2 new Indigenous-owned restaurants in Thompson serve up home-cooked meals in tough financial climate
Thompson Chamber of Commerce says new restaurants are good news for wider economy in the north
Kaytlyn Bentley passes a plate of food to a customer while greeting another regular with an easy smile.
"Welcome to the friendship centre," she says as a flurry of kitchen workers prepare homemade soups, shepherd's pie, bannock and other foods at the Ma-Mow-We-Tak Friendship Centre in Thompson, Man.
The friendship centre's café, which opened this spring, is one of two new Indigenous-owned-and-operated eateries that opened in the northern city over the last year.
Tanika Beebe-Brand, who oversees the restaurant for the friendship centre, says the organization had run a successful catering operation for years and saw a significant increase in business it was getting at one point.
"Obviously people loved our food, so we thought, well, why not open the restaurant?" she said in an interview last week.
Bentley works as an event promoter with the friendship centre when she's not behind the till, and calls the friendship centre a one-stop shop.
"You can come here and get your breakfast, get your resumé done, find a job while you're at it … or if you need help with government forms and you want to have a lunch or just a coffee date, it's good."
Kelvin Lynxleg eats at the friendship centre almost daily and says it's a very welcoming and friendly environment.
"It's very Indigenous friendly. You can hear the staff laughing from the kitchen, joking with one another. It's very comforting," she said while at lunch last week.
"It's really nice to just kind of relax and and see other people from the community and and just come to enjoy some good food."
A few months before the opening of the friendship centre restaurant, Edward Neepin and Miranda Garson started Lil' Bannocks on Station Road, near the City Centre shopping mall.
Neepin, who was born and raised in Thompson but has ties to Fox Lake Cree Nation, is a Red Seal chef who was inspired by watching his aunties and grandparents cooking traditional foods.
"My original plan was to kind of learn traditional cooking and then turn it into something … not modern, but something I can present to the rest of the world as this is Indigenous, but it's been tweaked, I guess you could say," he said.
Garson, his partner in life and business, grew up in Tataskweyak Cree Nation and got into the food business after watching her family members hunt, trap, gather and prepare their own foods.
From there, she became inspired to start Lil' Bannocks with Neepin and get creative with their menu.
Challenging climate
Neepin said the business, a small, three-table dining room, has started off slow, but he still has big dreams for its success.
"We're still trying to find a rhythm for ourselves, balancing between running the kitchen, plus family at home," he said.
In Thompson, people's interests are piqued by what's new and exciting, Neepin said.
"Interests sway back and forth here in town. When something new pops up … we like to overwhelm it, and then it's almost like testing it and then everyone just seems to kind of back off because the fad is done."
Lil' Bannocks has a few regulars who come by nearly daily, especially for the bannock taco, which is a crowd-pleaser, he and Garson said.
Debra Pouliot, manager of the Thompson Chamber of Commerce, said restaurants aren't the only businesses that are facing challenges in Thompson.
"The biggest problem I keep hearing is lack of workers. They're having a hard time keeping staff, they're cutting hours and being closed on days they would normally be open because of a lack of staff," she said.
To see two businesses open in the last nine months is a positive signal, though, she said.
"It's just great news for Thompson. We need more business, we need more economic growth."
Neepin and Garson dream of eventually expanding their dining room so people can eat their meals on glass plates, rather than in paper.
"That's one thing I haven't been able to showcase is my plating, because it mostly just gets stuffed in a box or right now, thrown into a basket," Neepin said with a laugh.
"It's very, very humble beginnings right now, but I really want to showcase how I can actually present food as well."
Meanwhile, Beebe-Brand looks forward to using the friendship centre restaurant's profits to help fund programming.
"Any profits that we make in any of our business aspects of our organization, we utilize those funds to create more programs for the community," she said.
"I think that we're a very significant role player in offering, like, programs and services for the community."
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