“I was forced to make a choice. Pay the rent or buy the supplies.”
It was with a heavy heart that Jason De Ruiter announced on the weekend that the 30-year-old Fisherman’s Boot Café – one of the last of its kind in Richmond – will close its doors on Thursday.
Despite business picking up markedly at the Steveston Harbour diner since it featured last month in the Richmond News’ Greasy Spoon series, De Ruiter admitted he couldn’t keep up with the rent.
And on Oct. 31, the earthy, Trites Road café, known for its salty humour, will serve its last fish ‘n’ chip special.
“We simply weren’t busy enough to sustain it. Ironically, we started getting busy after the (Greasy Spoon feature). It’s a shame,” said De Ruiter, who only took over the running of the café in May from his mother, Penny Chancellor.
When he took over the reins in May, De Ruiter said he got a personal loan to clear debt owed to the landlord, the Steveston Harbour Authority.
But he told the News that the previous debt – which a new owner has to assume liability for - wasn’t the reason for the business having to close.
Indeed, the News has been told by the harbour authority that it has, over many years, went out of its way to help keep the café open.
In 2013, the harbour said it forgave more than $2,000 in debt and reduced the rent to just $200 per month, plus metered power. The rent, the News was told, was later raised to $250 per month, plus metered power.
Jaime Gusto, the harbour authority’s general manager, said they tried for several months, without success, to contact De Ruiter about the recent arrears.
“We really did not want to see the business closing and we did everything possible, and more, to keep it open,” she told the News on Tuesday, indicating that the café was “two months’ rent and three months’ power behind.”
“We absolutely did not want to take this action, but we had no choice but to issue a 15-day cancellation notice.”
De Ruiter said he’s now looking into starting up a Fisherman’s Boot food truck, but “isn’t sure if the city allows that?”
As recently as last month, “The Boot” featured in the News’ Greasy Spoon Café series, with many readers writing in to extol the virtues of the old fashioned, 36-seat diner.
The café was considered to one of an apparently dying breed in the city – the family-run “greasy spoon.”
It was unashamedly down-to-earth and took pride in having few frills, including the wooden plaques dotted around the booths and behind the counter, which barked orders at customers and insulted the patrons, all in good humour.
The café used to be the BC Packers warehouse lunchroom.
