After six years of making fresh local beer in the heart of downtown, Whistle Buoy Brewing Company has made a big change to their Market Square home—they have quietly opened a compact kitchen in the taproom.
This new addition to the business has been dubbed ‘Grub,’ and they serve just that.
Their space is limited as the kitchen occupies what used to be the beer shop and merch corner, but that does not stop them from making unique sandwiches, salads and snacks to pair well with the libations Whistle Buoy is known for.
Colin Curtis, co-owner and general manager of Whistle Buoy, says that this new kitchen has been in the works for around a year, but was never a part of the original plan for the brewery.
“We never thought there would be food—one of the biggest allures for me to come and get into this type of business model was that it was very simple and not complicated, but we realized that it was a missing piece of the business and a way to grow,” Curtis told Victoria Buzz.
Over the past year, Curtis says he and his partners overcame numerous hurdles, but their biggest challenge was the limited space they had to work with.
“I’m not sure the exact dimensions, but it’s small by small,” he laughed.
Despite the limitations, Whistle Buoy made due with what they had and brought on Meg Dunning to lead the kitchen and create the food program.
Dunning has worked in all sorts of kitchens, big and small, refined and approachable, but as she continues on her culinary journey, she says the smaller the better.
“Through my career, I just kept going smaller and smaller and smaller—just because I wanted to. It’s more enjoyable to actually know your customer than it is to be behind the scenes,” Dunning explained.
“This is a nice mix of still being able to be behind [the scenes], but also up with customers.”
Dunning took the general direction Curtis and his partners had in mind and ran with it to create a small, unique menu that can be executed easily in the small space.
She says that when approaching menu development, she did so through the lens of fun.
“They have fun, their beers are fun, they have fun events, they don’t take themselves too seriously, I just wanted to have a good time.”
The Grub menu currently consists of three types of sandwiches, a few charcuterie board options, a salad option, various snacks and something sweet.
The two standouts on the menu that Dunning says she is most proud of are the Italian Hero Sandwich and the Fruit Loop Square.
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Dunning says one of her favourite aspects about running Grub is that she has the freedom to add to, subtract from or evolve the menu in any way she sees fit, based on the real-time reactions and feedback she receives on the food.
“In a space like this you actually get to know your customers, so you can get immediate feedback from people and it’s just nice to know who you’re serving,” said Dunning.
“[Working at] Fairmont is nice, I had my little tweezers and put little things on plates, but you never saw a guest, never knew if they liked it, never knew what was and wasn’t working.”
Though Grub only just opened, Curtis and Dunning say that this new endeavour of Whistle Buoy’s is meant to be community oriented and hope that it allows the business to become more of a community hub than it already is.
Check out Grub at Whistle Buoy Brewing! The kitchen’s hours are: Wednesday, from noon to 5 p.m., and Thursday to Sunday, from noon to 8 p.m.
