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What 30 Years in Business Really Teaches You with Ian Walker · Imagine The Good

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to Imagine the Good Podcast.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_03: Have you ever watched something or heard an idea that makes you want to tell everyone because it ignites hope and inspiration for their beauty and goodness, and you want to expand it in the world?
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_03: Well, that's the catalyst of this podcast.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_03: Having conversations with inspiring people, elevating goodness, and reimagining what we can do together.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_03: I'm Robin Lumber, and I'm here with my husband and co-host, Jason Dorman.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_03: Join us as we explore ideas, stories, and conversations that invite us to live with greater purpose, compassion, courage, and connection.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_03: Today, we're joined by someone who is living that invitation.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_03: And we'll explore what their story might mean for the way we live, work, and relate to one another.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_03: Let's get started.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to Imagine the Good Podcast, episode 10.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_03: I'm Robin Moore.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm Jason Dorland.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_03: Today's conversation is a particularly personal one.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_03: In 1996, our guest Ian Walker and Jason began making gourmet nut butter spreads together in borough kitchens.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_03: They sold them at Vancouver's Granville Island Market, delivered orders from the trunks of their cars, and eventually decided to pursue full-time what had started as little more than a school project.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_03: That idea became Left Coast Naturals, an organic and natural food company committed not only to making good food, but to doing business differently.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_03: The proof is in the pudding.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_03: Ian has earned multiple awards that reflect his business acumen and his care for the planet and the people who work at Left Coast.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_03: Today, Left Coast is a bee certified corporation guided by a belief that success should be measured through people, planet, and prosperity.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_03: Although Jason and Ian eventually follow different paths, the friendship and the values at the heart of what they began have endured.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_03: Although today we're going to go back to where it all started.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_03: We'll talk about friendship, entrepreneurship, purpose, and the lessons Ian has learned through 30 plus years of building a company that strives to be not only successful, but meaningful.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_03: Ian, welcome to Imagine the Good.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks a lot, Robin.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: Nice to see you both.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: Glad to be here.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: So if we do if if we do start by going back to those early days, I know for myself a lot of the memories are vivid and and they go the full gamut of from insanity to some really high moments of success and and little breakthroughs.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: What are some of the moments that that spring to mind from from that first those first few months, six months of uh uh first I need to preface am I allowed to swear on this or not?
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: I think if you if you if it if it calls for it.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I just I think of the first weekend we were in there and I was supposed to work Sunday, Jason worked Saturday, and I came to help him close up on the Saturday, or maybe no, maybe you work Friday and then I was gonna work Saturday.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: I came to help him close up, and he just had this like, and this is where I have to swear, he had this like shit eating grin, like he was just like smiling a thing, and he's like, You're not working tomorrow.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Oh God, what do we do?
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: And he's like, Well, we're sold out.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: And just that, like that pride slash like holy look on your face was amazing.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: And it was also kind of like it was nice because it was a vindication, like you especially, Jace, had put a lot of work, you know.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: This was your baby, you created, you know, you're drawing yourself and your dog on the label.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone's telling you it's a stupid idea, you're you're you're carrying it through as an art project, carrying it through as a business, uh, getting all the licensing.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: And then you got that.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: This was like that first reassurance that, hey, this is something.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: So it was really kind of cool for me to see that in your face, all in like one expression.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and and also uh like, oh my god, what do we do?
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: Look.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that was great.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, though.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, on the flip side, the expression on your face uh on our um CBC Venture episode where we uh we didn't print the right number of labels, and I didn't print the right number of labels.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: There's no we involved there.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: Jason's math, uh he's an incredible artist.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: Math isn't at the top of his classes.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: And um the like uh the skeet uh look on your face.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, but the thing is, like uh you dust off recovered.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: We nailed it, it's all good uh kind of thing.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: And um certainly I think uh you know it's kind of like a um for the I think they talk about this with like uh pregnancy and birth of a child, it's like you forget all the bad stuff and remember the good pieces of it.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: True.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: I think that more of the the good pieces of it show up around uh you know not knowing what we're doing and it somehow bumbling and turning into something good.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: So certainly those are those are nice memories of that time, as well as kind of um I always found it tough sometimes because you took a different approach to work, but I always appreciated the like stop, pause, go for a walk, think about this kind of approach, which took me a little while.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you're seven years older, took me a little while to get there.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so I think some of those early pieces helped shape me as I grew into my role with the business.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think um in terms of partnerships, the there were the certainly two different perspectives, two different ways of processing what we were trying to accomplish.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: But I think in the end, both were required and both contributed in their own in their own way.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: There's no question we both wanted the same, we've always wanted the same thing, right?
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: This is a purpose-driven business.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: We want to do good things, and we want to do it in a way that we can hold our head high.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: And when you go into it with those joint principles, the little things are easy to solve.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it's like if you're if you're mismatched on those basic principles, you're in trouble as a partner.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: But we never had that.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: So that's the nice part.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: In those early days, Ian, if if I mean hindsight being what it is, but if if someone had been able to say, hey, you're gonna be at this in 30 years from now, A, would you have uh would you have fallen out of your chair?
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: But but more, what do you think that uh that you possessed in those early days that has kept this this product, this company, this machine moving 30 years later?
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: What what was there in the in the beginning that's that served all through the years?
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think um I mean I think humbleness has served us well all the way through in not thinking that we know everything.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I I'd say humbleness and courage.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: So uh humbleness to know that we need to talk to people.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, you were really good at that.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think I was pretty good at that at trying to pick people's brains on, you know, how do you do things?
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: How can I do this better?
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: How what are you learning?
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: Even people that we're we were competing against.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: And then courage to be like, well, I don't have the answers, and I'm not sure if this is 100%, but let's just give it a whirl.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: Because I think sometimes perfection is the enemy of good or the enemy of um achieving things.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: And so um I think there's a bit more of that fast and loose that you kind of need in the early years, uh, which can go both ways, and sometimes it went the wrong way for us, and sometimes it went the right way.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: And um so I think those uh pieces are there, and then that resilience to know that, like, okay, that didn't work, we gotta try it this way, or like, because we had that, right?
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: We raced down into the states and and and we did everything wrong, totally failed down there, lost a ton of money, but then we regrouped back into Canada and started doing distribution and started building that as a solid base and leveraging, you know, because I think we're gonna talk a bit about this today, leveraging the relationships that we already had with retailers in our own backyard and uh saying, well, hey, you know, as opposed to um it kind of became apparent to me in that like we would go to the Anaheim show, and all the people around us that were based in California were hugging buyers and chatting with them, and we're like, hello over here.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: Whereas if you go to the Vancouver show, we're hugging those buyers because we've got those relationships, and you can really build upon that.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um so you know, I think learning those lessons as you go through it and then adapting so that that adaptability to be able to keep progressing and learning is is super helpful.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, and I we've talked about this over the years, but I think in so many ways, uh not knowing the rules of the game allowed us to make decisions that would not have been on the table as as choices.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so in many ways, our naivety is what allowed us to make some bold decisions.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Is that fair?
