Market restaurant in Calgary originally opened with a vision of serving rustic, wholesome and homemade cooking. Owner Vanessa Salopek recently gave the restaurant a facelift in hopes of revitalizing her business.
Take a stroll down Stephen Avenue any day of the week and you're hard-pressed to not encounter a sidewalk sign proclaiming some sort of economically priced lunch deal or extraordinary happy-hour special. Restaurants and bars are doing anything and everything to get people into their spaces these days, and although it might be of value to the diner, it's certainly a sign that Calgary's food scene is in a bit of flux. When a simple value menu still doesn't draw a crowd, many local restaurateurs have decided to reinvent themselves altogether.
New census figures reveal that Calgary, despite economic troubles, is still the fastest-growing city in our country. With a population in 2016 that borders 1.4 million – about 180,000 more residents than we had five years earlier – this city's restaurants have plenty of mouths to feed. So, where all all of these newly minted Calgarians when it comes to dining out?
"Non-essential and luxury items are the first to go when disposable income [shrinks], and the food and beverage industry is a prime example," says Larry Scammell, owner of the soon-to-be Bridges on 1st restaurant in Bridgeland. "A significant portion of consumers have been forced to choose between spending what disposable income they might have on one nice dining experience in a month or several casual ones."
Mr. Scammell and his wife, Denise, are just days away from opening Bridges on 1st in the restaurant space formerly known as Black Pig Bistro. Back in 2014, their classy Spanish-inspired eatery was quick to garner a mix of accolades, including being named by Avenue as the best new restaurant in Calgary and earning a spot on enRoute magazine's "Canada's Best New Restaurants" nominee longlist. After the buzz wore off and several chefs had cycled through the kitchen, momentum slowed. Come 2016, the couple knew that it was either make a change or close the doors for good.
"We have seen many restaurants launch incentives or specials in an effort to keep things going. Calgary is known for its entrepreneurial spirit," Mr. Scammell points out. "The strong and established restaurants in the community have had to adjust less. However, many others that didn't have a clear idea of what they were doing are struggling."
After much thought and planning, the Scammells' reconceived restaurant, Bridges, will aim to be a family-friendly destination with a focus on thoughtfully prepared, congenial cuisine. Mr. Scammell hopes it is a place the neighbourhood will embrace once the establishment opens later this month.
Vanessa Salopek, who opened Market in 2013 on 17th Avenue, is another owner who has had to sit down and rethink the direction of her business. Similar to Black Pig Bistro, Market has had ebbs and flows of critical success, but has had some trouble keeping up with its contemporaries. Instead of changing altogether, Ms. Salopek has moved toward approachability, tossing tweezers and fussy, Instagram-friendly plates of food out the window.
"With the economy the way it is today, you really need to look at all of your opportunities and appeal to a larger audience," Ms. Salopek explains. "Over the years, as different chefs came into the kitchen, Market started moving away from its original concept and vision, which was rustic, wholesome and homemade cooking. It became very reservation-driven, where guests came to celebrate special occasions, but we were not capitalizing on the everyday diner and walk-by traffic that 17th Avenue has to offer us."
The beginning of 2017 marked a refreshing start for the restaurant after Ms. Salopek acquired Evan Robertson, formerly of the Pig and Duke, a chef known for a love of local farms and thoughtful flavours in comforting dishes. His dungeness crab corn dogs and house-made condiments, and crispy duck with blueberry waffles with spicy serrano slaw and truffle-infused maple syrup are already proving popular. It looks like Market's facelift is working.
"Bringing Evan on board has really helped bring our restaurant back to its roots … Having only had the new menu out for just over a week, we have already seen our walk-in traffic increase. This change was exactly what we needed," Ms. Salopek says happily.
Ms. Salopek and Mr. Scammell certainly aren't the only ones who are reimagining to adapt. Parc Brasserie on 17th Avenue SW recently closed its doors to undergo significant renovations and is set to reopen as a completely new concept (theme still to be determined) in the late spring. As well, the Hotel Arts Group is currently doing a massive overhaul of their Kensington Riverside Inn property and have bid adieu to the uber-refined Chef's Table and are replacing it with Oxbow this April, a casual fine-dining restaurant celebrating regional Alberta cuisine as well as a new lobby lounge with a focus on cocktails.