I liked the meat in that place but the bread was always sub-par......like a sub bun you would find in a high school cafeteria. I guess it is better then the taco bell beside it and the "all you can eat" sushi place across the street......which I would highly recommend avoiding, I made the mistake once.mr x wrote:Kel's deli is closing.
Dartmouth restaurateur Bill Pratt has long promised to bring his Cheese Curds and Habaneros eateries across the harbour.
But he never said how — or in what.
Pratt, a retired navy chef, released a 30-second teaser video Sunday promoting Halifax’s newest entry into the food truck scene, a Habaneros taco bar, and it quickly made the round in local social media circles.
Except this isn’t your average food truck. Or a truck at all. It is a 45-foot-long, eight-foot-wide refurbished school bus Pratt found on Kijiji and bought in Shediac, N.B.
Painted in neon green, geckos are undoubtedly the most popular decorating feature of the bus, including its front end, which was designed to look like a cross between a male and female gecko.
“Whenever you’re in Mexico, there’s these little lizards running all over the place, so that’s why I’ve incorporated that into it,” Pratt said in an interview.
He opened up the first Cheese Curds Gourmet Burgers + Poutinerie on Pleasant Street in Dartmouth in February 2012, following by a Habaneros Modern Taco Bar next door a few months later.
Then last year, he opened a combined Cheese Curds and Habeneros location at 600 Windmill Rd.
By his own admission, operating a food truck was on his radar long before he opened up his restaurants.
“However, I didn’t have a kitchen, or a restaurant, to support it, and I didn’t want to do it simply on the back of the truck. I wanted to be able to produce the food in sanitary, healthy conditions, properly package it and everything.”
The Habaneros food bus will be a modified version of the Mexican-inspired sit-down restaurant, serving burritos, tacos and burrito bowl salads.
“So if you want the full-meal deal, you’d have to go to the restaurant,” Pratt said.
The food will be cooked in a production kitchen, packaged and then built on the bus under the watchful eye of customers.
While there is no sit-down eating area, customers will be able to board the bus and see how the food is prepared via an open kitchen concept, similar to what exists in Pratt’s restaurants.
That means that the business could conceivably operate year-round.
“Would you stand outside at -20 degrees for 15 or 20 minutes to get your meal in February? Probably not. How about when it’s pouring rain?” Pratt said.
His goal is to find five private lots to set up the gecko bus, such as a business or school property, one for each day from Monday to Friday.
That gives him the flexibility and mobility to attend special weekend events.
“But finding those five spots, that’s the big push because it’s not going to take very long to fill up.”
Flexibility and mobility is what initially drew him to the food truck industry.
“What appeals to me is that if you find a location and it’s not lucrative, you can move. How do you pick up your restaurant and move that if the location isn’t good?”
Looking ahead, Pratt said he is looking at adding more food trucks, possibly one catering Cheese Curds fare.
“We’re just going to see how this one takes off first. But we’ve already got a vision of another couple of ideas.”
His entry into the local mobile food industry comes two years after the first trucks began rolling through Halifax.
Last year, the owners of Nomad Gourmet and Food Wolf started the Food Truck Association of Nova Scotia as a way of promoting the industry and highlighting their concerns with Halifax Regional Municipality bylaws that they say restrict their ability to operate on city streets.
But Pratt said he believes the food truck market is far from saturated.
“Absolutely not. We haven’t even crested yet. The problem is that there’s only so many spots that you can bid on. There’s only seven spots in HRM. They’ve got to open the door a little bit more.”
Meanwhile, he said he is “actively looking” for bricks and mortar locations on the Halifax side and has formally launched the franchise process with a view toward opening in the fall.
Pratt has also hired a law firm and chartered accountant to help handle the matter.
“We’re not rushing into it. I’ve been slowing it down. I’ve had so many people coming at us to franchise and I want to do it properly. I want to make sure that the franchisees succeed.”
