Travis Petersen 0:00

The venue is set in a home the food of fine dining. And while there's a no alcohol, you still might leave with a bus. I've served over 12,000 people their first abuse dining experience. 58% of my clientele are females, every group sharing together and it was magical. When we dose accurately and safely we put people in this perfect state former master

Speaker 2 0:21

chef candidate contestant is adding a little green, there was latest dishes and we're not talking about reputable

Travis Petersen 0:27

meats, the terpenes within those strings are not just the flipper aroma of cannabis. But we're also responsible for the effects and feel when you use it. When I'm creating a menu. Each course has a specific terpene that I'm focusing on.

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 0:41

Welcome, you're now listening to just bobby tea. Hey, what's going on everybody? So today I have a good friend who is changing the game and emerging industry doing in bridging to different areas in cannabis. And in culinary. Travis, what's up? How you doing today, Robert?

Travis Petersen 1:04

Man? How you doing, buddy?

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 1:06

I'm doing good. I'm doing good. Well, I'm

Travis Petersen 1:07

no see too long travels too long. So

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 1:10

welcome. First of all, I gotta say, welcome back to Canada. And I want to know, how have you been?

Travis Petersen 1:15

I've been good man. I've been busier than ever. I've been happier than ever. Life is Beautiful right now. So I moved to the US two years ago and got the green card officially a week ago.

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 1:29

Congrats on that. You got married, like I haven't seen you since.

Travis Petersen 1:33

Dude, the pandemic was good to me. Okay, pandemic it. That first day when you lose every job that was coming up. You think the world's ending? You're like, what the fuck am I gonna do? Just pure panic. And it's funny how it just it opened everything up. You know, right before the pandemic came along. I did my first event in San Francisco, sold it out, was excited wanted to go out and celebrate and go to a Michelin star restaurant. Yeah, but I didn't wanna go by myself. So I thought, hey, we'll just jump on one of these dating apps will find someone to go out with tonight. And it's how I met my wife, man. Fell in love hard that first night. And then the next morning I said, Hey, you want to come up to Canada and a couple of weeks, bought her a plane ticket. And you know, the pandemic comes along and just told her they don't want to spend my life with you. And so we eloped in Presidio Park in San Francisco and August 29 2021 2020. Sorry. Okay, just coming up on our three year anniversary. That first season is around the corner. Next week. Yeah. So you know, and then we actually came back up to Canada. That next summer 2021 when things were really tough, you know, you know, a lot more than six people inside. Yeah. So I got a sponsor to rent us a 40 foot RV. And we drove across Canada and did 37 outdoor dinners in eight weeks, drove 8000 kilometers. And at the end of that we moved to the US and why do we move the US that previous Christmas? We went down to my mother in law's in Arizona? Yep, everything was open. Everything. Nothing was closed. No mas mandates. Life was normal. And in my head, I'm sitting here going, Wait, Arizona has an aging population. Why is shit not falling apart everywhere?

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 3:28

Why do they kind of almost lead right away amongst kind of, yeah, that whole process.

Travis Petersen 3:34

You just look from the media point of view in the way they were looking Arizona and Florida. And all these states like these governors were crazy. And these right wing nuts and life was normal. So

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 3:45

before we dive deeper into that, because I want I want to talk about sort of your experience in the States. Let's take a step back. And for the ones who don't know you, Travis, and tell us a little bit about sort of who you are, and what you have been doing in this emerging space and with your culinary skills.

Travis Petersen 3:59

Yeah. So um, you know, I moved to Edmonton in 2010. I spent 15 years working in the oil and gas industry. I was a business development manager for one of the world's largest valve companies. 2015, I jokingly apply for MasterChef, I get on it. I bomb get eliminated on the second episode, and was like, Okay, well, back to that crude oil and gas career.

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 4:21

Well, let's take a step back and stick them a second. Why did you apply for Master Chef? And tell us quickly? You can what was that? What was that process like? So I think there's a lot of value in sort of that experience included that kind of put you in a new trajectory. And so yeah, absolutely.

Travis Petersen 4:36

I applied because it was Friday, four o'clock, and I needed to kill an hour before leaving work. And so I went on unless I was a fan of the show. Yeah, I loved cooking, but I've never worked in a kitchen. I never took classes. I just I like to cook right. And so I applied for the show, and I got on it and very quickly got there and like I'm a very confident person and I got but then realized like I knew nothing.

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 5:02

The job is how do you have the Kahunas to step up to the plate specially in except that like, let me now go to this competitive because

Travis Petersen 5:12

if you let fear hold you back, look at the opportunities you might miss right like, here we go great Edmonton quote you miss 100% of the shots you don't take, right so I, you know, I went on this as more of an experience. I wasn't planning to become a chef. Even when I get eliminated nine days in and I come home. I'm 31 years old. I'm not starting out at a dish pit working my way up through a restaurant. That recession hits oil and gas here in the province. 2015. And I got laid off four weeks after filming, got a severance package that would carry me through for six months. And so I said, let's give this a shot for six months. Cool. And so those first two years, doing pop ups here in Edmonton started working for a couple of the Edmonton Oilers doing, you know, some personal meals for them. And, and the popups

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 6:05

were imagined like were they noticing course yeah, dinners and meals

Travis Petersen 6:09

or, you know, we'd northern chicken here in Edmonton. Oh, sit. They weren't. They didn't used to be open on Wednesdays. Okay. And so he would let me come in and do the dinners and they're awesome. You know, I then go back to Vancouver, a friend of mine here at Edmonton, him and I start the Nomad dinner club. And that's where I come along and meet you. So, you know, two years into the Nomad Cook. I'm starting to think okay, maybe the chef thing really isn't a long term future plan for me. So what am I going to do with this? So we start the dinner club, and we start bringing in celebrity chefs from the US. Yep. And my whole pitch to them was hey, well, I'll put three events on for you Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, yet we'll sell the tickets. Just let me work in the kitchen with you.

