As published in Red Deer Experss, Oct.15, 2010

Making its Mark

“I can’t say enough about the advantages of operating a business in Red Deer,” says Dwayne Gauthier, who owns and operates Restaurant 27 with his twin brother Darren.

“I spent a couple of weeks here in 1999 and really liked it and ended up staying. It’s the best move I could have made.

“We’ve built this business and others on the people I met here. Regular customers at our first restaurant downtown helped us build our new place and some of it was done on credit and the great support we received from local people.

“Red Deer is still a small enough place so that you get to know the right people and we couldn’t have done what we’ve done here in Calgary or Edmonton. People help and want you to do well.

There’s no better place for people starting out in business. I’m the dreamer, my brother is the realist and I think the balance between us makes us successful.”

Restaurant 27 & Lounge first opened its doors in a smaller, downtown location and in April 2009 relocated to a much larger space at 3301 Gaetz Ave., across from the Capri Hotel.

In a short time it’s become one of Red Deer’s most popular and best-liked upscale restaurants.

It won several Golden Fork awards last month and numerous other accolades for its fine dining, excellent service and ambience.

“We are always eager to support great local causes like the Relay for Life, the Red Deer Food Bank, the Red Deer Symphony, Loaves & Fishes, Ronald McDonald House, the Festival of Trees, the Optimists Club for Children, Red Deer Childrens’ Services Centre, Red Deer Regional Health, MS Society, Alberta Sports Hall of Fame and Red Deer Victims Services, to name a few.

 Chamber announces 2010 Business of the Year Finalists

by Danielle Klooster, posted on 8:55 p.m., September 20, 2010

Each year as part of Small Business Week, the Red Deer Chamber of Commerce initiates a number of activities to promote and celebrate the contributions of businesses to Central Alberta’s strong private sector and vibrant community. One of the most anticipated events is the annual Business Awards Banquet hosted by the Chamber to honour select companies that have demonstrated business excellence.

Judges of the Red Deer Chamber of Commerce’s Business of the Year Awards are pleased to announce the following finalists in the three categories (in no particular order):

Business of the Year (1 – 15 Employees):

• Restaurant 27 & Lounge 
• Sky Wings Aviation Academy Ltd. 
• Soderquist Appraisals Ltd.

Business of the Year (16 – 49 Employees):

• CARE Industries Ltd. 
• Family Services of Central Alberta 
• ZED99 and KG Country 95.5 a Division of Newcap Radio

Business of the Year (50+ Employees):

• Scott Builders Inc. 
• Servus Credit Union Ltd. 
• Sim’s Furniture Ltd.

Winners will be announced at the 2010 Business of the Year Awards Ceremony to be held October 19th, 2010 at the Red Deer College Arts Centre. Tickets for the event are available until October 12th and may be purchased online here.

The Red Deer Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year Awards honour local businesses for their contributions to excellence. Criteria include customer service, growth, awards, innovation, community contribution and future expectations.

Media interviews and photo opportunities with the winners are welcome following the ceremony. Lindsey Knudson, Events Coordinator will be on-site to assist with these arrangements.

For more information on the Business of the Year Awards, please contact:

Restaurant 27 chef Aaron Doucet plates a meal in the Red Deer Restaurant on Wednesday.

Red Deer Advocate

Restaurant 27 named Chamber business of year

By Paul Cowley – Red Deer Advocate

Published: October 20, 2010 7:02 PM
Updated: October 20, 2010 7:06 PM

 The Red Deer Chamber of the Commerce awarded Restaurant 27 with the award of Business of the Year for businesses with 15 or fewer employees. Scott Builders took top honours for businesses with 50 or more employees while CARE Industries Ltd. won in the category of 16-49 employees.

Dwayne Gauthier describes the last four years as a “windstorm.”

In that period, he and brother Darren poured their energy, and at least 18 hours of the waking hours every day, into building two business success stories, Restaurant 27 and Lounge and Urban Landscaping and Construction Ltd.

The twin brothers’ dedication was recognized on Tuesday when their Restaurant 27 was picked as one of three Business of the Year Award recipients at the annual Red Deer Chamber of Commerce event.