Pfft. As if other trucks are not sanitary? I know for a fact that trucks are inspected more than brick and mortar restaurants. Even if he produces things in another kitchen, the bus still needs to be just as sanitary. Best of luck to him! I can't wait to see what this thing can do!“However, I didn’t have a kitchen, or a restaurant, to support it, and I didn’t want to do it simply on the back of the truck. I wanted to be able to produce the food in sanitary, healthy conditions, properly package it and everything.”
I saw that too. Food trucks are definitely sanitary. I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment around driving demand. We've seen that with craft beer, as well as any other new industry over the years. Once you hit a critical mass people start becoming curious. A rising tide floats all boats.Keggermeister wrote:Pfft. As if other trucks are not sanitary? I know for a fact that trucks are inspected more than brick and mortar restaurants. Even if he produces things in another kitchen, the bus still needs to be just as sanitary. Best of luck to him! I can't wait to see what this thing can do!“However, I didn’t have a kitchen, or a restaurant, to support it, and I didn’t want to do it simply on the back of the truck. I wanted to be able to produce the food in sanitary, healthy conditions, properly package it and everything.”
I think he is right regarding saturation, we actually need a few more premier trucks to drive demand.
It most definitely is. In the US larger chains are jumping onboard fast. It isn't as easy as most think though, the logistics approach insanity at times!mr x wrote:I thought is was interesting in linking a B&M rest. with a food truck. I was thinking when you had all started that this may be the eventual trend in our environment...
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Food Wolf's owner shared a G&M article on that sometime last year. Very difficult to make a serious living with just the food truck. And in many provinces a production kitchen beyond the truck is a requirement. So if you've already got a B&M restaurant to provide that, it would certainly give you some efficiency.mr x wrote:I'm not so interested in the chain trucks, and hopefully they won't catch on here (junk food should not be allowed to move to kids). But I wonder how it will work out for the smaller players. Will food trucks eventually need B&M support and vice versa to make a business profitable? Like using the food truck to bring your B&M food to the people at slow times, basically use the truck to fill in excess restaurant capacity, own one building to store the truck, cross promotions between the two, etc, etc....
The award-winning Carleton Music Bar & Grill in Halifax has closed temporarily to allow for some renovations after a change in ownership.
Music industry veteran Mike Campbell recently assumed ownership of the Argyle Street venue and it was closed on Monday for an interior makeover.
“It was entirely serendipitous that we finalized financial arrangements at this time of year. January is sort of the best time to be closed for renovations as it can be slow,” Campbell said.
Campbell secured new financing to buy out some of the original investors in the business, launched about five years ago
in leased space in the historic building.
He said he is now majority owner of the business, while fellow music industry veteran Mike Rhodes, a founding partner, and some other investors, described as friends of the Carleton, hold minority interests.
The Carleton has been named venue of the year on several occasions by Music Nova Scotia and the East Coast Music Association, but has struggled financially since opening just at the beginning of the last recession.
“Some of the original investor partners found themselves more actively involved in the business than they anticipated due to the economic situation and widespread sluggishness of the industry.
“They indicated they were ready for a change,” Campbell said.
The bar and grill has struggled because of the state of the economy and a decline in the popularity of live entertainment, but Campbell said he believes he sees some light at the end of the tunnel.
Construction of the Nova Centre is underway across the street. There is also widespread construction of new commercial space that will bring more workers to the central business district.
“Things are going to turn around downtown. We just have to wait it out,” he said.
The business has brought in Jane Wright, formerly of Jane’s on the Common, as a menu and food-service consultant, in an effort to build up the restaurant side of the business.
“We’ll be promoting the location as much more than a bar and live music venue and we want to do it in a fun and casual way,” Campbell said.
The Carleton is scheduled to reopen Jan. 24 with a renovated interior, revamped stage and lots of live entertainment.
http://www.thecoast.ca/halifax/how-the- ... id=4182754" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;There is no question that The Oval provides a great opportunity for the people to get outside and be active during the winter months. Now in its third season, The Oval continues to attract more people to the centre of the city to skate, socialize and snack on local food fare. Pastry, that is.
That's right. You'll find your food-buying options fairly limited at The Oval. As far as vendors go, there's Beaver Tails, and...Beaver Tails. If you're not in the mood for chocolate-covered-maple-sugar-dough-bombs, too bad.
