Farouk Elsaghir of Paul's Pizza on cancel culture and standing up to it
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
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Summary
In this episode of the podcast, I sit down with Paul Stinson, owner of Paul's Pizza in Alberta, Canada, to talk about his experience with the cancel culture and how he's been able to stand up to the "Woke" mob.
Transcript
00:00:06.280
And you've basically been standing up to the cancel mob.
00:00:10.300
You're outspoken, particularly on your Facebook page
00:00:13.640
and have a lot of interactions and discussions.
00:00:18.660
Is that kind of in a nutshell where things are with you?
00:00:24.580
I'd say I've been dealing with the cancel culture
00:00:34.260
Basically, I didn't agree with any of the policies
00:00:45.320
I get threats that people wanted to beat me up.
00:00:47.800
I get one-star reviews saying I don't wear a mask,
00:00:54.700
Yeah, and your situation, your story resonated with me.
00:00:58.200
As a lot of our regulars know, I owned Water's Edge Pub in Prittis.
00:01:03.360
I worked in Chicago Deep Dish for a long time when I was younger.
00:01:09.960
And, well, to start with, I went out because I'm going to say,
00:01:13.060
I admittedly hadn't Paul's Pizza yet, and I had it.
00:01:15.640
And I'm happy to report because I just would have had to say nothing if it was crappy.
00:01:21.180
I mean, it doesn't matter how outspoken you are.
00:01:22.680
If your product sucks, you're not going to last in business long anyways.
00:01:25.880
But when I ran my pub, I wouldn't use our public page, I guess,
00:01:30.220
for my political interactions, though we would still get backlash.
00:01:34.260
When I would use Twitter, things like that, they realized I would own it.
00:01:37.240
Usually when I'd tick off unions and suddenly, yeah, Google,
00:01:41.380
and accused of all sorts of things and boycotts and such like that.
00:01:46.260
But you're going right out on your Facebook page,
00:01:49.300
but it seems to be kind of actually drawing more people towards it.
00:01:51.980
You've got kind of a very loyal following on there.
00:01:56.860
The more I post, the bigger the brand grows, I've realized.
00:02:01.980
I like the haters because they're talking about me.
00:02:07.480
As long as they're talking about you, you're doing something right.
00:02:09.420
I always refer, I don't want to refer to myself as him,
00:02:18.640
but he has the most haters because he's amazing, right?
00:02:22.860
So it just comes with the territory is what I've learned.
00:02:26.240
Yeah, I'm wondering, are you familiar with White Moose Cafe in Dublin?
00:02:33.680
The guy who owns it is a guy named Paul Stinson.
00:02:38.140
He owns a cafe in Dublin, and he has just horrified the woke.
00:02:43.340
He even put one up saying he was going to charge corkage for breastfeeding mothers.
00:02:47.340
He says, you know, if they're bringing their own drinks, I should get a few bucks.
00:02:50.460
And of course, he had the breastfeeding mothers protesting outside his place.
00:02:55.820
And what I was saying before to you and others, it's important to see examples like yourself,
00:03:01.800
where rather than curling up and caving to the mob, you just stood up and pushed back.
00:03:09.180
We can't, there's so many businesses, as soon as you get that sort of controversy,
00:03:13.560
And you're showing, no, you don't have to be fearful.
00:03:24.080
The woke mob, they're a bunch of bullies that hide behind a keyboard.
00:03:27.680
If you're quiet, if you're silent, they're going to keep at it.
00:03:30.740
So like you said, the only thing to fight back is to punch them back in the mouth.
00:03:35.360
And what I'm trying to do, not, my Facebook isn't just for business to grow the brand,
00:03:40.580
but I'm trying to teach the world a lesson, right?
00:03:42.700
I'm trying to teach these other businesses, like you just said, not to stay silent,
00:03:48.820
If they give you, you know, a one-star review, say something shitty about your business,
00:03:55.980
But the more of us that stand together, the better we can fight these guys back.
00:04:05.940
Yeah, well, I mean, and they can, you know, the mob is insatiable.
