Highly anticipated food hall opens this week in Kamloops
Two long-time Kamloops business owners and restaurateurs are busy getting ready to open the doors of the Yew Street Food Hall at 107 Yew Street.
Brothers Jeff and Steve Mitton are 50% owners of the food hall with Arpa Investments, and will be opening four of their own venues in the hall this year.
“We are sort of the hands-on management team for the hall,” Jeff said. “We’ve taken four spots in here. We’ve got an anchor kitchen we’re calling Mittz & Co, two bars, and a pizza place.”
The Mittons are no strangers to the restaurant industry. They own Mittz Kitchen downtown and Twisted Olive Steakhouse in Aberdeen which is in the process of moving into the historic CN rail building located downtown.
The development and opening of the new hall has faced some delays due to the pandemic but things are rolling ahead and opening one venue at a time starting on Thursday, Sept. 8.
“There is lots going on here,” Jeff said. “There are a couple of stalls, a taco and pasta place, that are probably about a month away and Lemongrass joined us late so they will probably be another month or two.
Duck Duck Pork and Veggie Bomb are opening soon.”
Duck Duck Pork is a protein-based restaurant opening this week.
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The food hall has 10 stalls, with the anchor restaurant and two bars, and seven additional 80-square-foot stalls for restaurants to make and serve food using a large commissary kitchen.
The Mitton’s bars are called Brews on Yew and Drinks on Yew.
“We have a bar doing draft wine and cider and then we are doing a craft cocktail bar where we are doing smoothies,” Jeff said. “There is a cold pressed juice machine and expresso machine so we are doing a lot of really cool cocktails.
Next year when do our application for a patio extension we’d like get out into Spirit Square with some tables and seating.”
A large focus for the hall is local supply and business partnerships. The Mittons don’t source everything local because of high food costs, but they do the best they can.
“We are local supporting local,” Jeff said. “We’re supporting all the local breweries and wineries. We use a lot of beef and chicken, especially at Mittz, which is hard to source right now. We are using the local Twisted Goat Coffee and locally made sausage.”
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In the meantime the pair are working to open Twisted Olive Steakhouse in its new location at the iconic historical CN Rail building next month.
The building at 500 Lorne Street has sat empty since it was last used as the location for The Keg Steakhouse.
“The building hasn’t been used for six years,” Steve said. “It was put away like a museum. We haven’t done too many renovations but we’re putting a fresh coat of paint on it.
We want to get down there and get opened up. We’re hoping to open next month, we’re just waiting on a liquor license right now.”
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The Mittons are looking for cooks to hire for the food hall and are willing to train the right people from scratch. They have Red Seal chefs on board that are able to take people under an apprenticeship.
“We are looking forward to being part of this area, it has its challenges but it is coming around,” said Steve.
To apply for a job at Yew Street Food Hall email Steve Mitton at steve@mittzkitchen.com.
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