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 6:48

Cool and quick. to backtrack a little bit. How did he know these celebrity chefs? And

Travis Petersen 6:52

how can I just went on Instagram and message them? Right? And so I must have messaged 50. Chefs, five replied, One said yes. Silvia bar ban. Yep. Whose might now my mentor and one of my close friends and amazing lady like a personality and such a talented chef. And you know, she came we did those dinners for her. There were so many hiccups and bumps along the way, but we got through it. And you know, she went back to the US and vouched for us to everyone else. So that's how we were able to get the other chefs had she come here not had a good experience. We don't get anyone else here. So and that's how I got introduced to you. And right around that time, is when I start doing cannabis, right and I'm starting to get national attention for it. And

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 7:39

if you can go back to your first cannabis events are sort of what got you into this. This idea. So

Travis Petersen 7:47

one of the most famous cannabis chefs Chef Chris silay is known as the herbal chef. He, so he came up to Canada and 2018, five months before legalization and did two dinners, one in Toronto when in Vancouver, he was on the front page of Georgia street. So I saw that newspaper and said Why isn't American coming here doing this first? I'm going to do a canvass dinner. So I turned my house into a pop up restaurant. And we had 164 people come through in four days doing five sittings of 12 a day. CTV calls and says hey, would you do an interview for CTV? Victoria? It's only going to Aaron Victoria. I sure no problem. I'll go on camera and talk about this illegal thing that I'm doing

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 8:36

it just like just just a lot of listeners understand that what was going through your mind when the spotlight like you're putting the spotlight on yourself in a in an avenue that still was not flushed out? And to your point? Oh, no, I

Travis Petersen 8:48

really this I don't, I don't always think of the consequences. Okay, I'm a bit of a risk taker. And I've always kind of had one toe over the line. So, you know, my thought was what's the worst gonna happen are going to shut us down. Right? So, you know, they see TVs like don't worry, CTV tutorial only. Now part of their five minute piece on the event they went to Health Canada to ask them for a comment on the event. No way right. And Health Canada's like this is not legal. And I get a call from Health Canada that Friday at four o'clock or not a call an email asking where is this dinner? And I said to myself, why did he wait till four o'clock to send this email? He doesn't care. I'm not responding till next week. So we went ahead and we did the dinners and it was amazing. That CTV Victoria thing airs at five o'clock. On a Friday it airs sorry the Thursday it airs the Thursday at 530. Yep. And then at six o'clock, CTV national, they lead with that story. So and you didn't know this at the time, they told me that it was only CTV Victoria, but they leave it on the national and my phone and Email explode. every newscast in the country wants an interview. Yep. People in Edmonton Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, will you come here and do these dinners? And you know, that was the only time I kind of got my hand slapped by Health Canada. He never followed up with me again. It just was whatever. You know. So I was like, man, there's something here with this. I didn't want to be called a cannabis chef at first because I was assuming this is a fad, right? Cannabis is becoming legal. This will be cool for a little bit and it will fizzle off. Boom, you know, to date now, I've had 901st Time cannabis users come in, you know? Yeah. And I was like, I don't want to serve them. So watching the different demographics of people come in and then bond. Like, it doesn't matter what culture, what background, what age you are. And I was like, Okay, maybe there's something here with this. So

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 10:53

and you know what, Travis like Seguin watching you grow over these years in this emerging space, but more importantly, around the experiences you build on that. You know, one thing that I think I've witnessed and I've seen, it's like, I would argue the the room gets contained around this idea of like curiosity. Yeah. And I'm wondering, just to stick on this, like sort of bonding, like, from your perspective, what do you think is sort of allowing people that are different demographics and backgrounds bond together around this experience?

Travis Petersen 11:21

It's the plan. You think about it, like, maybe pre pandemic, it wasn't too weird to see someone smoking a joint and be like, Hey, can I have a toke? Sure. Right. You'd never do that someone drinking a beer? Hey, kind of severe beer. Right? So there's some there's something really special about this plant and where we hence, heighten all their sensories right? And so we put them in a real rock relaxation. It's not about getting people super stoned. Yeah, like we don't want to go that far. Some do. You get some chronics to come in at want high dose, but you know, I dose every guest individually based on their own tolerance. So when I first started out, I was using isolette. So where you isolate THC, it goes into a little tincture and you can I drop it on top, okay, right. That's a way to sort of gain confidence. In my opinion, it's more lip syncing. It's not true culinary cannabis. Okay, you know, you're just dropping it on top. Now we're creating full spectrum extractions, using, you know, flour, hash concentrates, everything's made from scratch. You know, I've created a variety of different methods, where the question is like, What's my goal with this attraction? Like, what am I hoping to achieve with it? So you're gonna very culinary approach to it, as opposed to the stoner culture approach of like, let's get blitzed off the brownie totally.