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: And then I think I think that matured into an approach that you know, if if every other business is going left, are are you gonna get any attention if you also go left?
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: Aren't you gonna get a little more attention if you go right?
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: Because then you stand out.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think that from even just thinking on it from a strategic element, there's a bunch of times where like people will be like, well, hey, everyone's doing this, we should do it.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, well, if everyone's doing it, it's kind of too late.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what about thinking about what's gonna be next after that?
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: And why don't we get ahead of the curve on that?
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so, and so when did the bit when did this when did that um project, if you will, when did it, was there a moment in your experience where it shifted, where things where it changed before between an experiment to becoming, oh, this is something viable and and we're gonna build something bigger.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: When was that moment for you?
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, uh, there's various moments on that one.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: You know, probably the first one being like when you you take out a lease and now your name's attached to something.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: When you hire a staff member, all of a sudden you're responsible for their wage.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: If you screw this up, they don't have a wage.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: So those responsibilities certainly make you aware of that.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: But it is funny, like it is not death by a thousand cuts.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's the wrong way to say it.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: But I do say this to entrepreneurs like you start something, and and ours was not like some grand intention.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: It was kind of something that we got into.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: We said, well, let's try this.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: We kind of knew where we wanted to go, but it wasn't some perfect plan.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: We just were evolving and going as we went.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: And it's easy in that situation to wake up one day, you know, two, three years into it, or four years into it, and you're like, okay, I've got like personal guarantees here, I got employees, I got our lease, I got stores counting on me.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: Oof, I better make this work.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like, wow, okay.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, for me, I was like 24 when we started this, so you know, this is coming to me when I'm 25, 26.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm still a pretty young guy, um, which can be exciting and it can also be a little bit scary, but yeah.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: In terms of um the growth and uh and then choose like there there was a um there was a a calculated decision, if you will, to take a di a different path in terms of uh in terms of being a good company.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like I remember the conversation we had around when we when when the snack food piece started to be introduced, and there was the decision, do we go with organic soy nuts or do we do uh you know, sort of standard what have you?
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: And and we both agreed, let's go with the organic.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like to me, that was a a moment where there was growth, but there was some goodness in that growth as well.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, we're super lucky in that, you know, we were pretty early days on organic.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like, just to remind people, when we got certified organic, so just you may not even know this, Chase, but we were literally one of the first certified organic producers in Canada.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: So back in the day, there was no Canadian standard, there was no US standard.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: It would, we we've our first certification was off a California standard.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: This is in the mid to late 90s.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: So but it to be frank, it was actually kind of an easy decision as we thought about getting into snacks.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: We knew that we couldn't be, you know, Frito Lay or hostess or whatever it was at the time at their own game.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: So, and I think as we were looking at it, we were trying to make a non-peanut spread, but we started playing with soy nuts.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: We knew that you know, soybeans are a pretty reasonable priced commodity.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: So if we were going to do organic, that's a nice way to get into it.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: So here's a product where we can stand out from the market and it aligns with our values.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: So, how perfect is that?
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: So I feel lucky that that happened.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: I think as you get further down the line and the market gets bigger and there's more competition, it starts to become a little more challenging.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: But certainly in the year early years, you know, our point of differentiation is oh, let's make an organic granola, because there is no organic granola.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I'm not gonna say that it wasn't smart to do it, but I wouldn't say it was rot, we were rocket scientists.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: I'd say that it was sort of a market opportunity that aligned and we saw an opportunity.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: And um, but uh, you know, and I and I don't know what it is because I've had this talk a lot before.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: People are always like, why did you guys do that stuff?
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: But I think that, you know, I think you got it a little bit from your dad being a teacher, and I got it from my dad being an entrepreneur.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like, if you're going to do something, you need to do it properly and you need to be proud of what you're doing.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe also from the rolling side uh that came into you.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: But I feel like as we got into those things, you needed I it just didn't seem I I I couldn't even do it in the cheap way.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: I don't even think my my mind would let me do that.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: Because it seemed weird.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and credit where credit's due.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: I I had Robin in my ear as well around the organic.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: I remember when I took that conversation home and said, you know, we got to make a choice, and you were certainly waving the organic flag.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: So uh Yeah, and I mean, Jace, you've been obviously as a as a vegan athlete in the 80s.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: Gosh, I mean, uh, you're not afraid to plant your flag on on what matters to you, right?
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: And and I think that that fearlessness, it comes a little bit back to that courageousness.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um taking what you think is important and doing it.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I I talked about this at the show that I was just at.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like, there's gonna be some things that just feel right.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: And there's gonna be a point in time where you either need to wait, some people wait for all the market and all the data to line up perfectly.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: But guess what?
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: Usually by the time that happens, it's too late.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: So there's gonna have to be some times where you're just gonna have to go for it based upon what you feel is right, and you cross your fingers that the market is right for that.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I think that you know, we were able to do that.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um the mistakes that were made along the way, um, you know, I don't know that this is a rhetorical question, but invariably there were many.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I we uh I can certainly think of some, but were those as um as the as the expression would go, were those your biggest teachers?
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: And if so, what were some of those big teachers?
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, uh, I mean, I think business mistakes are one thing, personal mistakes are another.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, sometimes they go hand in hand.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think I I think more heavily about personal mistakes in that that's reflective on who I am and that's deeper as opposed to, you know, business generally you take all the information, you make the best informed decision you can.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't generally have a ton of regret about those.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um because you know, you did the best you could.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: And um do I have some business regrets?
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: Sure, I guess.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I I probably waited too long to hire the right people, which um shows up because you can't be perfect at everything.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we're a small team.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but you know, you're fighting for survival from an act from a financial perspective.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: So which which one are you gonna do?
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: Hire somebody and be worse financially or and hope that they build it quick enough to cover themselves.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, but we were just systematic about that.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like we'd add a good person each year that would help have positive impact on the business.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: And and and I tried to kind of I think that I was very uh intentional about that on kind of adding people, but as far as other regrets, I mean not a lot.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: I it's funny, the biggest regret I had was I think I've told you this story about how like uh early in our times I went in and uh was trying to sell some soy nuts to a store, and and like you know how you always want to say something to someone that's really frustrating you, but you shouldn't.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I did it that one time.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I really she kicked me out of her store and I deserved it, and I regretted it forever because she never she never wanted us back in there.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's so funny.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: I saw her like 20 years later and apologized, and just was like, you know, I have never thought about it.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: I bring this up with my reps all the time as a lesson.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: And it was funny because it was just a small thing, but I really didn't like the way I showed up that day, and it really kind of stuck in my craw.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm more bothered by that stuff because it's about me as a person and how I show up in this world than I am about, I don't know.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: We entered the US and lost our shirt and then came back to Canada.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, you learn from that, and like we re-entered like 20 years later and did well.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: So um so yeah, I uh those ones I don't lose too much sleep on.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there's I could list them out, but I think the better lessons are around the the personal mistakes.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: Did you want to jump in?
