Thirty years ago, Tom Ferris opened a little restaurant on Yates Street.
Nothing fancy. Oysters and seafood, burgers, salads.
Friendly atmosphere. Good portions. Decent prices.
Ferris died in 2019, taken too soon at 63 after a short battle with cancer, and sorely missed for his personable contact with customers.
But his legacy lives on downtown. It鈥檚 grown and evolved from those early days, weathered all kinds of recessions and setbacks and is now enduring a pandemic that has brought the restaurant industry to its knees
Still, longtime business partner and friend Dave Craggs, who built the business with Ferris over the past 23 years, said the restaurant is entering its third decade, as of last week, with optimism.
Craggs鈥� three restaurants 鈥� Ferris鈥� Downstairs Grill and Garden Patio, Ferris鈥� Upstairs Seafood and Oyster Bar and Perro Negro Tapas and Wine 鈥� have had to bob and weave through multiple public health orders since the pandemic began nearly a year ago.
There鈥檚 been reduced seating, plexiglass barriers, a tourism shutdown, stay-at-home orders and reduced hours.
But Craggs and his crews have adjusted to each punch.
He鈥檚 developed take-home meal kits, partnered with local food and drink producers on special dinners, re-engineered his kitchen and dining rooms for takeout and safe seating, and developed a web portal to supply customers with groceries, other essential needs and an option to donate meals.
He鈥檚 been able to keep 35 staff employed throughout the pandemic, though he gives much of the credit to the federal 颅government鈥檚 wage subsidies. When employees were laid off, the restaurant supplied them with meals.
鈥淲e鈥檙e constantly pivoting,鈥� said Craggs, noting the restaurant group is also exploring food products they can sell at a retail level.
Craggs said despite a serious slip in revenue, it鈥檚 the locals who have made the difference during this time on a razor鈥檚 edge between survival and folding.
鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing grandchildren of our original customers now,鈥� Craggs said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e always had good customers, and they support us.
鈥淚t鈥檚 always been our focus to provide good value, tasty food in an un-fancy manner. It鈥檚 been our thing,鈥� said Craggs. 鈥淚t鈥檚 harder to do that now with the cost of food and labour, but we still think we present that value. People still believe Ferris鈥� is a good place to go for good food.鈥�
The re-introduction of happy hour 鈥� long a business staple 鈥� is improving the bottom line and the Dine Around promotion by restaurants around the city is lending needed beef to the 颅bottom line.
The menu has evolved, but many of the staples from the original menu 30 years ago remain, including the oysters, jambalaya, house salad and the house burger.
鈥淲e have to consider everything now 鈥� what travels well with takeout? What can we execute with less staff? What is cost effective? You have to take everything into consideration.鈥�
Like others in his industry, Craggs is cautious about the recovery. 鈥淢y anticipation is summer will be a little better than it was last year, but of course that depends on these new variants of the virus. I don鈥檛 see a full recovery until at least a year from now.鈥�
In the meantime, Craggs will continue pivoting. 鈥淚f anything, this pandemic has forced us to do so many new things that are exciting 鈥� preparing these meal kits for people at home, looking at retail products, co-branding with great companies like 颅Phillips Brewing and setting up special dinners.
鈥淲e have to always be looking for interesting things to do that support the business and the community.鈥�
