Have flair and team spirit

We're starting to know the drill. In December, there were a series of announcements: masks became mandatory again for staff at all times, regardless of how far apart they worked. Capacity was reduced to 50%. Bars were closed indefinitely and dining rooms were emptied at 10 p.m. starting December 26, then closed on the 31st.

“We were supposed to be open for the holidays,” says Simon Lemire, chef and co-owner at Épi in Trois-Rivières (interviewed in March 2021 during one of the reopenings), “but the week before Christmas, in a matter of days, the government had already announced several changes. So since we no longer knew which way to turn, we decided to take control of what we could! To limit losses, but also to avoid being a source of contamination, we decided to close on December 18.” To sell off his wine stock, he held a wine merchant day on December 30 with his sommelier, a significant additional source of income.

At O'Chevreuil in Sherbrooke, we also saw it coming. "We knew what was coming," Charles-Emmanuel Pariseau, co-owner, had sniffed out. The number of cases was skyrocketing. On December 23, we announced a preventive closure until January 4. We had a festive brunch on the 31st, but we didn't want to take the risk of rapprochements and put our staff and customers in danger. We probably lost between $30,000 and $35,000 for that week, but it was a fair bet, if I stick to the headache my colleagues had to go through with their inventories on their hands and customer recalls."

Moreover, a year ago, Charles decided to take off his chef's hat, to keep only that of restaurateur.

“It’s almost impossible to manage logistics and kitchens at the same time. I already have enough to juggle with full-time servers, part-time servers, health instructions, inventory, management, administration, marketing and the website. Our priority is to maintain a solid team. Each one has their own specialty; we work with pleasure. We want to guarantee our twenty jobs.”

O'Chevreuil has remained in service for delivery via the SkipTheDishes platform and take-out provided by Shopify, which is working very well according to the owner. "We set up our ordering system, delivery/pick-up, as soon as the first closure ended. We learn over time and evolve; payment is simpler and our offer is expanded. Customers are happy to still find their little simmered dishes." This is also what the Trois-Rivières refreshment bar intends to do. On December 23, Simon generously distributed the dishes he had left, almost on the fly! In two hours, enough people had come by that there was nothing left to offer. A great experience that will be repeated monthly, inspired by the success of take-out meals .

Defining a tightly woven restoration model

February 2021. We launched La Famille , writes Sandra Jarry on her social networks, one of the five partners. At least, we were officially incorporated, without knowing what future the pandemic had in store for our professions, without knowing what face the restaurant industry of tomorrow would take. At that time, we put all our little change into this project, out of survival instinct and also because we were eager to show the culmination of our experiences, our reflections. So that we could finally show what has been boiling inside us for more than ten years. Since the day we found a family: a bunch of eclectic people, sometimes bizarre, but so real and passionate.

Homemade brioche and foie gras, local sweetgrass caramels, reduced fir cream, sea buckthorn or chichiquelite tarts (that little dark garden blueberry that would have made love to a black nightshade), sumacade (a decoction of local sumac in lemonade, that scarlet red casserole that grows candidly along our highways before our untrained eyes)… these are just a few of the products that fill the hand-woven picnic baskets and the online pantry of the refreshment bar. “The restaurant business is the best showcase for little-known local products, which are our heritage,” says the young enthusiast.

For the winter, La Famille offers sublime aperitif kits and meal boxes, delivered to your home. The holiday service stopped on December 23.

Collaboration with some sixty local businesses is at the heart of the project: “I make butter with the cream that I collect from the dairy; there’s nothing like milk from Jersey cows! We bought four boards from the Mains-Nues vegetable garden that the farmer grows for us and that we transform. We offer local natural wines in our online cellar. We build networks with artisans and farmers across the Estrie region: they are our suppliers, it makes sense to work hand in hand and help each other. We will soon have eight partners, including the maître’D, the sommelier and our educator who is also a cook!”

La Famille is the first ghost kitchen in Quebec: it offers culinary experiences without a dining room! Quite a logistical headache, according to Sandra, who nevertheless succeeded. The success of her custom-made summer #basketparty is already well-known, as is that of the restaurant pop-up that attracted 650 people on a Wednesday in Frelighsburg, a village of 1,000 inhabitants, or her private events with chefs at home, and public events in vineyards, orchards or farms.