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_03: Uh sure.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_03: There's a lot of directions we could go with this this conversation, Ian.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_03: Um thinking about organics, there's more attention being drawn to the importance of organics and how chemicals used in the food supply, uh, some of the downsides of that are being exposed in a significant way that's making for a bigger demand at the same time where some of the economic circumstances are putting a pinch on people's pocketbooks.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_03: From a systemic standpoint, with the depth of your experience in that space, what do you see as some of the opportunities to evolve the food system in that broad relational network from soil to farmer to getting uh good food to people and having a system that supports that?
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_03: With the depth of your experience, what do you feel are some of the things that you see as opportunities in that big picture?
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's a really big question uh that covers a lot of territory.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna attempt to do it and feel free to redirect if I'm not going the right way with this one.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: But um I mean, I have some good exposure to this because I'm on the board of the Canadian Organic Trade Association and I've been on the board of the US OTA, the Organic Trade Association, and 10 years ago I was also on the board of Coda.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: So um I get some good insight into what the struggles are, and there is some challenges, right?
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like there we're we're growing organic, and yet uh organic uh the number of organic farms is shrinking, right?
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: So there is some consolidation that's partially because of consolidation, but also um with climate change, there's a lot more variability that's affecting things.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: And so like I love farmers, but um they definitely have to look out for number one.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: So like if they can get a few pennies from someone else, they'll jump ship.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_01: I don't love that from a relational element, but I do understand it from a pragmatic perspective in that if every couple years their crop's wiped out and then they got they gotta make it when they can to just survive.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so there is a challenge there on the the crop supply side that um a codo, like there's a there's a um organic action plan that they've worked together with the Canadian organic growers, um, and there's another group as well.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry, some names escaped me right now, where they're trying to lobby to almost create like what will be almost like a checkoff program.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know how you see the gut milk ads?
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um that's because there's a milk dairy board and a piece of what you pay for milk goes to that.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: And then they use that to advertise milk and to do research and to help fund the farmers.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_01: So we'd love to have something like that for organic, where then it can support so they can the government can do support for farmers that want to transform.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Transition to organic because what happens is quite often you have like it takes like four years to transition because the the soil has to you know get clean eventually.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: Well uh they're getting conventional prices, but farming organic for those four years that's really tough to do.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: So helping to subsidize them through that, I think there's an opportunity there to motivate uh them to those farmers to make that change to see that it'll eventually be a little better as an improvement.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's big on that side.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: I think continuing still, there's a huge opportunity, and that's still I talk to people, and a lot of people don't really even know what organic is.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: They think they do, but they don't even really like natural is better known than organic, which to me is laughable because there is a definition of organic and there are standards.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: There is nothing for natural.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_03: So um I I think of your your comment about the uh the system uh was it common ground?
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_03: There was a documentary in quite a few years ago where Missouri put money behind the farmers to um uh help them transition.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_03: And when COVID happened, I think it actually um supported their economic system because they became the second largest supplier of organic uh within within a year or two.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_03: Um so it was quite remarkable what happened there with some funding support to make that transition and then getting uh farm-to-table access in ways that I believe that the conditions of of COVID and what happened there actually helped facilitate.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I do think that says there's big potential if there was money available for both research and marketing.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: Because, you know, uh I would love there to be to be for there to be sort of almost bulletproof research on the effects of chemicals on your diet.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: I'd love for there to be more bulletproof research on the effect of soil pesticides on soils and soil health.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: Because I know this sounds dumb to say this, but without soil, you have no food.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: And people don't really get that.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_01: And sort of continuing to spray destroys soil.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: So that's why you're seeing a bit of a moment with regenerative.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: Not even people know what the hell that means, but really it's a fellow regenerating the soil so that everything can continue on.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: And so I do think there's some opportunities there.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: Unfortunately, quite a bit of it comes down to money and support to get that out there.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, we're doing it at an organization like CODA, but it doesn't have a massive budget.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: And so you're kind of relying on a couple large organic producers, but even those guys are like, you know, you're like 1% of the conventional market.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: So it is uh it is tricky, but I think it's short-sighted to not support that in that long, if you want to think about the long-term food supply, you've gotta you've gotta improve soils, you have to uh have healthy humans.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: There's a whole bunch of factors that have to come into this.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: And and um the problem is that a uh in an election cycle, those kind of things don't matter.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, it it uh sometimes the long view doesn't win there.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_03: Eric Cutter's work with uh are you familiar with Eric Cutter?
• 25:22
  unknown: No.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_03: And what he's doing in California, it it's it's been a long process of of building he's he's taking um places that are food deserts, uh grown food in soil bags with and really studied and worked with the soil, produced um higher yields with extremely nutritious food.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_03: Um the tricky is he's been uh using uh parking lots that are contaminated, lifted the food onto uh away from the ground to grow it, but then gets booted out when um they want to put in a bowling alley or uh some other um interest.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um but I think there's lots of people doing good work, Rodell Institute and uh the US is you know, they've done more research.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: The there's the um organic center that does a lot of really good research in the US.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: So there are a lot of people doing really good work.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um but yeah, it's you know, and and there is the challenge around price point, right?
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like we've you know, I think we talked earlier before we we came on camera about how you know you face these um with any values-based business, you get to inflection points where you have to challenge your uh you have to challenge your values.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'll use organic as an example.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: So we have we have two, so we're just to reflect, we are a manufacturer of organic and conventional and natural food, and we're also a distributor.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_01: So just to talk about the manufacturing side, we have two brands.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: One is called Left Coast Organics, and the other one's called Hippie Foods.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: And and hippie snacks or hippie foods traditionally has been an organic brand.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: And about five to six years ago, we had a big discussion.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: We were launching a brand of crisps made from cauliflower, and we're trying to think about how we can hit the price point where this can be an everyday food.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_01: Because you do, you know, part of our mandate is to get good healthy food into people's mouths, and we all can't sell to the same yoga mom uh person in Vancouver.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_01: We have to sell to like George and Saskatoon as well.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_01: And so to do that, you have to have an approachable food.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I think there's a lot that we've learned around trying to push the envelope but not push it too far and be approachable for people.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: And unfortunately, price point became part of that.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: So we made the decision with Hippie to be a non-GMO brand and to move off of organic.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_01: We'd have still had some organic ingredients, and then we clarified a rule where we would not if we would not have any dirty dozen in there, though.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_01: Dirty dozen being the top 12 most crops.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_01: So and if they were, then we would do organic for those particular, uh, for those particular ones.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: So that's definitely a compromise.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it still hopefully aligns with our values because we're trying to get real food, right?
