EP51: The Lobster Oil Legacy: Passed Down from Father to Son Hugo Couton

Michael Dugan: 0:52

Today on the show, I am really excited to tell you about our chef. It's Chef Hugo Couton. And he inherited his father's passion and knowledge for quality ingredients and gained extensive experience in catering and culinary arts. He now assists in producing lobster oil and leads the promotional ecommerce section of his team's business with a fresh vision. And he comes to us from Vancouver, Canada. Well, welcome Hugo. Thanks for being here today.

Hugo Couton: 1:25

Thank you, can you guys hear me?

Michael Dugan: 1:27

You go? Maybe you can continue the story. Can you tell me what it's like? Or what it was like growing up with your father as a chef and kind of around that environment? Can you share a little bit about that to start?

Hugo Couton: 1:39

Yeah, for sure. I mean, first of all, I'm super lucky and thankful to be honest with you. Having a father that's not just traveled around the world, but fell in love in the culinary arts, you know, always coming home for dinner, it was always a different dish, it was always something different. You know, my dad loves fishing and hunting. So you know, and mushroom picking. So all that kind of stuff kind of gathers together. And I mean, you know, going for dinners at night at my dad's house, or even when I was younger, you know, like, you know, either having like, you know, a moose roast, or going from some kind of Thai dish that I've never heard of in my life before. super lucky and thankful to be honest with you. I still have at home with them. And I'm soon about to move out. But I've started to take a bit of notes on all these different recipes that he's been doing. Because to be honest with you, I'm not at that level at all. But to go back to your question, like, it's just been an amazing and great journey, to be honest with you to be able to go home and have literally a different dish from anywhere around the world. Yes, has been amazing, honestly. Very thankful. Yeah. Can you guys hear me?

Michael Dugan: 2:51

Or no. And so growing up with your dad, kind of in the limelight of a chef, can you tell us more about you know, what? You worked with them is kind of what I got out of the conversation? And what was that? Like? Like? How did you start to become a chef? And can you take us through that part of the journey a little bit?

Hugo Couton: 3:12

Yeah, for sure. So my background a little bit more. Like I do enjoy cooking. I don't consider myself too much of a chef to be completely honest with you. I was always more the the taster in the family. Okay, always open to try new things. But um, yeah, like, I mean, you know, having a father that's been in the business for I hope I've been saying this to Robert maybe 30 plus years, is you know, you kind of fall into the habit of on wanting to eat your good quality food and you know, really paying attention to, you know, like ingredients at a grocery store or just, you know, experimenting a little bit more with dishes and sauces, right. But um, yeah, I mean, how it kind of all started was mostly with with a lobster oil, right? I never really was a good chef, right? But when he kind of started it brought me on this journey. That's when it kind of opened my eyes a little bit more and then one two, wanting to explore the culinary arts session. So

Michael Dugan: 4:06

as we're going along and talking about this can you walk us through since you're talking about the lobster oil, what is the process of making lobster oil?

Hugo Couton: 4:18

Yeah, yeah, for sure. So how it works is we actually only use a lobster shells, we don't use lobster meats. So roughly every year we do a thing about just over 6000 liters of offshore oil and so what we do is we order the shells from Nova Scotia because that's the lobsters that we use from the Atlantic side of the ocean Yeah, and then we get like a bunch of different ingredients like our bases canola oil with a bunch of different seasonal vegetables you know garlic thyme, onions and then and then it's a whole process like it's it's a two day thing pretty much for us Oh wow. Yeah, we just we use like ovens to like like roast everything all together and then putting put in some kind of grinder like a machine that grinds it all like a paste. And then we work with a bottling plants here in Vancouver called Premium Pacific I believe. They have a giant kettle and then they kind of you know, cook the oil to a certain temperature to kill all the bacterias get everything tested with the labs here and make sure we are good to go and to the bottle building process. And that's pretty much it.

Michael Dugan: 5:28

Wow. So it's about a two day process that you make magic.

Hugo Couton: 5:32

Yeah, like for us cooking it's two days and then actually maybe the whole process will probably take a week just because we have to book in a time for that for the kettle and all this kind of stuff but for us making that pace is roughly like my father and I we just remade one recently we did. I think we did a little bit more or a little bit less than what we did last time. We did in like a day and a half. We did 6000 roughly 6000 liters of lobster oil together in less than two days. Yeah. For busy day.

