Chau Lui
Chau Lui is co-owner of Paris Jewellers, which began as a small location in St. Albert, Alberta and today has stores across Canada. Lui talks about the company’s humble roots and how it has become a national retail success story.
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Retail
Christopher Wells
Christopher Wells, co- fondateur de Piecemeal, est un opérateur, gestionnaire et formateur du domaine de la restauration avec plus de 25 ans d’expérience. Après avoir travaillé plus de 20 ans pour des entreprises telles que Boston Pizza, McDonald’s et divers commerces indépendants du secteur, il a co-fondé Piecemeal en 2018. Avant de fonder Piecemeal, il a travaillé comme consultant et formateur pour l’industrie de la restauration au cours des 10 dernières années. Il a développé une boîte de consultation et a travaillé avec plus de 125 restaurants au cours de cette période. Il a aidé à coacher et à former plus de 200 propriétaires et exploitants et plus de 1000 employés de restaurant.
Précédemment il a travaillé comme directeur général de restaurant, partenaire de développement commercial pour une entreprise technologique dans le domaine de la restauration, ainsi que formateur dans le secteur des ventes et de l’expérience client. Après des années dans l’industrie entouré de collègues passionnés, il s’est formé une passion en tant qu’œnophile et épicurien toujours curieux et avide de découverte.
Piecemeal est une plateforme gratuite pour la gestion de restaurant qui utilise l’intelligence artificielle pour automatiser plusieurs des tâches normalement effectuées manuellement telle que la gestion des inventaires, des horaires, des achats, de la préparation de nourriture et de la gestion des coûts de menus.
Annette Smith
Annette Smith is the Founder of Lip Service Beauty, an all-natural, plant-based beauty company based out of Grimsby, Ontario but with a presence across the GTA. After suffering a grand-mal seizure 5 years ago, Annette decided to detoxify her life, and started making her own beauty products. Annette wholeheartedly believes that INGREDIENTS MATTER in all aspects of life and business!
Connor Curran
Connor Curran is one of the co-owners of Local Laundry, a Canadian made garments company that uses clothing as a vehicle to build community. Connor started Local Laundry four years ago after Googling: ‘How To Start A T-Shirt Company’ and watching a YouTube video. Now Connor works on Local Laundry full time with a commitment to donate over $1 Million to local charities across Canada. Local Laundry can be found in over 20 stores across Canada and is heralding the importance of supporting Canadian manufacturing.
Paul Bain
Paul Bain is the Tea Captain at JusTea, the first farmer-direct tea partnership between Kenya and Canada. Born and raised in Vancouver, Paul is passionate to connect tea drinkers with the small-scale farmer who made their cup possible. JusTea’s healthy new Purple Tea won the top food and beverage award in BC in 2018: Gold Medal for “Product of the Year”.
Merissa Myles
Merissa Myles is the Co-Founder of Tree Island Gourmet Yogurt. Based in the Comox Valley, she is sending waves from Vancouver Island and shaking up the yogurt aisle at grocery stores with her grass-fed, gourmet products. She studied Communication & Community Economic Development at SFU. Her lifework is focused on building healthy communities through business. At Tree Island Yogurt she works with stakeholders throughout the food system from farmers to production staff, customers and chefs. Merissa is a Top 40 Foodie Under 40 and recipient of the BC Food Processors Product of the Year award.
Peter Richmond
Peter Richmond is President of the 49th Parallel Grocery Group which includes 4 community-minded grocery stores, a flower shop, 2 dollar stores and a print shop. Peter, along with his sister, their children and other relatives, represent the second and third generations in the family business his parents founded in 1977. The 49th is passionate about serving our community and we continue to focus on our customers, our employees and the needs of our community. In an industry that is extremely competitive, we have managed to succeed through listening to our customer and adjusting our instore experience accordingly. We are fortunate to live in a beautiful part of the world and we take that into account in all of our daily decisions At the 49th, we will always play a big part in our communities.
Peter graduated from UBC with a Bachelor of Commerce in 1986 and obtained his CA designation while working for Ernst & Young, Chartered Accountants in Vancouver. After four years in the Internal Audit department of Canadian Forest Products Ltd., he returned to the island in 1996 to help the family business expand from one store to two, a doubling of service area and employees.
Louis Stack
Louis Stack is President and Founder of Fitterfirst, a Calgary-based company leading the world to better balance with a wide selection of balance and wellness products. The company has been operational for the past 35 years and prides itself in providing exceptional customer service and staying up to trends in the health sciences. The overall goal of the company is to improve every customer’s optimal health through the use of specially designed products. Their mandate is, balance is the essence of movement; movement is the essence of life.
Kristin Topping
This Remembrance Day, we are proud to present a special episode brought to you by Canada’s Podcast and Prince’s Trust Canada, a national charity established by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. Prince’s Trust Canada supports veterans as they transition into new roles and businesses after serving in the Armed Forces.
Kristin Topping is a Canadian Armed Forces veteran who transitioned into entrepreneurship to create her business SweetLife Flora, based out of Ottawa. Entrepreneurship wasn’t always the plan for Kristin, who served 21 years in the armed forces. But after a life-altering event, it was time to re-route her trajectory, and start something she was passionate about. With the assistance of the Prince’s Trust Canada, she started SweetLife Flora, a thriving e-commerce venture that transformed Kristin’s love for exotic and rare house plants, as well as indoor plant care, into a full-fledged business. Listen to Kristin’s story about her transition from the military world to becoming an entrepreneur, and navigating a completely different lifestyle.
We are proud to bring you this episode on Remebrance Day to honour all veterans who have served and continue to serve Canada. Visit Prince’s Trust Canada’s website to learn more about their programs supporting veterans or to make a donation. Lest We Forget.
