Page 42 - 01-Jan-Feb-2025

But it led to more discussions, and Voegeli convinced
Lachance’s parents to let him take a year off from law school
to give the restaurant business a try.
“The rest was history.”
In 1999, Lachance bought the Trumps location — and
opened Century Grill in its place. An empire was born, even
though Lachance didn’t know it at the time.
He says the key to the group’s success is based on the
people who work at the restaurants, from the chefs to the
servers to the hosts to dishwashers.
“I have to hire and motivate and have them take the hill with
me,” he says. “It’s all about the people. We sell an experience.
Let’s be honest, you can get four pizzas for the price of one
and two orders of chicken wings and two-litre bottle of Coke
from a competitor out there. We’re not the cheapest. We
don’t build the rooms that we build and staff them with the
personalities that we do, and make the effort that we do, to
throw it all in a hot bag and go 20 minutes across town.”
Another of Lachance’s terms to live by is “never market
to the mirror.” He warns that no one in the business should
assume a concept will work based on personal preference
or taste. Never trust that something will work in Edmonton
because it’s a big trend somewhere else. Just because
you would love to start a speed-metal themed burger
bar because you saw it in Chicago, doesn’t mean it will work
in Edmonton.
3—P R E M I U M PA R T N E R
And, because he’s stuck to that idea of fleshing out
any concepts before he’s opened the doors on any new
restaurants, Lachance has never yet had to lock up the
doors and see his signage replaced by “FOR LEASE”
placards. Yes, he has sold restaurants, but he’s never had
one go under.
“We’ve evolved and grown. And, with that has come some
changes. We’ve sold. We’ve bought. Fortunately, we’ve never
had to close. But, this path has led to a very challenging past
couple of years. And we can say ‘Are these stores performing
the way we need them to perform?’ And the answer is that
we know there is probably more. But, I don’t know if there
is anything more than we can do, because it’s all these
external factors.
“It’s our downtown core. It’s the economy. It’s the financial
climate out there. Going to buy groceries is expensive, never
mind going out to eat and drink.”
And he says he feels “violated” when he sees video footage
of one of his restaurants having a window smashed, only for
the thief to take a single bottle of vodka. Sadly, these are
becoming more and more a regular part of being an Edmonton
restaurant owner.
But, if there’s anything Lachance has shown, it’s that he
can persevere. And, while times are tough, he’s going to
stick to the values that have made him a business person
who has made a real difference in the city.