00:04:10.560
I hate it when I see when they get on somebody's case.
00:04:14.120
Look, especially in the hospitality industry, it's narrow margin, it's tight.
00:04:17.540
You know, you can't take much abuse or you could end up going, you know, into the red
00:04:23.520
But when I see a business cave, the mob will never back down just because you apologize.
00:04:44.080
The two Calgary locations you spoke of, one we opened about three years ago, one we opened
00:04:49.200
We're actually working on a third Calgary location, hopefully open in the next year.
00:04:53.260
And these guys, they can say as much shit as they want.
00:04:58.860
We have such great support from our customers, from people all over the world.
00:05:03.940
I get messages from guys in America, Mexico, Philippines, you name it.
00:05:12.800
And the thing I found is for every customer I lose, I gain 10 more, 10 better ones.
00:05:20.220
And another thing I want to point out is you don't want these customers in your business
00:05:25.440
to the other businesses, you don't want these left-wing nutheads coming into your business,
00:05:30.940
putting your customers in bad moods, demanding free things, because at the end of the day,
00:05:35.300
all you're getting is a headache, and you're not making a profit.
00:05:41.520
That kind of brings into one of the commenters pointing out from Why Not Be.
00:05:45.860
It said, Farouk, is he being bullied by the ESG aggressors?
00:05:48.520
I don't know if it's as organized as that, but it's that mindset.
00:05:51.060
It's that mindset of some people that businesses aren't there to make a profit.
00:05:55.840
They're there to promote social justice or some such garbage as that.
00:06:00.580
No, your business is there to provide good service, good food, and for you and your family
00:06:15.120
There's 30 other pizza restaurants just in Erdry alone.
00:06:22.900
That's the mindset every business should have, in my opinion.
00:06:25.900
Yeah, and there's other aspects as to why your business is standing.
00:06:28.920
I mean, it comes to kind of what I said before, too.
00:06:31.100
Hey, if your product sucked, it wouldn't matter what you do online or whatever else.
00:06:34.320
Eventually, you're going to go down because people just don't want to eat bad food.
00:06:37.480
But as well, as Don Sharp pointed out, and I spent a lot of time going through your Facebook
00:06:45.120
And he said, I really like the way Rick celebrates his staff, and that's leadership.
00:06:49.140
I mean, I see you very interactive with your staff.
00:06:54.520
You're bringing them in on the communications and on the business and trying to have some
00:07:03.500
Once again, I believe that in any business, the staff is the foundation.
00:07:08.020
Without great staff, your business is going to fail.
00:07:10.140
Well, I believe I'm very spiritual, so I believe in positive energy.
00:07:14.720
And the more positive they are, the more uplifted they are, the more family-oriented you make
00:07:19.300
the environment, the more effort they're going to put into the business.
00:07:22.360
And the more they're going to work together, the happier they're going to be, the happier
00:07:28.960
One of the things I found fascinating with my pub was we would break it down.
00:07:32.680
You know, you could see it so much because it's becoming so cashless.
00:07:35.180
And when you see the tipper cash outs and the tip outs and that, there were particular servers
00:07:40.240
who would be considerably higher than the other servers because they're giving a much better
00:07:44.160
experience to the customers and it's coming back to them.
00:07:50.720
Any, you know, you get that again from the walk.
00:07:54.000
They don't pay them enough for all that garbage.
00:07:55.760
Look, you know that you're relying on those employees.
00:07:59.260
You have to treat them well, or it's again, it's as bad as having bad food.
00:08:02.460
You're just not going to be in business for long if you abuse them.
00:08:14.120
Our turnover rate is very low because we treat our staff like family.
00:08:18.640
Anytime someone needs that in advance, anytime someone needs clothing, you know, whatever it
00:08:25.960
As long as they pay it back when they have it, I'm happy.
00:08:30.060
At the end of the day, we're not just, you know, we're a business, but we also, this is
00:08:36.940
what the woke mob doesn't understand is if you're trying to cancel a business, we have
00:08:54.400
That's what the woke mob doesn't realize is hurting us.
