[CoryB]

The Esplanade Reil restaurant location claiming business drops to non-existent levels in winter as it is too far from parking and no one wants to walk in the winter wind need to take a look at what is making Raw Almond a success. Raw Almond is located relatively the same distance from parking and people need to walk through the winter wind to get there. By all accounts Raw Almond is a booming success. The other interesting side story of Chez Sophie is the report that their first year's rent for the bridge was free. Having gone through one winter there they should have been able to figure out their income at that site was not going to be sufficient to cover their expenses in year two and started talking loudly sooner. At least with Sal's they had sound business operations in place to realize that site was a money looser and could offset some of those losses from operations at other sites.

Going forward I think the bridge location might make the most sense as a bit of a restaurant launch pad. Prepare your operational plan, etc for a new Winnipeg business. The City partners with you and heavily subsidizes the leases costs for the first year. You move into the bridge in September and will be out come the end of August. Over that year you while have heavy involvement with city development agencies to find a permanent home for your concept and some mentoring on establishing a viable, on-going business. This could potentially serve as a testing ground for concepts to populate Provencher and actually turn it into the new Cordoyn.