Alternate Grounds To Take Over Sarnia Bay Marina Restaurant
Restaurant at Sarnia Bay Marina
For Tammy and Brian Vickery it's a big gamble … the risk of a lifetime. The owners of the Alternate Grounds Café at 410 Front Street in Sarnia are leasing the Sarnia Bay Marina restaurant and will open with an Easter brunch in April.
Brian Vickery describes it as a "big bite … it is huge. We are going from a café to a full scale restaurant." But for the Vickerys it's an opportunity to utilize the Sarnia waterfront and develop a restaurant that will showcase Brian's culinary skills.
A chef who has worked for big named restaurants in London and Ottawa, Brian bought the Alternate Grounds in 2007. "I grew tired of working for others and I had a passion to have my own restaurant", he told First Monday.
When he arrived, the Alternate Grounds was doing $150,000.00 in annual revenue. Today it tops $350,000.00 and his wife Tammy joined him as a partner in 2009. "It's 15 hour days but "I fell in love with it, " says Tammy who looks after the books while her husband centres on the food.
Fresh is the operative word says Brian, who spends long hour preparing the menu and a wide array of homemade dishes that have made the Alternate Grounds popular.
That, along with monthly "themed" dinners has worked well in expanding the clientele. "The dinners have introduced people who may not have known about us," says Tammy "and enhanced Brian's reputation as a chef and not just a sandwich guy."
Brian attributes the couple's success to being, "very hands on. Like most business owners we actually believe there are 30 hours in a day."
He says he became aware of the marina opportunity last spring. "We knew the contract was coming to an end and having looked at the possibility of locating at the marina five years ago we lept at the opportunity."
Vickery says he considered the marina before acquiring Alternate Grounds. This time he had to convince his wife. "I wasn't going there without Tammy. A restaurant like that requires hands on involvement and one of us will be there all the time."
He describes the marina menu as "upscale bistro."
Beginning in mid – January renovations will begin. It will be redecorated and a waterfront patio will be added along with a liquor license.
The restaurant will be open daily from 7am 'til 5 pm Sunday through Wednesday and 7 am 'til 10 pm Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The menu will be more contemporary, more upscale. Because as Tammy describes it "Sarnia doesn't need another pizza joint."
Marina operator, Dave Brown says the Vickerys have taken a five-year lease with an option to renew. He sees it as a perfect partnership saying, "we were seeking a new direction for the restaurant and Brian and Tammy have a passion for their business."
Brown views the restaurant as a "key piece" in the boating experience. "We only get one opportunity to impress the boating public and the restaurant is a big part of that first impression."
The marina attracted 165 permanent and 1200 tourist boaters last year.
Describing the marina opportunity as exciting the Vickerys say they are up for the challenge.