The renowned restaurant Chez Saint-Pierre, in Rimouski, will not open next summer. Uncertain of being able to reinstall its containers at Bic, the City of Rimouski delaying revising its zoning by-law, Colombe St-Pierre acquired the former canteen Lilo, in Saint-Fabien, in December 2022. that it will open its popular Coastal Canteen for the summer season.
“It’s a temporary closure,” says the chef. We may do a few events at the Bic restaurant this summer, but I can’t do more. It’s really impossible for me to open reservations. I have to manage a move, I’m short on staff and last summer, my boyfriend and I got sick from working 80 hours a week. »
The Coastal Canteen first came into existence in the summer of 2020, in response to pandemic restrictions. In July 2022, Colombe St-Pierre learned that it might not be able to reopen in 2023, a zoning article prohibiting the use of containers, trucks or trailers as buildings. The derogation had ended with the lifting of health measures. If there is still talk of a relaxation of the City, the chef did not want to put her season at risk.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
There will be space to receive large numbers and celebrate outside.
Like many other restaurateurs, the mentor on the show The Chiefs ! thinks a lot about the future of his profession. “Catering is going through a crisis and gastronomy, with its minimal margins of 2-3%, even more so. I’m not comfortable with [facturer] $400-500 per person. I don’t judge those who do it, but I can’t. What I want to do is feed as many people as possible and do it well, with healthy foods. La Cantine is not about sauce powder and burgers. These are poutines with octopus, halibut, oysters. You can even order a bottle of champagne! »
The why and the how
Colombe St-Pierre affirms that the “why” of her approach has remained the same since the beginnings of her restaurant at Bic, in 2004, when she watched “18 wheels” filled with fish and seafood go by without being able to hand on a single sea urchin.
Cooking has always been a bit political for me. I campaign for greater accessibility to local products. It’s not by becoming inaccessible that I’m going to do it!
Colombe St-Pierre
“What I question the most today is the format. In the midst of a pandemic, I still had a lot of fun cooking simpler, without reservations, for everyone. If you’re a little patient, you’ll eat! »
“There was first a resilience, in the summer of 2020, which led to creativity, to end in exhaustion because it took a lot of energy to conceptualize all these changes”, continues the chef. When, in addition, administrative worries get involved, the heaviness becomes unbearable.
“I have made a whole artisanal know-how shine in Quebec. I have been an asset to tourism in my region. I was given culinary ambassador medals and afterwards, we wondered why I would benefit from help? During all this municipal by-laws thing, I kinda felt like I could disappear and nobody would mind. Fortunately, the population supported me. »
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Colombe St-Pierre has been cooking since she was 14 and has no intention of stopping! However, she wonders about the “how”.
It is not new that Colombe St-Pierre deplores the misery in which many chef-owners practice their profession. But more than ever, the charges are piling up, between the tens of thousands of dollars sent to credit card companies in a year – “me, when I go to a small independent business, I always pay with my Interac card”, she says – increased wages, rising food prices, etc. “Hearing great Quebec chefs at the end of their career tell me that they have never been so badly taken in their lives, it breaks my heart. »
Fortunately, even if that doesn’t pay the bills, there is the love of the clientele, the pleasure of encounters and the love of the products.
What I want to do is cook. How ? I don’t really know anymore. But it’s important that we don’t run away, that we transmit, so that the future is more consistent.
Colombe St-Pierre
To know the exact opening date and other details of the Coastal Canteen 2023, which will install its containers in Saint-Fabien in June, it is better to follow the company’s social networks.