Cookshack owner wins B.C. title

Darron Kloster, Times Colonist

Published: Friday, May 09, 2008
Ken Hueston, who turned a tired Chinese restaurant just off the tracks in Langford into a wildly popular southern barbecue joint that draws diners from across the region -- and Canada -- has been named Young Entrepreneur of the Year by the B.C. Chamber of Commerce.

Hueston's Smoken Bones Cookshack feeds between 350 and 420 people a day, a far cry from the goal of 80 daily diners he set two years ago when he introduced the region's first old-fashioned barbecue concept.

"It's a thrill, an honour," Hueston said yesterday.

The 33-year-old former executive chef from Spinnakers employs traditional methods of smoking meat, using wood chips from Island alder and organic fruit trees. He also sources his beef, chicken and produce from Island and B.C. farmers, and his kitchen is filled with apprentice chefs training for Red Seal certification.
"It's a philosophy that we use the best foods and train people the right way," said Hueston, who is also president of the Island Chef's Collaborative, a food-sustainability movement that supports the Island's organic, seasonal and locally farmed food sector. "It shows in the food and people really seem to like it. I wish I had more seats most days."

Those qualities haven't only impressed diners -- En Route magazine, Air Canada's in-flight publication, had Smoken Bones 12th on its top-20 list of best new restaurants in Canada last year -- but the provincial chamber of commerce, which voted Hueston B.C.'s best entrepreneur under 40.

John Winter, chamber CEO, lauded Hueston's business excellence and leadership.

"It's rare to see an entrepreneurial spirit taken to this level," he said.

Hueston takes pride in preparing barbecue the way it is done in the U.S. South. "If you're not educating people, you're not offering them anything," he said. "Education is motivation for the staff and for the customers. The food is from our own backyard and the people preparing it love what they are doing. It all shows. That's when it becomes more than a restaurant. It becomes an example and a role model as a business."

Hueston will receive his award at the provincial chamber's annual general meeting in Whistler at the end of the month.