2023-10-31 23:30:00
The owners of Chez Mag, in Sainte-Famille-de-l’Île-d’Orléans, took the ax to their fine canteen on Tuesday morning. The small building which has housed the snack bar since 1964 will rise from its ashes in time for the opening of the 2024 season.
The Fine Canteen Chez Mag was demolished on Tuesday. A brand new building will be built over the winter. Vincent Desbiens
After serving its last rolls of the season last weekend, the Gagnon family, who have owned the business since 2018, launched their project just two days later.
An excavator and a handful of demolition workers worked to remove all traces of the old canteen, which experienced enormous traffic this summer following its poutine was praised by influencer Olivier Primeau.
“It makes us feel a little guilty, because we spent a lot of time in this building and we have a lot of good memories,” says the co-owner of the Fine cantine Chez Mag, Marc-Antoine Gagnon.
Change for the better
As of Wednesday, construction work on the new version of the canteen will begin on the same location, near Chemin Royal. The owners are hopeful that everything will be ready by April 2024.
The idea of rebuilding had been in the works at Chez Mag for almost two years.
“We were starting to get cramped in there,” explains Mr. Gagnon. Initially, we simply wanted to renovate the existing building and expand, but that was no longer possible. With the enthusiasm of recent years, we said to ourselves that we had to do more.”
From a renovation project costing $250,000 initially, setting up a brand new canteen will ultimately cost four times as much. The amount of the operation also includes other new features which will be revealed in 2024.
“It’s a lot of investment, but things are going well and we want to build something sustainable that will allow us to optimize our operations,” argues the co-owner.
(A little) more spacious
The new version of Chez Mag will see its building widened by six feet, going from 12 to 18 on the facade. A new, better fitted and equipped kitchen up to date will “increase production capacity, without sacrificing quality”, indicates Marc-Antoine Gagnon.
Marc-Antoine and Marie-Claude Gagnon, the co-owners of the Fine cantine Chez Mag, felt a pang in their hearts when they saw the building collapse under the influence of the excavator. Vincent Desbiens
“We will also have two cash registers to respond to customers more quickly. We saw that it was more than necessary this summer. […] It’s not easy to serve more than 1,000 customers in a day with just one cash register!” he emphasizes.
Tradition
Even though the space available on the land is quite large, the owners wanted to preserve the essence of the Fine Cantine Chez Mag.
There will therefore be no indoor seating and the opening dates will remain the same. The brand image will also remain, as will the iconic white and red facade.
“We are going to rebuild with materials that respect heritage. It’s a canteen that has been at Sainte-Famille since the very beginning and will remain seasonal. It will remain a destination snack, a fine canteen. The world comes out to eat good food, have a little beer and enjoy the atmosphere outside,” concludes Mr. Gagnon.
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