Thinking about opening a restaurant that serves humans and dogs? Check out this article from Peninsula News Review.
CRD shih tzu’d dog coffee shop
By Matthew Gauk
Victoria NewsOnly a day after its grand opening Aug. 1, Pup N Cup Doggie Boutique Cafe, a dog and human-friendly kibble and coffee-shop on Hillside Avenue, shut its doors to its two-footed customers.
Pup N Cup would serve humans a caffeine fix and their leashed companions treats, dog food, toys and high canine fashion in the same cafe but for the misfortune that would befall cafe owners James Luker and Dean Schwind.
Thanks to publicity from the grand opening, the two received a visit the next day from Maxine Marchenski, senior environmental health officer with the Vancouver Island Health Authority. They say that Marchenski told them they’d be shut down for possible health hazards and that other people had tried the same idea before and failed.
“Right off the hop, they not only sent a health inspector but they sent a senior health inspector,” saud Luker, who has owned and operated second-hand stores and restaurants. “We’re feeling picked on as a result because the story gets worse.”
On Aug. 3 the two men received a phone call from the city explaining that their business licence had been revoked. They had filled out their business application online and outlined the nature of their business idea in the appropriate box.
“We told them exactly what we were going to do. We told them we were going to offer dog services, we were going to be a dog store, we were a doggy boutique specializing in high-end clothing, foods, that kind of thing for dogs and coffee for humans,” Luker said. “And that’s what we put on our application.”
The response they received from the city was that they wouldn’t have ever issued the two a business licence had a computer glitch not cut off the end of the e-mail.
They negotiated and were able to stay open temporarily selling their dog products. VIHA asked them to submit a floor plan and an itemized version of what they planned to do with dog waste.
Luker said they sent them the requested plans but didn’t hear back for days. It was only after Luker did a radio interview on Aug. 11 that VIHA responded, Luker added.