Michael Dugan: 6:01

How many bottles is that? That's a great question. I think when my dad placed the order for how many bottles, we sell them in cases, of 12. But we also do them in 16 liter jugs as well. Right. So it's kind of hard to know. But I know roughly we did. I think just under 400 cases, for this one, roughly. Take us through this journey. How, how did you connect with the people in Nova Scotia? I'm so curious. And I think our listeners are as well, like, how do you make that contact and, and if you're just joining us, I want to welcome Hiromi, Lawrence, Christopher and Chef Mimi, who's our co founder of food is religion. We're talking about lobster oil right now and their production and this incredible idea of creating lobster oil. So can you tell us a little bit more about that? Like what what's the relationship? How did you establish the relationship your father and yourself with Nova Scotia?

Unknown: 7:11

Yeah, I mean, like, it's a good question, because obviously, it's been a business for I believe over 20 years. He started in 1996. Right so we're going a little bit way back and that was born seven. Oh my god, but It's it's a really interesting story. I'm not sure if you guys talked about that on the episode yet. But um, how it kind of all started as, you know, my dad traveling all over the world, like I think he was just in Montreal before he came to Vancouver I believe. And he was, you know, kind of hired or he was offered a position at this restaurant called The Cannery really well known really, you know, popular seafood restaurant in Vancouver for your foodie, and you're in British Columbia, you know, The Cannery. And yeah, and then when he joined he, you know, usually when you go to like some, you know, pretty pretty good restaurants. Usually they'll give you some like bread and butter or like some olive oil. But really how it started was just a random idea where my dad's like, I don't want to do the bread and butter thing. I want to do something completely different. It was just a random thought of it as like, it wasn't something that he was researching for a long time. Like it was just like a random idea, like lobster oil. Is that a thing? Right?

Michael Dugan: 8:29

When I think about it, I've never had it. So I Yeah, to come up to Vancouver and then check it out.

Unknown: 8:36

I'll send you a bottle.

Michael Dugan: 8:40

When I think about this. I'm not kidding. And I think other people will be as well.

Unknown: 8:46

It's been an interesting journey. And you know, at first like, it was never a business. It was just something, you know, a little bit different than, than the other restaurants. Right? So you'd come in, order your food and drinks and then the waiter would bring the drinks and then right after that, they would bring like, a bread of like, a basket of like one baguette with and lobster oils. Yeah, it's pretty, pretty good.

Michael Dugan: 9:10

And so did you. Did you have or did they have lobster oil incorporated into some of the dishes like pasta, and you know, and things like that, or?

Unknown: 9:21

I believe he did use it for a few dishes. I mean, that's the kind of guy that likes to try like different things. But I think it was in probably like, I think it was in the past that this definitely in the past. And then some kind of salad dressing for sure. I mean, that's the unique thing about our product. It's very versatile, even though it's seafood. Right? Um, but yeah, it was it was really interesting. And then you know, people wanted buy the products like they were like, Oh, is this like can we buy a bottle? He never really sold that. Oh my gosh, yeah, yeah. And then one day the jet he asked the general manager if you can do a business out of it, he's like, no problem. And that's how the journey kind of started Yeah, in 9096.

Michael Dugan: 10:05

Amazing story. I mean, that you know, in your dad is so humble. Like, I have not met a French chef. That's that humble. Just haven't. And I think it probably comes from his world knowledge. You know that he's traveled around the world and and I remember him saying he cooked for the king and queen of Thailand.

Unknown: 10:25

He was living in Thailand for two years with my mom at the time and he was the executive chef for the kitchen for the king and queen of Thailand for two years pretty much.

Michael Dugan: 10:36

Wow. You know, and, and so everyone understands how we met. I literally was fascinated by lobster oil, and I pinged Hugo on Instagram. We had a conversation and we just connected immediately, and it's like we need to bring you on clubhouse. We need to have an interview on Voice4Chefs. We need to talk about podcasting because we're gonna get into that too. Yeah, but so are there any particular trends right now that you've noticed driving increased interest in lobster oil?

