A vegan staple in the Okanagan food truck community is opening a brick and mortar store in downtown Kelowna.
Renegade Kitchen is located at 467 Leon Avenue, across from Tonics Pub and Grill.
Chef and Co-Owner Sean Sanders told Am1150, in the last few months he has been forced to deal with minor but consistent issues.
“As an example we have a commercial mailbox that was bolted to the outside of the building and I was probably getting four dozen used needles in there to every letter I was getting. So, that was a bit of a problem and we just eventually decided to get rid of it and now we pay for P.O box off site,” said Sanders.
Additionally, his wife's car was broken into in broad daylight, his dumpster emptied and graffiti was painted on his building.
“It’s more of an inconvenience than it has been a real costly problem for us. Again, how’s it going to affect us when we open the doors? I don't know yet and that remains to be seen. So we're prepared for the worst and hoping for the best anyways.”
However, he added these problems could happen to any business anywhere downtown and doesn’t want his location to deter people from coming by and trying his restaurant.
“What we're doing is things that are very familiar to people. You know, comfort food has to be familiar. Things people grew up with, burgers, mac and cheese, shepherd’s pie, lasagna, and some more funky stuff like avocado fries and deep fried pickles,” said Sanders.
They will have a full service bar - offering 5 rotating hyper-local craft beer taps.
Sanders is currently waiting for his required inspections to be completed, but if all goes well, he hopes to open his doors mid-December.