Fort Street Cafe
742 Fort St V8W1H2 Victoria, BC, Canada

INTRODUCING NORTHERN QUARTER... Benji Duke of the Fort Street Cafe and Torin Egan of the Superior Cafe have teamed up to bring you a community inspired restaurant venue that tastes as good as it sounds. A modern interpretation of a public house, Northern Quarter will offer local, seasonal cuisine, selected bar menu and inspired live performance. You can expect refreshing happy hours, a relaxed dining experience and well presented late night entertainment.... Your continued support is hugely appreciated!

THE STORY OF THE FORT AND BEYOND About 9 years ago Jon, Melissa and Benji bought a sandwich shop called the Fort Street Cafe. We opened for an ‘exclusive’ breakfast and sold soups and sandwiches over lunchtime, our hours were 8am til 3. The agreed core value of the business was to support a positive and diverse downtown community and our intentions were to develop the space into something a bit more exciting.... Things were going well and around year two Jon and Benji spotted a small cafe space for sale on lower Fort Street. The wheels of their minds simultaneously exploded and they ran back to HQ to tell Melissa. This coffee and lunchtime gem is now known as PiCNiC and lives at 506 Fort Street. This expansion allowed the Fort Team to spread their wings and define their roles. Jon was now Mr PiCNiC, Melissa became the Food and Catering Manager and Benji took on developing the late night side of things. With the amazing and continued support of so many people we really got things going. The music was pumping, the food was flowing and the coffee and the beer was delicious. After the Fort closed we had to re-shuffle. It was agreed that Jon and Melissa would take on day to day operations of PiCNiC and Benji would take his events on the road until a potential new home for the Fort was found. Since then Jon and Melissa have opened a second PiCNiC at 1017 Fort Street, Benji has become a professional quiz master and we have all grown a lot. We could not have done this without the continued support and friendship of many, many people. Our fundraising campaign afforded us the opportunity to close the Fort and move forward. Now the exciting bit NORTHERN QUARTER - Opening May 2015 Benji teams up with good friend and chef Torin Egan (Superior and Foo) to create a unique city tavern with cracking food, drink and live entertainment. Read more www.facebook.com/northquart or see the link to the page below. PiCNiC HQ - Opening April 2015 Jon and Melissa continue the idea of friendly coffee and food for friendly people with an expansion to PiCNiC at 1019 Fort Street. The new HQ will offer a wider menu, bar and some exciting evening options. Read more at Picnic Coffee * ‘FORT MONEY' AND 'PERSONALISED CHAIR' INFO TO COME *

** EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT ** HOLY COW!! I am SUPER excited to announce that a new location has been agreed and signed for! The new venture is projected to open on May 1st, 2015. More details will follow in the new year.... Thank you for your continued support and friendship, it means ALOT! Have a wonderful New Year, friends - be safe and be happy! Much love, Benji and the Fort team.

Dear Friends of the Fort, For the last 6 months the Fort team have been working on a prospective new location at 727 Yates Street. Since I last gave an update we have completed an extended period of due diligence to assess the costs and potential risk of the proposed project. Unfortunately, the cost of seismically upgrading the building is now beyond our budget. Without the participation of our prospective landlord to assist in the upgrade process, we would have to front ...all application and upgrade costs ourselves. While this could be considered disappointing, we believe we have a unique and forward thinking concept for the location and a business plan that connects community and culture, projects a solid return and harbours strong growth potential. We are currently seeking interest from prospective development teams who may be interested in hearing more about our vision and plan for 727. If you would like to know more or would like to discuss any thoughts or concerns please contact me directly at [email protected] Your continued support and patience is greatly appreciated. All the best, Benji and the Fort Team.

NEW FORT LATEST... At the end of June we will have completed our 2 month period for due diligence. In this time we have consulted with engineers, architects, general contractors, plumbers, electricians and the city who have all helped us to assess the suitability and affordability of our proposed new location.... We have discovered that the building requires a 'change of use' application and thusly significant seismic and structural upgrading. In most situations this would wipe us out of the game immediately - seismic upgrading runs into the hundreds and thousands of dollars. However, due to the building being registered as heritage and falling within the downtown boundaries, we are strong candidates for the City's Tax Incentive program which helps cover costs to restore such buildings. We have recently submitted our development proposal to our prospective landlord for his consideration and await his thoughts. Stay posted for the next update and keep those rabbit feet warm! All the best, Benji and the Fort team.