The owners of the Oak Bay Beach Hotel say the response since opening the $52-million resort has been “overwhelming” and provided this snapshot of the first 90 days:

• 38,221 guests overall, including 4,000 for a grand opening in November;
• 20,552 customers in The Snug;
• 11,870 pints of beer pulled in The Snug;
• 2,845 fish and chips ordered in The Snug;
• 2,170 pints of Snug IPA served in the hotel;
• 25,281 cups of coffee served in Kate’s Café; and
• 1,017 guests for dinner theatre in the David Foster Foundation Theatre.

Owner Kevin Walker said the hotel’s management team has responded to feedback on areas for improvement, in particular food and beverage, leading into spring and summer. Iain Rennie has been appointed executive chef and Josh Houston the hotel’s sous chef.

“We underestimated the overwhelming demand on our food and beverage outlets and team, and had the opportunity to bring in an executive chef who had the experience to manage a hotel with so many food and beverage options, while managing a team that can deliver the best dining experience,” Walker said in a statement.

The hotel currently operates Kate’s Café, The Snug pub, The Dining Room, David Foster Foundation Theatre and room and catering services. The launch of the hotel’s afternoon tea service is one of Rennie’s first priorities. The sun decks for Kate’s Café and The Snug pub, along with a rooftop bistro on the hotel’s widow’s walk, and Boathouse Spa patio (beside the seaside mineral pools) will open in time for summer.

Rennie honed his culinary skills in some of the best kitchens in the world — the Savoy Hotel and Anton Mosimann in London; sous chef at the Pan Pacific, executive sous chef at The Fairmont Empress and chef at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport Hotel. He was most recently executive chef at The Westin Bear Mountain Golf Resort & Spa. He has won 16 gold medals in world culinary competitions and works with students at the Culinary Institute of Vancouver Island and Camosun College.

On the move

Jeff Audette has joined Victoria IT company itgroove as director of sales and consulting services … Budd Hall of the University of Victoria has been jointly appointed as a UNESCO Chair in Community-Based Research and Social Responsibility. Hall, professor of community development in the School of Public Administration, shares the international chair with Dr. Rajesh Tandon, a UVic honorary degree recipient and president of the Society for Participatory Research in Asia based in India. The focus of the program is to build research capacity in the field of community-based research.

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