00:08:58.440
You're hurting, you know, hundreds, hundreds of people.
00:09:06.860
I mean, if you want to see a sociopathic group, you know, a mob together when they start
00:09:10.840
frothing with the pitchforks and getting out there and they don't care who they hurt.
00:09:15.840
I mean, I see you attract the attention of lunatics and I, again, on Twitter, I'm well
00:09:19.060
aware of, I get all sorts of my inbox is something special sometimes, but has anybody been harassing
00:09:31.480
Usually they, my staff likes to stay out of those kinds of things.
00:09:35.460
Once in a while, someone will say something on one of the community pages, talking crap about
00:09:40.400
this, and I have a server or two who might say a couple of things back.
00:09:45.680
I let all these guys know if they have a problem.
00:09:59.780
It was good to hear that it wasn't happening because I just wouldn't want to hear that happening.
00:10:03.000
Hey, I mean, if they're going to come after you, you're diving into the mix.
00:10:06.760
They're there to make money and give good service.
00:10:11.180
Just to reiterate, I was wondering what the supposed issue was.
00:10:13.860
Kim, it was a matter of Farouk was vocal against the lockdowns, I believe, and some
00:10:19.480
other things that really sort of initiated that.
00:10:21.300
And it just brings the attention of the mob to a business.
00:10:23.720
I'll get to some of the other businesses that did do that and suffered in a minute.
00:10:28.100
I just would also like to point out, like some of the stuff you do on your page is fun,
00:10:32.380
even if it's, you know, it depends on your type of humor.
00:10:34.960
And it reminds me, like I said, of that Paul Stinson with the White Moose Cafe.
00:10:37.920
Something that I did get a lot of people wound up with.
00:10:41.000
I was in a rural area with my pub and I get people coming in using my bathroom all the
00:10:46.060
You know, they would come in, use the bathroom, leave.
00:10:50.000
Like I'm paying 40 cents a flush when you pitch a loaf in my bathroom.
00:10:56.660
So I started posting pictures from my security camera of the people sneaking in and out and
00:11:03.560
But you know, the sense of entitlement on some people.
00:11:10.040
People who know my pub, it wasn't the greatest bathroom anyways, but it was functional.
00:11:15.380
And I'm not going to apologize for saying I expect something for it.
00:11:17.940
But posting those things, you can have some fun, even if, even if the people get worked
00:11:24.460
Because I noticed you've had quite some interactions with some folks on that page.
00:11:32.060
So, I mean, a couple of the other businesses that didn't do as well.
00:11:35.020
I mean, part of it too, as you said, you had an established one already, which helped.
00:11:38.120
You have good product, but also you have multiple locations and you're not in the heart of
00:11:42.720
Like when I saw without papers in Inglewood in Calgary, they were standing up against the
00:11:48.700
They were really, in the end, they did get shut down though.
00:11:51.440
Personally, I think part of that was they were just, you couldn't withstand it in that
00:11:55.140
You were in the heart of Wokedom and it just got to them.
00:12:02.380
But I was just wondering, did you interact with those guys at all?
00:12:11.380
I don't like to watch the news, but with all the COVID stuff going on, relating to businesses
00:12:18.200
I seen without papers, Chris at the whistle stop.
00:12:26.340
And the thing is, with this whole COVID nonsense is what people don't understand is we have
00:12:35.860
Anybody during the whole COVID situation, anybody could report you for anything and it
00:12:40.600
We had AHS come in, I don't know how many times, 20 to 30 times and not once, not once
00:12:45.900
did we get a fine or anything because every time they came in, we were following protocol.
00:12:56.120
But we had a lot of employees, like I said before, that we had to look out for.
00:13:02.540
So we didn't want to cross the lines too much because then they could easily shut down
00:13:07.340
your business, like with what happened with the papers there.
00:13:12.060
And it's difficult when you're a licensed establishment too, because the government can use the AGLC
00:13:18.120
You know, if they pull your license, I mean, food's pretty narrow margin off.
00:13:22.220
You need to be selling some liquor to pay those bills.
00:13:24.660
And if they pull your license, you're out of business.
