Meet Justin Tisdall, Owner/Operator of Juke & Chickadee Room and Beetbox
Q: Tell us about your business(s)?
A: Juke & Chickadee Room: Juke is the reason the chicken crossed the road. Launched at 182 Keefer Street in 2016 by Justin Tisdall, Chef Bryan Satterford and Cord Jarvie, Juke has quickly carved out a reputation for serving up an elevated-yet-fun menu comprising the city’s best Southern-inspired fare. Beyond its trademark gluten-free, non-GMO-grain-fed and free-range fried chicken and sticky pork ribs, Juke also features a mouth-watering selection of seasonal snacks, salads and sides as well as an array of signature and classic cocktails, wine and local craft beer served up next door in a new contact-free cocktail hotspot called Chickadee. | jukefriedchicken.com
Beetbox: An exciting culinary concept located in the heart of Vancouver’s West End, Beetbox is a counter-service restaurant offering an ever-growing community of vegans, vegetarians and ‘flexitarians’ a homespun menu of plant-based comfort food perfect for dine-in, quick pick-up or delivery. The latest project for industry veterans GM/Co-owner Justin Tisdall and Chef/Co-owner Bryan Satterford, Beetbox offers a mouthwatering menu of burgers, sandwiches and wraps as well as snacks, salads and sides and a bar that features local kombucha and craft beer. | www.beetboxveg.com
Q: What barriers have you encountered when starting your business?
A: I believe the biggest hurdle was dealing with build out issues brought on by the physical spaces, and financing while we finalized the space. I also do not really believe in barriers as these are detours that help you find creative ways to work around.
Q: What is it that you enjoy the most about your business?
A: Professionally I love seeing people enjoying our spaces and our food and drinks in them. Our goal is to create spaces that are an extension of our personalities and our homes. We want people to feel comfortable when they are dining with us, so we want to make our home away from home fun and relaxing.
Personally, each day brings new challenges and new ways for me to examine how to make our business better or myself better as a leader. In a restaurant no two days are ever the same, so I like the variety and lack of monotony.
Q: Tell us some fun facts about yourself?
A: Hmm, I have two young children (2 and 1) and I love being a Dad. I was a finicky eater as a child, so my parents like to joke about me working in restaurants. And the third… I used to swim for Canada’s National Team.
Q: Who influences you to get up every morning?
A: My two kids mostly! Both physically and spiritually. I want to be the best Dad I can be, and set a great example of being passionate about whatever you choose to do in life. Also, I believe I am very internally motivated so I get up, coffee and workout. My wife and I have a good morning routine and she helps me get the day going so I can get off to work.
Q: If you could provide your top three advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, what would it be?
A:
- Know your business/concept better than anyone else does. If someone has the same concept, make sure you are doing it better than anyone else.
- Be kind to people
- Work through the problem, meaning, there is always and answer even if it’s an answer you may not like. So you keep working until you get more answers that you do like as you go along and get better. It’s never going to be 100% right out of the gate. Work to get there…we are still working to get there.