A restaurant in one of Edmonton’s oldest buildings is struggling to stay afloat. With high costs and rising prices, the business is asking Edmontonians to bring their support to Fort Road.
The Transit Hotel opened in 1908 and closed in 2017. In 2019, two business partners signed a 20-year lease and began renovations to open a new restaurant inside the building — the Transit Smokehouse and BBQ.
It was a difficult journey with a 10-month delay to get the proper permits from the City of Edmonton, but in 2021, the eatery opened on the main floor.
However, it hasn’t been smooth sailing.
“Thinking things will eventually get better, but it’s not the case,” said owner Ray Pritlove.
“It’s been one catastrophe after another. It’s been probably the hardest four years that I’ve ever had in a restaurant.”
Opening during the COVID-19 pandemic had its own challenges, and then a few years of construction on Fort Road didn’t help.
“I’m not afraid to work hard, it’s just at some point there’s got to be relief.”
On top of it all, Pritlove says the price of everything has jumped over the past four years, including meat.
Beef prices shot up a few years ago at a time when Canadians were coping with the highest levels of inflation since 1991, and have stayed high.
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“Cost of our brisket — which is the number one meat that we sell out of here —has gone up more than double since we started.”
The northeast Edmonton area is busy, Ward Dene councillor Aaron Paquette said, and with the nearby Station Pointe condo complex almost fully sold, it could attract more people.
But Paquette added part of the problem is getting Edmontonians traveling along Fort Road to actually stop.
“What we’re taking a look at here is, what is this road supposed to be beside the transit hotel? Is it supposed to be a freeway? Is it supposed to be a place for people to slow down take a look at things? Get out and shop? That’s the identity that’s a little bit more required I think here,” said Paquette.
A century ago, the Fort Road area was its own village called Packingtown, in reference to the area’s main industry at the time — meat packing. The area amalgamated with the City of Edmonton in 1913 and became the working-class industrial centre of the city. But as the city grew and industry changed, Paquette said the community didn’t keep up.
“It used to be the heart of its own town, and now it’s just sort of on life support.”
The difficult year has prompted the Transit Smokehouse and BBQ to put a call out on social media asking for support.
“We got to hit each milestone. The next milestone for us is getting payroll covered, then getting our rent paid, so all these milestones, as long as we keep hitting them we’ll survive. If we don’t, then that’s where the trouble comes,” said Pritlove.
The restaurant located at Fort Road and 66th Street is hoping to attract even more people to the 117-year-old building, to keep it and its history alive.
“Parents will bring their kids, grandparents will bring their grandkids, it’s just neat to (hear) each the stories that people have. Everyone seems to have a Transit story.”
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