Following several high-profile restaurant closures in Ottawa, local chefs are coming together to raise money for Ottawa restaurant staff in need.
The event, called Chef Bites, will be held on Dec. 16 at Santé Restaurant and includes two chefs from Centretown. Marc Lepine of Atelier on Rochester Street, and Matthew Carmichael, of El Camino on Elgin Street, will add their skills to the mix.
Caroline Ishii, restaurant consultant and former owner and chef of ZenKitchen, and Donna Holtom, owner of Santé Restaurant, came up with the idea for the event recently after discussing how there is no fund currently in place for restaurant workers who lose their jobs.
“I always believed in when a bad thing happens, to try to see what good we can make out it,” says Ishii.
During the event, attendees will be able to sample hors d’oeuvres from each chef and mingle with them as they present them, says Ishii.
Local breweries, including Beyond the Pale, as well as wineries are also sponsoring the event.
Scott Adams from Benny’s Bistro, Ross and Simon Fraser from the Fraser Café, Steve Mitton from Murray Street, Essence Catering’s Jason Laurin, Marc Doiron of Town, Chris Deraiche of the Wellington Gastropub and event organizer Caroline Ishii will be helping with the fundraiser, as well.
The funds raised will go towards creating a capital fund with the Ottawa Community Foundation to start the Ottawa Restaurant Fund, a safety net fund for out-of-work restaurant employees.
“It’s the first of its kind,” says Ishii. “Since it’s new and innovative.”
Ishii and Holtom are considering allocating the fund to retraining, recertifying chefs or supplying entrepreneurs with loans to help restaurant staff find work again.
While Ishii thinks the recent restaurant closures in Ottawa are not out of the ordinary for a city and just the usual “ebb and flow” of restaurants opening and closing, she says the restaurant industry is challenging.
“It’s a very hard industry to survive in. Sometimes it’s a wake-up call when some prominent restaurants close,” says Ishii.
Marc Lepine, the chef at Atelier, says the closures in Ottawa are not unusual, just more noticeable compared to those in larger cities.
“Ottawa has lost some pretty great restaurants recently and they will be missed, but places close all the time in bigger cities,” says Lepine. “Ottawa is a smaller city, so I guess we notice more.”
Since October, three prominent local restaurants in Ottawa closed their doors.
ZenKitchen, which had closed in May and reopened under new ownership, closed permanently on Oct. 27.
The owner of Prime 360, which served Ottawa residents for 25 years, announced on Nov. 3 that the restaurant was closing.
Juniper Kitchen and Wine Bar followed closely behind. The restaurant’s closing was announced on Nov. 10 after being open for 17 years.
Jason Laurin, the chef for Essence Catering, says he is expecting more closures.
“I imagine there are quite a few more food service operations just trying to hold on until after Christmas to close their doors,” he says. “This fund will likely be put to use quickly. I just don’t know how far the fund will go.”
Ishii says she and Holtom would like to hold events for the restaurant fund throughout the year, but Laurin says it is also up to Ottawa residents.
“If people want to continue talking about this vibrant food culture we have in Ottawa, they are going to need to put their money where their mouths are, and go out and eat more often.”