Latest / Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam / A Coffee with Trevor and Amanda Wilhauk from Brickhouse Smokery

Transcript

A Coffee with Trevor and Amanda Wilhauk from Brickhouse Smokery · Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam

• 0:14
  Well, hello, everybody, and welcome to another edition of the ABA Coffee In The Park.
• 0:19
  My name is Cam Milliken, and I'm here with my co-host extraordinaire, Jennifer Herrick, the Executive Director of the Acheson Business Association.
• 0:27
  Hi, Jennifer.
• 0:28
  Why, hello, Cam.
• 0:29
  On this, once again, beautiful spring-like day.
• 0:32
  My goodness, it's sunny Alberta today, and it's warming up.
• 0:35
  I'm ready to put on shorts and sunglasses.
• 0:37
  I think it's almost spring.
• 0:38
  I know, it's incredible outside.
• 0:39
  I love it, this is great.
• 0:41
  But you know what, spring means allergies, and well, let's not get into that.
• 0:44
  Anyway, I'm just happy it's warming up.
• 0:46
  Me too.
• 0:47
  So hey, we want to tell everybody that we're coming to you live from the Wall Coffee Roasters in the heart of beautiful downtown Acheson.
• 0:55
  That's right.
• 0:55
  So hey, if you've never been to the Wall Coffee Roasters, you need to come.
• 0:58
  Best coffee you'll ever find.
• 1:00
  And hey, we're in Acheson, like we said, and it's an amazing place.
• 1:04
  So that being said, because we're in a coffee shop and it's live, you might hear some coffee machines whirring, people talking, kids screaming, that kind of stuff.
• 1:11
  Don't worry about it.
• 1:12
  It's all good because we're live.
• 1:14
  And that's what we want to continue to be, live from the coffee shop! That's what we want to be, We want to be live.
• 1:18
  Jennifer, tell us about some very important people.
• 1:20
  We would like to thank our gold corporate sponsors, which include the Myshak Group of Companies, Genics, Parkland County, and Bow Valley Credit Union.
• 1:27
  Yes, thank you.
• 1:28
  Without you, we would not be able to do what we do.
• 1:31
  So we really appreciate it.
• 1:32
  I am so excited today because it's another podcast that has to do with food.
• 1:39
  I love food and this is some of my favorite food today.
• 1:42
  I'm going to tell you that right now, just so we know.
• 1:44
  So I'm so excited about our guests.
• 1:46
  Jennifer, introduce our guests.
• 1:48
  Well, Cam, our guests today are Trevor and Amanda Wilhauk.
• 1:52
  So welcome.
• 1:53
  Yes.
• 1:54
  Thank you very much. Thank you for having us.
• 1:55
  Good to have you.
• 1:56
  It's awesome.
• 1:57
  We've been trying this for a while and we finally made it happen.
• 1:59
  You are very busy people.
• 2:01
  So you make beef jerky and a million other things.
• 2:05
  But we'll get into that eventually.
• 2:08
  So, yeah, tell us, where did it all start for both of you?
• 2:12
  Where were you born?
• 2:13
  Where did you grow up?
• 2:14
  Oh, I was born in Leduc, Alberta.
• 2:17
  Leduc.
• 2:17
  Yeah.
• 2:18
  And that's my dad and his family started the butcher shop in Leduc.
• 2:22
  Okay.
• 2:23
  And so I grew up a butcher son and going through a bunch of different professions, I guess I landed this opportunity.
• 2:31
  My father-in-law built a building and wanted us to put it in there.
• 2:34
  So we did.
• 2:35
  Was there an expectation that you'd be a butcher like everybody else in your family?
• 2:39
  At one point, there was and it didnt work out.
• 2:40
  And did you rebel?
• 2:42
  A little bit.
• 2:45
  I guess I didn't see the bigger picture at the end.
• 2:47
  Yeah, sure.
• 2:48
  So what did you do in the meantime?
• 2:51
  I got into machinery.
• 2:52
  Oh, okay.
• 2:53
  So I was machinist for a couple of different companies.
• 2:56
  Right.
• 2:56
  And the last one I ended up at is where I met my beautiful wife-to-be.
• 3:02
  And her father got me into real estate.
• 3:07
  So I did that for a handful of years, probably about 10 or 12 years.
• 3:10
  Yeah.
• 3:11
  And this opportunity came up.
• 3:12
  So here we are.
• 3:13
  You were still in Leduc?
• 3:15
  No, we moved from Leduc to Edmonton to Spruce Grove.
• 3:18
  Okay.
• 3:19
  So where did you graduate high school?
• 3:20
  I graduated from Leduc.
• 3:21
  Leduc High?
• 3:22
  Leduc Composite High School.
• 3:23
  Leduc Composite High.
• 3:24
  What's the mascot?
• 3:25
  I always ask the question, what's the mascot?
• 3:27
  What's their mascot?
• 3:28
  That's Tiger.
• 3:29
  Tiger.
• 3:30
  Go Tigers.
• 3:31
  Anybody listening, go Tigers.
• 3:33
  All right.
• 3:33
  So Amanda, your turn.
• 3:35
  Where were you born?
• 3:36
  I was born right here in Spruce Grove.
• 3:39
  I lived in Spruce Grove my entire life.
• 3:40
  I thought she was going to say right here in beautiful downtown Acheson.
• 3:43
  I that got me going for a second.
• 3:45
  Technically, I was born in the Misericordia in Edmonton, but I've lived in Spruce Grove forever.
• 3:51
  And you graduated from?
• 3:53
  St.