“It was an honour and a surprise — a very big surprise,” said Dwayne on Wednesday. “We were kind of shell shocked last night.”

Since then the congratulatory emails and phone calls have been pouring in.

The last few years have been a wild ride for the brothers.

Four years ago they started the landscape business with a couple of lawnmowers and which has since taken off. Then, in January 2008 they opened the first Restaurant 27 in downtown Red Deer and the following year opened a new version at the former Capers Pasta and Ribs location at 3301 Gaetz Ave.

It has been doing well, but not without a lot of work, said Dwayne, who admits they wondered more than once what they had gotten themselves into.

“The reason for the success of the restaurant is we’ve tried to work so hard to have the restaurant work with the staff, rather than have the staff work for us, and make it just a good place to work and fun place to come to work,” he said.

He sees the nomination as a “pat on the back” for that effort and he is grateful they were recognized by the local business community.

“It’s a big honour for us and for all the staff that work with us. It’s really their doing.”

Another Business of the Year recipient has faced a big test with the recession, which dealt a hard blow to the construction industry.

At Red Deer-based Scott Builders Inc. that has meant looking farther afield for projects, tackling projects outside their usual bread and butter, and ensuring clients are happy.

It’s an approach that is paying off, and the company’s role as a business leader has not gone unrecognized. On Tuesday, the company won in the category for companies with more than 50 employees.

Murray Cunningham, the company’s vice-president and general manager of the Red Deer branch, said the recognition was a welcome surprise.

“It was very neat. It’s certainly not something we expected.”

Cunningham said he was asked after the ceremony at the Red Deer College Arts Centre what the award meant for the company’s direction.

“I thing this means we keep doing what we’re doing,” he said. “We stay with our plan.”

Scott has about 70 employees in Red Deer where the head office is located. Up to 150 people work out of all six branches, in Alberta and Ontario.

He credited staff for stepping up to find more jobs, travel longer distances and spend more hours on the job to help the company, which was started in 1971, stay busy at a time when construction dollars have dried up, particularly in Central Alberta, where business is driven by the oil and gas industry.

“We’ve really worked hard in the last few years to take care of our clients well. Because there isn’t as much work out there we have to do each project so much better because there’s so much competition for new work.”

For oilfield equipment manufacturer CARE Industries Ltd., being chosen Business of the Year in the 16 to 49 employees category caps off what is shaping up to be the best year ever for the 10-year-old company.

“It’s a really good recognition for the management group and all the efforts they’ve put in over the past year,” said company president David Leonard.

The company has been on a roll the past couple of years. Revenues were up 35 per cent in 2009 compared with a year earlier and Leonard is expecting revenues to be up in the range of 120 per cent this year.

CARE owes much of its success to a partnership with Tuscany International Drilling Inc., a Calgary company that’s active in South America and has been aggressively building up its rig fleet.

“Getting into that South American has definitely been a key for us,” he said. CARE’s equipment is already attracting interest from other international buyers.

“It’s tough market to crack. It takes you a couple of years,” he said. “But if you build a good product, and people see it working and like it, it opens up more doors.”

pcowley@reddeeradvocate.com

To make your donation, please visit my personal donation page at https://app.webdonate.com/Participant/dwayne80.aspx

To all our friends,

We Need Your Help and we haven’t got much time left!!!!

Darren and myself have volunteered us and our Restaurant to raise $25 000 for Breast and Ovarian Cancer Research. 

Now when this idea first came along about 10 days ago we were asked to raise $2500.  Upon thinking about the idea and how we have friends and family who have been affected by Cancer, we felt a need to make a bigger difference. 

We have raised as much as $10 000 in one evening for other well deserving charitites, so why not raise the bar and promise $25 000?

Well thats what we did, We promised $25 000 by November 18, 2010.

 We are not expecting to raise all this money based solely on donations from friends and family.  Of course we are hoping that you all will pull out your credit cards and put something on there.  Wink, Wink.

Click on this link for all the information on the “Chefs Challenge for a Cure Fundraiser”

http://www.chefschallengeforacure.com/

We have put together a couple of other campaigns as well.  Please keep reading and we will show you how we will make this goal possible and a success.

