Gene Tougas 3/28/2023
Starting a new company from the very beginning with just an idea is no small feat, I was born into a broken home, had no family after age 13, and hitchhiked for years all over the country cooking my way from place to place. I had an 8th-grade education and no peers or mentors but I always had a dream of doing something bigger in life. I had no idea what I would do or become, I stayed drunk and traveled until I was 36 years old and met my wonderful wife. We actually met on the internet where I was in an Oxford house getting my life together.
I'd been there a year when the administrators decided a computer would be a good thing for the house. I had never been on a computer and had no idea how this new contraption would impact my life. The computer was to be used as a way to communicate and find jobs for the group of men in the house but in the evenings it turned into a great way to meet girls. The whole group took advantage of having an hour or two each evening to do whatever we wanted with our time on the internet. I found Yahoo chat and that was it. I started talking to a girl who used the name Brooklyn Barbie, as I was in Wenatchee Washington and she was in Brooklyn I never thought anything would come of it. I figured it was all in good fun, one month later one of my close friends and I got together enough money to buy a bus ticket from NY to Washington for my now wife of 23 years and now business partner. I was excited to show her the bowling alley I worked as a cook and introduce her to the Washington scenery and people I knew, we had a blast.
We rented a small place above the German Bakey in Leavenworth Wa. where I worked at Uncle Uli's, until one day while in Wenatchee we were at a mall where she bought a pregnancy test and proceeded to the restroom only to come out and say well I'm not pregnant, I saw a glimmer in her eye and that gave it away along with that snide little smirkyep we were pregnant. This is what brings us to Oregon, I told her I wanted to raise my kids in a small Oregon coast town called Lincoln City, a place where I have lived off and on since I was 18 when my mom past away. I told Jenny that my moms ashes were somewhere in Oregon and that Lincoln City is the place I have always been drawn to. So here we are after years of working in restaurants from Cannon Beach to Florence, New York to Califonia, and Oregon to Florida, Lincoln City has always seemed like home.
Over time the idea to open my own restaurant came into mind, I drew a pencil drawing of a sign I thought might be a good idea and showed it to the wife and kids as I told them i wanted to open my own restaurnt once the kids were grown and out of the house. I spent the next few years learning how to build an LLC and business credit as well as running food cost analysis and control labor. I paid monthly for two years to learn how to build trade lines register a logo establish a shell corporation and keep up inventory. I worked 14-hour days and spent may hours on my computer in hopes that one day it all would be worth it.
We started out thinking a catering company would be a great idea only to find out that its more work and running than it was worth. I took a job at The Tide Pool in Depoe Bay and worked as many hours as I could building pizzas and running the kitchen for Clay and Vickie the owners at the time. Clay gave me crap for being on the phone every chance I had but he knew I was working on getting my own business going. It was at some point while working there that my wife and I decided to build a food truck. This turned out to be an awesome family adveture.
We sold my 3200 vinyl album collection in order to buy a 1976 step van then drove to northern Washington to pick it up and bring it back to Lincoln City, the timing seemed perfect as Covid-19 reared its ugly head and made a food truck the perfect option for outside eating as recommended at the time. We spent a whole summer building a food truck out of an old step van, it was a lot of fun and a great experience for the family. We had booked caterings and were just about ready to get the truck on the road with maybe one more month of work to do on the van when I received a call from Lynn at The Corner Cafe asking me if I could come help out at the restaurant for a while and I figured that I could make some extra money to finish my endeavor.
One day I decided to tell Lynn that when they were ready to give up the Corner Cafe and get out from under all the stress and responsibilities I would be interested in buying it, at which point she told me it was for sale now. The lease was upa nd they probably weren't going to renew it. So here I am today the proud owner of Tastebuds Bistro.
But This is not thebeginning or the end of the story, nor is it in full context.
Between being scammed, robbed, torn knee ligaments, broken ribs and getting Cancer this is just a bits and pieces of the story so far.
Over time I will ellaborate and add the ups and downs, the do's and don'ts and the how and why's
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Its quite a ride.
