Smitty’s goes upscale with first unit in Edmonton

By Colleen Isherwood
Contributing editor

EDMONTON—Smitty’s Canada unveiled an upscale new design and menu at its store in the revamped Westmount Centre recently and already the makeover is changing restaurant traffic patterns.

“We’ve only been open 17 days, and I can’t believe the old cliché [works]:  Build it and they will come,” said Don Sroka, who owns 11 Smitty’s, mainly in the Edmonton area.

“We were packed from 5:30 to 8:00, and people were lined up at the door.  I was there last night for dinner and four out of six nearby tables ordered wine and appetizers.” 

This is not normal at Smittys, which generally has most of its traffic at breakfast and lunch.

Don’s son Rob Sroka was the first to notice that there was a gap in the upper middle end of the dining spectrum that Smitty’s could fill. 

Chains such as Earl’s, Moxies and The Keg had moved their offerings up a level in recent years, chargin $25 to $30 per place.  This left a gap between these types of chains and family value chains such as Humpty’s and abc country restaurants.  

A year ago, Rob and Don Sroka approached Walter Chan, master franchisor for the 120 Smitty’s restaurants across Canada, asking for his permission to try moving Smitty’s upscale with a new look and a new menu.

The first of the new look Smitty’s opened April 1 at the Westmount Centre.  It is essentially a $.1.2 million new build, since the entire mall has been renovated and the existing Smitty’s was demolished.  The new Smitty’s is in a different part of the mall.  

Chan hired Parchoma & Jones as the architects and designers, and the result is a radical departure from the traditional Smitty’s. 

There’s stone in the building, with a fireplace in the centre, lighting, wall coverings, tiles and carpets that are decidedly upscale.

“I looked at the results and said, ‘Wow, what is this place?’” said Don Sroka.  “There’s mahogany, curved walls and eight plasma TVs throughout.  I was listening to customers who said things like, ‘this can’t be Smitty’s.’”

For the opening in Westmount, Sroka hired some new employees and brought the best cooks to help implement a menu designed by a team that included Chris Manderscheid, new president of Smitty’s Canada, Rob Sroka and the company’s corporate chef.

The menu includes breakfast frittatas, samosas, coconut shrimp and sliders—the mini burgers proving very popular according to Sroka.

A little over a year from now, Smitty’s will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the company, which was founded by Walter Chan in 1960.