• 3:54
  Thomas Aquinas.
• 3:56
  I have no idea.
• 4:00
  We'll make it up. They might not have had one.
• 4:01
  I don't think we had one Let's make it up.
• 4:04
  Alligator.
• 4:04
  I'm going with alligator.
• 4:05
  St.
• 4:06
  Thomas Alligators.
• 4:07
  Yeah, it's kind of cool.
• 4:08
  All right.
• 4:09
  So, and you graduated, and then what?
• 4:11
  I, whoa, lots of things.
• 4:13
  I went to work and live in London for six months.
• 4:17
  Come on.
• 4:18
  Like London, England or London, Ontario. Yes, we have to clarify.
• 4:20
  No, like London, England.
• 4:22
  I had $800.
• 4:23
  No.
• 4:24
  And I got on a plane with a bunch of high school friends, and I became obsessed with trying to get a job and working at Harrods.
• 4:32
  Yeah.
• 4:32
  In London.
• 4:33
  So, I failed my first interview, and I phoned my mom, bawling, and she's like, well, that's so silly.
• 4:41
  Go back anyway.
• 4:42
  So, I went back and lied all the way through the interview.
• 4:44
  Right on.
• 4:45
  And I landed a job, and it was amazing working at Harrods.
• 4:49
  I loved it.
• 4:50
  And so, yeah, we worked and lived in London.
• 4:52
  With some of my friends.
• 4:55
  And traveled all through Europe after that.
• 4:58
  Did you like London?
• 4:59
  I love London.
• 5:00
  It's one of my favorite cities in the world.
• 5:02
  I love London. Love it.
• 5:03
  I like London. The only thing I did, I went to the Changing Of The Guards once, and that was a waste of time. But anyways.
• 5:07
  We're not going to go into Cam's story.
• 5:10
  I can tell you the whole story about that.
• 5:11
  It was a bad day.
• 5:12
  Just a bad day at the Changing Of The Guard.
• 5:15
  I tried to make the guard laugh, and he wouldn't laugh.
• 5:17
  Anyway, I digress.
• 5:19
  So, London, and then you came back.
• 5:21
  Yeah, I came back, and my mom basically said, you start business school at NAIT on Wednesday.
• 5:28
  Go get some binders, and off you go.
• 5:30
  Wow.
• 5:31
  And I had no idea what business school even was.
• 5:34
  I had no idea that I was even going, but she could just see it in me and in my personality, that this will help you.
• 5:42
  And so, yeah, I graduated.
• 5:43
  I did two years at NAIT, and then I went on and did two years at the University of Lethbridge.
• 5:47
  Oh, wow.
• 5:48
  And I still use everything that I learned at this school.
• 5:53
  Yeah, it's crazy.
• 5:54
  So we did lots of things in between, though, Brickhouse Smokery and business school.
• 6:01
  We got married, I guess.
• 6:03
  Okay, so Trevor kind of spurred that on a little bit.
• 6:05
  So how did that happen? Where did you meet?
• 6:07
  So he doesn't like this story, but I hired him.
• 6:10
  I hired him! I love that.
• 6:13
  I hired him, yeah, yeah.
• 6:15
  Sometimes I think we should do video so we could show faces.
• 6:19
  When she said, I hired him.
• 6:20
  He just kind of went blank for a second.
• 6:22
  He was like, yeah.
• 6:23
  He was so adorable.
• 6:26
  Oh my God, he's so handsome and i knew i was going to have to find a way to ask him on a first date.
• 6:29
  It's getting hot in here, folks.
• 6:31
  Of course it is.
• 6:31
  I'm beginning to flush a little bit.
• 6:33
  That's all I have to say right now, okay.
• 6:35
  So yeah, we went against all of the HR rules.
• 6:38
  I was working for the HR department and I asked him out on a date.
• 6:43
  Look at him. He can't event handle it.
• 6:44
  I asked him.
• 6:45
  He's sipping his tea quietly, folks.
• 6:48
  So you asked him.
• 6:50
  I did, yeah.
• 6:51
  Did he say yes?
• 6:52
  Oh yeah.
• 6:54
  He did.
• 6:55
  He said yes.
• 6:56
  And then we went out for beers.
• 6:59
  And I knew after that first night, I knew I'd marry him one day.
• 7:03
  He was the guy.
• 7:04
  Wow.
• 7:05
  I absolutely knew.
• 7:06
  I felt exactly the same.
• 7:07
  No, you didn't. It took you at least a few months.
• 7:10
  How long have you been married?
• 7:13
  21 years this year.
• 7:14
  21 years.
• 7:14
  Okay, so you know what?
• 7:15
  You could tell the truth.
• 7:18
  You're way past that.
• 7:20
  We're locked in.
• 7:21
  Yeah, that's right.
• 7:23
  I could see it.
• 7:24
  Yeah, for sure.
• 7:25
  You thought this is good?
• 7:26
  Yeah.
• 7:26
  Life together?
• 7:27
  Checked all the boxes.
• 7:28
  Yeah.
• 7:28
  So how long till then you got married?
• 7:31
  So we were dated for a year, engaged for a year, married for a year and had our first baby.
• 7:38
  Wow.
• 7:39
  Okay.
• 7:39
  And now how many children do you have now?
• 7:42
  So we have four, two girls and two boys, not in that order.
• 7:47
  Right.
• 7:48
  Boy, girl, boy, girl.
• 7:50
  How do you do that?
• 7:50
  How do you arrange that?
• 7:52
  That's kind of cool.