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 12:36

And by by taking that approach, I imagine what you're doing is you're focusing on sort of some of the flavors and profiles or profiles to kind of build into that particular dish, that particular item just to make it Aboriginals.

Travis Petersen 12:50

This has been the forbidden fruit, right? No one was allowed to really work with it beforehand. And with the advancements in technologies, now, you know, the focus is on the terpene profile. So the industry teaches people sativa and indica, right, that's bullshit. That's not true. Okay. sativa and indica refer to the growth patterns of the plant sativa is grow in warmer climates where the flowers are longer and stronger. Your indicas grow in a colder climate. That's why the buds are more firmer, intense. So why am I cleaning my house and sativa and sitting on the couch, munching out on my indicas. Okay, and those identical compounds, those terpenes are also found in plants, fruits and herbs. So it's called an entourage effect when you combine a cannabinoid with a terpene. That makes you feel a certain way. A terpene on its own won't do anything to you. It's just a smell and a flavor. Yep. Right? Yep, we have these two receptors, a CB one receptor and a CB two receptor. And they're responsible for maintaining the balance within our central immune system with our central nervous system. So we're, I'm going to create this arc of experience for our guests. Right? Okay, you want to save those to date of terpenes for dessert? Okay, I want to use the energetic and chatty ones to begin with. You know, what was really cool is, as this started working for me here in Canada, I started working with some CFL players, from the Argos, the Stampeders, and the lions. And so we were creating recipes for them that were focusing on the therapeutic benefits of cannabis. Right. So, as an example, I've got a hummus in my cookbook, it's a tumeric and ginger hummus. It's like the perfect bedtime snack. It's focusing on those anti inflammatory properties, the super foods of tumeric and ginger, and it's helping me sleep. Right? So here's a healthy bedtime snack to have 90 minutes before you go to bed. That's gonna get you that eight hour solid sleep. And you know, have you waking up feeling refreshed? So it's really exciting right now to see the MBA in the Major League Baseball, allow cannabis, right, we're gonna start to see a huge shift down in the US. So the question I get some times like why do I want cannabis in my food? Yeah, other than that, it's awesome. There's some real therapeutic benefits. And you know, once we put Break through these stigmas and preconceived notions of what culinary cannabis is, you know, there's going to be a whole new field of opportunity, you know, working this into sports medicine.

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 15:10

So and that's, that's a huge point, because I can imagine on top of you, yes, being on top of your culinary skill set to make sure you're delivering great tasting food. It sounds like you have to be also very much, if not more on top of the education process. Oh, that's

Travis Petersen 15:25

a lot. What does that look like spend a lot of my success is that there's a ton of education in our dinners, because I'm explaining this in each course. Right? People, people sometimes are afraid to ask the question, because they don't want to look stupid. And I say, there's no stupid questions that are dinners. If you want to know something, raise your hand ask me. Right. And so this is how we're going into more traditional, traditionally conservative areas. You know, I'm doing dinners in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Kansas City, Missouri, and Florida, and, you know, seem to be Louisiana. So as the states are starting to change their positioning it and open dinners we do this is the perfect way bring people into a familiar setting dinner parties, right? Education, focus on the safety aspect of it. And, and, you know, kind of walk them through, I always say, if you're ever going to do it, I'm the perfect person to introduce this because, you know, we dose accurately everything is created, you know, the way I'm able to do that every course has one infused component. Right. So let's say the first course I'm doing a salad, we have an infused vinaigrette, I will make that vinegar at four times. I make it once with no cannabis, once with a low dose, a medium dose and a high dose, right. And so that happens for every single course, that way I can, there's a lot of math involved with it. Right. But having done this so much now, it's pretty easy for me to know what I gotta do. That means that there's a lot more prep, there's a lot more cannabis I have to use in America, you can't take cannabis from state to state has to stay within the state that it was purchased in. So that means I have a ton of wastage, which my staff now is pretty stoked about what I just do at the end of the night. And who wants to this week. So, so yeah, there's but like, this is what you have to do. So like, this is what I'm trying to show people. It's like, if you want to use the eyedropper with the isolette cool, but it's lip synching told, right? This is how you're gonna have to do it. So

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 17:26

so let's take a step back. Because, you know, I'm a big lover and component when it comes to this sort of digital space. And you said that you've served over a credit. I'm wrong. 15,000 people are coming up on that. Yeah. And as you the question I have is how did you engage these people, especially in the beginning, and so it's also a little bit about that