1.  Dwayne is donating a one of a kind evening of Food & Wine

We are hoping to raise $5000 here

 Cancer Fundraiser Raffle  

I will be giving away a 5 course Chefs Menu for 2 with Wine Pairings…. custom designed for you and a guest.  If you are the lucky winner I will phone you personally and find out your favorite foods.  I will then design a menu based on those ingredients and pair each course with the perfect wines.  I will then be at your service for the evening to romance each dish tableside, poor your wine and make it a wonderful experience.  All you have to do is purchase a Raffle ticket for $10, in which 100 % of the money collected goes directly to the “Chefs Challenge for a Cure” fundraiser.

Call the Restaurant today or come by and pick one up.  403-309-9989

Drawing on Wednesday, November 17.  Only 10 days to go.

We started two days ago with 500 and have 450 left to go.  I Personally promise to make it a meal you won’t forget.

2.  Darren & Dwayne are competing against eachother in The Ultimate Iron Chef Competition

We are hoping to raise $12 000 here

Ultimate Iron Chef Battle

Sunday, Nov.14, 2010 (Only 6 more days)

We are having a rematch between owners and twin brothers, Darren and Dwayne.  In their first and only battle last December, Darren, the Passionate Home Cook beat out Dwayne the Trained Chef.  Dwayne plans on taking back his title as the “Chef of the Family.”  Both brothers will be teaming up with kitchen staff and putting together a 4 course menu with the following “secret” ingredients.

Starter:  CITRUS
Appetizer:  ARTICHOKES
Main:  LOCAL ALBERTA BEEF
Dessert:  MANGOS

Customers will also get to rate the dishes on score cards for Originality, Creativity and Flavour.  The customers will be the ones who ultimately choose the Iron Chef team that Night.

We will be enjoying live music by the wonderfully talented Steve Arsenault of Red Deer.

There will also be a silent auction with tons of great items.

This will be an 8 course menu for all attending at a cost of $100 per person. 

It will be an evening of great food and culinary adventure not soon forgotten.  Large groups are welcome and will make that experience that much more fun while you discuss, critique and score the dishes.

Please Call the restaurant to reserve your  tickets or come by and pick them up. 

403-309-9989

Click on this link to see video of a past Iron Chef battle from the kitchens perspective.

http://24-7videotours.com/player/index.php?siteid=10&catid=31&movieid=795

IF YOU HAVE AN ITEM THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO DONATE TO THE SILENT AUCTION PLEASE CONTACT US DIRECTLY BY EMAIL OR TELEPHONE  @ 403-396-2165.  ANY AND ALL DONATIONS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED

3. We are asking our wonderful and generous family and friends to open their wallets, click on the link below and donate what they can to this wonderful cause.  All you have to do is fill in your credit card number, choose an amount and truly help make a difference in ending Cancer for Good.

We are hoping to raise $8000 here

To make your donation, please visit my personal donation page at https://app.webdonate.com/Participant/dwayne80.aspx

We will also be giving away one more Chefs 5 Course menu with Wine Pairings to one lucky person who donates online. 

On November 19^th upon meeting our goal, we will put all the names in a box who have donated on line, and choose one lucky winner.

The package will be the same as above and will not expire.  So even if you are not in Alberta right now, we will send the certificate for you to use sometime down the road.  I mean, we all come through Alberta sometime don’t we?

Click on this link to see what we do and why?

http://24-7videotours.com/player/index.php?siteid=24

Chef’s Challenge – The Ultimate Battle for a Cure will be Canada’s premiere culinary fundraising event for Mount Sinai Hospital’s lifesaving research and care of women in their daily battle against breast and ovarian cancer.

On November 20 -21, 2010 we will be participating in Chef’s Challenge featuring chef Gordon Ramsay and an all-star line up of Celebrity chefs! Please help me reach my fundraising goal by making a generous donation. Your donation will provide sustainable funding to the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute and the Marvelle Koffler Breast Centre of Mount Sinai Hospital.

Join me in taking a stand and choosing to fight women’s cancers!

Thank you for your support!

**IF you are experiencing technical difficulties or receive an error message as you attempt a transaction, please notify our office at  agarda@mtsinai.on.ca or call  416-586-4800 ext. 8282 we will process your transaction manually.