• 7:54
  She's a super planner, that's how it.
• 7:58
  That's kind of cool.
• 7:59
  Wow.
• 8:00
  People would be like, I'd love to have that.
• 8:01
  That'd be great.
• 8:02
  Okay.
• 8:03
  They are 20, 18, almost 16, and 14.
• 8:08
  So yeah, and they're all very heavily involved in our store.
• 8:12
  Right.
• 8:13
  Very much so.
• 8:14
  And yeah, no, they're honestly, they're freaking great kids.
• 8:18
  They're amazing.
• 8:19
  So you got married and you had a baby right away, a year after.
• 8:24
  What were you?
• 8:24
  Were you still doing real estate?
• 8:26
  I was.
• 8:26
  Yeah.
• 8:27
  I kept my real estate license up until about 2018.
• 8:31
  Okay.
• 8:32
  So we opened the store in December of 2016.
• 8:35
  Right.
• 8:35
  And I just held on to it, finished up a few deals, did stuff like that.
• 8:39
  And then when it came time to do the big renew of my license, I could see that it just wasn't fair for my customers at the store or my real estate customers to try to do both, because I was just too busy trying to do my part of the store.
• 8:52
  So you had the store and the real estate at the same time.
• 8:53
  Yeah, at the same time.
• 8:54
  I thought I could do it.
• 8:55
  Yeah, yeah.
• 8:56
  Too much.
• 8:56
  I held on to it just in case something happened with the store.
• 8:58
  Like I needed that income and it was like real estate did well for us.
• 9:04
  We did okay.
• 9:04
  We were very blessed with that too.
• 9:06
  So I didn't want to just give it up right away.
• 9:09
  But then when I could see that the store was really gaining momentum and doing well, when the time come, I just let it go.
• 9:15
  Yeah.
• 9:15
  The real estate license.
• 9:16
  So let's talk about the store for a minute.
• 9:19
  You had to. Were you nervous?
• 9:20
  Were you excited?
• 9:22
  Yeah.
• 9:22
  I mean, what urged you To go from real estate to opening.
• 9:26
  We had to find a lot of money. Beg, borrow, sell.
• 9:29
  I'm sure.
• 9:30
  Everything.
• 9:31
  We literally re-mortgaged our house, sold our rental property, sold our trailer.
• 9:34
  Really?
• 9:35
  Oh yeah.
• 9:35
  So it was all, it was, yeah.
• 9:37
  And how was it?
• 9:38
  Like, that's huge.
• 9:40
  Oh, I think.
• 9:40
  Huge leap.
• 9:42
  Like.
• 9:43
  It was a big leap.
• 9:44
  Yeah.
• 9:45
  Was there a lot of, was there moments of doubt?
• 9:47
  Was there a moment of.
• 9:48
  I think we made $700 or something in the first week.
• 9:49
  Wow.
• 9:51
  It was a little tight there for a bit.
• 9:53
  Yeah.
• 9:54
  Well, it started out, our original plans were like a lot of people say, a sketch on a napkin.
• 9:58
  It honestly was that.
• 10:00
  Right.
• 10:00
  Yeah.
• 10:00
  And the other store was going to supply us with product.
• 10:04
  We were just going to sell it.
• 10:05
  That's all it was going to be.
• 10:05
  Oh, okay.
• 10:06
  And then that evolved into, we're going to process all of our own stuff.
• 10:10
  Right.
• 10:10
  And then we went from 450 square feet to with both floors about 5,000 square feet.
• 10:16
  That's what it ultimately ended up being.
• 10:18
  Yeah.
• 10:18
  Yeah.
• 10:19
  We were running then.
• 10:20
  That's incredible.
• 10:21
  You're running then.
• 10:23
  And you're running your family.
• 10:24
  The four kids.
• 10:25
  Who i'm sure are all active kids.
• 10:27
  Yeah.
• 10:27
  Oh, yeah.
• 10:28
  How did you manage that?
• 10:29
  Yeah.
• 10:30
  Honestly, it was like our friends and our community.
• 10:33
  Yeah.
• 10:33
  Like they just, oh, I'll get Scarlett tonight to gymnastics.
• 10:36
  Don't worry about it.
• 10:36
  Oh, I'm picking up Olive tonight for cheer.
• 10:38
  Wow.
• 10:39
  Grayson is going to ride with us tonight for hockey.
• 10:41
  We didn't even know.
• 10:41
  We weren't even feeding the children.
• 10:45
  So anybody in social services that's listening, they are now feeding their children.
• 10:50
  We've seen pictures.
• 10:52
  Only cereal.
• 10:54
  But healthy cereal, sort of.
• 10:57
  Mini-wheats covered in sugar.
• 10:58
  That's right.
• 10:59
  I mean, that's just incredible.
• 11:00
  And then we talk to a lot of business people, obviously, and when they tell their story about starting out and the risks they took, and the leaps of faith, like you say, like just, that's amazing.
• 11:12
  And were there those moments of doubt?
• 11:14
  Were there those moments?
• 11:15
  No, never?
• 11:15
  Never.
• 11:16
  We're going to do this?
• 11:17
  Never.
• 11:18
  We're very confident in, well, in Amanda's ability to do the business side of things.
• 11:23
  Yeah.
• 11:24
  I honestly was confident in getting the product together.
• 11:27
  Because we're passionate about it.
• 11:28
  We love it.
• 11:29
  Yeah.
• 11:29
  We just absolutely love it so much.
• 11:30
  Yeah.
• 11:30
  And just when you said, let's talk about your business, honestly, I could just feel myself smile.
