Penticton had something special in Craft Corner Kitchen.
Founded by veteran restaurateur Jon Cote in 2015 and opened a year later, Craft Corner, at 557 Main Street, was spacious, welcoming, and more than a bit eclectic.
It featured a performance stage at the back of the room, the work of local artists hanging on its walls, long tables to promote conversation, and an affordable food and drink menu.
It was a place you could go for a quick lunch or a mid-afternoon gab session. And in the evenings, the place would come alive with a wide variety of events. Events like live music and live comedy sessions, paint nights, burlesque and belly dance routines, and so much more.
But it all ended on the night of Dec 19th. And today Cote is running a liquidation sale.
"I wanted this to be a community hub," he said this afternoon. "That's why we had no TVs or anything, and big long tables so that people would get together and talk. I'm a big believer in community. We had some fun times here."
But business was suffering. And no matter what Cote did, the tide simply wouldn't turn.
In October of 2019, he organized "Foodtopia," a celebration of the food scene in the 500 block of Main. It was a big night, as this reporter can attest, that once again showed off Cote's creativity. But it proved to be a last gasp.
"My numbers for November were 35% of what we expected," he said. "I go over my business plan every year, and after the numbers I saw for this last year, and with all the new restaurants that have come in, that's over 900 new seats in this town this summer. So I just decided that I have the opportunity to move on to my new project, which I'm very excited about."
Cote's new project is a food truck. A unique and highly capable food truck that he plans to have operational before summer. And he really is psyched about it. Indeed, given the current circumstances, he seems downright upbeat.
"I started Craft Corner because I wanted to, and I think we have sparked the food and beverage scene here. I couldn't go anywhere and get a classic cocktail like an Old Fashioned, and now everyone's making a proper Old Fashioned. Now you can go out and enjoy well-executed dishes and drinks, which is great."
"And I think we might be on our way to being one of the best food and beverage destinations in the world," he said. "Look at all the amazing new restaurants that have just opened. I'm glad to have been part of it, and I still will be."
But, he added, Penticton is a difficult and somewhat fickle market.
"This is a tough market, when you have huge overheads in a town that sleeps in the winter. Like electricity and the other stuff you need to be in business. My gas and electricity were over two grand a month. The first year I thought there must be a mistake. I thought I must have been connected with someone else. Like, that's insane."
Cote paid rent too, to landlord and Penticton mayor John Vassilaki. But he said the amount, and the relationship, was never a problem. "He's been amazing the whole way. Very helpful and understanding. A great man."
Far more onerous was the lack of business. And Cote could see the writing on the wall as far back as last summer.
"I have a picture," he continued, "of last year's Peach Fest, on the Sunday of a long weekend. And the whole of Main Street up here had not one car parked on it. That wasn't the Penticton of years ago."
And as much as he wishes well to all the new eateries that opened in the city in 2019, he has a warning.
"New stuff comes in, and it's the talk of the town. Everyone wants to give it a try. And then they move on to the next one. We joked around with some entrepreneurs around here that the way to make it in Penticton is to open up a restaurant and every six months change your concept."
He's also a great believer in locals supporting local businesses. "Our kids all go to school together. None of our money is headed out to Texas to buy a fourth mansion. It goes here. I was actually shocked by the amount of excitement here when Popeye's came to town. For fast-food deep-fried chicken."
"I hear we're getting a chain sub shop coming back and people are excited by that. When you have a place like Smugglers (Smokehouse), with fresh, smoked meat, and sandwiches made from bread from our local baker. And in the end it's not more expensive. We were doing a burger and fries for $7.50 at lunch time, everything house-made."
But today, Cote is all about liquidating the stuff that kept Craft Corner running, and moving into his next phase. A phase that's currently in the conceptual stage.
"Right now, I'm getting busy building my plan with (entrepreneur enabler) Community Futures. They'll help with creating business plans and funding. They'll seek out the right funding for me."
The food truck, he said, will be "unique." Beyond that, he wasn't giving away any secrets.
"At Craft Corner, we were always about being different, so you can expect something a little bit different about the food truck too," he laughed. "People who know me know exactly what kind of truck I'll have."
"Ideally, I'd like to have it done in time for the Festival of Ale (in April), but things can get pushed back.''
Meanwhile, the Craft Corner liquidation sale is in full swing. Cote put a lot of work and a lot of gear into the vacant space when he took it over in 2015, essentially building it up from scratch. And now it's all ready to go.
Well, just about all of it.
"With the range and stuff, it really has to do with the person who comes in here. The deal I made with John (Vassilaki) is that I'm okay with leaving it with him if the next business here is a restaurant. If it's not a restaurant, then I'll sell it."
The doors are open at Craft Corner Kitchen from 12 pm to 4 pm every day until the sell-off is done. You can reach Jon Cote at the restaurant's Facebook site or via email at [email protected].
We'll have more news on Cote's next phase as it becomes available.