To make your donation, please visit my personal donation page at https://app.webdonate.com/Participant/dwayne80.aspx

On behalf of Mount Sinai Hospital, thank you for your generous support!

Sincerely,
Dwayne Gauthier, Darren Gauthier

As told by Lindsey Norris from Unlimited Magazine

Spend a few minutes watching Henrik and Daniel Sedin play for the Vancouver Canucks and you’ll have no trouble believing that twins possess an extra something the rest of us don’t. They seem to read one another’s minds; one is always ready to capitalize on the other’s play. Darren and Dwayne Gauthier know all about the twin phenomenon. With four friends, the 19-year-old identicals left the Maritimes, moved to Alberta and worked in the oil industry for a few years. Then the two started a landscaping business. Now 29, the Gauthiers have also opened Restaurant 27, a high-end restaurant in Red Deer to introduce the city of big-box restaurant franchises to adventurous menu items such as duck and rabbit. (The name references the age they were when they started the restaurant.) Sure, there have some differences. Dwayne is 15 minutes older; Darren is a more reserved (in their partnership, he handles the numbers). But their approach to business, and life, is remarkably similar.

Dwayne Gauthier presides over the kitchen and brother Darren handles the front of house

O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Dwayne: I didn’t work in the oil industry right away. I went to NAIT’s culinary program. I worked in kitchens in an Edmonton hotel and a restaurant. I was passing through Red Deer en route to a job in Calgary when I decided to stay. I helped manage an East Coast, maritime-themed bar. I was working 70, 80 hours a week for $1,600 a month. I saw all these people around me making good money, so I called it quits and said I wasn’t working in another restaurant till I owned my own.

I worked in the oilfield for the next five years or so. Then my fiancée was pregnant, and I was still spending seven months of the year away from home. When we got into the oil rigs, the idea was always that we would save money to buy a restaurant. It didn’t quite work out. It’s more fun buying toys and motorcycles. But I’ve always been passionate about the restaurant business. Even in the oilfield I would spend days and nights watching the Food Network.

Darren and I are side by side 24/7. If anyone gets jealous, it’s my fiancée and Darren’s girlfriend. Yesterday, for example, I was at the restaurant at 10 a.m. until 11 p.m. Then we picked up our landscaping gear and did snow removal until 3 a.m. We went home, got some sleep and were back at the restaurant first thing in the morning.

Earth Movers
Darren: Dwayne and I have very creative sides, that desire to start with nothing and make something that is esthetically pleasing to look at. In high school I thought I’d be an interior designer.

Once you get into the oil industry, it’s hard to get away from the money. I saw the potential for less back-breaking work and I became a tool hand. When you’re younger, the lifestyle doesn’t bother you so much. The landscaping business gave us the potential to make money and take us away from the oilfields, to have a more normal life.

My girlfriend would like to see me at home more, but she understands that more work now means less down the road. I wouldn’t say it doesn’t affect us at all – there are a lot of long hours, long days. Working for yourself has a lot going for it, and at the end of the day it isn’t all about the money but enjoying what you’re doing.

Table for Two
Dwayne & Darren: A downtown restaurant was closing and we saw a lot of potential in the location, even though a lot of people thought we were crazy. It was within our price range. In January 2008, we opened Restaurant 27; that’s how old we were at the time. We wanted to do something different: support local farmers, use local produce, make everything from scratch. We even make homemade ketchup.

We do charge a little more than a franchise. It took six months to get people in the door and we lost a lot of money initially. We knew it would be hard the first year; we knew the landscaping company would have to pay the bills for a while. Now we’re busy six days a week. It didn’t strain our relationship because of our mentality: there’s one way to do things, and that’s the right way.

A few months ago we were just getting to the point where we were taking Sundays off, and maybe another night a week, when we saw the opportunity to open another, larger restaurant. (We hope to have it open this spring.) We plan to keep our downtown location a place for upscale breakfast and lunch, and the new location for dinner. Our plan is that by the time we’re 35 we can take our time, travel two or three times a year, and have the businesses provide for us at the same time.

It’s not always easy, we have to struggle sometimes. We find it cool that people appreciate what we’re doing, when we’re just kind of trying to live our dream. We grew up in Newfoundland, so we know you have to put in the hours to get what you want.

