Le Monkey Bar is open for business

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This article was published 27/06/2017 (3046 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There will be plenty of monkeying around on Esplanade Riel this summer.

And for St. Boniface residents Muriel Dupuis and Rahim Liman, that’s a good thing.

Dupuis, 20, and Liman, 28, are the new occupants of one of the three kiosks on the esplanade, which is now home to their new enterprise Le Monkey Bar. The kiosks are owned by Entreprises Riel on the esplanade, and the couple is located in the one closest to The Forks.

Le Monkey Bar offers a mouth-watering selection of stylish snacks, which are described on the couple’s website as high-quality, fruit-centred, healthy refreshments made with the finest ingredients.   

Whether it’s homemade polar bananas and pops, smoothies, lemonade, strawberry-nade, iced coffee, or popsicles, to name a few, the pair is hoping to make its mark with both community members and visitors to St. Boniface with an appetite for something a bit different this summer. Dupuis and Liman don’t use dairy in their smoothies, while all drinks and pops are sweetened naturally with maple syrup. There are also gluten-free and vegan-friendly options.

Dupuis said the goal is to provide fresh, innovative fare as an alternative to traditional desserts and junk food.

“I’ve always been conscious about health and healthy alternatives,” Dupuis said, noting the couple works with local farmers’ markets and producers for many ingredients.   

“We started by creating a couple of healthy smoothies, and also bananas dipped in chocolate with different toppings. It’s important to be healthy, so providing healthy options in a market that includes impulse purchases is very important to me. I’d say we have a mix of impulse buys and people walking by and looking at the menu and wanting something, and other people, especially vegans, who are coming from a way away to see us.”

Since opening the kiosk last month, business had steadily increased as the couple’s visibility has grown.

“We’re getting busier and busier every day, especially at weekends, and with the Canada 150 celebrations and the Canada Summer Games coming up, there will be more tourists in Winnipeg, which will be fun for us,” Dupuis said, adding the choco-loco smoothie is currently the best-seller.

Dupuis and Liman are grateful for the support of the Economic Development Council for Manitoba Bilingual Municipalities, Entreprises Riel and Université de Saint-Boniface in getting their enterprise up and running.

They are both second-year business administration students at the university, and are enjoying learning about the different aspects of running a business. To help things along, the pair secured a summer business program grant from CDEM, Entreprises Riel is renting them the kiosk at a reasonable rate, and the university is providing support and expertise.  

“We did a presentation in front of a panel of six, and they saw potential in it, I guess, so we got picked,” Dupuis said.

Le Monkey Bar is currently open seven days a week. Go online at lemonkeybar.com for more information. 

simon.fuller@canstarnews.com