ProfileProgramCivil Engineering Year7 or 8 TitleOperating Partner & Director of Operations, Oil City Hospitality HometownInnisfail Favourite MovieVan Wilder Favourite DrinkCanadian Crown and Coke |
InterviewHow did an Innisfail boy become one of Edmonton’s biggest bar moguls?Well, I moved here to take Engineering at the UofA. I had to do an internship in Fort McMurray and realized right quick that I was not going to work for somebody for the rest of my life. I had an opportunity at the bar where I was working to take it over and that is sort of where it all started. You started as a bartender at one bar and now how many bars do you own?Oil City Hospitality is essentially eleven bars in Alberta and we are just getting bigger and bigger. And you are still a student?! Have you been involved in the campus community over your tenure?I have done everything. I swam Varsity for a number of years; we did a pub-crawl every year to raise money that was so successful that I ended up helping the other teams. I was involved with the Ski Club, the Aggies, Farmhouse… Really, every campus group I could get my hands on. As a bar owner, it really helped me relate to the students and see things in their eyes. You mentioned that you are finally finishing your degree. Any plans to go into engineering?Everyone asks me that question and I ask them to define Engineering. We are taught as engineers to manage people and projects. I manage lots of people, about 700 in the whole group, and in a way, I am doing engineering by getting leases, building bars, and managing staff. Any big plans for the future?We are a dynamic company that is continually expanding. As most people know, we turned Jasper Avenue into an entertainment district. We also have bars on Whyte Avenue; actually, we just leased a huge space on Whyte that we are planning something special for! Look for it next school year. |
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