Travis Petersen 17:46

Instagram. You know, I actually over in Canada there. There's no restriction with cannabis on Instagram in America, its shadow ban. Anyone within the cannabis industry, the cannabis companies, your shadow banned, you have no advertising rights. It's very difficult to operate social media if you're a cannabis brand. I emailed Mehta every day, for a year straight until I got someone to call me. And I literally mean every single day saying, Why are my ad rights blocked? Because in Canada, I could advertise so I want to go to a dinner in Toronto, I create an ad on Instagram. I put it up now my ads got to be smart. In a sense, I can't put cannabis dinner right so I had to build in Canada really helped build that brand name recognition knowing that Cook is cannabis dinners. Yep. All right. No nights I think you nomadic nomadic Nights is the American version. It was the infused dining series up here in Canada. He don't infused was the word we could use. Okay, so you had to learn the algorithms, right? What words were going to get the post block what words wouldn't? You know, and here's what I said with Canada being the first country to legalize Canadians had a real chance to become the leaders in this industry. Pioneers. The Canadian government fucked everyone over by overregulating tying it to the tobacco act, you know, really prevented some people from growing? Yeah, I think because I operate it in such a gray space that, again, I just put my foot over that line and said until someone pushed me back, you don't continue. I'm just going to keep going. And, you know, I had over 50 news articles in that three year period. The day I moved to the US High Times puts out a four page article on me. Okay, that was my marketing material for the first three months. You know, my first year was working with a lot of brands. What I was proposing is that we do a brand would hire me we bring in bud tenders from the retail stores. Okay, and that whole dinner is built around the brand. So how do we leave this memory with the bud tenders to then share to the consumer vital tenders dictate 95% of consumer buying habits in cannabis, the most important person in the industry?

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 20:00

Because educating all the customers in the customer come in and goes, What do

Travis Petersen 20:03

you like? All the day? Got his names on the board, right? What is that? That doesn't mean anything doesn't mean anything, right? And so the budtender saying, hey, this strain tastes like lemon cello ice cream with caramel and walnuts like sounds pretty tasty.

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 20:16

anymore.

Travis Petersen 20:18

Tell me more. So that was my whole pitch was let's get away from Do you want to indica or sativa. That doesn't mean anything. And let's, let's sell by experience. And so that first year, I had a ton of work I did nine times my output in my first year in America to my biggest fear in Canada.

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 20:37

And you know what, Travis? Because the one of the things I think, not only that you did in terms of being an innovator in the space, but I think you are like a traditional go getter in terms of like a salesman attitude of like getting things done. Well,

Travis Petersen 20:50

that's a big thing to my success is I come from that sales background, right? Like, why aren't a lot of chefs doing this? Because it's not easy, right? Like that sale, the sales part of it. That's the easy part for me, right. And nothing the pandemic gave me was time to actually take all this knowledge and put it into a cookbook. So my first cookbook came out last fall, okay. And that's where I did my first US tour. So we went to Florida for 10 days, New York for a week, Chicago, Seattle, San Fran LA, Las Vegas, and then we finished in Phoenix. And we did that over two months. And, you know, the landscape, then all of a sudden completely shifted, where in my first year, I was able to raise a lot in sponsorship fees to help promote these products. Yep, the recession comes around and all those marketing budgets are gone. Right. So this year starts off in January. And Mehta finally gives me the right to advertise after a year of emailing. And so I'm like, Okay, here we go. And so I just started nomadic nights. I ran an ad in Chicago, boom, sold it out. 40 tickets, okay, right. And so, all of a sudden, we Okay, let's, let's, oh, I kind of jumped over a big thing on the cookbook tour. We had the New York Times come to our New York dinner, and they did a full feature, myself and the whole infused dining series. So to get that the biggest news publication in America to do a story on it because the cannabis scene in New York is the biggest in the world. There's no way you got food trucks that are cannabis shops on the side of the street. Okay, you know, they say the black market in Canada is four times the size illegal market. I think the black market in New York is 10 times the size. It's it's all it's a problem. Yeah, because people are complaining there's just weed everywhere. You've got a legal dislike we had our legal dispensaries in Canada. Yeah, they're everywhere in New York corner stores. Bodega has just 10 million people in that city. How are you going to police everything. So it's impossible. You don't New York's become a really big market for me. But where my busiest market in the country now Seattle. My second biggest is Kansas City. The Midwest, the smaller cities that get overlooked most of the time that don't have a lot of stuff on people love this.

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 23:04

All because it basically because you're bringing like to spotlight a new experience a new activation. You know, we

Travis Petersen 23:09

mean a Minnesota just turned legal August 1. So we were there three days. 60 people sold it out. Right, announced it. I'm going back on September 11. Sold it out. You know, so the smaller city like, honestly, the hardest cities to do it in right now. Chicago, LA San Francisco, California is a little oversaturated. They've had this going on for a long time. Yeah. You know, Chicago, when you get into the bigger cities, you're not just competing against other cannabis chefs. You're competing against major league sports, fine dining, there's everything right? All came in all different aspects. So you know, well, I've been to Chicago three times now for dinners. But what I'm recognizing is that the smaller cities that people are really hungry for this. So you know, I'm saying, I've done 106,000 miles this year flying.

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 24:02

You say that so casually. But that is crazy. It's crazy. So I'm kind of curious. As you said last year, that was when he finally put out your cookbook and I'm kind of curious, what does that do for your brand? And what did that do for your business as you now have this? Well, the product

Travis Petersen 24:17

the cookbook was a great learning, learning moment for me because I had Trulieve, the largest cannabis company in the world, sponsor the book. We put one of their strains for every recipe as appearing in my photo I wore their shirt. Now the person who helps set all that up. She leaves a week before my cookbook comes out and truly says we're not putting your book in our store. Really, so I now have a branded cookbook that no other dispensary will hold in their store. Right and so I shot myself in the foot a bit now. They had sponsored without their sponsorship. I don't get the photographer because he was expensive.

