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Personal backstories can both strengthen and pilot leadership strategy

Offering something true to himself created a distinct business opportunity for Montreal-based chef Antonio Park

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As eclectic as the dishes he prepares, so are the life experiences of celebrated chef and restaurant owner Antonio Park.

Born into a Korean household, Park has lived in Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Japan and currently resides in Canada. By combining this background with his love of cooking, Park has made significant impact on the Canadian food scene. He  owns and runs some of Montreal’s most popular restaurants, including Kampai Beer Garden, Café Basin, Park, Lavandaria, Trout Lake, Flyjin and Jatoba.

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Deeply influenced by his cultural roots, Park does not describe his cooking as fusion. Rather, he says it comes from a combination of flavours he is familiar with, a “field of culture.”

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“Fusion is when you don’t really know the culture but you still make the food. I don’t touch something when I don’t know the culture. I have to know the culture. I have to respect the culture and understand where the original flavours are from and to know what those original flavours are,” Park says.

Sustainability is another element Park dives deep into.

“I have a CFI licence, which allows me to bring fish from everywhere,” Park says. Taking two or three fishing trips a year, he visits different fishermen around the world.

“I go fishing with them, see what they do, understand what they do and then work together with them directly instead of going through a supplier.”

By doing so, he can support the families who have been involved in aqua culture for generations.

Offering something true to himself has created a distinct business opportunity. With consumers across various industries increasingly interested in authenticity, the story behind the brand is becoming as important as the product or service itself.

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From the age of seven, Park knew cooking was his true calling. His mother, whose food still remains his favourite, was a major influence and his biggest culinary inspiration. His father, on the other hand, did not accept his son’s chosen path. Park always knew he would pursue a cooking career but in an effort to appease his father, he studied computer science.

His formative years were not easy. Even at 18 years of age, his curfew was still set for 9 p.m. and his father was not shy to become physical, as was not unusual with his generation. Notwithstanding a harsh upbringing, Park pursued his dreams.

To capture the level of success Chef Park has achieved requires working an average of 16 hours a day.

“It’s hours and hours of work and dedication,” Park says. “I like to push myself. I think I was born with the genes of just pushing, pushing, pushing and never backing up.”

The restaurants Lavandaria and Park caught fire in mid-November of 2016. They were able to re-open mere weeks after the fire, a time frame practically unheard of. “I had to open it,” Park said. “There wasn’t any way out for me. I was determined.”

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Park’s incomparable drive is paving the way for expansion. In the works are plans to expand to Toronto, Mexico City, Miami and Bogotá.

For Park, his dedication goes beyond cooking and running a restaurant: It’s not staff, it’s family. It’s not just serving food to customers, it’s the creation of delicious memories. It’s not blindly fusing flavours together, it is a steadfast understanding and respect of the core ingredients at the heart of the cuisines he has been immersed in.

Many business leaders would do well to bring their backstories into their workplaces, as a means of differentiating themselves and communicating authenticity in today’s competitive business landscape.

This interview has been condensed and edited from The CEO Series on CJAD, hosted by McGill University Associate Professor Karl Moore and produced by Maria Power. The full interview will be heard on the latest season of The CEO Series, and online at: https://soundcloud.com/cjad800/the-ceo-series-76-antonio-park-september-10-2017?in=cjad800/sets/the-ceo-series

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