Nikki Bedi has pulled around the final turn and is racing for the finish line after 40 years in the restaurant business.
The owner of the Chequered Flag restaurant on Millstream Road will cross the line next week, as the 64-year-old closes the doors on what has been a Langford staple and a stop-along-the-way to Western Speedway.
“It will be bittersweet — one moment I will be sad and the next I will be happy that I can now do all the things I have wanted to in my life,” said Bedi over coffee in the small restaurant that served up breakfast, pub fare and everything in-between under Bedi’s direction.
The irony hangs in his statement, as Bedi has almost always loved what he did in the restaurant business. He has owned four restaurants in the region starting with La Cucina in the late 1980s, then Boston Pizza on Shelbourne Street and eventually the Chequered Flag and John’s Other Place in 2002.
The Chequered Flag marks his longest stop at any one place, 14 years. Bedi has impressed his love of cars into the place by covering its walls with licence plates, pictures and memorabilia.
The restaurant even boiled over into his own life as he started collecting real sports cars. He now has a Jaguar, Porsche, Mercedes and Corvette.
He admits he will miss all of it when he closes for good Nov. 15 — from the creativity in the kitchen that helped him get noticed when he worked at the Waddling Dog while going to school, to the staff and families he’s seen grow up across his tables over the years.
“The biggest thing will be the people, I loved the people who came here,” Bedi said.
Retiring means more time for him to play with his cars as he sets his sights on finally seeing the country that welcomed him as a 22-year-old from Dhariwal, India with just $7 in his pocket in 1975.
From the moment he landed in Canada, Bedi worked and pushed to expand his horizons.
From a quick stint in a sawmill that lasted a week — he says he was too small for the physical labour — he quickly worked his way up the restaurant food chain from inquisitive and keen dishwasher, through prep cook and assistant cook.
His willingness to learn and broaden his understanding of the business led to cooking school at Camosun’s Interurban campus and, after a series of jobs from the Waddling Dog to the Empress Hotel, he bought his own place.
With a second mortgage on his Gordon Head home, Bedi bought La Cucina downtown in the late 1980s. And when he wanted a change, he bought the Saanich Boston Pizza franchise in the 1990s so he could be close to home.
But he soured on the franchisee set-up as he was no longer required to be creative in the kitchen. “I was a glorified manager. I couldn’t use my [cooking] skills,” he said.
Bedi sold in 2002 and expected to retire. It lasted four months, as he realized there was nothing on TV when hockey and basketball seasons were over.
“So I started looking around and found this place, and I liked the car theme,” he said. “A year and a half later, the place took off.”
Bedi’s changed menu appeared to be a hit and it allowed him to eventually buy the building. He also sold John’s Other Place in order to focus on the Chequered Flag.
“I will miss coming here every day for 14 years.”
But he knows it’s time to walk away, as he has big plans for retirement and that requires good health, which he has been working on
He said he’s been lucky and never suffered so much as a headache, but his first check-up a few years ago after a lifetime working odd restaurant hours, smoking and too much coffee, showed he had early signs of what could lead to a heart attack.
“My children had been asking me for a few years to retire. They said I came from another country to see some things and I haven’t seen anything,” he said.
“So I plan to see Canada. I’ll start up-Island first, then B.C. and the rest of Canada.”
Bedi kept his family life and business life separate, and never partnered in business ventures.
“It was not my belief. I always wanted business and family separate,” he said. “It was very peaceful. Family relations were very good and friendly relations were very good without partnerships.”
Bedi, who owns the building, is leaving the restaurant in good hands having leased it to Floyd’s Diner owner Petr Prusa.
“He is very capable and he comes across as a straight shooter,” Bedi said.
Prusa said he expects to take over the space at the end of this month and renovate with a projected opening date in January.
He intends to open what he calls a “good-bang-for-your-buck pasta joint” called Borella’s that will feature an eclectic menu with some live music. aduffy@timescolonist.com