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 24:59

Mm. tog refers in terms of all the intricacies we placement

Travis Petersen 25:04

is what we did. We shot that entire cookbook in two days. 44 recipes. Because I was paying for it. It was like we are getting this done in two days, we are not moving to day three. Yeah. And so that was tough to put up 44 recipes in, you know, two days it was it was a ton of work. But the photographer's work was beautiful. Because the goal was let's create a coffee table piece, someone who may never cook with cannabis. Now in my book, there's 80 pages of theory and lecture. So like education, yeah, this is for anyone who wants to whether you're a culinary professional, or you're a home cook, this book is going to teach you the fundamentals, the safety aspects give you the extraction methods, you need to really be able to do this properly. You know, the book, it actually peaked on Amazon when I gave a speech in Little Rock, Arkansas. And, you know, I just got my first reporting of sales numbers. After seven months, we sold just under 800 copies, okay. About 600 of them have been sold through my events. So yeah, hear me, the salesperson, I am selling a majority of the books what? You know, it's, it's on Amazon, you can get it from there. And the feedback I'm getting on, people just don't know what's out there. But the other cannabis cookbooks they're not they're really focused again, more on that brownie aspect. Right? So

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 26:30

you're trying to educate people you're focusing on again, some of the files and

Travis Petersen 26:35

to me was like a feather in my cap, a proud moment that, you know, it was a bitch to write, took, it took me almost three years. My huge ups to my wife, sitting on my back of not getting on my back, but just constantly saying, like, pushing you to like, get it done. Yeah, get it done. Right. And because you're doing that, while still trying to navigate this space while pushing yourselves and stuff and then also surviving. But you know, that cookbook, you know, part back to 2021 when we did that cross country tour on the motorhome Russell Hendricks, the largest food and equipment supplier for restaurants in Canada 15 locations across the country, sponsored a culinary cannabis education certificate that I created. So we certified 250 People with the safety certificate serves across Canada across Canada. Yeah. CTV global. CBC all did a feature on the news about it. We had nine different newspapers right on it. So I had the most ever attention come from this education thing, right. And, you know, then the cookbook comes out. So right now I'm in the process of building on an online education platform, people can go on and take this course from their own home. We're speaking with universities all over the US and Canada, but licensing the program to them so that people that are going to the schools can get credit for taking this course. I almost feel like the education part is like first to market, whoever gets the material out first. So I'm actually building this right now working with, you know, people who come off a chef's table, you know, and tastemakers to help film this. And you know, January 1, next year, we'll have this out. So, you know, along the way. I don't know if I ever knew where I was going. It was kind of head down. We'll figure this out as we go. You know, my ultimate goal was turned Nomad cook into a culinary cannabis brand with products. We're still on target for doing that. But it's the education that, you know, I've built credibility. I don't think there's anyone who serve more people than me. You know, there, there are some bigger cannabis chefs out there. But they work for Dave Chappelle and CO they cost 25 grand to hire for an event. And, you know, hey, I'll take that money, I'll take those jobs. But

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 28:56

the difference between that and then serving and again, all these people. And part

Travis Petersen 29:00

of what I did this year was I lowered my pricing, right? And that's what I pitched to brands as well as pay half the price of the tickets for people, right? Let's make sure the everyday person can come in and do this and not just the upper class or the wealthy. Right. You know, it's it's quantity and quality.

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 29:18

Totally. So Travis, you know, watching you over these years kind of build out this emerging space engage of all these people across Canada and in the States. I'm kind of curious. What keeps you going because it's not easy and like

Travis Petersen 29:33

out that's such an easy question. I mean, listen, when I lived here in Edmonton, and I worked in oil and gas, I had a giant hole inside of me. Nothing would fill it. I tried everything. The hardest thing to do was walk away from that six figure salary. Right that security those golden handcuffs five weeks big paid vacation, the 30 rounds of golf I played in the summer. I had a pretty cushy position but I wasn't happy Hmm. And as soon as I started doing this, I became happy. And I realized, listen, it was going to take me a long time to get back to making that money again. And, you know, I just all of a sudden had pride in what I was doing. People were proud of me, you know. So, also all those naysayers that told me I couldn't write, I felt my first couple years, I really had something to prove. I found myself you know, this, it's wild. It's wild. You know, when I started it, I just wanted to go to Montreal and Toronto. Yeah, now I'm cooking in Chicago, New York, Miami. And what's even cooler places? Well, October, sorry, September 29. I head to Europe. With the Soho House. We're doing two dinners in London, one in Paris and one in Amsterdam. So, you know, what, what was an aim to get me to Montreal, now I'm, on October 11 gonna be cooking in Paris, France, like, you know, it's just wild. And I found myself at the forefront of this movement. You know, and like, this is I'm all in, right? It's just, it's, it's brought me every I met my wife because of this. You know, it's brought me happiness and peace. And, you know, it's once you can find your thing, you know, grab onto it and put everything in. So

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 31:16

that's so wicked to hear. And fast forwarding to like, present time and today. So as you've been, again, living in the States, and you've been building up that new atmosphere, that new that new lane and that new industry. What brings you to Edmonton?