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like save our cauliflower crisp, we're taking a whole cauliflower head and grinding it down, and that's the basis for our cracker.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_01: So I do love that we're feeding people real food.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh challenges if we got a little too high and mighty and and made it organic and then made it also um, you know, added fair trade elements to it, all of a sudden the the price starts to get out of reach, in which case the everyday person can't buy it, in which case you're not getting your message to the everyday person.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: So there is there is some challenges that you face there around accessibility, and you got to kind of find that right place.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: That being said, our newest product with um hippie is a snack, snacking cracker.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_01: And with that, the main ingredient is a regenerative organic oat and a regenerative organic um buckwheat.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_01: So those two are the primary ingredients, in which case we're now bringing organic back in.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_01: Now it's not a certified organic product because it's still less than the 75%.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_01: But the point being that it's a way to talk about regenerative, it's a it's a platform to do that and a way to support regenerative farmers in a way that doesn't destroy the price point and still makes it an accessible product.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_03: So you're doing at a company level what many households are doing in terms of where where they buy organic and where they get so big budget because of uh reducing trying to reduce the pesticide load.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_03: And oatweats and lentils, my understanding is that there's heavy use of pesticides in those.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_03: So uh there are examples of things that are great to buy organic.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_03: And you're dealing with the realities of the system that we exist in now.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_03: If there were to be an evolution, hopefully it would get to a point where it wasn't more expensive to be regenerating.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_03: And in fact, when you look at successful firms, their profit margins are improving and there are less costs because their soil isn't being decimated every year.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_03: The regenerative soil has a return, and so there's a reflection of more true costs in what's happening.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: Can I give an example?
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think there's a real opportunity eventually for externalities, I'm not sure I'll say what that term means, to be priced into conventional food.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_01: I'll give you an example.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_01: So um I have some exposure through a family business to rock quarries and to landfills.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_01: So two very dirty industries, right?
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_01: And in those two, say for example, when you build a quarry, basically you're essentially digging, you know, you're taking off all the soil, you're blowing up rock, you're building it down, you're creating this huge pit.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of nasty, right?
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_01: But you have to have uh a fund set aside to support this for like 75 years after it closes.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_01: You have to have ponds and treatment for the leachate.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_01: You have to continue to test for 70 years on the water going out.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_01: You have the same thing for landfills.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_01: All of those costs, guess what?
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: They get baked into the cost for the stone or the cost for the garbage going into the landfill.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_01: For food, we have none of that.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_01: So somebody sprays pesticides, that goes into the water system, it destroys something, or it uh kills something else.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_01: That doesn't get put back into the cost.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_01: I could see a day where eventually those, just like with, say, quarries and landfills, or like a plant that has to put in scrubbers so they're not sending uh pollutants out into the air.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_01: Why can't they do that for food as well?
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_01: Because I do think that there's an impact coming from that, and that's just not getting costed into the true cost of the product.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: And if you did that, you'd probably have very little externalities on organic or regenerative, and a lot more on conventional.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_01: All of a sudden they start being more polluted.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, it's it's an important consideration looking at the whole life cycle of the true costs.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, John Robbins uh did a lot of work in that space and Ocean Robbins with the food revolution in terms of getting sustainable food for healthy people on a healthy planet, with looking at at the true costs.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_03: And when you look at lobbying interests, um some of some of the calculations there um come out differently than if what was happening was uh reflected in the price.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I'm just raising this.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_01: There's a again, I there are a couple opportunities I see there.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh those are gonna take a while, and it's gonna take a lot of lobbying and a bit of um unfortunately, people are probably gonna have to feel the pain before they really um embrace thinking about those things.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_01: Hopefully it won't be too late.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_01: But uh anyway, I won't uh go off on that.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_03: Well, when I look at regenerative food and what is happening in that space globally, to me, it's one of the best news stories there is.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_03: I it's very exciting.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_03: Uh people are are passionate about it in the same way that um you felt like the culture of organics and sustainability that you entered into um had a spirit of camaraderie and support.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_03: Um I think there's a lot that when you recognize the fundamental interconnectedness with how we grow food and that spills into relationships, um, there's a lot of good stuff that can flow from that.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think um definitely that's one of the things that's pretty special about this industry is relationships.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um I I just had uh we just had our convention, our main Canadian convention or trade show this past weekend, and um I had the opportunity to to to give a small speech.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_01: And in there I did talk about uh how lucky I felt.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_01: Well, first of all, just lucky to be in this industry where purpose aligns with with uh business, and but but more about the excitement about the people that are in this industry and the culture that's been created.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_01: And and I think it's because you know, in the early days we were the weirdos.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um we were a very small kind of underdog group that had to be there for each other or we would have disappeared.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_01: And so that same mindset and mentality is carried through.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, uh really this industry kind of started with a whole bunch of, at least in Canada, it started with a whole bunch of draft dodgers in the in the 70s.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that came up to Canada and through the 80s, and then I came in in the 90s, and a lot of those guys were kind of then the OGs in the industry.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_01: They'd been doing it for quite a while, and and they were super welcoming.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they'd be like, hey, I love what you're doing.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_01: Come on, let's talk, let's go for lunch.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: And like that helped me immeasurably and helped us as a business uh to be able to learn from these guys, get connected, they bring us brands, they get excited about what we're doing.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_01: And that's kind of carried forward for me.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like anytime somebody reaches out, I'm just ecstatic to talk to them and help them.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_01: And because we know that we're all gonna float with the boat, right?
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_01: The whole industry, if it lifts up, we're all gonna go with it.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_01: And so, I mean, it was to the point where whatever you could walk into your buyer's uh office in those early years and just say, Hey, let's go for a beer and go shoot the breeze and then do a deal.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like it was it was uh really built on those relationships.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um and that's what really helped us build our business.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_03: I imagine it's part of what also sustained you, uh, because there's a good feeling that comes with that kind of relationship building as part of your vision.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, right?
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_01: It makes it, you know, first of all, uh, you know, not every day is glorious in business, right?
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_01: So and this industry uh is very rewarding on a number of levels.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's not always rewarding financially, but you at least know you're working with great people and you have great relationships there.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I've got a group of guys in this industry.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we were kind of the young upstarts back in the day, and we'd been meeting for dinner every couple months.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_01: I think going on maybe 18 years now or 20 years.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and every two years or so we'd go on a trip together, and we would just meet and talk and help each other out and and talk about uh what we were up to and bounce challenges off each other.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, these are some of my best friends, and and it's a I feel super lucky to have people like that in my life, and I've had that uh across a bunch of areas with within the industry.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's a place where like I pick up the phone still today and I call some of my biggest competitors and we shoot the breeze or we go for lunch.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh nobody's trying to attack each other.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so I just really yeah, there's there's something about that, and maybe maybe it's because of those early days that created that culture.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_01: Because I know I know that not every industry is like that.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_03: And and I'm I'm guessing that you've had something to do with um supporting that culture.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_03: Congratulations on winning the John Holtman Leadership Award.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_03: Um it sounds like other people have recognized how you've contributed to that spirit of generosity and and teamship in the culture that you're working in.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, thanks.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, certainly I I think I'll go back to my dad.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_01: He always, you know, talked about it's funny when we were kids, he would talk about business a lot with us, and and a lot of it was how did you treat people?
