Timing is never perfect, but Jillian Fonteyne and Scott Downey doubled down when they had a second child, a little boy they welcomed last November — and took on a second restaurant in the spring of 2024.
The owners of The Butternut Tree expanded their family by purchasing The Marc from Patrick and Doris Saurette. The Saurettes are retiring after running The Marc since 2010, and Il Portico before that. It’s a different experience for Fonteyne and Downey as they expand from The Butternut Tree, carrying on an Edmonton icon rather than a new restaurant from scratch.
The couple were looking to expand and waited for the right opportunity.
“It’s all about balance,” Downey says. “We can have our work, and we can have our family, and we can have time for both.”
The Butternut Tree offers a high-end night-out offering, and The Marc is a place where patrons can stop in a couple times a week for business lunches or casual dinners. Both have ingredient-focused menus, and the guest dining experience is the most important consideration to Fonteyne and Downey.
The Marc only closed for two days in between ownership handover, and no staff member left.
“We’re honoured,” Fonteyne says. “They handed off their baby to us and we wanted them, and Edmonton, to know we would take care of it. We love to eat here too.”
Since May there have been some tweaks to The Marc, like new point-of-sale technology and reservation management to match operations at The Butternut Tree. It’s been a patient approach observing the rhythms of the restaurant. With a focus on clientele and guest experience, they are implementing slight adjustments, like introducing new beverages and wine when the stock runs out.
The couple are both French trained in Michelin-level restaurants of Europe. Fonteyne was Downey’s first hire when he opened The Butternut Tree. They make quite a team, sharing all roles, managing business and family as it fluctuates.
Downey is a chef by trade but enjoys spending his time at the front of the house these days, welcoming guests and being the face at the door of The Marc. Eric Hanson, previously the chef and owner of Prairie Noodle Shop, runs the kitchen. He’ll keep schnitzel on the menu with new rotating side dishes, and seasonal herbs. Going forward, Hanson will experiment upon but maintain The Marc’s tried-and-true menu items. He will follow in line with The Butternut Tree and the true French market way of cooking: flexibility for whatever is available from suppliers and farmers.
“It brings some excitement to the seasonality of ingredients,” says Downey. “Nature decides for you — when it’s asparagus season, we celebrate asparagus for that six-week window. Then we’re onto the next thing, whatever farmers have ready.”
Downey grew up in a gardening family who ate their harvest whenever it was ready.
Downey and Fonteyne made sure to keep another Edmonton favourite, The Marc’s monthly themed Sunday Supper Club.
We’ll see “Summer in Paris” in September and “Truffle Season” in October. There is also a Winemaker Dinner planned for November. These include discussions with both Hanson and vintners at each meal.
“We’re going to cater to both the guests who come for the food and the guests who come for the wine — those are special nights where they get to speak with the people putting it all together and we get to play,” Downey says.
The team has put in time and effort to organize industry events that unite the independent restaurant community. The “Community Table” is a welcoming approach that is the opposite of keeping industry secrets. Various restaurant managers get together to check in with each other on restaurant issues that include hiring, wages, supply chains and industry changes, and hope to spread collaboration through local restaurants. Supporting local suppliers as much as possible is another important value of the group. After forest fires decimated Jasper and forced evacuations, a group of these restaurateurs joined forces to create a grassroots fundraiser with the Edmonton Community Foundation at yegfoodforjasper.ca.
“We came back to the city that invested in us. Edmonton is where we’re from, where we grew up. This is the city that built us, so we’re building back into the community,” says Fonteyne. The couple see themselves heavily involved in the restaurant scene for their careers, and they genuinely love it. They might consider an event venue or a local neighbourhood spot in the future, but wherever they land it will be “building something we care about,” Fonteyne says.
This article appears in the September 2024 issue of Edify