Unknown: 11:05

Honestly, it's been it's been really tough because it's a very, like, niche product like, Yeah, I'm gonna be honest with you, you know, again, 90, you know, 99% of the time when I when I tell someone about Lobster Oil, they're like lobster what's, you know, they always question it. Right? So, it's been a little bit tough. Like, you know, that's why, you know, I came into the business in 2019, I believe I was, I think 20. And what was missing is we didn't we didn't have any had any social media, like didn't have a Facebook account. We didn't have Instagram or anything like that, right. So what we're doing what my job was, is to kind of promote it, you know, my dad already had the business. So I just had to, you know, put in the work and create, you know, content and stuff. So what I pretty much did is create an Instagram account. And then I would post like new recipes every week on how to incorporate the Lobster Oil is. Because, you know, again, most people don't know what love soil is, right? And, yeah, so that's what I've been doing in the past. Just every week, you know, I'm not really good chefs. So my videos weren't like the best. I'll be completely honest with you guys. But it was just really an easy way to to show people that like, oh, wow, like, this is a unique product. And how can we use it to, you know, to our cooking, I guess, right, so.

Michael Dugan: 12:19

Wow. Like, are there any dishes that you cooked with your father along the way? Just love that your father makes?

Hugo Couton: 12:28

Yeah, that's a great question. Well, I remember my dad we made a cornbread once a Teresa cornbread was the last oil what we did is we pretty much just added a love soil to the Nether dough, but to the mixture of the cornbread pretty much. And that was really delicious. Or another simple ways just like seared scallops with lobster oil. Super simple, but really delicious.

Michael Dugan: 12:52

Yeah, I'm gonna read a couple comments here that I want to share with you. Chef Mimi says speaking with Chef Hugo on how to make lobster oil and such a great way to not waste food using lobster shells to make lobster oil. And I so agree with this chef Mimi because every time I have lobster, with my wife or friends, I always save all the shells. I create a stock. But I freeze the stock. And the flavor kind of goes out of it. But with lobster oil, it seems like you know, can you have that on the shelf? And just literally use it or do you have to refrigerate it?

Unknown: 13:25

Yeah, good question. Um, it is shellfish. Right? So we do say like it has to be refrigerated once it's open. You know, shellfish is one of those allergies. You know, if you get sick from it, it's not gonna be pretty right. So I say that. Yeah, it has to be refrigerated once open. But if it's closed if it hasn't been open before, I mean, we've we've had some bottles since like, 2016. And of course, the flavor is a little bit different, like slightly but um, yeah, open the bottle that hasn't been open since 2016. We just wanted to try it and I felt fine. He felt fine, but it has to be refrigerated.

Michael Dugan: 14:04

But the thing about it is like, you know, when I make lobster stock, it doesn't last forever. Yeah, there too. And you're done. You got it. You got to use it up. Right. Yeah. It's amazing because that that shelf life could be for a long time. So that's, that's incredible. And Chef Mimi says she would love to use your lobster oil for her dumplings or lobster ravioli, which I think is is incredible. I mean, I remember having lobster ravioli and Italian restaurants and I'm thinking, oh my gosh, with lobster oil. That would be amazing. Just a few extra pieces of lobster meat. Right?

Unknown: 14:37

Yeah, and that sounds delicious.

Michael Dugan: 14:40

She is an amazing cook. I look at her posts all the time. She's a Michelin trained chef and does pop ups and and she's also as I mentioned, our co founder of this incredible club Food is religion. She wants to know about your journey on how you went from having a good idea to commercializing it go food trade shows to introduce it or what did you do their to market it and commercialize it?

Unknown: 15:08

For me like I didn't really have any sales experience when I first started doing this like you know, I was I'm the type of personality I've lots of energy always love meeting people. I guess I was kind of like a little bit of a Salesman without being a salesman just oh, I can tell him networking. Yeah, I'm talking to people you know. It was always gonna be a side this is such a neat product like what can we do with this right so what I just started doing again, I wasn't really it wasn't really a social media at the time or anything like that. Any strategies. So I have it pretty much started as I just created Instagram account started posting pictures of Lobster Oil, and then just good old cold calling, but cold calling but also In Vancouver, I would just go to stores that you know are like, you know, have like food specialty stores, or a fish mongers, and then I would just kind of go in there with a bottle of lobster oil, do a bit of a presentation and get them to try it, and then pretty much go from there. And then also, you know, cold calling as well has been another good way of that. But, um, when it comes to food and trade shows, we haven't done that yet. But we did do a Christmas market, I believe, Okay, last year, and that was like, super successful, but we're just pretty busy with our own lives as well. So it's hard to just focus on this when you have a bunch of other things going along as well. Sure. But uh, yeah, like pretty much cold calling, you know, literally going into stores and presenting them a product that they've never heard before. And getting them to try has been what's been successful for us, to be honest with you. Tapping into the basics.

