diff --git a/api/v1/epic_types.go b/api/v1/epic_types.go
index 00dddff..7312d6b 100644
--- a/api/v1/epic_types.go
+++ b/api/v1/epic_types.go
@@ -4,7 +4,9 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"net"
 	"os"
+	"time"
 
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/wait"
 	"github.com/go-logr/logr"
 	"github.com/vishvananda/netlink"
 	"github.com/vishvananda/netlink/nl"
@@ -172,7 +174,14 @@ func addrFamily(lbIP net.IP) (lbIPFamily int) {
 // this call succeeds (i.e., error is nil) then the returned ID will
 // be unique.
 func AllocateTunnelID(ctx context.Context, l logr.Logger, cl client.Client) (tunnelID uint32, err error) {
-	return tunnelID, retry.RetryOnConflict(retry.DefaultRetry, func() error {
+	var Retry = wait.Backoff{
+		Steps:    5,
+		Duration: 2 * time.Second,
+		Factor:   1.0,
+		Jitter:   0.1,
+	}
+
+	return tunnelID, retry.RetryOnConflict(Retry, func() error {
 		var epic EPIC
 
 		// Fetch the resource here; you need to refetch it on every try,
diff --git a/cmd/controller_manager.go b/cmd/controller_manager.go
index fef544a..059e756 100644
--- a/cmd/controller_manager.go
+++ b/cmd/controller_manager.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package cmd
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"fmt"
 
 	marin3r "github.com/3scale-ops/marin3r/apis/marin3r/v1alpha1"
 	marin3roperator "github.com/3scale-ops/marin3r/apis/operator.marin3r/v1alpha1"
@@ -182,6 +183,20 @@ func prebootCleanup(ctx context.Context, log logr.Logger) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	// Allocate a tunnel ID so we start at 1 (yes, we will waste
+	// some but they're plentiful).
+	var epic epicv1.EPIC
+	err = fmt.Errorf("Placeholder")
+	for err != nil {
+		err = cl.Get(ctx, client.ObjectKey{Namespace: epicv1.ConfigNamespace, Name: epicv1.ConfigName}, &epic)
+		if err != nil {
+			log.Info("can't find EPIC singleton", "message", err)
+		}
+	}
+	if _, err := epicv1.AllocateTunnelID(ctx, log, cl); err != nil {
+		log.Error(err, "incrementing tunnel ID")
+	}
+
 	// "Nudge" the proxy pods to trigger the python daemon to
 	// re-populate the ifindex and ifname annotations
 	proxies, err := listProxyPods(ctx, cl)