Sang Hong of Convenience General Contracting in Red Deer sands drywall in the new Restaurant 27, which will be moving into the former Capers Pizza and Ribs location at 3301-50 Ave. Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff

By Harley Richards – Red Deer Advocate

Published: April 01, 2009 9:26 PM
Updated: April 02, 2009 7:29 AM

By Harley Richards – Red Deer Advocate
Published: September 08, 2008 7:40 PM

They worked on the rigs for years and developed a landscaping business together — but food was always on the minds of Dwayne and Darren Gauthier.

Now the twin brothers are satisfying their culinary craving in a big way.

The Gauthiers own and operate Restaurant 27, a name that reflects the age of the pair when they opened the door to their 4819A 48th Ave. business in January.

There, they’ve been focusing on fine dining, with a Red Seal chef serving up the likes of trout, duck and quail.

Wines run as high as $120 a bottle, and live music adds to the ambiance on some nights.

The decision to offer upscale dining was made with some caution, acknowledges Dwayne.

“Our first menu was very, very neutral,” he said, listing chicken, beef, pork, halibut and salmon as the entree items.

“Once we got people comfortable with that, we took our second menu and we brought out a couple more entrees with duck and lamb and on and on.”

Restaurant 27’s third menu is even more adventurous, and the brothers think this strategy has been the right one.

“That was our biggest challenge was to get people to come in the door and give it a go,” said Dwayne. “Once they give it a go, they love it.”

Born in Medicine Hat, the Gauthiers moved to Newfoundland when they were three. Sixteen years later they returned to Alberta, with Dwayne enrolling in the culinary arts program at NAIT.

“I wanted to be a chef as long as I could remember,” he said.

Dwayne worked in hotels, managed an Earls restaurant, bartended at Red Deer’s East 40th Pub and helped open The Lighthouse Bar and Grill in the city before the lure of money in the oilpatch pulled him away.

Darren was already there, although he said he always shared his brother’s passion for cooking.

The brothers worked in the energy sector for the next six years, but periodically discussed the possibility of opening a restaurant. When fatherhood convinced Dwayne to leave the patch, he turned to landscaping — with Darren and a younger brother joining him.

Late last year, while cutting hedges in downtown Red Deer, Dwayne noticed that Café La Cucina was for sale.

“When I walked in, all I saw was potential,” he said

Darren shared his enthusiasm, but friends and family were a little skeptical.

The brothers bought the business, gutted its interior and rebuilt from scratch — a do-it-yourself project that took most of their time and money.

“We mortgaged both of our houses, we mortgaged everything in our landscaping company,” said Dwayne.

They opened on Jan. 12, with Dwayne cooking and Darren serving. Soon after, Cody Loewen, now a Red Seal chef, helped assume responsibility for the kitchen.

Today the Gauthiers employ seven servers and a kitchen staff of eight, including a dishwasher.

Their landscaping company — Urban Lawn and Landscape Ltd. — continues to operate and now employs eight. Darren oversees much of the work there while also spending much time at the restaurant.

Restaurant 27 is open from 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., Monday to Saturday, with “lighter fare” selections available at lunch. Prices for entrees range from about $15 to $35.

Ivan Smith with some of the goods at his Big Bend Market shop in Southpointe Common; sourcing hormone- and antibiotic-free meat from area producers.

Ivan Smith knows meat.

And that expertise extends beyond quality and cuts. The owner of Big Bend Market in Red Deer is familiar with the history of his products as well.

“Every piece of meat in here, I can tell you the farmer that raised it and the age of the animal — the whole detail.”

Smith is even contemplating displaying photos of the families that supply meat to his store, so customers gain an increased awareness of the origins of their food.

Those suppliers, most of whom live in Central Alberta, provide Big Bend Market with hormone- and antibiotic-free bison, beef, pork, elk, lamb, chicken, turkey and veal.

“I think we’re the only place that has fresh, hormone- and antibiotic-free meat in all species,” said Smith, adding that bison is his biggest seller.

“Nobody can touch us on the bison products, as far as selection goes.”

Much of that bison is raised by Smith himself. He feeds about 1,200 head, with the herd spread across his own quarter section near Innisfail and another 1,500 acres of leased land.