Travis Petersen 31:28

Man, this is, you know, I'm a Vancouver boy. I'm a West coaster. I'm constantly mistaken for an Albertan No, no, no.

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 31:37

And I thought you were an award Alberta to

Travis Petersen 31:40

actually I've seen just a little side note here. A funny like, top 10 things to say to Canadians to upset them. Yeah. Number three was asked someone if, if they're from Alberta, when they say no, why go you give off Alberta vibes. I think only Canadians will get that as well. You know, I moved here in 2010. I didn't know who I was. I was not a man yet. Right? Yeah, I was 30 years old, but I was still immature and young. I became a man living in this city. I found myself. I became a foodie living here. I didn't care about food before I started this. So Edmonton is a very special place in my heart. I'm always bragging about it saying it's the hidden food jamb of the country that it's the best people. You know, I don't spend $1 on marketing in Edmonton. Any event I announced we sell out. So tomorrow and Saturday we're doing 250 person dinners. Yep. But 30 minutes out of the city. Along the North Saskatchewan River. We got one of the country's most renowned chefs from Montreal Chef Anthony Musa vard. His restaurant le Musa, one of the top ranked countries in our restaurants country. He's just flowing in today's doing the dinner with me. So what's really cool is when I was doing Nomad dinner club reached out to the chef saying, Hey, let me put these events on for you. Yep, the chefs are now reaching out to me. Right? I want to come and do a cannabis dinner. I can't do it in my restaurant. I can't do it here. So I've been extremely fortunate to work with some incredibly talented chefs. And that's really how I've grown as a chef because I haven't worked in a restaurant. I didn't go to culinary school, school, YouTube.

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 33:20

And let's, let's let's stick there on those two things. Because I think a lot of people don't understand sort of like how much you're empowered to kind of bottle and take the reins and learn and be educated to YouTube. But more importantly, about sort of those collaboration rounds. So yes, like, double click. And it's,

Travis Petersen 33:35

it's also my favorite thing about what I do is getting to work with these other chefs like, you know, we're now have expanded into these big massive events. We just rented a ferry in Seattle, a car passenger ferry, and we toured Lake Union for three hours with 100 people on it while you're cooking it while we're cooking. We brought on the tables and chairs. We built a kitchen on the end of the boat. Right? I flew in a whole bunch of chefs to help come help me. Yeah. So it's an experience now coming to our events. And, you know, spending a couple of days with world famous chefs in a house. You're all together. It's just it's the most electrifying, energetic thing. I love it. Like, we know, we just picked up our chefs this morning. They're currently back at the house, getting the prep done, right. And the energy is already picked up. Right? I'm I'm fucking tired, man. I tired and burnt out. Yep. And the second chef got in the car, you know, there's a shot of energy. So it's fun, right? Like,

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 34:34

what does that collaborate for people who are curious, like, what does that collaboration look like? Exactly, you know,

Travis Petersen 34:39

we create a menu together. We're doing four courses. We each take two we share our ideas. So we get continuity from start to end. And then I hope the chef's on their extraction part of like, here's where we can integrate the cannabis into your dish. Right. So teaching them a little bit on how you deal on that side. And then num. Yeah, we kind of put it all together and Did you know we try to use what's local and fresh and Okay, come in Del Berta, we got that beautiful Alberta beef. Yep. I don't know about the food prices in this province right now I paid $10 For parsley, but it's out of whack right now that inflation is like going away from two years and coming back. I'll tell you what, I understand America so much better now. I, I do the pandemic I think Canadians got a little snobbish. No saw that. You saw the George Floyd protests, the all the crap the media was putting out about COVID. And all that said, Canadians felt they were a little better. And I went down to the US and traveling the US. I was in St. Louis. It's the saddest city have ever seen. Okay, it shocked me like nothing ever has. And I've been to third world countries not saying it's a third world country, America is the biggest best number one country and they have given up on their citizens. There's so many abandoned houses, abandoned schools, when I was in Minnesota, where the George Floyd riots where they didn't fix anything, they just boarded up, there's a whole street have burnt down, boarded up buildings, just bucket. So move on from government has forgotten about us people, they don't care. And I know why people voted for Trump. Because he wasn't part of the system. And it pissed off the system. And so that's the way people are fighting back. And you know, there's definitely things I miss about Canada. I definitely will be moving back here one day, but I feel extremely fortunate to be down there.

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 36:45

You know, getting to travel over and see how because because bottom line firsthand, you're not necessarily get you're seeing it and you're able to form your own opinions, because you're seeing it experiencing it building relationships it is but versus I just get one

Travis Petersen 36:57

more conservative living in the US. I think, again, a lot of it was from the pandemic, I feel we were lied to isn't I got I got all three pokes. Because I could not go down to the US without it. I could not work without it. So bucket Give it to me. Yeah. Right. And, you know, not to jump all down that rabbit hole, but we were lied to. And I don't trust the media anymore. Right. And so, to me, podcasts are the best way, I think to get out information to the people because it's not protected by advertisers,

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 37:31

right? Or percent. There's enough time to like, kind of flush out the conversation and the details and just iron out. You know,

Travis Petersen 37:37

it's like it's funny, because I actually huge Joe Rogan fan now. And I didn't start listening to him until they tried to cancel him two years ago, likewise to 2 million new listeners he got when they tried to cancel it because I was like, Okay, what is he saying? I want to listen, totally listen, there's some crazy shit on there. But he's sitting down with people for four hours talking. Yeah, you know, he had Robert Kennedy Jr. on. And I sat and I listened. I had no idea who RFK was. But I'm a big Kennedy guy. And I walked out of there just thinking, Wow, I'm so glad I got to listen to that conversation.