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_01: What did you do for them from the early years, right?
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_01: Like, like, for example, as soon as we hired staff, I was like, well, let's get them some benefits.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like, let's get them, you know, life insurance and disability and health care.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, to me, it was a no-brainer, like that's what you do for the team that you have.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I had no idea what I was doing.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, how do I even get this stuff?
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, it just seemed to make sense.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um same with like for I think it's going on 25 years now, we've had a sustainability bonus where like our staff, if they you know, bike to work, they get uh 120 bucks.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_01: If they bust to work, they get 85 bucks a month.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_01: If they eat organic at home, they get uh 75 bucks a month.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_01: So us helping them to make positive changes at their home, because then we can influence them.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um those little bits, I mean, I I I like to think of life and business as there being a little bit of karma in there.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_01: I get like I guess I'm an optimist.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_01: I kind of hope that if you do all those right things, that like success in whatever way you define it comes back to you.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um and uh certainly as I've gotten older and more reflective, that seems to continue to make sense and uh show up for me.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_01: So um, so yeah, I mean, and I think all the work that all these relationships and work that I put in uh over the last 25 years probably led to me getting that award because it's voted by the members.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I had lots of people coming up to me later saying, hey, yeah, you were one of those guys that welcomed me into the industry and blah, blah, blah.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it was very kind of them to say that.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_01: So um uh yeah, so I hope that continues on.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that's gonna feel good to be recognized by your peers.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_00: Well, what I find interesting, Ian, is what you've just touched on there, what we would refer to as the synergy, uh, the combined effort of the community, uh of the of the business uh sector, if you will.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_00: And as someone who used to be a part of it, um uh when I see uh when I see the post from Left Coast on LinkedIn, what I am always struck by is the people who are liking and commenting are from other major companies.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_00: And there really is a synergistic uh relationship where where, as you spoke to earlier, where you call up your biggest competitor and YouTube will go for lunch.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a unique and and and beautiful and all those uh nice words, but but we would argue to your point, it does raise everybody.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_00: If everybody gets better, everybody gets better.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, I I don't mean to trash the coaching industry, but I notice that in the coaching industry, it is not a synergistic culture.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_00: It is sorry, in some pockets, in in a lot of pockets, it is it is very insular.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it doesn't have that encouragement and push from coach to coach to coach.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's I mean, doesn't this go back to?
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I talk a lot about like a lot of I interview people for jobs, and I'm like, hey, can you describe the culture?
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I kind of chuckle because I don't think culture is as complicated as everyone makes it.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's a little bit of the truth to like, hey, everything you needed to learn, you learned in kindergarten.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_01: And that whole uh treat people the way you want to be treated, do what you say you're gonna do, those simple things hold up.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I think lessons that we should have been taught by our parents or teachers is somebody else doing great doesn't mean that that's pushing you down.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_01: It means it means nothing about you.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_01: You can just celebrate that in isolation of yourself.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you can be excited for them.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_01: It means nothing about you.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_01: And um so I think when you think about it that way, and and also kind of obviously with the the the context of the political climate right now, you know, I think that we as Canadians like to think that things can be win-win as opposed to uh certain people right now are pushing a win-lose mentality.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think this relational thing, once again, has to be a win-win, right?
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta come into it.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_01: How can I do better for you?
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_01: And uh and how can we both win out of this?
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um and that usually builds collaboration and builds connection and and and makes it so that people that want to deal with you want to deal with you.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_03: You've experienced the positive impact of that, that kind of culture.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_03: And we found in in coaching uh businesses, business leadership who are unfamiliar with that, when they're willing to give it a chance, it's just beautiful to see what they let go of when uh extending a hand and opening to uh uh collaboration and support with with uh their competitors has brought present surprises.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_03: Not everybody um is ready for that, but it's wonderful when it happens.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_03: And as you said, I I think there's something about uh food and community with um with farming and the nature of of those elements that lends itself to the spirit of what you're you're describing in your journey.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and certainly what we do is fairly accessible from uh like everyone eats food, everyone's familiar with it.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's a pretty easy if I bring up people who be like, What do you do as an organic food company?
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_01: And it's easy to talk about.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone relates to it.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_01: They kind of get what it's about.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_01: So I think there's kind of that overall welcoming aspect to it.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, and it is a smaller industry, right?
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_01: So if it, you know, when you're it's kind of like going to a smaller university, you get to know people, and you're probably not gonna be a jerk to many people if you're gonna see them like 10 times a day, uh, as opposed to you know a big city and you'll never see them again.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_01: So that way.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_00: So within that, um within that uh relation or that community, Ian, do you feel like you're now wearing a bit of a different hat in terms of not just Ian the entrepreneur, but Ian perhaps the mentor or uh I've gone from the young upstart to like the old season vet, I guess.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_01: You can tell from my head, but um yeah, it's it's um part of me is you know, uh feels weird to be there, but the other part of me is like, you know, uh I could go on for days and days and days talking about stuff that we've been through and and stuff that we've done.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so it has been uh uh an extensive experience.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um so why not leverage that?
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and it goes to my nature.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like I I feel happiest when I'm helping people and caring for people and uh I don't know, maybe that comes from my mom, but I I really want to be doing those things and and um definitely as you get older, right, you start reflecting a lot more on what gives you what gives you contentment, what what gives you fulfillment, um, what are those happy moments, and you you try to build those into your life a little bit more.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_01: You can you can afford to be a bit more um intentional.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm I'm definitely trying to do that.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and we talked about this earlier, how like part of why we're still around is is that um adaptability and willingness to look in the mirror.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_01: And that's very much true with me on my my own personal life, right?
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_01: I've had lots of personal challenges and I have to look in the mirror and say, okay, what can I learn from this?
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_01: What can I do different?
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_01: How can I continue to evolve as a person?
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_01: Because that never stops.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um I'm definitely not a I am a believer that people continue to evolve.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um and that we're, you know, you can you can manage that.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's something I've had to continue to work on myself, and and um and I think that's helped me as a leader, right?
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like I I'm glad to say that I'm a better leader now than I was five years ago or than I was ten years ago, uh, because of that self-reflection and because I'm curious about other people.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_01: And um yeah.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_01: I mean it's funny, you know, like um I do one-on-ones with my team all the time, and it's funny, it still surprises some of them where we get into the meeting, and you know, usually we have a fairly clear like agenda, but I'll just be like, How are you really doing?