The fact that Beaver Tails is the only food vendor at The Oval is not indicative of a latent connection between ice skating and pastry eating, but rather of the city's unfamiliarity with how the mobile food industry actually works. In 2012, the city issued a Request for Proposal to the Mobile Food Services, offering local businesses a chance to compete for a coveted spot at The Oval.
I'm co-owner of The Food Wolf, a food truck. After reviewing the RFP for food at The Oval, I was left with the overwhelming impression that it was written with one specific aim in mind—to exclude food trucks, the very businesses it proposes to attract.
Here's why: For one, the RFP stipulates that prospective vendors would be required to hardwire their trucks' electrical systems into permanent outlets. Call this a conceptual difference, but this requirement manages to take the mobile out of mobile. Food trucks typically operate on generators, or plug into available onsite outlets (outlets that the city has already paid to install!). That way, we can, quite literally, just roll up and do business.
Secondly, the RFP states that food service at The Oval be open daily from 10:30am-8:30pm, but the nature of the mobile food industry is, yes, mobility. We move around, go where the customers are. This is not only the essence of the business, this is how our businesses survive. If we're at The Oval each day, all day, we're not anywhere else. We are no longer a roving restaurant, we're just a food stand in a parked vehicle. And, on those bitterly cold days when The Oval is only populated by a handful of winter diehards, we're a food stand losing money by the minute. The Oval closes for daily maintenance for several hours a day. At other times, it's only open to members of the speed-skating community. In a nutshell, it makes no sense for us to be open all day daily, because the guarantee of a regular, or even sporadic, customer-base, just isn't there.
After catching the after-dinner crowd at Squiggle Park (Falkland and Gottingen Streets), we'd happily relocate to serve evening skaters at The Oval. The problem is, if we're one place, we can't be another. And, the only way we can provide the high-quality food that we do is to ensure that we have a higher sales volume. We want to provide better-quality food to our customers, therefore, we need an infrastructure that supports this. Turning out cheap, shitty food is not our mandate, but unfortunately, the current RFP seems to support only this.
Then there are the additional costs in The Oval's RFP: criminal background checks for all employees, photographing the truck, passport photos and the administrative costs of preparing a response (to said RFP). The RFP also has an intellectual property clause and insurance requirement to have two million dollars automobile liability. These costs are unnecessary, as food trucks are already covered by the provincial health act and must have a registered, safe and insured motor vehicle, two million dollars general liability and meet all the requirements for our Food Establishment permit (same as restaurants).
There aren't any food trucks at The Oval because they can't afford to be there.
It's no wonder that of the six locally active food trucks, none responded to the city's "invitation." To add insult to injury, the RFP states that one of its goals is to "establish a more traditional/canteen service with [the] consideration of providing a more healthy and balanced selection." Huh. I guess that being able to choose from a selection of locally sourced and ever-changing menu items that food trucks offer doesn't adhere to the city's idea of a "healthy and balanced selection."
This past summer, the city transformed the south side of The Oval into a hard-surface plaza. The area is equipped with power, easy site access and ample space for the safe and convenient placement of mobile food service vehicles. Perhaps it's not too late in the season for the city to revise the current RFP so that food trucks actually stand a chance of getting a spot in The Oval and doing some viable business. Hopefully, by next year, Oval-users will be able to enjoy some delectable smoked brisket from Nomad Gourmet, or Tin Pan Alley's incredible take on traditional Belgium fries or a K-dog from Food Wolf, along with, of course, Beaver Tails.
Halifax regional council has cancelled a tender call for five prime food truck spots in the city, after eight owners lobbied for a review of the city’s bylaw.
"I see it as a symbolic gesture,” said Food Wolf owner Natalie Chavarie.
She said she didn't want the city to sign new five-year contracts before considering a change to the food truck regulations.
Chavarie and the other members of the Food Truck Association of Nova Scotia want the city to open up more spaces in more neighbourhoods and let them open for breakfast.
They'd also like to be able to share a spot. In the past, food truck operators have bid up to $25,000 to snag a five-year lease.
Chavarie said she’s glad the city is taking a step back.