Michael Dugan: 16:42

Yeah, I'm hoping that this gets the word out for you a little bit, because I just think what you're doing is incredible. Anything I can do to help. On the podcast, you're on clubhouse with, you know, making connections, you know, just reach out, honestly,

Hugo Couton: 16:57

I'm glad I'm glad we met because it's funny, I did have clubhouse in the past. Actually, I got it, like, kind of want to just start, you know, getting becoming popular. Yeah. And I kind of fell off just because I don't know why I didn't stick to it. It's such a good networking app. You know what I mean? So I'm glad that we were able to connect, and I'm super excited to see you guys and thrive with your stuff. And I'm happy to be part of that.

Michael Dugan: 17:21

We'll stay in this community because food is religion. I have put it put my podcast on the map. I mean, I am grateful forever to Chef Mimi and all the members here. It's an amazing, supportive community. And people absolutely love you members that are interested in other things.

Unknown: 17:39

no, that's great. I was thinking about a food perspective. Right. But yeah, talking about it more in a business way. Yeah. There's so many influencers, like, for example, there's a gentleman called Gary Vaynerchuk. Who is, I don't know if anybody's heard about him before. He has like his own marketing agencies. He's all about you know, marketing, marketing, marketing. I think if anybody is, is wanting to start a business or it needs motivation, I think I think he's, he's been one of the guys that kind of changed my perspective on business and marketing. Gary Vaynerchuk.

Michael Dugan: 18:21

I do want to pause for a second because one of my favorite people in the whole world is here with us, which is Hiromi. And I met her in a tick tock room. And she is she's an amazing person on clubhouse. And she follows Gary Vee. She said he is the reason why I started tick tock in the beginning of 2020. And she she blew up on tick. I mean, she has an amazing number of followers. She's also a clubhouse icon. One of the most recent so just want to honor you for me. Just so I want to put it out there because I'm a huge fan. And it's really cool how how all three of you are connected to Gary Vee. Are all both of you are connected to God.

Hugo Couton: 19:10

Yeah, he's great, honestly. I mean, when it comes to marketing, he's just, I mean, there's a bunch of other people. It's hard, right? Because it's tough to it's easy to get lost. And, you know, it's good to find your your top five or 10 or whatever. And just stick to that, I think for a bit, in my opinion, but everybody's different.

Michael Dugan: 19:27

Yeah, I hear you. So as as we go along here. Is there anyone that's mentored you in your life that you want to give a shout out to? I know your father, of course. Is there anyone else?

Hugo Couton: 19:42

Yeah, well, actually, I think he's gone. I'm in Montreal and Quebec right now. But one of my best friends, his name's Caly Dejardine. He's, he's into fitness and fashion. So it's a little bit different. But a big shout out to him. If it wasn't really for him. I don't think I would have embarked on this Lobster Oil journey or been as motivated by myself. Yeah, to be honest with you. I don't know if he's here. I think he just left so can you share? Yeah, yeah, of course. Yeah. So my friend Callie, he, he's into the fashion industry. I don't know much about fashion. But pretty much what he started doing is I think at the beginning, he wants to be a fitness trainer to start his journey, but he always had passion for clothing. So what he did is he created a fitness account, like you see all over now on Tik Tok and Instagram. But he was he was pretty early on to the game. So it wasn't there wasn't too much content like that. And then he's the one that you know, show me Gary Vee. He's the one that showed me a bunch of influencers and really kind of pushed me and motivated me to be honest with you. So it was just things like that. Like it's it's funny like You know, I think what makes some people super successful is to find mentors, right and not gonna lie, it's been pretty, it's been pretty tough to find people that are like, like minded or within the same industry a little bit in Vancouver at least, it's been a little bit tough. But having a friend like that, I mean, I don't think I'd be where I am right now, to be honest with you with all that stuff if it wasn't for him. So big shout out to him.

Michael Dugan: 21:16

It's so so important to pause for a minute, you know, and really think about the people that have changed our lives. That was a really good question. Okay, have there been any unexpected challenges or obstacles that you faced in marketing lobster oil came in later on in it, but it sounds like tick tock and social media and that kind of stuff growing that, because no one had done that before. That would be one I think, but anything else you can think of?