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like, let's just talk about that for a sec.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_01: And there it sometimes people get certain people get surprised by that.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_01: And to me, that just feels like something natural you should talk about.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_01: You're two people checking in, and uh this is a moment to be able to do that, and obviously how you're feeling, how you're doing is gonna show up in how you perform.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_01: So I think being there and then talking through those things and and trying to help each other on that side depends on people.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_01: Not not everyone's willing to go there, but I do think that that's something that um can be a superpower for a manager is to be there for your team when when they need you on stuff that may or may not have anything to do with work.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_00: In those conversations that you have with young entrepreneurs, you know, what's the messaging now that you're that you do have 30 years behind you?
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_00: And and and more particular, uh what's different about the messaging that that you might have embraced as your younger self when you were 20 god, 25 years old?
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_00: Holy crap.
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_00: When you first began, what what what's what's the what's different about what you embrace now as opposed to then?
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_01: I think I'm more curious and less prescriptive.
• 48:34
  unknown: Right?
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_01: I think when you're in the mix, when you're in the thick of it, like say when I was 30 or 35, I'd be like, okay, well, this is what I'm doing.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I want to kind of like steer them towards that solution that I'd found.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_01: Whereas now I'm probably more like, what's going on for you?
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_01: I also will bring in more of the personal.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_01: I'll be like, how are you actually doing?
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like, is this what you want to be doing?
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_01: Is this aligned with that?
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how are you holding up?
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_01: A little more realizing that that piece uh does matter, trying to remind them of that.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's easy in entrepreneurship to get trapped into, okay, this is what I got to do, this is my life, this is what I'm doing.
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_01: And it can kind of chew away, if you're not careful, it can chew away at your soul.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_01: I know that's kind of maybe extreme saying, but until you kind of pause and reflect and go, hold on, am I actually enjoying this?
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I because I always want to remind people about that.
• 49:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like, make sure you're doing what you enjoy, you're gonna be better at it.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um and it doesn't mean that you can only do things you can enjoy, right?
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_01: You're an entrepreneur, a small business, you're gonna have to do some stuff you don't like, but to a point.
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_01: And then um and then the other thing is probably discipline around knowing when to say no.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think some of those things um I've certainly learned the the power of that.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh just to interject there, when you say no, do you mean boundaries?
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_00: So for yourself or or are these no in the terms of business decisions?
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_01: Both.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I I think um and knowing when to say, okay, enough is enough.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_01: I don't really want to do this anymore.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I I I think it's in certain things or certain boundaries.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it's boundaries around what you're gonna do and what you're not gonna do.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it's gonna be um, you know, and how much it impacts your family.
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, sometimes it's gonna be how much money you're gonna put in.
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it's gonna be around uh, you know, and and and other times it's like get over yourself, uh suck it up, buttercup.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_01: This is what you gotta, you know.
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_01: So it goes both ways.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um but yeah, I think some of those challenging them on the hard decisions, as opposed to the day-to-day stuff that maybe I might have jumped right into in the past when I was younger.
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um because it's those existential things that matter.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's easy to forget that.
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_01: People get lost, you know, can't see the forest through the trees, that kind of thing.
• 51:08
  SPEAKER_03: I hear a lot of perspective taking uh in in this orientation now.
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_03: What's the big picture?
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_03: What does it serve?
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_03: And a distinction between there's a ton of work that has to be done uh in the business.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_03: So there's always going to be tasks, but you're shifting in how you're orienting to people from a more relational space of get out of my head with, yeah, we've got the list of things on the agenda and that we have to cover.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_03: But when we pause for a moment to remember that uh fundamentally, this work is about uh a team and it's both the people and the person that's right in front of you.
• 51:49
  SPEAKER_03: And your shift to prioritize who is this person in front of me and what's going on for them, holding that as you go through the list of what needs to get taken care of.
• 52:01
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and in certain cultures are better, like certain business climates.
• 52:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like I find obviously in the West Coast, people are a little more open to just having deeper conversations sometimes.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm generalizing here, but um, it's pretty interesting because I'll find with quite a few American suppliers, we'll go for like dinner at a show and they feel like we need to talk about business, so they kind of talk business.
• 52:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, no, guys, I want to hear about your kids.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_01: Let's get into this here.
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like, let's we're a bunch of humans doing our best.
• 52:31
  SPEAKER_01: Let's get to know each other.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_01: And when we've been able to do that, like when we've been actually get to know each other on a deeper level, um actually I'll tell you a funny story that that actually relates to this.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_01: So last last April, we had at the Canadian Trade Show in Vancouver, we had a dinner with all of our suppliers.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_01: And uh we had a bunch of tables, and I kind of floated from table to table.
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I came to the one table, and it was a group of them, and and they're like, it's like, oh, what are you guys talking about?
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I sat down with them, and it's a couple of staff and some some vendors, some suppliers, and they're like, Oh, we're talking about our greatest fears.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_01: And they're like, What's your greatest fear?
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I was so like I went, I like dove in head first.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, you know, being alone and and and being loved, and you know, and that shows up here, and I'm I started blabbing on.
• 53:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, what about you guys?
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_01: And they're like, Well, lighters.
• 53:32
  SPEAKER_01: And and then I was like, hold it.
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_01: Perfect.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_01: You guys are not getting away with this.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_01: We're going back around and we're going deep.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_01: And so we spent like 40 minutes, and everyone's kind of like, well, I had two of the two of I think the six people cried.
• 53:45
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, cool.
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_01: And then we all hugged afterwards.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_01: We were like, that was amazing.
• 53:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 53:49
  SPEAKER_01: And uh all because I misinterpreted, of course, but uh but those moments of like finally showing your true self actually matter.
• 53:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I I try to do that with like uh everybody that starts at left coast, I try to meet with them the first week they they join.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the like I have kind of like three or four things that I want to get across.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_01: And one of them is like, listen, we're eventually gonna figure out who you are, so you don't need to hide it.
• 54:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like, there is no perfect left coast employee.
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_01: Don't come in and think that you gotta be this, just let the freak flag fly.
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like, be yourself, and maybe you got some weird hobby, but who knows?
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe somebody else has that same weird hobby, and if you don't tell them for a year, you missed out on cro whatever, like crocheting with them.
• 54:38
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so it's one of the things I try to talk about is like be yourself.
• 54:44
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we're gonna see it eventually.
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_01: Just let it let it come.
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_01: Because people are amazing, and you'll everyone enough people here will find something that they love about you if you show up there as your authentic.
• 54:57
  SPEAKER_01: The people that people don't get along with is that person that doesn't let themselves show.
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 55:03
  SPEAKER_01: And knowing you are attached to those real people.
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_00: Knowing you as I do, even that is such a that is such an Ian Walker moment.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_00: I can absolutely picture you coming in midway and just blowing up the rules and no this way.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it's not that that happens on a fairly frequent basis, unfortunately.
