JOHN'S PLACE

How could I have imagined that driving down a California highway in a 67 Volkswagon van, rag top down, singing Stevie Wonder hits, would lead me to a small city on an island in Canada for the past 29 years, creating and operating John's Place Restaurant? Oh yes, I had the experience - I've been cooking for 30 years, even won a gold medal at the food Olympics, but that's a far cry from running a very busy diner style restaurant with breakfast, lunch and dinner 364 days a year. It sure didn't start out that way, though... I signed the lease with the $6,000 down for guarantee and 2 months rent free to commence the work but I still had no guarantee that my family would help me. As fate would take me, they backed out because they had 3 young boys in school in Windsor and didn't want to uproot them. Wow! In a little over 2 weeks I was going to Tahiti, owning a restaurant, signing a lease with all the money I had, and no one to help or finance me. Pretty nervous few days I would sayI went to..

Also known as: John's Place Restaurant

Primary location: Victoria