00:13:35.380
And a lot of people don't realize that AHS, they could, I'm sure they can pull your, like
00:13:41.620
without, without papers, they can pull your food license, your safety and handling license.
00:13:49.880
And that's what people don't realize is these businesses, we put everything into them.
00:13:59.920
And I know some people got on the cases of some businesses that did, you know, abide
00:14:05.380
by the vaccine passports or did shut down or did do other things.
00:14:08.880
And they, I felt bad for that, but I mean, it's still the business.
00:14:12.380
Well, it wasn't the business owner's choice that they get a lot of cases.
00:14:14.480
They just can't take that chance if their margin's that narrow.
00:14:17.300
It was unfortunate some people got on the case of front end staff about that.
00:14:20.780
You know, guys, I'm certain that that hostess doesn't want to bother scanning your vaccine
00:14:25.860
They would much rather bring you straight to a table and get a better chunk out of that
00:14:30.460
But, you know, not every business owner is just has the ability to push back.
00:14:34.380
Unfortunately, the government has such a gun to the head of so many businesses.
00:14:46.240
Anytime someone came in and they asked me to wear them, they'd say, hey, can I speak to
00:14:52.700
I'd turn around, I'd turn back and I'd say, you're speaking with them.
00:15:04.360
Yeah, the passport thing was pretty ridiculous.
00:15:06.140
And I recall, I think it was the Calgary, the Chamber of Business, before they brought
00:15:16.060
out the vaccines, I recall them saying, or the vaccine passport, sorry.
00:15:19.420
I recall them saying that vaccine passports are actually going to save small businesses
00:15:24.460
and help us because it's going to make everything safer.
00:15:27.700
And the second I read that, I spoke out, I even tagged them in the post and I said, listen,
00:15:34.660
You guys, this is going to ruin small businesses more than anything because all you're doing
00:15:42.540
And then out of those people that are VACs, a lot of them still probably don't want to go
00:15:54.760
Uh, when that happened, you know, everybody's sales tanked and the second they got rid of
00:16:02.420
Well, and I've written on it a couple of times.
00:16:06.120
I'm going to editorialize for a sec because you brought them up and I've got a particular
00:16:11.080
And Debra Yedlin, you can tell an organization that clearly doesn't know anything about running
00:16:15.380
a business going fast forward to, yeah, they were supporting the passport saying it would
00:16:21.220
She also came out opposing getting rid of the passport.
00:16:24.860
And she said, when you get rid of that passport, business is going to slow down because people
00:16:34.960
I mean, if that was the case, others, there was only one, it was a bar on 8th Avenue.
00:16:38.600
They said, we're going to keep the passport system.
00:16:40.460
And all these hipsters were applauding it online.
00:16:44.200
And, you know, even if you mean it, I mean, if you're running a big bar, if you've got
00:16:48.740
a group of five who are going to come to your place and one of them isn't going to show
00:16:52.360
the vaccine passport, they're not going to go, the whole group of five is going to go
00:16:56.260
So just by math, whether you agree or not agree with the passports, it's not good for
00:17:01.400
Nobody who has even a gram of principle, you know, business idea would think so.
00:17:06.320
And it's abhorrent that the head of a chamber of commerce would say that kind of crap.
00:17:17.580
I know the business you're speaking of was Ship and Anchor.
00:17:22.860
And like you said, they lasted a week because they probably realized, hey, our sales aren't
00:17:36.000
So they backtracked pretty quick, and I thought it was pretty hilarious, to be honest.
00:17:41.740
As I said, I mean, say even, and I don't know the numbers, people have all sorts of numbers.
00:17:45.860
Say even only 10% of the people didn't have a vaccine passport, which I think was higher
00:17:52.020
Well, you take a 10% out of the pool of sales you could get.
00:17:55.200
And as I said, it's bigger than that because you're going to lose groups because other people
00:17:59.920
But people weren't listening to business owners.
00:18:05.800
They were listening to people like Yedlin, who was a business writer before she took over
00:18:11.400
She's never, as far as I could tell, run a small business because, again, none would be
00:18:14.940
able to say that sort of thing with a straight face.