Hugo Couton: 21:44

Yeah, big hurdles. I think, you know, I think it's more of a hurdle for myself, actually, we'll get into the podcast and like a second. But what's been hard for me is, you know, I'm not really passionate about cooking. Like, it's not something that really motivates me to be completely honest with you, like camera and start cooking and like, like, I'm not, I'm just like, it just doesn't excite me, you know, I chose something that's been Yeah, some that's been tough. Like, I was really consistent, though, on posting, like, every week, we're doing a brand new recipe, like from scratch, like, you know, my dad didn't want to get too involved into that. So you know, there's a bit of research that needs to be done on my side. But it's been, it's been a challenge to stay consistent on on doing that right to be motivated on creating recipes. And that's like, more of like, a personal thing. That's definitely been like a hurdle for me is is at the end of it. I kind of stopped posting on the, on the on the page. But that's been like, I think my biggest challenge for for that is staying motivated to, to create a new recipes every time to be honest with you. It's been tough.

Michael Dugan: 22:45

Being a chef is really hard. That's That's why I created voice for chefs. And I went to cooking school, I spent 10 years in the business and left because of a drive by shooting and some other things that happen. And it just, I wanted to do something else. But I miss it. I miss the people in the industry, I miss the passion and the purpose. And you know, that's where voice for chefs came from, right is to honor the chefs around the world and the people that work in this industry that work so hard. So let's just talk more about your podcast, you know, yeah, tell us tell us about your podcasts. I'd love for you to share the story about how it was created and who are who you're meeting, what what you're doing, what the purpose is behind it,

Hugo Couton: 23:27

What I realized myself, but I just wasn't as motivated to create content like that, like cooking videos anymore. I've always had an idea. I've always wanted to do something on YouTube or vlog or podcasts. I've always wanted to do something like that something entertainment. So for like, I believe the idea of the podcast was, it was like two years ago, for a year and a half, two years ago. And for me, I always think about like, what are people like not doing? I'm always kind of the person that's trying to be the a little bit different than everybody else. Right. So when I thought about podcasting, Not really that many podcasts about food. Like there's a lot of podcasts about people like interviewing chefs. Right, but I noticed there wasn't really a lot of podcasts about like anything related to food. So from chefs, of course, business owners, farmers, fishermen, mushroom pickers could be a grocery store owner, like anything cool to the food. Yeah, food industry, right. So I thought about that for like, a year and a half, two years and finally took action. Literally this year in February, was the first episode we were released. And it's just another way to promote the lobster oil. And I love meeting people and networking.

Michael Dugan: 24:42

Really cool. Any stories you want to share any any? See for me, I love every single episode, and I do share stories about different chefs and things like that, but I'm connected to every one of them. But I'm curious if there's any that that you'd like to share with us?

Hugo Couton: 24:57

us. Yeah, for sure. I mean, again, like, you know, when it comes to podcasting, or creating content, or it could be for your business or personal brand, it's a journey, right? It's not a marathon. It's not a sprint, it's a marathon. Very true. You know, so yeah, like, you know, what we've been doing is I've a videographer that as a studio, so we've been filming it as well. So of course we record it posted on on what is it? Buzzsprout I believe and then they distribute on like Apple podcasts and yeah, like kind of fun stuff and Spotify and yeah, like I've been reaching out to like literally reaching out to people on over Instagram. You know, saying that, hey, I'm starting this unique idea be interested in I was wondering if you'd be interested in maybe coming on and, and sharing your story. So I think it's been it's been good so far, obviously like there's a lot of learning along the way, right? Oh, yeah. You know what I mean him Yeah, I think we've had what five episodes we have another one coming up soon thing. I think the first one obviously as meeting host it was not the best because it was my first time doing this but my friend Kcb, who's a beekeeper she knows like she knows like everything about bumblebees like, crazy. Yeah. So I think that was like the first episode was pretty cool. What else we had one of our clients, that's a fishmonger. Yeah, we have a bunch of different things, right. I'm just trying to make sure like when I have guests on, like, I want it to be like a completely different industry. Like I'd want you know, like a chef one time and then fishmonger the other. And then there's vegan, bar distributor, you know what I mean? Or manufacturer like I want it to be different every episode. So that's been some of the challenges. But we're getting there for sure.

