Castlegar’s newest restaurant opened last week and the response has been far more than owners Cherry and Gordon Johnson anticipated.
The Bombi Restaurant has replaced Joey’s Seafood in the Kootenay Crossing Mall.
Cherry Johnson bought Joey’s in 2013, but after five years of operating a franchise decided it was time for a change.
As she saw the demand for breakfast grow to about 20 per cent of her business and a more limited menu focusing on fish coming out from Joey’s combined with the escalation of fish prices, the idea to branch out on her own grew.
“It was hard to be competitive in a small community,” said Johnson.
The restaurant will be holding a grand opening later in March once all of the kinks of the opening are worked out.
“The turnout that we have had this last week is just amazing and overwhelming,” said Johnson. “It definitely wasn’t anticipated. I expected our customer count would maybe go up to double, but we have tripled it.”
Johnson expected customers to trickle in as the week progressed, but that’s not what happened.
“They cleaned us out,” she said, explaining that she has never had to place so many food supply orders before.
The restaurant is a family business with Johnson’s daughter, son-in-law and niece all working there. The future plans are for the next generation to take over once the Johnson’s are ready to retire.
Johnson’s daughter and her husband played a big role in developing the menu which features breakfast until 5 p.m., sandwiches, wraps, quesadillas and burgers for lunch and pasta, rice bowls, steaks, chicken and ribs for dinner.
“They wanted to cater to the young people as well as seniors — they wanted to be versatile,” said Johnson.
Four new staff members have already been added and the owners are still looking for a few more part-time employees.
“I can’t say enough about my servers,” added Johnson. “Our staff is wonderful — they have stuck it through with us.”
One prominent feature of The Bombi Restaurant’s decor is a large bull elk mount. The elk is also the restaurant’s namesake. Cherry Johnson shot the elk on the Bombi summit in 2001. The elk made it into the B.C Records Book for a typical bull and was affectionately named Bombi.
As names were being thrown around for the new restaurant, Gordon Johnson suggested naming it after the elk. His image along with a mountain is also used in the business’s logo seen on the menus and on the building’s signage.
The Johnsons look forward to seeing their old customers and bunch of new ones at the new restaurant.
Cherry said that it’s, “The satisfaction of having people leave happy,” that keeps her motivated. “We have so many good regular customers that have been wonderful to us.”
The Bombi Restaurant is open Sunday through Thursday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday and Saturday 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
