[CHARLOTTETOWN, PE] — The senior vice-president of restaurant development says the time is right to bring Montana's Cookhouse to Charlottetown.
Todd Barclay said the process right now involves finding a franchisee who wants to run the restaurant.
"We have some individuals in the (Charlottetown) market who are interested in investing with us as franchisees, however we are still making final decisions on that,'' Barclay said Thursday.
"Anyone who reads this article and is interested I would encourage them to call our franchise department.''
Barclay works for Cara Network, a company which owns Montana's, Milestones and Kelsey's restaurants as well as names already in the P.E.I. market such as Swiss Chalet and Harvey's. They have more than 700 locations across Canada.
Incidentally, anyone who is interested in contacting Cara Network about operating Montana's is asked to contact Courtney Hindorff at (905) 760-2244.
Montana's will be joining the new retail market at Spencer Drive, which is currently under construction. Sobey's will be moving from its present location on Buchanan Drive to anchor the new Spencer Drive mall.
Montana's will be a pad location, meaning it will stand separate from the mall. It will measure 5,150 square feet and have enough capacity for 211 seats.
"Our plan is to get this open as soon as possible but, as it stands right now, realistically, it's probably going to be sometime close to the end of the year and probably more like December,'' Barclay said.
There are six Montana's restaurants in Atlantic Canada with a seventh under construction in St. John's, N.L.
Barclay said the restaurant in Charlottetown will employ more than 50 people.
"That's the next step. Once we get the franchise in place we'll get everything underway and, absolutely, we'll be looking to employ local people which will be great.''
