This week, Flint House, a restaurant which has become known as one of the best in Fort Frances, celebrates its 10th anniversary. Originally purchased by the late Duane Cridland, his family is keeping the legacy alive.
Thinking back 10 years, Stacey Cridland, who manages the restaurant now, and her sister Christine who is also heavily involved in its operations, says they knew it was their dad’s dream to run a restaurant.
“It didn’t surprise us, it was kind of always his dream,” Stacey said.
“It was his retirement dream. He retired from the insurance business and my mom retired and that year, within about six months, they bought this place and we started renovating, taking sledge hammers to everything.”
Duane had been good friends with the former owner of the property which once housed La Flambée International Cuisine, Achour Cheblaoui.
“He and Achour were very good friends,” Christine said.
“He spent a lot of time here with my mom, they had their Christmas parties here. They did lots with this place so I think it was a long time coming for both Achour and my dad.”
After a few months of renovations, the Cridlands reopened the restaurant space at 232 Scott St. as Flint House in early December 2015.
The family is pleased to have the restaurant still running after 10 years, especially with the COVID-19 Pandemic falling in the middle which saw the establishment closed for large parts of that time as well as offering take out.
“We had a couple of years where we were kind of open, but not really and doing take out and stuff,” Stacey said.
“Through COVID we were still busy with takeout, we were getting phone calls.”
“People were still supporting, not just hunkering down, Chrstine added.”
Part of their father’s legacy is his involvement in the community. Volunteering, the sisters say, was drilled into them from a young age.
“At a young age we were ‘voluntold’ things,” Christine said.
“We were just talking about how many hours we spent in our living room stuffing envelopes or licking envelopes, or helping with hospital fundraisers,” Stacey said.
“We’eve been volunteering since we were very young and if not we were dragged along to things seeing it happen.”
“I think it was easy for us to be involved,” Christine said.
“People knew who we were already so it was easier for us to get involved and people reach out when they need help.”
They recalled opening the business at the start of December in their first year, but now their December is largely taken up with Christmas parties. These include offsite catering for big clients like New Gold, whose Christmas party will be held two weeks in a row at the Memorial Sports Centre to accommodate two shifts of employees.
“We didn’t even really advertise for Christmas, and we are pretty much booked every Friday, Saturday, with other businesses who have chosen to do their Christmas party here, and have chosen to do it year after year after year, and they just reach out and they say, ‘Hey, we don’t care what the menu is. We want to come there and have our party. We know it’s going to be fantastic,’” Stacey said.
“It’s quite hard for new parties to get in because our regulars continue to book and book early,” Christine said.
“There are only so many Fridays and Saturdays in December so it’s tough.”
They currently have a Saturday evening which doesn’t have a party booked because the customers had to reschedule, but they opted to leave it open and give individual diners the option to come in on a Saturday evening in December, which they wouldn’t get to do otherwise.
After the Christmas party rush, the family will shift focus to the annual Community Christmas Dinner which they’ve helped with for about five years.
“We started before COVID, and then that COVID year was when we switched it to the take out. We’ve been doing it five or six years, so we get through these New Gold parties, and then right away switch over to the Christmas dinners, because that is coming up as well. Our staff obviously help, we don’t do it alone. We have our staff behind us, helping us fully for that,” Stacey said.
“During the Christmas stuff, a lot of them are volunteering their time too,” Christine said.
“Which is great, they’re obviously learning something from us, because they’re quite willing to volunteer their time to help us out with it. It’s great to see.”
The Cridlands know that they wouldn’t still be in business without the excellent staff they have had at the restaurant over the last 10 years.
“Our staff is great,” Stacey said.
“Every day I’m grateful for our staff. We’ve obviously had some turnover but we’ve never had issues with turnover. People come and go but they’re happy to come back. We pull some people from working years later and they’ll come back to work for a Christmas party or something.
“We also find if there is a staff member that’s tapping out, someone replaces them right away,” Christine added.
“We’ve had staff who have found their own replacement because they say ‘my life is just getting too busy.’ Because a lot of our serving staff, it’s part time. It’s just a place for them to come and enjoy the evening, enjoy the company of the rest of the staff, Stacey and I, and all of our customers and guests that are coming in.”
“Like Sarah Bagacki,” Stacey said.
“She’s one that’s held strong, even though she’s gone through nursing school, she’s become a nurse and still wants to put her hours in here. We’re just so grateful for our staff. In the kitchen as well, we know how restaurants struggle I know that’s one of the biggest struggles out there is to find good staff and we’re just so grateful for those that have worked with us over the years and still today, very grateful for it, I don’t know what it is but they just fall in our lap.”
Going forward they are hoping to expand to catering some more events like the New Gold parties, as well as keep serving the people who come through their doors.
“I just look forward to serving the community for longer,” Stacey said.
“We’ve had these loyal customers for the last 10 years, and we can’t wait to continue to serve them for the next 10 years.”
To celebrate the anniversary Flint House is bringing back some old favourite menu items for a few days this week. Their beer battered shrimp, rack of lamb and Crème Brûlée are all back until Thursday, Dec. 4. They’re also offering a promotion, anyone who orders all three nostalgic items will also get a free glass of champagne in celebration of the milestone anniversary.