00:18:16.860
But most of their intent was to embarrass Jason Kenney and try.
00:18:20.960
And they were hoping for a disaster when he lifted the passports.
00:18:24.780
But that's a separate issue altogether as well.
00:18:29.500
So business now, though, I mean, we're going into 2023.
00:18:32.020
This should hopefully be, what, our first restriction-free year in some years.
00:18:38.060
You got another location you're looking at now?
00:18:44.120
And so from 2020 to 2021, we dipped, like I'm guessing most businesses did because we were
00:18:51.080
facing restrictions that year, we dipped about 6.5%.
00:18:57.340
Most of our food, you know, pasta, pizza, whatever it is, is built for takeout.
00:19:00.500
We're not like a fine dining restaurant where, you know, they're screwed during the whole
00:19:09.600
And then from 2021 to 2022 last year, we went up about 18%.
00:19:21.720
I just spent $80,000 on a brand new Jeep Gladiator to take around to events.
00:19:29.420
I think it's going to be a good year, to be honest.
00:19:32.600
I think we saw some social media comments, people whining about the way you drive your
00:19:36.640
So, those are the risks you're going to have when you're driving a billboard, when you
00:19:42.440
Hopefully, you don't get anything thrown at it or anything like that.
00:19:48.240
I had a cop the first night I actually picked it up, tailed me for five minutes all the way
00:19:55.420
And I thought in my head, I said, if this guy pulls me over, I'm going to tell him,
00:20:03.180
And, you know, someone vandalizes my car, that's just more power for us, right?
00:20:09.520
That's just showing that, you know, the woke mob aren't whatever they say they are.
00:20:15.160
They're all nice and open-minded and accepting and caring.
00:20:20.360
We already know it's wrong, but it will just prove it even more.
00:20:23.600
Yeah, no, they're vindictive, you know, to use the term that's been beaten to death.
00:20:27.460
But it's true, they're a bunch of Karens who can't just accept that, okay, fine, you
00:20:31.120
don't like that place, leave it alone, don't go there, don't eat there, go somewhere else.
00:20:34.200
This isn't that complicated, but they can't live that way.
00:20:39.560
And as I said, I really appreciate what you're doing because it stands as a symbol for other
00:20:44.020
businesses and other people to realize that these are toothless tigers.
00:20:48.000
They can cause a little bit of short-term damage, but in the long run, they're nobody, they're
00:20:52.140
And if you stand up to them, it'll pay off in the long run.
00:20:54.860
I mean, you're doing great for a number of reasons.
00:20:56.920
I don't think it's just because of your business stance.
00:20:58.420
Obviously, you're running a good business while you're at it as well, but it's just
00:21:02.560
And, you know, the mob, they only have power if you give it to them.
00:21:10.500
The more you stay quiet, the hungry and the more powerful they're going to get.
00:21:19.140
I mean, there's a lot of people and places and businesses that I don't like.
00:21:23.300
I'm not going to go and spend all day on their social media, reading every post, arguing
00:21:34.100
I mean, wake up, look at yourself in the mirror and, you know, meditate, smoke some weed,
00:21:42.340
Do something to keep you happy and do something good for the world.
00:21:48.040
Anything's more productive than going and picking away at other people.
00:21:52.440
I appreciate you coming on to talk to us today, Farouk.
00:21:54.960
Maybe one last time, you can kind of let people know where they can find your businesses
00:22:01.660
So we have three locations, one in Airdrie, one in Calgary, Shaughnessy, one in Calgary
00:22:09.420
You could also visit our website, www.pauls.pizza.
00:22:16.060
I don't use Twitter, TikTok, any of the other crap.
00:22:22.260
And thank you, Corey, for having me on the show.
00:22:25.780
Well, and I'll be sure to get another pizza out of you soon.
00:22:27.900
I'll try and drag Jane up to Airdrie one of these days and have a sit down up that way.
00:22:38.440
The current Let's Pitch feed grain prices are as follows.
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00:23:40.020
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