Are you celebrating a special occasion soon? Is it an anniversary or just a romantic getaway? If you are looking for the perfect cozy ambiance, then this episode is perfect for you. Meet Alex Kastner, General Manager of The Cambridge Mill, as he takes you to one of Cambridge’s oldest surviving industrial buildings. Alex talks about the The Cambridge Mill’s all-season patios with panoramic views and grand dining rooms, the restaurant’s community engagements, and nostalgic stories of the city’s manufacturing history and progress.
Standout Quotes:
- “Every hour that we're open, we’re maximizing our opportunity and maximizing guest experience.”
- “It's really just about us trying to figure out what does a, what does the Cambridge mill mean to our guests and making sure we're still satisfying those core fundamentals.”
- “The focus for us has been on continuing to provide the quality service, the quality food and the quality beverage that we've kind of been known for having a beautiful specific city, being able to take in kind of the natural beauty that surrounds it, and really focusing on the creating a sentiment around the kind of love shared by the couples”
- “We really kind of put an emphasis on making sure that the product that we're getting is the best that we can. “
Key Takeaways:
- The Cambridge Mill started doing a family program for their staff. With all the huge stores of food that were left because of the lockdown, they wanted to find an outlet for that food and consequently support the community. The Cambridge Mill’s family program focused on feeding their staff for almost ten weeks. Staff and their respective families could order their meals online and pick them up, and eventually, the program was extended to the Cambridge community.
- The Cambridge opened their North Terrace, a patio for 200 miles in any direction with glass doors that open up unto the Grand River.
- With the new changes and protocols needed to be in place, The Cambridge Mill remains grateful to their customers, who remain loyal, flexible, and receptive to these shifts.
- With the limitations of the number of pax on gatherings like weddings, The Cambridge Mill limits the number of attending guests for every event.
- The Cambridge Mill was originally called Dixon Mill created in 1842 by William Dixon. The Whole purpose was to erect the dam to give more energy to Waterloo Region in Downtown Galt.
- The Cambridge Mill building was acquired in 2000 and officially opened in 2011 under the umbrella of Pearle Hospitality.
- The Cambridge Mill also owns a 100-acre organic farm that supplies restaurants with organic vegetable produce that they use in their menus, not just in The Cambridge Mill but all properties under Pearle Hospitality.
- Pearle Hotel is working on the pipeline, the first large-scale hotel opening in Burlington next year.
Episode Timeline:
[00:38] What’s happening with The Cambridge Mill these days?
[02:29] Family Feeding Program
[03:29] Opening the North Terrace
[04:29] Changes made to The Cambridge Mill’s Operations
[07:40] Limitations of the Number of Guests Attending the Events
[10:03] History of The Cambridge Mill
[13:34] Hours of Operation
[14:41] 100-acre Organic Farm
[15:31] What’s on the Pipeline of Pearl Hospitality?
Learn more about Alex Kastner and The Cambridge Mill at:
Website: https://cambridgemill.ca/
Email: info@cambridgemill.ca
Phone: (519) 624-1828
