The Accent Inns hotel chain will be getting a lot more traffic as the company opens the second of two destination restaurants at its Victoria properties.
Last week, The Ruby diner opened at Hotel Zed, a division of Accent Inns. On April 1, Bin 4 Burger Lounge opens its third Victoria location at the Accent Inns location near the corner of Blanshard Street and Cloverdale Avenue.
“It’s been a great week,” said Accent chief executive Mandy Farmer. “Both are going to be draws.”
Farmer took her time in choosing restaurants for the hotels and said it was key to find operators that both suited the properties and added a new element to each site.
“With Bin 4, I fully chased them. I wanted something that took Accent Inns up another notch, and Bin 4 raises the bar,” she said. “They have been phenomenal to work with, and it’s exciting to work with another family business that is high-achieving, values-oriented and a business with a vision.”
The Ruby came to her.
Farmer said being in the position to pick and choose gave her the chance to find the ideal match for a quirky hotel with a cool, retro vibe.
“We needed to find someone who understood the Hotel Zed vision, be our partner and our roommate,” she said, noting the diner opens right off the hotel lobby. “We wanted it to be buzzing and a place with a local vibe, not just a place where tourists go. I wanted it to be a jumping hot spot.”
That wish has been granted. The Ruby has been open for one week and there have been lines out the door for the poultry-heavy joint ever since.
The diner, whose concept is breakfast place that happens to do dinner, drinks and rotisserie chicken, is the brainchild of business partners Chris Jones and Josh Goyert.
“Most successful breakfast restaurants don’t do dinner, so that’s where we came in with the rotisserie chicken program. We thought, ‘let’s do one thing and do it really well,’ ” said Jones, noting chicken and duck feature heavily in dishes throughout the day. “It’s more or less all bird.”
Diner classics such as hash and waffles come with duck confit, while there are bennys and breakfast tacos featuring pulled rotisserie chicken. And it’s all served in a 42-seat space designed to be retro and edgy.
“The Hotel Zed is a really neat hotel with a dynamic and unique traveller and I think we fit well into that,” said Jones.
“We wanted to remain true to that retro feel, like a New York rotisserie or Austin Texas brunch place. We want you transported out of Victoria.”
To that end, there’s plenty of subway tile, diner feel and only vinyl from the co-owners’ collections gets played.
Those who wait for a table are handed a coffee and sent downstairs to Hotel Zed’s lounge to play ping pong, sit and relax or play video games.
Bin 4 opened its first location in 2011 on Yates Street in Victoria. Since then, Dan and Sarah Blackmore have expanded into Langford in the spring of 2013 and on April 1 will open the doors beside Accent Inn. “We’re excited about this location. We really wanted to serve Saanich. We thought it was underserved,” said Sarah Blackmore.
The third Bin 4, which has 75 seats inside and a 30-seat patio, borrows heavily from its sister restaurants with the same gourmet burger menu and basic floor plan.
Blackmore said now that they’ve done it twice they have learned what works and doesn’t so they took the best from both previous spots.
What’s different is catering to a hotel.
“That’s definitely new for us, but we want to hit both markets — be there for the community and add features for people at the hotel,” she said. That’s meant a bigger lounge area and more electrical outlets for people with laptops and needing to charge a phone.
Work has been underway for a year and the diner is opening a few months earlier than expected. The previous restaurant was destroyed by fire.