“It shows that HRM is being proactive in saying we don't want to create barriers for us to roll out a new set of guidelines and policies for food trucks to operate under,” she said.
"It really gives me hope that the municipality now has its finger on the pulse of the issue.”
Mayor Mike Savage said he agrees it doesn't make sense to sign a lease before council has a chance to debate changes to the food truck bylaw.
"I would support anything that makes more recognition of how cities have changed and the role of things like food trucks can play in a modern city. I think we should have a look at it. It makes sense,” he said.
“I mean food trucks seem to be part of the new urbanism. Cities that are doing progressive things have interesting approaches to food trucks including things like healthier options and I think that that makes sense.”
Savage said he's anxious to see what staff will recommend in a report expected to come before council before spring.
Halifax regional council may be close to voting on a revised bylaw regulating the growing local food truck scene after CAO Richard Butts cancelled a tender call for five locations around the city.
The tender call for five-year leases in the several spots that food trucks can operate was shelved Friday, indicating that a new bylaw is in the offing, said Natalie Chavarie, co-chair of the Food Truck Association of Nova Scotia.
The cancellation made financial sense because bids for leases were often in the five-figure range, she said.
“What it means is that HRM recognized that they are in the process of amending a bylaw and that to sign five-year contracts that are pursuant to the old bylaw would cause legal challenges to HRM to implement a new, revised bylaw,” she said.
A new set of rules governing the ever-popular industry has been a long time coming.
Coun. Jennifer Watts (Peninsula North) introduced a review of bylaws regulating mobile canteens and carts in August 2012.
“This has slowly been winding its way through,” she said. “I was enquiring, certainly, every couple of months about whether it would be coming forward.”
Instead of five-year leases, mobile food operators will be offered an opportunity for a one-year permit “so everything will be in place for when the next round of tenders will go out, which would be early next year,” Watts said.
A staff report on the requested revisions is expected to be delivered to councillors in the next several weeks, with debate expected to follow shortly thereafter, she said.
“Sometime soon, hopefully, because it has been under discussion for quite a while. We’ve been very clear about some very specific issues that we wanted to have addressed, so I think the parameters have been quite clear.”
For her part, Chavarie, who owns the Food Wolf truck, said the tender cancellation is acknowledgement that “the bylaw review process was taking too long.”
The fledgling local mobile food industry has exploded in popularity over the last 12 months. The association recently welcomed Cole Harbour’s Ol’ School Donuts and Bill Pratt’s Haba-neros taco bus into the fold.
The group is looking for a number of changes to existing regulations, including opening up more locations around the municipality, being allowed to share spots, and being able to operate before 9 a.m.
“The bylaw will set the stage for being able to create new sites,” Chavarie said, noting they are exploring potential pilot projects in places like north-end Halifax, Bedford, Sackville and Cole Harbour.
“(The city) recognized (the need for changes) because of the growth of the local food industry, but also because people want to be able to have access to that service,” she added. “Citizens want to be able to go downtown, and if they want to have a more on-the-street kind of experience, that they’re able to have that.”
Last year, local food trucks operated year-round, although inclement weather this winter has forced many off the streets.
“I think that the plan is, that depending on the season, we would operate year-round,” Chavarie said. “So not being a seasonal business is part of the culture change that we want to bring to Halifax, but having the right sites to do that is important in creating that familiarity.”
Chavarie said that discussions have begun with the Waterfront Development Corp. to organize a second food truck rally, on the heels of the inaugural edition last fall.
And plans are afoot to organize similar rallies in other areas of the province in 2014, she said.
City staff has abruptly changed the way permits food trucks. Until now, all food trucks operating on city-owned property had bid on specific spots via a tender that was offered five years ago.
There were five allotted locations, and food truck owners competed for the spaces. The owners spent a significant amount on the spaces. Yousef Musleh got his spot on Grafton Street, by the library, for $25,000 over the five-year contract, but just around the corner, Andrew Rafalski’s got a spot on Spring Garden Road for his fish and chip truck for just $4,750 for five years. A Burnside spot brought in $15,000 for five yeas. Nomads Gourmet’s space on Argyle Street near City Hall went for $7,850 over the five years, but Under Pressers snatched a nearby spot, on Argyle near Carmichael, for a mere $915 for one year.
