Did you know that a new Southwestern-style restaurant, but 100% Quebecois, has just opened its doors in Laval? We will discuss this below. Also on the menu, the sharing of employees between two restaurants in Trois-Rivières and a new kind of culinary school in Quebec.

Let's start with the new adventure of Cédrick Vanier, known for his American Southwest-style smokehouse cooking and his famous smoked BBQ sauce Projet Saint-Mathieu. He is behind the Jack Flat BBQ project, which opened in December 2022, in partnership with Food Love Generation. The restaurant, located in the Centropolis Laval, offers a western-style experience with country music, where Texas BBQ lovers can taste smoked meats (brisket, ribs, pork belly, turkey) and their accompaniments on trays at share. The menu also offers a selection of smash burgers and drinks to cool down. The restaurant is equipped with a large smokehouse fueled with maple wood that rolls day and night in a glassed-in room. Jack Flat BBQ aims to provide a unique and friendly experience for Texas BBQ and country music lovers.

Let's continue with this new Mexican restaurant Quesada Burritos & Tacos which opened its doors on Wednesday in Trois-Rivières and which plans to share employees with the neighboring creamery, L'Étoile Polaire, to help attract and retain employees. The two companies share a dining room and patio, and employees can work in both locations to receive more hours and avoid split shifts. Collaboration can benefit both employees and employers, making it easier to retain employees. The two co-owners of Quesada Burritos & Tacos, Jean-Christophe Boucher and Gabriel Dubé, are from Trois-Rivières, and the location is promising for reaching customers in the region. Recall that Foodtastic Inc. acquired Quesada Burritos & Tacos in December and has more than 170 locations across Canada.

Let's finish with the Fierbourg hotel school, which welcomed its first students enrolled in its new paid culinary training program, which will offer a vocational diploma (DEP) in work-study to better meet the needs of restaurateurs.

The program was developed in collaboration with industry professionals to meet current needs. The program will consist of 54% classroom instruction and the rest of the training will take place in the kitchen of a local restaurant. After six weeks of lessons at school, students will alternate between Monday and Wednesday in the classroom and Thursdays and Fridays in a restaurant kitchen.

The program received a favorable reception from the Alliance de l'industrie tourisme du Québec and some forty restaurateurs volunteered to take on an apprentice. Arnaud Marchand, chef and co-owner of several restaurants, including Chez Boulay, praised the program for giving students real-world experience and potentially building a long-term relationship with their employer.