“I’ve never seen things shut down like this,” said Brandson, who is also a former board chair of the Provencher Blvd. BIZ. “Restaurant owners are always facing challenges, such as profit margins and seasonality, but when you suddenly have to shut your doors, it becomes very challenging.”<\/p>\n In light of the current provincial health restrictions, the Brandsons have pivoted the way they are doing things at their Provencher Boulevard-based eatery and have launched Promenade at Home. <\/p>\n According to Brandson, Promenade at Home offers locally sourced, restaurant-quality meals that are available for delivery, pickup or curbside. The culinary creations are packaged in-house and can be reheated by customers.<\/p>\n “We have vacuum packaging machines, which enables us to create nice restaurant meals that people can enjoy at home,” Brandson said, noting one silver lining of the restrictions is that it has fostered thinking outside the box.<\/p>\n “We have our chefs cooking the meals, and then packing them to freeze to be reheated at home. People can reheat the sealed meals either in a pot or in the microwave, which makes preparation very easy.”<\/p>\n A number of items are featured on the Promenade at Home menu, including around five entrees, and six side dishes, Brandson said. At press time, these included soup du jour, a pasta of the day, a poutine of the day, beef bourguignon, lemon herbed chicken, and provencal pilaf.<\/p>\n Brandson said another benefit of Promenade at Home is that it supports local producers who supply the restaurant, which also means there aren’t supply chain issues compared to goods coming in from outside the province.<\/p>\n “We’re trying to keep things as local as possible,” he said. <\/p>\n As well, Brandson said after working with his restaurant staff through the years, they feel like family.<\/p>\n “You create a little family, and you watch them grow as the restauraant becomes part of their lives,” he said.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t