• 55:23
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, uh, I'm never afraid to embarrass myself and and the the the I think the team appreciates it.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um and it's funny, even our like I said, some of the US vendors at the show, like we were at a ball game, they did an event, they had I think they bought 800 seats, the CHFA at the show, and like they showed our section, and and there I am dancing away, whatever.
• 55:45
  SPEAKER_01: And next thing you know, the camera zooms in on me.
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_01: So now everyone in the industry is laughing at me dancing there.
• 55:51
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, but like everyone later on was like, that was the best, you know, whatever coming up.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_01: Because you can't get take yourself too seriously, you realize that we're all just a bunch of people trying to do our best, and that somebody else will be happy you did that because they look like a jackass earlier, too.
• 56:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I know that dance too.
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_01: I've seen it a few times.
• 56:10
  SPEAKER_03: I've got a visual.
• 56:14
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think it's this all comes down to that, just being a bunch of humans and being there for each other and taking an interest in what's going on.
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that like uh too many people separate that from business, and I I do think they weave together a lot, and it and it once you have those moments, uh it really helps.
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like I think about this even on my relational levels, like I really have a soft spot for people that have had a few tough times and have been willing to admit that.
• 56:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, because the people that maybe nobody has a perfect life, but the people that show the perfect life, I almost don't believe it.
• 56:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't feel it, they don't feel authentic that I can attach on to.
• 56:55
  SPEAKER_01: Whereas the people that can talk through that stuff and have it, you can have those genuine deep conversations, and then all of a sudden you feel like you got somebody there.
• 57:04
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 57:05
  SPEAKER_00: So to following that line of uh of the relationship you have with your employees, you know, what what do you hope is uh, you know, when the day comes when you're not there, how do you want to be talked about?
• 57:20
  SPEAKER_00: What what's your what are you hoping, not just your legacy uh within the business world, but you know, almost perhaps more importantly within within the workplace and the culture.
• 57:29
  SPEAKER_01: How does he I want when somebody mentions my name for them to smile?
• 57:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's a simple way of assessing it.
• 57:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, I want them to uh say that he was a person that cared, say that uh he's somebody that did the right thing, was authentic.
• 57:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um and you know, was passionate about that he brought his passion um for good or for bad.
• 58:00
  SPEAKER_01: And um yeah, I mean, it's not a competition.
• 58:06
  SPEAKER_01: I don't have to be the favorite boss they've ever had.
• 58:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um on the things that I and I've learned that as I've gotten older, that I don't have to be perfect as a manager.
• 58:15
  SPEAKER_01: I should double down on the things that I'm really good at.
• 58:19
  SPEAKER_01: And just having authentic conversations is one of those things that I think I'm relatively good at.
• 58:24
  SPEAKER_01: And so, and I think that that creates connection, which then in turn has a lot of knock-on effects.
• 58:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh positive.
• 58:32
  SPEAKER_00: I've always said that uh, you know, I think we're coaches, and I'm talking sport coaches here, where they can often get themselves into trouble is when is when when they want to be liked by their athletes or they want to be their athlete's friend.
• 58:46
  SPEAKER_00: And and it's not to say that you have to be um confrontational or or not nice, but um you know, I just think if if that's what you're shooting for, it's ultimately gonna compromise the relationship.
• 59:02
  SPEAKER_00: The friendship comes as a byproduct of of how you interact.
• 59:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's if if that's where you're targeting, then something's gonna go sideways.
• 59:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's my sense.
• 59:12
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think the the best friend is the person that asks the question that you don't want to answer.
• 59:18
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 59:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, the dis well.
• 59:20
  SPEAKER_01: Because that's that's a that's a resistance, that's something that's maybe holding you back because you're just not willing to go there.
• 59:26
  SPEAKER_01: And and it doesn't mean you have to answer that, and people are allowed to corner you, but at least they're considering that and raising that.
• 59:33
  SPEAKER_03: The distinction between nice and kind.
• 59:36
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 59:37
  SPEAKER_03: If you have the the the best interest of of the person and the community that you're serving, then you ask the tough questions from a place of care versus polite conversation.
• 59:49
  SPEAKER_03: Nice one and avoiding.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I gotta think for you guys, like it's uh where that person's head is at is gonna really show up, whether it's sports performance or business performance, like that's such a big piece of it that um some people have too many like five-point plans as opposed to checking in on how people are doing and what's going on for them and how this is showing up, uh that is dramatically affecting that.
• 1:00:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:00:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 1:00:23
  SPEAKER_03: And and with your attention to the whole person creating an authentic place for people to come to work and feel welcomed and a part of uh I always come back to we can do anything if we like who we're working with, in the sense that when there's a positive rapport in that space, um, and the most things are mundane, broken down, uh, but when they serve a bigger purpose, then you feel good about being a part of that, whether you're cleaning the toilets or in an assembly line or getting food to people.
• 1:00:58
  SPEAKER_03: In terms of what you've learned and your sense of what can be for the future, what where are your places of optimism and hope for what can be in the space of business and food and all that has been a part of your world for the last 30 years?
• 1:01:21
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, certainly there's been a directional pattern.
• 1:01:25
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we've gone from very conventional artificial foods in the 60s and 70s and 80s to the emergence of natural and organic and non-GMO and gluten-free, and those things have become more mainstream now.
• 1:01:45
  SPEAKER_01: And so certainly that's a directional movement that I think is not stopping.
• 1:01:50
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, just looking at all the mainstream companies that have been buying up people and getting more involved in it.
• 1:01:55
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's a positive thing.
• 1:01:57
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm very optimistic because it it's kind of only going one direction, it's gaining acceleration.
• 1:02:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um so that leads me to feel like that's a good sign.
• 1:02:08
  SPEAKER_01: I think there's gonna be some heavy work to get maybe over a hump, because generally you'll get like 20% of the population can really get like jazzed and excited about it, and then you got another 30 or 40 that's pretty okay with it, but they're opportunistic on it, and then it's that final bit that's gonna be pretty tough to convince.
• 1:02:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I think there's a bit of work there.
• 1:02:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but but I'm optimistic in that generally the research and the facts show that this is a better way.
• 1:02:40
  SPEAKER_01: And so if it's either better for you nutritionally, environmentally, health-wise, um, eventually those facts will come out and people will see it.
• 1:02:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I kind of hope that um that that piece goes.
• 1:02:56
  SPEAKER_01: From a business perspective, you also look at the rise of B Corp where people are considering uh impact, externalities, you know, your impact on the community, your impact on the environment, your impact on your employees and your community.
• 1:03:10
  SPEAKER_01: All those things are being assessed in that, and the rise of that movement has been very refreshing.
• 1:03:15
  SPEAKER_01: Certainly, it's something, I mean, like attracts like, but pretty much every person I interview for a job here, they're like, Oh, I love that you guys, because I'll say, What do you like about us?
• 1:03:23
  SPEAKER_01: They're like, Well, I love that you're a B Corp.
• 1:03:25
  SPEAKER_01: So they obviously care about that piece.
• 1:03:28
  SPEAKER_01: And um, so that social purpose business is definitely also continues on the upswing.
• 1:03:36
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think any of these things are like fly and die trends.
• 1:03:39
  SPEAKER_01: I think they're they're definitely things on the upswing.
• 1:03:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, definitely, unfortunately, as we get into seeing worse and worse climate change or worse um corporate challenges, I think they're gonna start getting painted in a corner to really force change.
• 1:03:58
  SPEAKER_01: I hate that it's gonna have to come to that, uh, but I do think that some of those pieces will force change, right?
• 1:04:05
  SPEAKER_01: You you're seeing when you see like these big investment groups, say out of New York, looking at resiliency and thinking about some of these pieces as part of resiliency, I think that makes me optimistic.
• 1:04:19
  SPEAKER_01: If they're like, well, this company won't be around because they whatever their uh greenhouse gas emission basis, or that's gonna cost them because externalities are gonna be charged.
• 1:04:33
  SPEAKER_01: I think some of those pieces now have we had a small dip with the the US government right now, yes, but that doesn't mean that the long-term pattern is changing.
• 1:04:42
  SPEAKER_01: I think it'll eventually come in.
• 1:04:44
  SPEAKER_01: So I do love that even investors are considering these things more and more and more.
• 1:04:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like you you are seeing the upswing there.
• 1:04:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm I mean I'm optimistic.
• 1:04:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think that um I think that one of the things I always say is that everyone just needs to raise their hand and be willing to do things.
• 1:05:04
  SPEAKER_01: And it doesn't have to be grand things, right?
• 1:05:06
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe it's a community event, maybe it's something at your work, whatever, joining the green committee.
• 1:05:13
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it's joining a board.
• 1:05:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, like there was a I'm on a board and somebody had interviewed for the board, and she didn't have a ton of experience in that kind of stuff, but she was like super eager.
• 1:05:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like really excited for her because I was like, you're gonna bring energy, and I know you're gonna give this everything you got.
• 1:05:31
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes that's that's enough.
• 1:05:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:05:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and so I really do appreciate uh when you know, and I I I said this in this speech last weekend was you know, raise your hand, do stuff, just uh put yourself out there.
• 1:05:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um and you never know, that could mean that you're punching above your weight.
• 1:05:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:05:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so just to wrap up, then, you know, in keeping with the the theme of the show, Imagine the Good, it sounds like uh Um for you, and I don't want to put words in your mouth, but when you imagine the good of the food industry, it is about its continuous growth, it's more embracing.
• 1:06:08
  SPEAKER_00: How would you how would you describe that?
• 1:06:12
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we talk about it with our business as being good people providing good food.
• 1:06:17
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 1:06:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think that's a pretty good summary for what I would hope we see in the future is good people, good businesses that you know that behave and that consider impact in externalities, uh providing good food that is healthy for people, that free of contaminants, and that uh have positive impact.
• 1:06:42
  SPEAKER_01: So those are the things that you know that I hope for for the industry and and um uh and yeah, I I definitely uh see that happening, especially you know, when you see a lot of really good people uh entering the industry, again, it's a continual funnel of good people.
• 1:07:00
  SPEAKER_01: You're like, oh, this is a this is a good sign.
• 1:07:02
  SPEAKER_01: This means that this this culture is gonna continue, that there's a lot of people bringing energy uh to this movement.
• 1:07:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so that really makes me feel good about it.
• 1:07:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:07:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, for me, it's it's um it's it's what a pleasure for me to just sit here and listen to you know, having been there at the beginning, known some of the struggles along the way uh for you as an individual and within the business, and to see where you are now and more importantly, to see the way you're recognized.
• 1:07:36
  SPEAKER_00: I just think it's um, you know, to that award that you received last weekend, you're an inspiration to the industry.
• 1:07:44
  SPEAKER_00: And and I hope you um, you know, I hope you hear that, I hope you feel that, because it's it's absolutely well earned.
• 1:07:54
  SPEAKER_00: And uh we certainly appreciate you taking the time and coming on and telling us a little bit about that industry.
• 1:07:59
  SPEAKER_00: Ian so thank you.
• 1:08:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thanks.
• 1:08:01
  SPEAKER_01: I was trying to figure out how I could get off the topic of the award, but um not happening.
• 1:08:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um but no, I I I mean I I I love what the two of you are doing and how it aligns with how the philosophy that we've taken in this business.
• 1:08:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's it's it's very uh synchronistic.
• 1:08:19
  SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to think of the word that uh you always use there, Jace.
• 1:08:22
  SPEAKER_01: Synergy.
• 1:08:23
  SPEAKER_01: Synergistic.
• 1:08:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:08:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so it's it just aligns with how we approach things here, really aligns with, and that's why I appreciate how the two of you, the approach you take to coaching is is is is very deep and I think uh sustaining.
• 1:08:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I think that that piece aligns with how I've been approaching this, right?
• 1:08:42
  SPEAKER_01: When you when you know you want to do this for the long term, you do it right and you go deep.
• 1:08:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that um I see that on both sides.
• 1:08:50
  SPEAKER_01: So that's why I think it's easy to have these conversations.
• 1:08:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure.
• 1:08:53
  SPEAKER_00: Great.
• 1:08:54
  SPEAKER_03: Well, thanks so much, Ian, for for speaking with us today.
• 1:08:58
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sure the audience will will be inspired by what you're doing and what you have been doing.
• 1:09:05
  SPEAKER_01: Anybody that anybody that wants to reach out to me, I I don't kid around when I say I'm glad to chat with people, just email Ian at leftcoastnaturals.com.
• 1:09:13
  SPEAKER_01: Glad to have a chat if there's uh business you're thinking about or looking at, you want to understand the food industry, feel free to reach out.
• 1:09:20
  SPEAKER_01: Very cool.
• 1:09:21
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Ian.
• 1:09:22
  SPEAKER_03: Great, thanks so much, Ian.
• 1:09:23
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 1:09:23
  SPEAKER_00: Take care.
• 1:09:24
  SPEAKER_00: Before we go, we'd like to leave you with the guiding questions at the heart of Imagine the Good.
• 1:09:30
  SPEAKER_00: What's good in the world?
• 1:09:31
  SPEAKER_00: How can I build on that?
• 1:09:33
  SPEAKER_00: And what might become possible if I did?
• 1:09:36
  SPEAKER_00: Take a little time to sit with those questions.
• 1:09:39
  SPEAKER_00: And if this conversation brought someone to mind, consider sharing it with them.
• 1:09:44
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for spending this time with us.
• 1:09:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you'd like to help others discover Imagine the Good, please follow or subscribe to the show and leave us a rating and review wherever you listen.
• 1:09:56
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, keep finding the good in your world.
• 1:10:00
  SPEAKER_00: Look for moments to elevate and celebrate life in your circles and imagine what we can become together.