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 38:10

Yep. And to then make your own decision opinion on that after you heard four hours worth of information and details and discussions and dialogue.

Travis Petersen 38:19

You know, he's they're not being paid by advertisers. So they don't have to worry what the topic of conversation is. And, you know, I think we're seeing a shift right now. And then with everything, right, this our world is changing. Totally, you know,

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 38:33

and that kind of goes back to sort of the I guess one of the more bigger like ethos is that like, when it comes to sort of digital media, social media, people who are kind of taking the reins and producing their own contents, their own information there, that's becoming more valuable. And I imagine that's part of the reason why

Travis Petersen 38:53

what I'm doing as well, right? I mean, you know, people couldn't do what I'm doing 20 years ago, because you didn't have social media didn't have the internet way to market and advertise right,

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 39:05

even though the industry is old. Yeah, like cannabis is old. People who've been growing. As people in developing a lot of

Travis Petersen 39:10

people are asking like, what do you do what you do? And I go, Well, if any musician and a comedian can tour, why can a chef Why do I gotta fly to Chicago to go to the linea? Right. So, you know, I've been kind of breaking the mold in that sense. And every day I get a message from a chef around America saying, Can I come be part of one of your events? Or how do you do what you do? Hmm. My advice to everyone is like, man, 10,000 hours 10,000 hours you will perfect your club your craft. Yep. Right. Put the time in. You know, I I've gotten really good at doing our pop up events. I've had chefs come in and do events for me before when I'm not there. And their service goes three hours. My service is 90 minutes. Oh yeah, we are timed right. And to be able to do that. You got to get everything prepped ahead of time. And, you know, the tour I just did, we did three dinner was in Baltimore. The next day we flew to Minnesota. We did three dinners in Minnesota. The next day, we flew to Kansas City. We did five dinners in Kansas City. The next day, I flew to Seattle, and we built that boat cruise in two days. So I did was that 11 dinners and 15 nights and four different cities. That's crazy. Travis, so many moving parts. You need to have ready because we were landing with 20 people coming in the next day. Right? So

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 40:28

Travis, I gotta I gotta call you out. You said you got to get 10,000 hours in. But that's that that analogies around, you know, particular craft. What you just outlined is event planning. Its marketing, its sales. It's the culinary aspect of it. But that is the US

Travis Petersen 40:43

today's age is where you can now wear every hat. Right? I think you're looking at the writer strike that's going on in Hollywood right now. Yeah, I mean, huge Bill Maher fan, I have never missed one of Bill Maher's episodes. That's how I learned about politics in America. That's how I get my news about what's going on around the world. So his show on HBO can't be on right now. You know, his writers aren't allowed. They're striking. But he started a podcast. And it's now one of the top viewed podcast. And HBO doesn't have any say over what he's doing. Right? It's you can now put that hat on. You know, if I didn't have my training, background and sales, I wouldn't be able to do what I was doing. Right. That is a skill set that I learned from my father. And, you know, it's kind of funny, I look back at my road to where I'm at, like, every job I've ever had was getting me ready for this.

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 41:34

Yep. And you know, it's so funny because like, just recently, I was interviewing with my good friends who just put out this book called The Bold ones. And it's funny you say it wasn't for yourselves. But I think there's, there's that there's another factor that yes, that skills to the sales gave you like an unfair advantage. But like, there's this like that boldness that you have to have to, to be brave enough and to be smart enough to like, be part of this emerging industry. Regardless of I can imagine the amount of naysayers and individuals trying to push back that

