If you’re a Canadian who’s traveled abroad, you’ve likely had a conversation describing your favourite Canadian dish. With three ingredients and the potential for hundreds more, Canadian’s often bond over gravy, curds, and PEI potatoes. Ryan Smolkin, the Founder and CEO of Smokes Poutine is no stranger to the poutine frenzy - in fact, he started a poutine empire spanning borders.“I had the concept for years and years and it was just loading everything on top of that fries, cheese, curds, and gravy!” Ryan is the Founder and CEO of Smoke’s Poutinerie, the world’s largest award-winning poutinerie. Ryan has topped his fries with everything and anything you can think of and treats his business and brand the same way. A serial entrepreneur, Ryan started his first venture in 1996 with Amoeba Corp, a branding agency that worked with brands such as Nike, Molson and YTV. Ryan’s original take on poutine along with his electric energy and vision has taken his poutine business from Toronto to the United States. In this week’s #StartupPodcast, host Rivers Corbett talks to Ryan about building businesses from scratch, balancing being a founder and a dad, and of course his plans for global poutine domination.