Smith also custom-feeds and sells bison for other producers.

“I do marketing for probably 30 bison farms within Alberta and Saskatchewan.”

That gives him the volumes needed to attract buyers and gain marketing power.

“I know that some of the meat I sell ends up as far away as Dubai,” said Smith, adding that his bison also goes to a number of restaurants.

Now 35, Smith has been raising bison since 1998. He initially relied on farmers markets to sell his meat, and continues to attend several every week.

But Smith wanted to sell fresh meat at a permanent location, and knew other farm-direct vendors who felt the same way.

He was looking for a suitable location for a shop when Keith and Shelly Baier announced they were closing their Baier’s Sausage & Meats stores. Smith took over the south-side location in Southpointe Common and reopened as Big Bend Market in October 2007.

Sales have since increased four-fold, he estimates.

“It’s so easy to sell quality.”

That’s because consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about what goes into their bodies.

“People are definitely eating healthier,” said Smith.

“Used to be, they didn’t really care where it came from.”

Many customers not only want to know where their meat originated, but how it was raised. Big Bend Market’s success, said Smith, is due largely to the knowledgeable staff he retained from Baier’s and the close ties he has with the store’s farmer-suppliers.

In addition to ensuring quality, dealing directly with producers helps keep costs down, he said. Big Bend Market uses a number of Central Alberta slaughterhouses but has an in-house butcher who cuts and prepares meat for sale.

It also carries a variety of non-meat products, many of which are or have in the past been sold through farmers markets.

Smith thinks Big Bend Market has the potential for continued growth.

“There are so few people that know what we do here,” he said, adding that many don’t realize the range of products available in the shop.

“Because I’m so well known for the bison, a lot of people assume that’s all I have.”

He’s been doing some cross-marketing with Red Deer’s Restaurant 27, in which he’s a partner. That includes recognition in the restaurant’s menu that Big Bend Market supplies all of its meat.

If things continue to go well, Smith said he might open another, bigger location to boost volumes and efficiencies. He’s also been asked about franchising shops elsewhere.

If there is a limit to how much Big Bend Market can grow, it’s probably linked to the number of hours in a day.

Smith puts in about 50 hours a week at the store now, with much more time spent raising and marketing livestock.

“It’s pretty ridiculous,” he acknowledged. “Normally I try to be up by 5 and I generally quit work at 10 or 11 at night.”

But he enjoys dealing with the people on both sides of his business, and is pleased with what he’s created.

“Would I have thought I would have owned a butcher shop? Never in my wildest dreams. Now it’s something I’m really proud about.”

hrichards@reddeeradvocate.com

Big Bend Market has expanded to Red Deer’s north side.

Master German butcher Gerhard Franke readies pork breakfast sausage at the newly re-opened Farmer’s Gate Meats Thursday.

Ivan Smith, who operates a shop in Southpointe Common, recently took over the location once occupied by a butcher shop.

Smith said he bought the north-end business, formerly known as Farmer’s Gate or Nature’s Gate, because it was a “fabulous set-up.”

“It has fabrication equipment for processing meat, so we can make sausage in there and cut steaks and tie roasts,” he said.

The previous owner was “happy to see the business” stay in Red Deer, Smith said.

One potential purchaser had looked at moving it to Camrose, Smith said.

Big Bend Market North will continue to carry Farmer’s Gate products. Elk, pork, chicken, bison and beef will be among the meats offered.

And he’s offering the same kind of products, like locally made Sylvan Star Cheese, found in his south shop.

“We’ll be able to serve the food service agency as well,” Smith said.

Smith said his Big Bend Market South location is too small for larger volumes of production.

“The north (location) production area is enormous but the front end selling area is small,” Smith said. “The two really complement each other.”

Big Bend Market North is found at North Bay 15, 7619-50th Ave. Its phone number is 403-342-0991. Its hours of operation are 9-5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday.

Big Bend Market South includes a full deli and lots of locally-produced products including fresh antibiotic and hormone-free meat plus baked bread. It is found at #157, 2004-50th Ave. Its hours are 9:30-6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 9:30-5:30 p.m. on Saturday. Its phone number is 403-341-2344.