Travis Petersen 42:06

motivation. My first year, everyone told me I couldn't do what I do. You know, the very first chef I ever worked for in Kelowna, told me I was crazy. For leaving my career to come into being a chef, he didn't think I could do it. He works with me now. That's hilarious. You know, five years later, six, however far down we are, you know, I bring him down to the US constantly. He's a super skilled chef, knowledgeable. You know, he, about a year ago, left the restaurants to become a private chef. And I tried to help him where I can with, you know, my advice not. But you know, there's something about creating your own path to write and others will look at it and say, I want to do that too. And, you know, encourage more to do this. If my whole goal with culinary cannabis, when I started, I don't want to be the best chef in the world. It would be nice, but that's not going to happen, right? I just want to open the door for the next generation. You know, dig it, if I can be remembered as the guy who left that door open, so you didn't have to do it in an Airbnb. So your restaurant has cannabis on the menu. You know, to me, that would be great. But I have achieved all the goals I've set for myself, right? I am, I am just now. Loving what I'm doing. I'm, you know, happy Listen, there, there's a shelf life, I'm breaking down. You know, I've got carpal tunnel, and both my wrists. You know, I'm, I eat poorly when I'm traveling. So, you know, I'm taking a turn 40 next year. So now all of a sudden, you know, it's health is a very big important thing. So, you know, that's why I'm building the culinary class. That's why I'm focusing on getting the product line out there. Because eventually I want to get to where I'm doing maybe one or two events a month, not 10. But the 10 a month got to happen. Right? That's I'm getting national revenue recognition the US because let's just even take cannabis out of it. There's no chef touring like I am. Right so you know, there's there's there's a uniqueness to what I'm doing that when I do hit these moments of burnout, yep. So remind myself that a chef goes to the same kitchen every day. He works Friday and Saturday nights. His social life is love life. They all they all hurt because of it. Right? And let's I hate being away from my wife for two weeks a month. But it's a means to an end so that when we have kids, you know everything I can stay at home more. You know, I've I want to I don't ever I'm a nomad. So I always want to keep traveling. You know, we're getting to do Europe this fall. Thailand just legalized cannabis. So that's my goal next year. Let's go to Thailand. Okay, let's find a hotel that will bring me out. Let's go cook over there. Alright, so I've got some goals that I still have, will create and I aim for but if it all ended tomorrow, I would still be happy

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 44:56

and you covered off that list. He checked off a lot of bye because you've broken a ton of ground Yeah. And you've gotten like all that's insane. Yeah, it's it's

Travis Petersen 45:07

when I sit back and look at even before I was coming in here to meet with you. I just remember our phone call because I actually moved back to Edmonton for three weeks. In what year was that? 2016? I think? Yeah, it was 2016. I came back for three weeks. Yeah. And it was fucking cold and snowing. And I said, Fuck this back to Vancouver. I was like, I can't believe I just moved to Edmonton for the third time in my life. Because every time I left, I was like, well, Alberta was nice seeing ya, but I am not coming back. But I mean, I love this province. I love this city.

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 45:45

Yep. So tackle those same sentiments, I

Travis Petersen 45:48

always tell people, especially when you travel to different parts of the world, in parts of Canada, there's something special about the city, in terms of its the people, the you can't necessarily put your finger on it. It's just in the culture. I think experience, as mentioned is such a transient city. Right? If you if you want to make money in this country, you don't have the skill set moved to Edmonton. There are enough jobs around here, whether it's in oil and gas, construction, whenever you can come here and make good money, you just got to put up with eight months of snow and coldness. But the older you get around that, you see like Toronto and Vancouver they're unaffordable to live in and you you see the Exodus starting to happen. I tell you if you've got money to invest right now get down and buy some property in Calgary Netflix move in their head studio there. I think in 10 years Calgary start seeing pricing like Vancouver, right. So we'll keep that once in the hidden gem so we can keep property values low.

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 46:46

We'll see how that goes in this current climate. So Travis, as you kind of like in you are like reading my mind in terms of some of these like last conversations or pieces but like, so you're gonna be now opening up a new arm in terms of some of these new emerging countries and nations that are legalizing, you're now going to be going next year, or starting next month in some overseas in the Paris things like that. What's like, what's next for you? Like what's the next major milestone that you're kind of putting out there in terms of hoping to achieve to,

Travis Petersen 47:16

to have the brand be acquired by one of these large cannabis companies who will make the products and to launch the education arm? So those those are the two focuses? You know, we'll keep doing the dinners, pay the bills, the dinners are really marketing. Right? I am marketing the brand. All those cannabis companies hired me to market their brand. The guest always remembers the Nomad cook first. Even though it was a dinner for sundial, they remember me first right. And so I let everyone else pay my marketing bills for the last five years. And that's why now I can tour nomadic nights with no sponsorship and sell everything out. Right. So you know, the goal is to get these two things up that can generate revenue without me killing myself. Yeah. So those are the goals.

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 48:08

Travis, I wish I could spend more time with you breaking things down. But like, again, I want to I want to thank you for taking some time because I know your schedule is busy and you have your team and I've only been

Travis Petersen 48:17

waiting three years to come on your podcast. Glad it only took me hitting the big success to finally be fit on your show. So

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 48:29

this has been long overdue. But again, I want to say thank you so much for taking some time to like come and sit down and chat. I'm excited to see again your experiences and watch it.

Travis Petersen 48:42

Oh and on this weekend in Edmonton is surreal. Man, this spot we're setting up on along the North Saskatchewan. You know it's been raining these couple days. We had 25 degrees tomorrow. 27th Saturday, you know when we did the event Seattle outdoor event in Seattle. You're like please don't fucking Ray. It was 32 degrees. Oh, yeah, no, the gods are on my side right now. We got a limo picking up our guest to bring them out to site tomorrow. So it's gonna be really cool because it is nothing like anyone's experienced before. It's nothing we've done before. So we're all shooting from the hip, but I gotta get up tomorrow morning. Go build the kitchen at 7am. But hey, if we can build a kitchen on the end of a fairy I think we can build one around the campfire.

bobby.t – Robert Tyndale 49:26

100% Awesome. Travis looking forward to hearing more and seeing firsthand your future.

Travis Petersen 49:33

Go Canucks go

Transcribed by https://otter.ai