Michael Dugan: 26:39

When you talk about podcasting. There are a lot of hurdles. And if anyone is interested in podcasting, either here or on the voice4chefs podcast, you hear this or you hear the replay. Buzzsprout is an incredible community to join. And if you're even thinking about podcasting, I would immediately join the Buzzsprout Facebook group, because there's over 20,000 podcasters there, and they provide credible advice. And then Buzzsprout also does their own podcast about how to start a podcast. And what I find along my journey, when I meet people that are talking about a podcast is they just talk about it, they talk about it, they talk about it, a year goes by and then maybe they started or maybe they don't. So the key is just start it. I think that's the way to go. My sister is a beekeeper. So I'm going to tell her about this because I caught that some conversations on your podcast about it. And I know she just be so excited. She's also a musician, and a teacher. But she has a beehive in her backyard. And you know, it's yes, it's a real cool passion, actually. So when we talk about passions, what are your passion travel?

Hugo Couton: 27:49

Yeah, good question. I mean, I'm a huge foodie though. I'm not gonna lie like I'm in Montreal. Awesome. It's like, Vancouver is like it's pretty good for food. I mean, obviously, we've got like fresh seafood but yeah, but for hidden gems. Like I think Montreal is where it's at for when it comes to the food scene, at least here in Canada would say, Yeah, huge foodie. I was thinking about food for like a whole month before I came here. Like what's a really good Italian restaurant last night called pepes so delicious. But anyways, besides food.

Michael Dugan: 28:24

Come on. What did you eat?

Hugo Couton: 28:28

I mean, there's four of us we had lots of things we what did we order we ordered like four different pastas from like Alfredo to record to like all different types, all homemade pastas. What else did we have? We had something like shrimp. Like really small shrimp with like really good homemade mayonnaise, which was really delicious. What else we had talked are of course beef tucked up. Okay, sure. And then a bunch of different desserts. Tiramisu, Pistachio cake. cheesecake and some kind of mousse chocolate mousse. It's really good. But yeah, besides food. Yeah, just I love you know, staying fit. Like I really enjoyed working out spending time outside. Spending time with my dad going fishing.

Michael Dugan: 29:13

Because I'm a fly fisherman. I rolled over when he talked about fly fishing around the world? That's my dream. And I've done it.

Hugo Couton: 29:20

Yeah, yeah. My dad's a big fisherman like loves it. Yeah. I mean, My dad and I, we spend a lot of time in the outdoors. I mean, living in British Columbia, we have like some of the most beautiful forests here. Life as well. Right. You know, you walk down the forest, you'll see maybe a black bear some dears , ducks. Just beautiful. But um, yeah, we spent a lot of time you know, bushwhacking, like I'd say like four or five and a half hours out from Vancouver, kind of finding lakes. Just spending time together. Like that's something we really enjoyed doing fishing for some trout, usually. Trout fishing.

Michael Dugan: 30:00

I love it. Yeah. He's really passionate about trout, about South America.

Hugo Couton: 30:08

He went to Argentina. Argentina. There we go.

Michael Dugan: 30:11

Yeah, he was talking about it that he talked about Belize, because I've been there with my wife bonefishing and tarpon fishing and that is the utopia of fly fishing. Is to fish for them. You know, you stand in the water. I will never forget it in Belize. We're a mile from shore with with a guide in a boat. It's hot as hell, but loving it right. And two feet of water. The guy jumps out of the boat and he's pushing the boat and he goes Get out. What do you mean get out we're a mile from shore and there's sharks swimming around and there's no fish everywhere. Get out. So we jumped out and we're in a sandbar and miles from shore in the middle of Caribbean, and we fished all day and it was perfect utopia. Yeah, I'll never forget it. So those moments are really special. It's really cool that you can share that with your father.

Hugo Couton: 31:04

Yeah, we've been to the we've been fishing to the Yukon as well we stayed at like a fishing resort when I was in grade 10. So I think I was what, maybe 16 I would say at the time, roughly. And that was really cool. We just went to the Yukon, just him and my, my dad and myself and we just spend like seven days just fishing and I learned to fly fish there. I'm not really good anymore. It's been so long, but yeah. Oh, catching some like trout that literally look like humongous Salmon. It's unbelievable.

Michael Dugan: 31:36

It's crazy. You know, I'm embarrassed to say this publicly. But I think about it. I used to fish all the time. Every weekend, I stopped when I started the podcast. I need to go back to it. So even talking about it. You know, it's great. Yeah. But we live in the Pacific Northwest and Seattle. And we have some amazing places to but it doesn't touch where you live, you know? Oh my gosh. So Oh, and that's some other questions I had. Thinking about where are you live in Vancouver, Canada, if I was to come visit or somebody that's listening is inspired and wants to check out Vancouver? What would you do?

