Normand Laprise and Christine Lamarche return to their pre-pandemic business plan: a big Toqué! surrounded by a few brasseries, ideally open every day. If there are enough staff…
As of May 17, Montreal’s Beau Mont restaurant, little brother of Toqué!, becomes a Brasserie T!, like there is in Quartier DIX30 and like a third that will open its doors in Sainte-Thérèse, boulevard du Curé- Label, next month.
“The pandemic arrived when we were in full development, explains chef Normand Laprise. We wanted to open three T Breweries! Maybe four, to pay for a production kitchen. »
The Knocked! turns 30 next month.
The duo Christine Lamarche and Normand Laprise have seen just about everything during these three decades in the restaurant industry. However, the pandemic has been particularly trying for them. The Knocked! was closed for almost two years, decimating the teams in the kitchen and in the dining room and dealing a severe blow to the finances of the group which has a Brasserie T! in Brossard and Beau Mont, in addition to Toqué! initial. Added to this is the Burger T counter! at the Time Out Market at the Eaton Centre.
When the pandemic hit, the restaurant chefs met at Beau Mont, and a grocery counter concept was developed. “It kept our heads above water,” says Normand Laprise.
Brewery T! du Quartier des spectacles de Montréal was closed in May 2020. A new one should appear downtown, but when the traffic will be higher, the business clientele being very important for the establishment.
Faced with all these unforeseen events and adjustments, the two entrepreneurs admitted that they would have to postpone their retirement. And not a little: eight years, maybe ten.
Since after having spent their lives building the group Signé Toqué!, neither of them wants to leave in a trough.
“By creating our small group, four-five restaurants and a production kitchen, it will have value,” explains Normand Laprise. Afterwards, we can bequeath it to our children, if they want, or to the employees… We sell it quietly, they buy it back and we slip away. As Mr. Bocuse did and several other great chefs. »
For this reason, the Beau Mont changes vocation.
The restaurant is in what is now a new campus of the University of Montreal, near the Acadie metro station, where the brasserie concept might be more popular. The grocery counter remains.
The change will allow more efficient management of supply, largely from small producers. Because, explains Chef Laprise, with a small supplier, of meat for example, you have to buy the whole animal and maximize all the parts – you could in particular turn deer shoulders into hamburgers, for the counter.
It will be easier with the new structure – all the set up of the breweries is done in the large kitchen of what used to be the Beau Mont.
The plan calls for a fourth brewery, sooner rather than later. Ideally before the end of this year.
The brasseries should also be open seven days, for lunch and dinner.
Even in a niche like Toqué!, with the reputation of the table, recruiting is difficult. While positions were very easily filled until recently, the group is struggling to find workers.
“We don’t have a lot of CVs,” admits Christine Lamarche, who specifies that among those she receives, many do not have the qualifications or have requirements that are incompatible with the schedules of a restaurant.
When the Toqué reopens! after the pandemic closure, there were nine new out of 14 kitchen staff, requiring a smooth opening to maintain house standards. Of these nine new ones, a little over a year later, none remain.
This difficulty in recruiting employees makes the Brewery T! du DIX30 is only open five days a week, including only four lunchtimes. Which is hard on the budget.
“It’s not because the clientele isn’t there,” says Normand Laprise, who wants the arrival of the REM to make it easier to hire staff on the South Shore.
And retirement?
“When we get old!” “, answers Christine Lamarche. So there are a few projects left to do…
