This Monday, the owners of Fort Street’s Cafe Brio acquired ownership of Brasserie L’Ecole , which is located in the heart of downtown Victoria.
Samuel Harris and Vincent Vanderheide are co-owners of the Vinuel Restaurant Group, which Cafe Brio is a part of, and have worked in Victoria’s service industry for a long time.
Around one year ago they bought out and took over operations from the previous owners of Cafe Brio, a restaurant with a 28-year legacy.
Brasserie has had its own long-standing legacy in Victoria and has been around for approximately 22 years, according to Harris.
It also holds a special connection with Cafe Brio, which makes this marriage of business so much more special.
“Both Marc [Morrison] and Sean [Brennan], the founders of Brasserie, were on the opening team of Brio,” said Harris.
“So the restaurants have always had this connection, so it’s really cool for us to bring these restaurants together that we consider siblings.”
Harris and Vanderheide told Victoria Buzz that they have been looking at acquiring Brasserie L’Ecole for some time now, but when they initially made an offer, the timing just wasn’t right.
“We just love it, I’ve eaten there probably over 50 times,” said Harris.
He explained it was the first place he applied when he moved to Victoria in 2006, but serving jobs there were hard to come by because they were so sought after.
“We had obviously heard that last fall they were having some issues and some temporary closures, and so we reached out to Marc but the timing wasn’t right for him then,” Harris added.
“It turned out that this time, the time was right.”
Harris also said that the recent GoFundMe started by an employee of Brasserie “sort of, but not exactly” played a role in them acquiring the business.
“After the GoFundMe came out and we realized there were some financial situations, Marc reached out to ask if we were still interested, we said absolutely and we were able to work through the deal,” he explained.
The GoFundMe has since been taken down with all funds raised, returned to donors.
Harris says that Brasserie’s head chef will continue to lead the kitchen there, the concept of the restaurant will remain the same and he is making every attempt to bring back all other serving and kitchen staff.
“We just want to keep the spirit alive,” he said.
The only change that will be made is that Brasserie L’Ecole will begin taking reservations, both online and by phone.
Currently, Brasserie is temporarily closed and has been for approximately two weeks. Harris says the reopening date is dependent on when he and Vanderheide can attain all necessary licences.
He hopes that Brasserie will be open again in early April.