• 11:34
  Yeah.
• 11:34
  I love, I love, love, love our company.
• 11:37
  Yeah.
• 11:37
  And it's fun to go to work.
• 11:39
  Brickhouse, just to be clear, we have, I think we've sort of mentioned it, but you guys do beef jerky, you do sausage, you do smoked meats of all kinds.
• 11:50
  You've, you're a butcher shop, I guess.
• 11:52
  Not really.
• 11:53
  No, not a butcher shop.
• 11:53
  No, more of a deli.
• 11:55
  More of a deli.
• 11:55
  Okay.
• 11:56
  Yes.
• 11:56
  But everything's in house.
• 11:57
  Mostly.
• 11:57
  Yeah.
• 11:58
  We do absolutely, everything that we make is all made on site.
• 12:01
  Wow.
• 12:01
  And Trevor doesn't make any of it anymore.
• 12:04
  When I say we, I mean my son.
• 12:05
  Yeah.
• 12:07
  So when he was like 14 years old, I think, I just said to Trev one night, I was like, we need to figure this out because right now, Trevor is the only person making all of our sausage pepperoni.
• 12:17
  And I totally morbid.
• 12:19
  I was like, if you die.
• 12:21
  No, no.
• 12:21
  Yeah.
• 12:21
  What will happen?
• 12:22
  Yeah.
• 12:22
  Big trouble.
• 12:23
  Right.
• 12:24
  So we need to get Grayson involved.
• 12:26
  So he was 14, I believe when he first started on the machines.
• 12:29
  They brought him in and I just started teaching him everything that I knew.
• 12:32
  So that he got comfortable.
• 12:34
  And then I'd walk away from him and let him do it.
• 12:36
  Yeah.
• 12:36
  Stuff like that.
• 12:37
  And he was doing well.
• 12:38
  Right.
• 12:38
  And then we had the NAIT instructors.
• 12:39
  And then we wanted to take it to the next level so that he knew the science behind it.
• 12:43
  Oh, okay.
• 12:43
  Not just how to make it.
• 12:45
  How to do it.
• 12:46
  A lot of whys.
• 12:47
  Yeah.
• 12:47
  So yeah, we hired a NAIT instructor.
• 12:49
  And he came on site for a week and was one-on-one with Grayson the whole time.
• 12:55
  And now Grayson knows more than me.
• 12:57
  That is amazing.
• 12:58
  That really is amazing. He's way faster than Trevor too.
• 13:00
  And I do remember following some of your social.
• 13:03
  Way faster.
• 13:04
  He's faster than I am, way faster.
• 13:04
  He doesn't get distracted.
• 13:07
  He doesn't have all the customers always want to say hi to Trev.
• 13:09
  And Grayson is just back there, cool as a cucumber, just making stuff.
• 13:14
  Nothing fazes him.
• 13:15
  Right?
• 13:16
  Nothing faces him.
• 13:17
  I remember seeing some of your social media posts where he was, you had shots of him doing things like that.
• 13:22
  And it was, and it's amazing.
• 13:24
  And he seems to love it. Oh he does.
• 13:25
  Like, I mean, he seems to really, it's not just mom and dad are making me do this.
• 13:29
  I really like doing this.
• 13:30
  No, mom and dad are currently making him go to NAIT, to the business school.
• 13:34
  Okay, yeah.
• 13:35
  So, he's tolerating it.
• 13:37
  But he's like, well, why do I need to do this?
• 13:39
  I'm like, well, because one day, you need to know everything else behind the scenes.
• 13:44
  So what about the other kids?
• 13:45
  Are they same passion, same?
• 13:48
  Yeah, Olive, our second child, our daughter, is a reincarnation of me.
• 13:54
  She doesn't know this yet, but she will rule this business one day.
• 13:59
  She's still too busy living her life.
• 14:01
  She's headed to Africa as her graduation adventure.
• 14:06
  So she had to do all or nothing, a little bit like her mother.
• 14:10
  All or nothing.
• 14:10
  Good for her.
• 14:11
  Whereabouts in Africa?
• 14:12
  I'm not sure.
• 14:15
  It's a big continent.
• 14:16
  She went to get our immunizations yesterday, and we're just like, yeah.
• 14:20
  No, I've been there.
• 14:22
  I passed out getting the shot but thats another story.
• 14:24
  But she's a little entrepreneur too, because I remember going into the store, and she made cookies.
• 14:28
  She was selling candy.
• 14:29
  Yeah, that's right.
• 14:30
  That's great.
• 14:32
  I remember the cookies.
• 14:33
  That's right.
• 14:33
  Yeah.
• 14:33
  So she did the cookies for years, and then our youngest daughter, Scarlett, she did the candy business, and she still runs that.
• 14:40
  And then Hazen, he is amazing with our customers.
• 14:45
  He's Eliza's favorite.
• 14:46
  He's also learning how to do the sausage and pepperoni too, Grayson is teaching him.
• 14:47
  And he is taking over the machines now.
• 14:50
  Yeah, Grayson.
• 14:50
  Now Grayson is teaching Hazen.
• 14:52
  It's really cool.
• 14:52
  And then grandpa comes in.
• 14:53
  This is so cool.
• 14:54
  I mean, it's like a true family business.
• 14:56
  It's just like everybody's in there.
• 14:57
  It's like, awesome.
• 14:58
  And grandma and grandpa show up.
• 15:00
  Okay.
• 15:00
  And grandpa comes in to watch, to make sure that they're doing the peperonies, as far as it's correct.
• 15:05
  And if Grayson ever has a question about bratwurst, he'll phone grandpa.
• 15:10
  What was your recipe?
• 15:12
  Can you try this?
• 15:12
  What do you think I did wrong?
• 15:14
  And so they're very involved.
• 15:15
  Yeah, my dad is still quite involved.
• 15:17
  He's very involved.
• 15:17
  Yeah, that's great.
• 15:18
  So it is family, extended family.
• 15:21
  It's fantastic.
• 15:24
  I think what I think is incredible is you guys, and maybe Jennifer, you want to lead into this a little bit.
• 15:30
  I think what you guys do for the community is amazing.
• 15:34
  So I'm going to bring this up because what you do for the community, Cam is right, is amazing.
• 15:39
  Tell us a little bit because everybody, at least in this area and probably far beyond knows, tell us about your 12 days of Christmas.
• 15:48
  Yeah, it's spectacular.
• 15:51
  Okay, so thank you very much.
• 15:54
  So on our anniversary of when we opened is December 12th.
• 15:59
  Okay.
• 16:00
  That's when we opened in 2016.
• 16:02
  So as we were coming up to our first one year anniversary, we were, I mean, we were like, oh my God, we made it.
• 16:09
  Holy shit, how did we actually make it?
• 16:12
  We still made our mortgage payments.
• 16:14
  It's like, we're still eating Kraft dinner.
• 16:15
  We're alive.
• 16:16
  We did it.
• 16:17
  And it really comes down to the fact that we had customers, I mean, like, return customers.
• 16:21
  So the 12 days of giving came as an idea as how can we say thank you to our customers?
• 16:28
  And I don't even know.
• 16:30
  It just, we wanted to do one thing every day for 12 days, leading up to our first birthday.
• 16:35
  And so we headed out into the community and we just did, oh my gosh, it's grown and snowballed into like a monster amount of giving now.
• 16:44
  We have like probably 40 people on our team that help us.
• 16:47
  They book off their time from work.
• 16:49
  And we go out into the community and sometimes the days are like really small and they help one person.
• 16:56
  And they tell that story of what's happening with like, with that grandfather who's now raising his six year old grandson and his wife is in palliative and mom passed from drug addictions.
• 17:04
  And we tell the story and then we help grandma and or sorry, help grandpa.
• 17:09
  And then some days are like light and fun and crazy and they involve like an entire school and the Grinch has showed up at the Christmas concert and he's being silly during the Christmas concert and then some days are really like hard.
• 17:23
  We went to like palliative care units across the entire city of Edmonton and brought in little lit Christmas trees and to say, hey, families that are here, we know this is not where you want to be right now.
• 17:37
  Like what is the, do people contact you?
• 17:40
  Or is it through a relationship that you run into people or?
• 17:45
  That's starting to happen for sure.
• 17:47
  I would say like I'll get the ideas throughout the year or I'll see something happening and be like, huh, that person needs help or this issue should be shown on social media.
• 17:58
  Right.
• 17:58
  How can we help them?
• 18:00
  Sometimes you just like stumble across them.
• 18:02
  Yeah.
• 18:02
  Yeah.
• 18:03
  Like Debra.
• 18:04
  So like one of our stories was I was honestly just driving home and this lady was trying to walk across the road.
• 18:12
  And she took a solid five minutes to get across this intersection.
• 18:17
  And I was so impressed by everybody that was like waiting.
• 18:20
  Everyone was being so patient.
• 18:21
  And I was watching her.
• 18:21
  I'm like, but where is she going?
• 18:24
  Yeah.
• 18:24
  What's your actual plan here?
• 18:26
  So then I pulled over and I was like, hey, would you like ride to wherever you're going?
• 18:32
  And I ended up with her in my car for about two hours.
• 18:37
  And we went to Safeway and bought a whole bunch of- She was on her way to work, by the way.
• 18:40
  Amanda.
• 18:41
  Amanda was on her way to work.
• 18:42
  She was a little late that day.
• 18:44
  She was late that day.
• 18:45
  Yeah, yeah.
• 18:46
  And I phoned Trevor at one point during it.
• 18:49
  And I was like, hey, do you think we have a VCR?
• 18:51
  I mean, this lady, she needs a VCR.
• 18:53
  Can I go get her ours?
• 18:54
  And he's like, excuse me, what?
• 18:56
  Where are you?
• 18:57
  What are you doing?
• 18:58
  I just love it.
• 18:58
  And so we found Debra, who has literally moved to Spruce Grove on AISH.
• 19:03
  She's by herself.
• 19:04
  She is so incredibly physically in trouble.
• 19:06
  And she's also so lonely.
• 19:07
  She has no phones, no TV, nothing for time and not like, nothing.
• 19:13
  And so also she couldn't move.
• 19:15
  Like she couldn't move around town.
• 19:17
  I was like, how are you going to get to the library that I just showed you where the library is, but you can't actually get there.
• 19:21
  So then for one of our 12 days, we showed up and surprised her with a motorized scooter.
• 19:26
  And she was so adorable for like two years.
• 19:29
  She drove around her scooter.
• 19:31
  Everybody knew her in town.
• 19:33
  She told everybody at Safeway, I got this from Amanda and Trevor.
• 19:39
  She was adorable.
• 19:40
  And then she did end up getting really sick.
• 19:43
  And she called us.
• 19:45
  We followed up with her every once in a while.
• 19:46
  And she did also, we said in our social media post, I forgot that this happened.
• 19:50
  But I was like, hey, we've given Debra a VCR.
