Cactus Club Cafe investing in Vernon

Aug 26, 2022 | 4:00 AM

The new Cactus Club Cafe in Vernon is still months from opening, but the company gave a sneak peak of the facility on Thursday.

Dozens of trades people were busy with tiling, building seating, installing electrical and so on, as the former Temptasian Restaurant on Anderson Way is transformed into the Cactus Club Cafe theme.

General Manager Kelsey Matheson / Vernon Matters Video

While renovation costs haven’t been released, it is evident from the work and equipment being installed that the investment is in the six figures.

The facility will feature a year-round patio for 50 guests, a lounge for 75 and a dining room with 150 seats. There will be an additional parking lot patio for the busy summer months.

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“Our real estate and design team have been working tirelessly to get this 7,500 square foot facility ready for a fall opening,” general manager Kelsey Matheson said.

Head chef Adam Shannon and general manager Kelsey Matheson. (Vernon Matters photo)

A beaming head chef Adam Shannon showed off the state-of-the-art kitchen, which boasts the latest culinary technology. Items like deep fryers that sense and clean the fry oil, and $30,000 ovens capable of baking, roasting and steaming to perfection with a touch of a screen.

“Back here in this area, there will be a staff of about 60 with 20 to 30 on any given shift working from our dish area through to all areas of the kitchen,” Shannon explained. “This is the supercar version of a kitchen. It is designed for speed and efficiency.”

Vernon mayor Victor Cumming, who had a dishwashing job as a teenager, was clearly impressed.

“It is good to have variety. This adds another type of restaurant, and goes will with the new hotel down the road (Premier Best Western Route 97),” Cumming said.

Vernon mayor Victor Cumming (Vernon Matters photo)

Total employment at the restaurant will eventually reach 200 full and part-time employees.

The company has held three hiring fairs and will hold a fourth soon, initially hiring 60 for back-of-house and 100 people for front-of-house. Seventy-five people have been hired as greeters, shift managers, bartenders and wait staff, another 40 have been hired for kitchen jobs.

Employee availability in the hospitality and food industry has been an issue for many operators, but hasn’t been a huge problem for Matheson and Shannon.

“As soon as this was announced, I had people coming into the Banks Road location in Kelowna wanting to work in Vernon,” Chef Shannon said.

The company is offering higher wages than most other restaurants in the area, and is also big on personal development. Shannon started out as a dishwasher and has progressed through the ranks to being a Red Seal Chef.

“It is encouraging for a new business to be creating these jobs, and it seems contrary to what we are seeing elsewhere in the hospitality sector. First jobs are important,” said Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce general manager Dan Proulx.

The menu is created in two test kitchens in Vancouver, with up to 20 different versions of every dish created before one is finally ready for the plate. The company also plans to source local wine, cider and beer. Kelowna’s Tantalus Winery is in the process of creating an exclusive Cactus Club chardonnay.

The B.C.-based company hopes to have a firm opening date in the next few weeks.

It will be the 30th Cactus Club restaurant in Western Canada and the third in the Okanagan.

by Kevin Rothwell

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