Frustrated owners won’t rebuild demolished Boujee Fires, subsequent break-ins sour restaurateur on downtown By: Nicole Buffie Posted: 6:45 PM CDT Monday, Aug. 10, 2026 Last Modified: 7:09 PM CDT Monday, Aug. 10, 2026 Updates

The co-owner of a former Main Street restaurant vows he will not rebuild in Winnipeg’s downtown, owing to constant crime and vandalism in the area.

Kanish Sood, who is one of three partners of the now-demolished Boujee Restaurant and Bar, said he did everything he could to keep the building safe from vandals after it was hit by arson last October.

“After that (fire), there is about already 15, 20 times there has been break-in in the property,” Sood said Monday. “We have been informing police continuously that there is continuously break-ins. People are trying to go inside the building and stealing things, but there was no action.”

After Boujee was torched, Sood and his partners locked the building and boarded it up. They also hired private security to monitor it. The break-ins continued.

The building, located at 191 Main St., in a high-traffic area near the entrance to The Forks, was again set aflame — twice — last week. That led to an emergency demolition of the property on Saturday.

In the first instance, Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service crews were sent to the restaurant at 5:38 p.m. on Aug. 2 and extinguished a fire. The building sustained significant fire and water damage.

On Saturday — six days later — crews were back at Boujee just before 6 a.m., for another fire. The city arranged an emergency demolition of the building later that day.

The 29-year-old business owner says he and his partners have no desire — or money — to invest in another property downtown. They are awaiting an insurance payout from the first fire.

“I would not even recommend (opening a restaurant) to anyone with all that is happening in downtown.”

“We were planning to rebuild the restaurant … we’re like young entrepreneurs. This is our first business, right? We invested everything in it, now we have nothing now,” Sood said.

“I would not even recommend (opening a restaurant) to anyone with all that is happening in downtown. Like that particular area, this is the biggest corner of the city, the main corner where a lot of vehicles pass every day, yet police or legal authorities cannot even protect that.”

Sood said he had also reached out to the mayor’s office about his concerns about downtown safety and the viability of owning a restaurant in the area.

A spokesperson from the mayor’s office couldn’t confirm late Monday afternoon if it had received correspondence from Sood. In a statement, a spokesperson said the property has “huge potential and is an excellent redevelopment opportunity for an owner prepared to invest in it,” noting hundreds of new homes being built next door at Railside at The Forks.

Boujee opened in April 2024, in the spot that has housed a restaurant for decades. It was previously the Friskee Pearl and, for many years, an Earls.

Manitoba Restaurant and Foodservices Association chair Jay Kilgour called Boujee’s demolition heartbreaking.

The only way to ensure more downtown spots don’t suffer the same fate, he said, is to create safe spaces for business owners to set up shop. He mentioned patrols and better lighting as possible security measures.

“We need to focus on deterrence, and I think that we need to focus on getting people downtown,” said Kilgour, a restaurant owner himself. “Any barrier to a restaurant opening is our concern, and I think that you’re not going to have a vibrant downtown without restaurants willing to open there.”

Winnipeg Police Service spokesperson Const. Pat Saydak confirmed police are investigating both of the recent fires at Boujee. Police did not answer further questions about the blazes.

The man accused in the October 2025 blaze is set to be tried in a judge-only trial in May 2027, court records show. Jesse Wheatland is accused of setting fires at multiple downtown businesses, including Commonwealth Kitchen and Bar, Johnny G’s, the Palomino Club, Boujee, La Roca and Tipsy Cow.

He remains in custody.

In May, the province announced $2 million in funding to five community organizations to bolster safety in the downtown core. The province said at the time the money would be used to build community partnerships, as well as pay for security upgrades like cameras and alarm systems for the organizations’ offices.

— with file from Malak Abas

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca