¡Qué Padre! Set For May Opening In Fredericton
FREDERICTON–In any given week so far this year, Christian Martin says he gets between five and 15 emails, all asking the same question: “When is ¡Qué Padre! In Fredericton opening?”
For Martin, the co-founder of the Edmunston-based Mexican restaurant, it’s been a difficult question to answer.
¡Qué Padre! has experienced the same reality as other restaurants as it attempted to open in an economy slowed by labour shortages, crimped supply chains, and Covid-19 restrictions.
The restaurant’s sign has been adorning the Bishop’s Gate plaza, off Hanwell Road and Bishop Drive in Fredericton, for seven months, acting as a teaser for its arrival.
Martin is also the director of franchising and real estate for Eat It Brands, the company that has expanded the Pür & Simple franchise across Canada. Pür & Simple has a location just steps away from the future home of ¡Qué Padre! and Martin says interest is intense.
“Just the amount of people that are guests that we have coming up to Pür & Simple, and just that traffic it’s bringing to that site, I think it’s created a hype,” he says.
Martin says the sign will soon have a banner up advertising ¡Qué Padre!’s May 24th opening. It’s an opening he says has been a long time coming.
“For us, it was a little bit of a challenge when it came to construction,” says Martin. He adds that, after some Covid-19-related delays through February, work has resumed in full force in preparation for the late May opening.
“It’s a challenge to get the equipment with everything that is happening in the world,” he says. “So that’s why we had that challenge. But right now, it looks like everything is on track.”
¡Qué Padre! put out a hiring notice for its Fredericton location in early April, seeking servers, bartenders, host staff, cooks, a dishwasher, and a busser.
Martin says training for the staff is scheduled for next month, once construction is finished.
Edmundston for Mexican
Martin got the idea for ¡Qué Padre! from travelling and being a big fan of Mexican food. He says he saw an opening in the region for a good Mexican restaurant and used his experience in the franchise industry to propel his business forward.
After introducing what would be ¡Qué Padre!’s business model to his partners, they quickly jumped on board.
“My first thing was, we needed to open a store. Since I’m from Edmundston, I opened the first one in Edmundston,” recalled Martin.
The original ¡Qué Padre! took over a previous restaurant’s home, which Martin and his partners renovated to suit its new Mexican vibe. Martin says everything he wanted to try adopting into franchising for the ¡Qué Padre! brand originated at the Edmundston location, from menu development to trying out new procedures and designs.
But for Martin, the backbone of the brand had to be the food. After developing the original ¡Qué Padre! menu in-house, he brought in some culinary expertise from Montreal.
“We have an in-house consultant that is a Red Seal, Mexican chef,” says Martin. He adds that a third version of the ¡Qué Padre! menu is taking shape and will be ready to launch in time for the Fredericton opening.
“We’ll have more authentic food and we import some peppers directly from Mexico because it’s not something that we can get locally,” says Martin. “We have a very good thing going on; it’s very fun. Our team in Edmundston, they’re amazing to put everything together based on everything that we’ve learned from our consultant.”
Sunshine and Tequila
One aspect Martin isn’t forgetting is outdoor dining. The ¡Qué Padre! in Edmundston, for example, already opened its patio two weeks ago, amid melting snow.
“We have a big patio for the season so we can’t wait to benefit from that. We were probably the first one to open our patio this year,” Martin says.
He says ¡Qué Padre! Fredericton will have one of the larger patio dining spaces in the city, once it’s complete.
Behind the bar, ¡Qué Padre! is hoping to offer as many different types of bottled tequila as possible. Martin says ongoing supply issues have made acquiring some brands difficult but the restaurant still boasts more than 30 different bottles.
“Basically, because of the supply issue we can only buy what’s available at NB Liquor,” says Martin. He adds that when word of a new brand becomes available within the province, ¡Qué Padre! is among the first to get the call.
Martin has also hired a mixologist from Montreal to create the drink menu for the brand.
“We wanted to create a cocktail menu that our guests will try and they will say, ‘okay, …wow!’ So that’s our goal, to make our guests discover tequila in another way.”
Inspiration for growth
While there has already been some discussion with other potential franchise partners in the Maritimes, Martin’s short-term goal is to develop ¡Qué Padre! in Fredericton first as the brand’s model franchise, to attract potential investors for future franchise opportunities.
“They will see the décor and will try the food and basically get the full experience,” he says. “I think for Fredericton we’re going to push a little bit more but our goal is to have New Brunswick full within the next five years at the most,” says Martin.
“We want to do the same thing when we grow this business and have the same potential all across the country, that’s our goal.”
Tyler Mclean is a Huddle reporter based in Fredericton. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].