What is the Courtice Canteen?
The Courtice Canteen is a more than just a small restaurant nestled in the heart of the Courtice flea market, it's more than the great food we serve weekend after weekend, it's more than the outstanding customer service you'll receive on every visit. The Courtice canteen is years of passion and hard work paying off. It took us 15 years to get here. A small dream that's always lingered, after years of travel and coming back to this small town, the opportunity to make that dream a reality arose and the Courtice Canteen was born.
“The Canteen for me is an amalgamation of all my different interests and skills, all jammed into one. Its 15 years of slaving away in hot kitchens across the provinces, working hard for little reward. Now if I have to work longer hours and get paid less at least I'm doing it for myself. I was able to scratch the itch of being a business owner I could never before reach. I knew there could be risks but I didn't think of them. it didn't matter because the potential reward was too big. Whatever the risk, we would make it work. I had time, passion, years of training, I took a few marketing and business courses in high school, and read some great business books. What else did I need to make this work? Nothing, but a great partner.”
A business partner can make or break a business, luckily I found a great one. Unlike me, Charlene never planned on opening a restaurant. if you asked her a few years ago about I'm sure you receive a funny look and an awkward laugh. Now shes at the canteen every weekend hustling it out as hard as I do. It's really amazing to see how far people come and can be pushed outside their comfort zone in such a short time. The passion she brings to the canteen can only be matched by my own. There would be no Courtice Canteen without Charlene.
The Courtice canteen is coming up to year two of being in business. The first year was spent learning and growing, reinvesting in the business, and expanding on what we could do in a small space. Even with the struggle we all faced with the pandemic, We continue to be at the market every weekend expanding in ways to better serve you, our loyal customers, and friends. We plan to be here for the foreseeable future, aging and growing with all of you, telling each other our stories as we see you week to week, living our lives separately but still together.
- James, Owner.