S p e c i a l F e a t u r e
Lumière restaurant, chef Feenie upped
the ante on Cactus Club's food offerings,
bringing the experience of fine dining to the
masses at an affordable price point.
"I knew Rob when he was at Lumière,
and had tasted his food when he
consulted for Harmony Airways," Jaffray
explains. "I just thought, if he can make
great food at 40,000 feet, imagine what
he could do for us."
It wasn't until the team announced the
high-profile acquisition that they realized
what a big deal it really was. "The timing
was serendipitous," Murphy says. "The
market had just crashed, and people were
no longer comfortable going out for really
expensive meals."
While it was a great play for Cactus
Club, Feenie did suffer some criticism at
the time for the move. "There were some
negative comments around Rob selling
out," Murphy says. "But Rob was really
excited, and said that this was where
dining was going. And he was right.
People were looking for greater value than
traditional white-linen meals."
Feenie set about elevating Cactus
Club's menu, bringing in local ingredients
and fresh creations that included many
of his own signature dishes. "He brought
some of his fine dining recipes and he
and his new Cactus team rose to the
challenge on figuring out how to go from
lower-volume fine dining to large-volume
Cactus Club's soon-to-open
Toronto location will be its
first in Ontario
RENDERING
BY
ACTON
OSTRY
ARCHITECTS
INC
