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They have only been open for three weeks, but the new Cactus Club Cafe location on Kelowna’s waterfront is a big success.
From open to close, the Cactus restaurant located next to the Kelowna Yacht Club is full of customers enjoying the spectacular views. The waterfront restaurant boasts not only stunning views of Okanagan Lake, but the largest patio in the entire Okanagan. With two bars and restaurant and lounge dining, Kelowna’s newest Cactus Club Cafe is the third waterfront location for the group and offers more than 300 seats in the 8,000 square foot building.
The waterfront Cactus Club Cafe opened on June 30th in Kelowna (Photo Credit: KelownaNow.com)
Christy Murphy, Director of Communications for Cactus Club Cafe, says the restaurant has been well received in the area by locals and tourists.
“We opened June 30th and it has been a very busy start. We have been welcomed by people and the community,” said Murphy. “We brought our general manager and chef from the Banks Road Cactus Club location, and our regional manager who has been with us for quite a few years.”
The menu available at the new Cactus Club Cafe (Photo Credit: KelownaNow.com)
Murphy says whenever the company opens a new restaurant, they bring in their best staff from other Cactus Club Cafe locations to train new staff members.
One of the open bars in the restaurant (Photo Credit: KelownaNow.com)
“It’s one-on-one shadow training so we can ensure our execution is as flawless as possible,” explained Murphy. “We have 250 people working here from Kelowna. There are 190 front of house staff members and 60 in the back of house and they are all from Kelowna.”
Offering a “Global Cuisine”, Cactus Club Cafe offers signature dishes by Chef Rob Feenie, who is currently in Kelowna helping to ensure the restaurant is off to a great start. The waterfront restaurant also infuses elements of the community into the décor and the company gives back whenever it can.
Artwork on the walls of the new Cactus Club Cafe from the Okanagan Museum (Photo Credit: KelownaNow.com)
“When we opened this restaurant we gave a $5,000 donation to Okanagan College for a kitchen partner memorial fund,” added Murphy. “We have artwork on the walls from the museum. At each of our locations we really tried to put in a lot of effort and make community a huge part of our restaurants.”
The patio offers Nano doors that stay open in the summer and capture the heat when closed in the winter. Misters keep customers cool on the patio during the hot summer months, and the open concept within the room gives the feel of community. The first Cactus Club Cafe restaurant opened in 1988 in North Vancouver and the group has since grown to more than 27 locations employing 3,500 people.
The restaurant side of the new waterfront Cactus Club Cafe (Photo Credit: KelownaNow.com)
This is the second Cactus Club Cafe location in Kelowna; the first restaurant opened 10 years ago this year on Banks Road. General Manager Oktawian Kobryn has been with the company for 10 years and is managing the new property.
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