• 19:54
  If you the community want to bring in a VHS for her to watch, like a video, that we would take that.
• 20:01
  Oh my God.
• 20:01
  How many people had VHS from me?
• 20:04
  I think we had over 3,000 VHS show up.
• 20:08
  3,000. Dirty dancing... All these amazing movies. Our whole storefront full of VHS.
• 20:18
  And our staff were like, what are we supposed to do with these?
• 20:20
  I'm like, I don't know.
• 20:21
  I don't know.
• 20:22
  So anyways, we followed up with her over the years, and she did get really sick, and she called because she was so worried about her cat.
• 20:31
  Amanda, can you help me find someone to take her?
• 20:34
  My kitty.
• 20:35
  And so one of my staff members, actually, and I went over there, and we got her into new bedding, and cleaned up her apartment a little bit, and we did find a home for her kitty.
• 20:46
  And I drove her to the hospital, and she ended up going into palliative care.
• 20:49
  And I went to visit, this was right before our West Edmonton Mall store was opening, and I sat with her in palliative care for about two or three hours, and just put on piano music on my phone by her head, and just sat with her, and she passed away a few hours later.
• 21:05
  So it's just people like that in our community that like, I drive by her apartment every day on the way home, but you would never know that someone is like struggling so bad.
• 21:14
  So those are kind of the people that we reach out for, or that we're looking for, but then we also try and balance our 12 days.
• 21:20
  Because we have like happy and fun and crazy stories.
• 21:22
  Yeah, yeah.
• 21:23
  It can't always all be like heavy.
• 21:24
  No, no, no.
• 21:25
  But I mean, it's, you're talking to two people who spent a better part of their careers working with marginalized people.
• 21:32
  Okay.
• 21:32
  I mean, a lot of different ways, non-for-profits and marginalized and all of that sort of thing.
• 21:37
  So this resonates so well.
• 21:39
  And it's just amazing to hear you tell these stories.
• 21:42
  And I want businesses to hear this.
• 21:43
  I want business people to hear this, because the power of business to change people's lives on a very human level is extraordinary.
• 21:52
  And sometimes I think businesses think, I can't do it.
• 21:55
  And they also think too, like there's a big thing that I really struggled with at the beginning of our 12 days.
• 22:01
  It was like, oh, look at me, giving, giving, giving.
• 22:03
  And people would, you know, I didn't want to come across as like, oh, I'm so showy about, you know, the $3,000 scooter we just bought for Debra.
• 22:11
  But it was, once we've been doing this now for eight years, and we are a lot stronger.
• 22:17
  And I, I just actually, I'll tell you a quick story.
• 22:20
  I had a staff member.
• 22:21
  So with, with our, with our business, we give the, the employees get to pick their gifts for their, their Christmas.
• 22:28
  I'm not allowed to give cash anymore.
• 22:29
  The accountant said, you've got to stop doing this.
• 22:32
  So now they, so now they get to choose where do they...
• 22:37
  They're actually are employees here that are listening to this podcast live. So like... How much cash did they get thats what I want to know.
• 22:41
  So now they get to choose...
• 22:45
  They get to choose where they want their gifts to come from.
• 22:48
  So some of them will be like, I want, you know, $1,000 from Lululemon, that was probably my daughter, which we're working on her spending.
• 22:58
  And some are like, I want groceries and, or I want a flight, I want flight tickets because my children are going to come home from the Philippines.
• 23:05
  So we had a staff member, he's very young.
• 23:07
  And on his note, he had a $500 bonus.
• 23:11
  And he said, I would like to give this to the Feed The Children Foundation, but I don't want you to tell anybody about it.
• 23:19
  And so I brought him in to my office and I said, hey, bud, I want to talk to you about why you're being private about this.
• 23:28
  And he's like, well, I just don't want to, like, I just don't know if I should tell anybody and I just wanted to give.
• 23:34
  And I said, OK, I want your permission because I want to tell people what you did.
• 23:39
  Because you now could inspire Hazen, who's a year younger, to be like, oh, maybe I didn't need to buy that sportchek gift card.
• 23:47
  I could have given $100 to feed the children.
• 23:51
  And so he's like, oh, I never thought of it that way.
• 23:54
  And so I really struggled with that when we first started.
• 23:57
  I was having massive panic attacks, anxiety attacks.
• 24:01
  I was a mess when we started our 12 days.
• 24:03
  But now I'm a lot more confident and strong because by tallying this, I've seen it explode and explode.
• 24:10
  And it's like people are in Australia.
• 24:12
  Yeah, Amanda, you're dead on.
• 24:14
  You are inspiring the next generation to give.
• 24:18
  We need people to be inspired to do the same sort of thing.
• 24:21
  And we have lots of business members that come to us and they're like, hey, Amanda, can we give you $5,000?
• 24:28
  Because you always know where to find this.
• 24:29
  Can we put it towards your foundation?
• 24:31
  And I'm like, I don't have a foundation.
• 24:34
  We're just Brickhouse Smokery.
• 24:35
  We sell beef jerky for a living.
• 24:37
  I don't know how this happened.
• 24:39
  But I'll take your money.
• 24:42
  And so that's been amazing to have the community call us and be like, and so then we have now spun it to a new thing that just happened.
• 24:51
  Do you want me to talk about that?
• 24:52
  Yeah, for sure.
• 24:53
  Tell us.
• 24:54
  This is amazing.
• 24:55
  So we came up with the idea, and we ran it for our first time this Christmas, and it's called Come To The Brickhouse Window.