The city had re-issued a tender earlier this year for the spots, but in expectation of a change in the bylaws regulating food trucks, Friday CAO Richard Butts killed the tender. Instead, the city issued a one-year permit for each spot, on a first-come basis, for $900. The lower permit fees will be easier on the truck owners, but it’ll be interesting to see if the first-come issuance of permits changes the locations of the trucks.
Food trucks operating on private property are not covered by the city permits. So long as the trucks meet provincial health and business regulations, the owners can make whatever agreements they can negotiate with property owners.
mr x wrote:Apparently Brussels has closed down. Can't say that I'm sorry, hadn't been back in years after bad experiences.
A Granville Street restaurant has closed its doors, blaming declining business in downtown Halifax.
Brussels Restaurant & Brasserie tweeted Tuesday afternoon that it has closed after being in operation for five years, just a day after reminding Haligonians to set their clocks forward and also to try their new wild boar tacos.
Two hours after announcing the closure, the restaurant tweeted its thanks for everyone’s kind words and support.
However, there were few words of support in the social media responses to the announcement. The Twitterverse appeared to take offence to the restaurant’s claim that its downtown location led to its demise.
Instead, some on Twitter defended the downtown, and some blamed poor management, a new menu and mediocrity.
Boris Mirtchev owns Brussels and also operates the successful Hamachi group of restaurants.
Reached by telephone Tuesday night, Mirtchev said the restaurant had been losing money for a while and recent efforts to make it profitable had failed.
"The economy in general has been a little tough," he said. "In the restaurant business the margins have been increasing and the sales have actually been decreasing sometimes ... in this location."
He said he had been particularly drawn to the Granville Street area and its European-like cobblestones because he is from that region.
But parking issues and a decline in winter foot traffic and tourists made weeknight business pretty slow, even though weekends could be brisk, Mirtchev said.
"It's a tough part of the city. Granville Square hasn't been very vibrant the last few years ... so it's the result of a couple of different things."
Seven people worked full time at the restaurant and all but two will likely be laid off, he said.
BobbyOK wrote:I had high hopes for the place until the morning I walked by on my way to Le French Fix just before they opened. The computer screen for their POS system was visible through the window - and all I could see was the Dome's logo on the screen savers. Hopes dashed, and no one I know has had positive things to say about the place since then.mr x wrote:I had no idea where it was located.
Two more Halifax businesses are closing their doors.
The owners of Estia Restaurant at 5518 Spring Garden Rd. announced Thursday they are shutting down after this weekend
“It has been a difficult winter,” said Maria Katsihtis. “And actually, in the five years we’ve been here, it was the worst.”
It’s a decision she and husband Peter didn’t take lightly, she said.
The restaurant had a lot of support from other businesses in the area and regular customers, she said. But business has dropped to the point that, as they looked ahead to the next five years, they decided subsidizing the business was not a realistic option.
The couple first told staff and then contacted suppliers to let them know what was going on, she said. The business’s bills will be paid and she is trying to find work with other restaurant owners for the 15 Estia staff members, she said.
The last customers will be served Sunday, and the restaurant will wrap up with a “family dinner” for staff on Sunday night, she said.
As the Katsihtis family prepare for closing time, they have a message for people in the area.
“We need to go out there and support our locals,” Maria Kat-sihtis said.
“It’s the key to our economy.”
Entertainer Gordie Duggan was supposed to go host another night of karaoke at the Red Fox Bar & Grill on Halifax’s Bayers Road, just as he’s done for the past 15 years or so.
But on Thursday, he got a call from the general manager saying the doors were locked and the business was closed.
“It’s been like a second home to me,” said Duggan, whose band, the Gordie Duggan Band, was scheduled to play the bar on Saturday.
“I’m going to miss the crowd.”
The bar’s owner, who also owns the Red Fox Bar & Grill in Sydney, could not be reached Thursday.
But Duggan says he’s looking for another Thursday night gig.
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