Hugo Couton: 32:14

What would you Yeah, good question. That's a good question. Yeah. Like, it's funny. I actually had a one of my friends is family friend actually asked me the same question two days ago. First thing that if you're gonna come to Vancouver, like I would try to come in the summer if you can, just because it's more beautiful and testing rain as much because we're known for the the rain here. But if you enjoy like, you know, the outdoors and spending time outside, I mean, there's so many different types of hikes or different levels of it. I mean, the unique thing about Vancouver as you literally have the ocean, and the mountains, like five minutes away from each other, right? You can go grab a beer at a brewery that's like in downtown Vancouver and have a view of the mountains. And then at the same time, you can quickly you know, grab an Uber or bus to West Vancouver and go for a nice walk by the beach. Like there's just so many outdoor things or go for a walk in Stanley Park, which is like this giant. Park right by the ocean. It's just so beautiful.

Michael Dugan: 33:06

We rollerblade there too. Yeah, that's cool. Hannibal experience.

Hugo Couton: 33:10

I know. Yeah, it's amazing. Like Vancouver is it's beautiful. But yeah, I would definitely recommend coming in. In the summer, if possible. Or September. Around that time.

Michael Dugan: 33:22

And thinking of Vancouver. Do you have any dem someplace? Is it Richmond that has really good done some if I remember correctly?

Hugo Couton: 33:29

Yeah. Yeah, Richmond is more. Yeah, it's definitely more of an Asian cuisine influence in that area? In Vancouver, for sure. personally, like, I might dim sums in downtown Vancouver, like I know a few spots like a place called pink pearl. Or the Golden Gate, which is another one. But yeah, like Richmond is a really good place for for any kind of Asian food.

Michael Dugan: 33:58

I love dimsum I just absolutely love it. Because you get to try so many different things. And we're I live in Seattle, we have carts, right, and people wheel around carts, and you can see all the different foods that are prepared. So if you're new to dim sum, it's easy to understand what the food looks like. But Vancouver, they don't have carts you order from menu. So yeah. And oh, as we go along. I want to make sure to give you an opportunity. Is there any special message that you want to share on clubhouse or with the world?

Hugo Couton: 34:35

I think I know, it's this is so like, you know, so many people say this, but I really do believe that, you know, anybody can do anything, if you really put your, your mind to it. It can be anything from like, doesn't have to be about like just business, but like personal goals or, or just motivation, like anything is doable. Like I truly do believe that. And it's super important to just, you know, surround yourself with like minded people and try to just stay in like a environment where you can thrive and right. So I think my biggest message is just keep pushing through. Like, it's just like, you know, it's just one more day closer to wherever you want to be. Right. So I think that'd be my biggest message I'd want to share with everybody on the call today, like what motivates you,

Michael Dugan: 35:18

Oh, my God, I'm insane. My wife will tell you, you know, there's a really cool test you can take called StrengthsFinder. And a lot of people follow that and StrengthsFinder helps you identify what your real strengths are in life, because you take a series of questions like a Myers Briggs test, and I discovered that one of the things about me is I hit the ground at zero every day. And what that means is I have to accomplish something every day to feel good about who I am. So the podcasts that kind of keeps me motivated for that but it's tiring, you know, it's it's a lot of work. I think what keeps me motivated right now is the stories is learning from chefs and people in the hospitality industry, getting their perspectives, connecting them to other chefs helping them along their journey. I just really enjoy it. And then food is religion is just being connected to so many amazing people around the world. And being on clubhouse. I mean, I have a full time job, like a lot of people, but it would be nice if I didn't if I had more flexibility, because I would be here quite a bit more. But I just love being connected to this community. It's just really inspiring inspires me to cook and try new things. And, you know, I love going out to restaurants. I love trying new foods, new cuisines, and it's just podcasting has really opened a lot of doors and opened my mind to the world. I would say, you know, and now oh my gosh, there's so many interesting things. Right? Just meeting you. Right here we are in Vancouver, Canada. We got to go to lunch sometime. I'm going to wrap things up. But I want to thank Hugo and Chef Mimi Paige, Lana, Thank you all for joining us.

Hugo Couton: 37:07

And I appreciate you guys having me on and it's always great to network with with people in the industry and then just hear people's stories. So thank you. Yeah, appreciate it.