• 25:03
  And so this now, we have, we opened up our website to nominations and to anybody can nominate themselves or like a neighbor or my daughter.
• 25:13
  And they wrote out their story, and we took that story and put it up on our window.
• 25:21
  And we had, I think, a hundred wishes up on the window.
• 25:24
  And then we invited all of our customers to come in, and they literally shopped the window.
• 25:30
  And they picked off a story that resonated with them.
• 25:33
  And then they went out into the community, and they ran like their own little 12 day.
• 25:38
  So they would gather their friends, their family, their neighbors and their co-workers.
• 25:43
  And they're like, hey, you guys, let's help this single mom.
• 25:46
  Or like this little boy needs this.
• 25:48
  What can we do?
• 25:49
  And so that became, I always have the ideas.
• 25:52
  I didn't realize how much work it's gonna be.
• 25:54
  That is so fabulous.
• 25:55
  And I'll tell you why I think that's so fabulous, is because sometimes people want to help, but they don't know how. Yes, so many people want to help! So you've given them the opportunity, because they honestly don't know how.
• 26:06
  What do I do?
• 26:06
  Where do I go?
• 26:07
  Okay, do I write a check to this organization?
• 26:09
  But I want to do more than that.
• 26:11
  I want to actually be involved in that.
• 26:13
  And so I think that is absolutely incredible.
• 26:16
  That is an incredible thing.
• 26:18
  The people from the community were incredible.
• 26:21
  They weren't even coming in to buy beef jerky.
• 26:22
  They were like, where's the window stories?
• 26:25
  And our very first day, we had a couple come in and they picked off a story for a little boy that just moved here from India.
• 26:33
  He's never been to school ever.
• 26:35
  He's 12.
• 26:37
  And he needed a $10,000 wheelchair.
• 26:40
  But in India, where they were from, their community, he was shunned.
• 26:45
  Rocks were thrown at him.
• 26:46
  And so he's never had an education, but he's super, super smart.
• 26:50
  He's just trapped in a body that doesn't work.
• 26:52
  And so this couple picked off that story and bought him a $10,000 wheelchair.
• 26:56
  Wow.
• 26:57
  It was incredible.
• 26:57
  That is unbelievable.
• 26:59
  So lots of amazingness happened from that.
• 27:01
  You guys are so, it's so incredible what you do.
• 27:04
  I'm going to tell you a little story.
• 27:06
  You probably don't remember this.
• 27:07
  You and I actually did meet once.
• 27:08
  I came into this store.
• 27:10
  I work for Genics right here.
• 27:12
  And we decided one year in all of our customer boxes to put your beef jerky.
• 27:16
  And you cryovac'd it for us.
• 27:18
  And I came into this store and you and I got talking.
• 27:21
  And I told you what I wanted to do.
• 27:22
  And you said, oh yeah, we can do that.
• 27:24
  It's not a problem.
• 27:25
  No big deal, you can do that.
• 27:26
  You told me that you were shipping your product at that time around the world.
• 27:31
  And you had just told me you had just done a big shipment to the soldiers in, I think, Afghanistan.
• 27:38
  Yeah, that one still gives me goosebumps.
• 27:40
  Like, Trevor, when you told me that, I walked out of the store that day and I said, this is where I want to buy my stuff.
• 27:49
  Thank you.
• 27:51
  Thank you.
• 27:54
  Sorry, I never forgot that.
• 27:56
  And I thought, because I can't imagine what it would be like to be in Afghanistan at Christmas and be away from your family.
• 28:04
  And I thought, like, beef jerky.
• 28:08
  That's what they want.
• 28:10
  I would want that if I was there.
• 28:12
  And I can still picture the photo that they sent.
• 28:15
  It made it.
• 28:16
  It had a long travel.
• 28:18
  It made it, and they sent us a picture in their desert fatigues, holding up jerky.
• 28:23
  Like, there's about 20 of them in the photo.
• 28:25
  It's just a great...
• 28:28
  Here I am sending it to my customers, and you're sending it around the world to these guys.
• 28:34
  What a better thing to have from home, from Canada, from Alberta, than the best beef jerky in the world.
• 28:40
  Like, seriously.
• 28:41
  So, I thank you guys, it's amazing.
• 28:43
  What you do, I think it's fabulous.
• 28:45
  What you do.
• 28:46
  And I just want to give a shout out to your amazing staff.
• 28:50
  They're watching us over there.
• 28:52
  Look at them, aren't they amazing.
• 28:53
  They're looking at us.
• 28:54
  They might never let us back in the store.
• 28:56
  Trevor and Amanda, they have the best customer service.
• 28:58
  Yeah, they do.
• 28:59
  And they're always so happy and friendly and helpful every time I'm in your store.
• 29:05
  And I think they just speak volumes to who you are.
• 29:09
  Thank you.
• 29:10
  And so many of them have been with you from the beginning.
• 29:12
  Yeah.
• 29:13
  Loyal staff.
• 29:13
  Yeah, those two.
• 29:14
  Mike and Eliza have been with us since the beginning.
• 29:16
  Fabulous.
• 29:16
  And Savannah sitting right here has been with us two weeks.
• 29:21
  She's just a new baby.
• 29:23
  Well, that's wonderful.
• 29:26
  Well time has flown! 30 minutes almost.
• 29:27
  Yeah, one more question.
• 29:28
  One more question and we're going to ask each of you.
• 29:30
  So Trevor, we'll start with you.
• 29:32
  What's the best piece of advice you've been given either personally or professionally that you carry with you to this day?
• 29:39
  Probably, and this is going to sound very generic, but it's true to not give up.
