Immigrant sets sail toward success
Earlier this year Claude Tchao, president of Tri-Star Seafood Supply Ltd., celebrated with his wife Elsie the 30th anniversary of the company he founded.
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Updated: November 27, 2009 4:32 PM
Claude Tchao is looking out the window of his Shanghai hotel room remembering the days he'd show up for work at Blundell Medical Lab reeking like fish.
"My boss was so upset with me, it was unbelievable," he says in a late-night telephone interview. "I smelled like a crab everyday wearing a suit."
Tchao came to Canada in 1978 via the United States and his native Hong Kong. Paying his way through school, he had developed a habit of working up to 70 hours a week. His first job as a laboratory technologist in Richmond only demanded half that time.
So he hatched a money-making plan with some new friends: he'd head down to the docks at Steveston, hustle with the fishermen for fresh product and deliver it live to local restaurants. The concept worked, and Tri-Star Seafood Supply Ltd. was born.
As he built the business, he continued working at the laboratory. He'd spend mornings negotiating at the docks, days at the lab, and making deliveries in the evening—without time to change out of his shirt and tie and lab coat.
As the company's president, Tchao, a 57-year-old Richmond resident, has pioneered ways to ship live seafood around the world, and is now known as one of the premier seafood exporters.
Its largest market is China, where he continues to build relationships for his business while assisting members of the Western Canada Seafood Merchants and Processors Association by promoting Canadian products overseas.
Tchao is also active in the community, serving as president of the Canadian Chinese Table Tennis Federation and vice-chair of the Kwantlen Polytechnic University Association, among other commitments.
What's maintained his thirst for innovation is being unafraid of failure. In Tri-Star's early days, Tchao told himself that if his business failed, he could always return to the lab.
Said Tchao: "Knowing the downside is nothing worse than what you could be, why not move forward? It's calculated risk gambling."
