] SPEAKER_01: Last week she showed such positive signs and it just paid for all the effort that went in.
[19:12] SPEAKER_01: So I would say learning dog language and dog world is something that really intrigues me and cooking of course.
[19:21] SPEAKER_01: Yes, of course you have to listen Mario you're going to throw a whole bunch of random things onto a pan anyways right so might as well pick those that might just go well with each other.
[19:33] SPEAKER_00: Is there any type of food you like to cook more than I do love my home food this is Indian food.
[19:41] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because it's a whole bunch of spices on the other hand I like central and southern Italian food primarily because of its of its past with the spice fruit of the silk root with the spices days to get from there.
[19:59] SPEAKER_01: So they end up having a nice concoction of many spices beyond the pizzas that we know of Germany and it's just fantastic off of Italy.
[20:10] SPEAKER_01: So I find Italian food quite interesting. My next one to learn is German food my wife is German but she herself doesn't like it so that's a bit of a challenge.
[20:19] SPEAKER_01: Other than the sticking notes she makes for me everywhere about what's the translation in German or everything around me so I would say that's.
[20:29] SPEAKER_00: Well, that's excellent. So you know when you look back at it you seem quite content and happy right with that decision you you made to leave that corporate world behind I guess and and to become an entrepreneur yourself.
[20:47] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, although I have to say I hear this a lot I listen to podcasts I go to events and I hear about be your own boss leave the corporate world and be an entrepreneur I don't see enough conversation around you leaving the corporate world but now when you become an entrepreneur technically you're providing a new corporate world to someone else.
[21:13] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because someone else is working in your company now. Yeah, so corporate isn't all that bad. It's about what is the right corporate a right environment.
[21:25] SPEAKER_01: So if you left an environment that you didn't like as an entrepreneur you are gifted with authority to make that change to make that corporate world good for the people who are joining in.
[21:38] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the entire world company. So I look back and I say that's the best decision I made I still have the opportunity my friends my ex colleagues are in touch with me they always bring opportunities I can go back.
[21:54] SPEAKER_01: I feel where I am today is this incredible when our employees or team members come to us and tell us they absolutely love of course not everybody has loved working with us either and that's just fine that's just the nature you know we have marriages we have divorces for the same reason as long as it's it's not hostile it is it is a good decision for both parties I believe if we continue.
[22:22] SPEAKER_01: To do that way the way we have done it even though the progression of the growth will be slower I told you two locations I didn't tell you 20 locations next year and that's absolutely fine so I would say the journey has been incredible and I learned my lessons I wish I have more lessons to learn because that keeps it interesting and yeah so move accordingly.
[22:49] SPEAKER_00: All right wonderful well thanks Addy for joining us today.
[22:54] SPEAKER_01: Thank you Mario it's lovely talking to you and yeah you it's always good to chat with you to meet you in person so I'm looking forward to meeting you next time.
[23:04] SPEAKER_00: All right wonderful that was that Addy Dutta who was co-owner of the Monkey Breakfast Club and bistro in Calgary I'm Mario Tonigusy managing editor of Canada's podcast today on KELGRI's podcast thanks for joining us.