• 29:44
  Yeah, it really is.
• 29:47
  We did struggle with getting certain products to where they needed to be, to the quality it should be to serve to your customers, for one, and then try to go beyond that.
• 30:01
  And yeah, it was a struggle. The disaster of the smoker shutting down, and the flooding And your burnt jerky, and your over-smoked jerky, and your crappy sausage. Don't give up! The one that sticks out, because I follow you quite closely, was that you had bought a new smoker, and it didn't fit.
• 30:18
  It didn't fit or something, is that right?
• 30:20
  It did not fit, right?
• 30:21
  Not only did it not fit. It didn't fit.
• 30:22
  It leaked smoke through our entire building.
• 30:25
  The hair salon smelt like smoke, and then it caused floods in the basement.
• 30:29
  You go to get your hair done, and you're walking out smelling like a piece of jerky.
• 30:33
  I like that.
• 30:34
  I'd like that.
• 30:34
  I'd be okay with me.
• 30:35
  That's truly what happened.
• 30:36
  So it's very easy to just throw in the towel.
• 30:40
  It really was.
• 30:42
  But it wasn't an option for us.
• 30:44
  We're just like, no, we're going to get through this.
• 30:45
  We're going to fix it.
• 30:46
  It's going to happen.
• 30:47
  And we're going to be better for it.
• 30:49
  And I'm glad we have a time like this to pass that on to anybody that's listening that might be thinking, no, I just can't.
• 30:57
  No, yes, you can.
• 30:58
  Yes, you can.
• 30:58
  Good words.
• 31:00
  If it was easy, everybody would do it.
• 31:01
  That's right.
• 31:02
  Hey, Amanda, your turn.
• 31:04
  Best piece of advice?
• 31:16
  I have the most amazing friend group, I have the most amazing staff.
• 31:20
  I like to think that I treat them all like family because they all believe in our journey.
• 31:26
  They all believe in Brickhouse Smokery.
• 31:28
  They believe in us.
• 31:30
  They believe in the 12 days and without that team behind us, we would be nothing and just giving.
• 31:37
  Give, give, give and it will come back tenfold for sure.
• 31:40
  Fantastic.
• 31:43
  Well, Brickhouse, there's one in Spruce Grove.
• 31:47
  Tell us the address.
• 31:49
  11,201 McLeod Avenue, just on Main Street.
• 31:52
  Right in the heart of downtown Spruce Grove, I think that.
• 31:56
  And you have another one at West Edmonton Mall.
• 31:59
  That's right.
• 32:00
  So if you're at the mall, there's a kiosk there.
• 32:02
  And your website is?
• 32:05
  brickhousesmokery.com.com.
• 32:07
  Awesome.
• 32:08
  Well, so I can't say it enough.
• 32:10
  If you haven't been, you need to go.
• 32:12
  Thank you.
• 32:13
  Best beef jerky.
• 32:14
  It is.
• 32:15
  The best beef jerky.
• 32:15
  Best pepperoni.
• 32:16
  Trust me, I've eaten beef jerky all around the world.
• 32:18
  Literally, I have.
• 32:19
  And it is without a doubt the best beef jerky.
• 32:22
  Thank you.
• 32:22
  And here at The Wall Coffee Roasters, you can actually get a sandwich with Brickhouse beef jerky in it.
• 32:31
  And I eat this sandwich all the time.
• 32:33
  He really does.
• 32:34
  I do.
• 32:35
  And I tell Michael, extra beef jerky.
• 32:38
  I don't really care about the rest of the sandwich.
• 32:40
  But yeah, it's fabulous.
• 32:42
  And you guys, thank you.
• 32:44
  I know we had to wait a while to get this one done.
• 32:47
  It's been 100% worth it.
• 32:49
  Thank you.
• 32:50
  100%.
• 32:51
  You are amazing people.
• 32:52
  Thank you for doing this.
• 32:53
  Thank you so much.
• 32:54
  Thank you.
• 32:54
  Thank you.
• 32:56
  Behind the story.
• 32:58
  And today we heard the story behind the story.
• 33:01
  Fabulous.
• 33:02
  We sure did.
• 33:03
  Fascinating.
• 33:05
  They are just, you know, they just inspire me and give me so much hope in a world that sometimes feels like it doesn't have a lot of hope.
• 33:13
  Yeah.
• 33:13
  And they don't want to give up.
• 33:15
  They want to keep doing it.
• 33:16
  They want to keep reaching more people, touching more people.
• 33:19
  What a fabulous story with an amazing product.
• 33:22
  With an amazing product.
• 33:23
  So that is the reason you need to go and support the Brickhouse Smokery in Spruce Grove.
• 33:29
  And you will not be disappointed.
• 33:31
  I guarantee it.
• 33:32
  It truly is the best beef jerky in the world.
• 33:34
  Agreed.
• 33:35
  It is awesome.
• 33:35
  So thanks everybody for listening.
• 33:37
  Hey, make sure you tell your friends, your neighbors, your business associates.
• 33:41
  If you don't have any friends, make sure you make one.
• 33:44
  Even tell your enemies about the ABA Coffee In The Park podcast.
• 33:48
  We've had some great podcasts of late, and there's some better ones even coming up.
• 33:52
  So hey, listen everybody, wherever you get your podcasts, or at www.Achesonbusiness.com.
• 34:00
  Thanks everybody for listening.
• 34:01
  Really appreciate it.
• 34:02
  Thanks everyone.
• 34:03
  See you next week.
• 34:04
  See you next week.