It’s with heavy hearts (and full stomachs) that we’re announcing the closure of Chartier on September 30, 2023.
We are very busy and, by many measures, a successful business. Like many restaurants in the hospitality industry, recovering from multiple closures and pivots through the pandemic has been difficult—to say nothing of the economic headwinds our industry is currently experiencing. Although it has been just under the line, cash flow has been a challenge and we haven’t been able to get back to being a sustainable restaurant.
It was our dream to create an authentic French-Canadian casual fine-dining experience in this wonderful town—the town where I grew up, and where we started our family.
When we opened Chartier in 2016, it was thanks to the efforts of hundreds of folks from in and around Beaumont. So many of you supported our Kickstarter. You supported us by visiting us for every conceivable occasion in your lives. You took “Food is Love”—something written on our wall—and turned it into something we watched flourish at every table. With you, we celebrated beginnings, ends, new chapters and friends old and new. Chartier is what it is because you believed in us, and that belief allowed us to live our dream these last seven years.
As soon as the pandemic hit, we knew recovery would be tough. Running a restaurant is a labour of love at the best of times, but we have always found a way to make it work without compromising the values we hold or the standards you expect. But the confluence of pandemic recovery, outstanding loans, rising food costs, and increasing interest rates has made our little homespun venture unsustainable.
Keeping up, adjusting, and maintaining everything has been hard on our small group of owners and our families. Without the support of a benefactor or investor, our cash-flow challenges will continue to dog us. Rather than drag things out, or morph into something we’re not, we’ve made the difficult decision to close.
We want to thank our incredible staff, present (62 people as of today!) and past. You mean everything to us. We’ve watched you grow up, bring your families in to celebrate, leave to lead your own kitchens, and serve our guests in ways that made our hearts burst with pride. We owe so much to you—you made our dream come true.
And of course, we couldn’t have done any of this without the farmers, growers and producers from around Beaumont. Their meats, produce, dairy, flowers and countless other products let us feed Albertans, and nourish them in ways they’d never experienced before. We’ve made incredible friendships with folks making the best food in the world. And we’re devastated we won’t be working with and supporting them anymore.
We don’t know what’s next for us. This has been the most difficult and rewarding thing we’ve ever done. We’re going to take the necessary time to recover once our doors are closed.
But we need your help one last time.
We want to close this chapter with the same love and energy we experienced when Chartier opened. While we’re still open, we want to see you—as many of you as possible. By coming in and supporting us before we close, you’ll be helping to make sure all of our suppliers get paid and our team can transition to new positions seamlessly.
We believe in this community. And we know Beaumont is the right place to open a business—restaurant or otherwise. With your support, we can help our landlord find a new tenant that can continue to bring vibrancy to our downtown core—and maybe even continue Chartier’s legacy.
Between now and when we close our doors on September 30, we’d love to serve you. To feed you. To show you our appreciation. To say, “au revoir et merci beaucoup,” one last time.
À bientôt,
Sylvia, Darren, Tamara and Crystal
