Toseki Entertainment reopened its profitable Horizons Restaurant on Burnaby Mountain on Wednesday after a seven-month closure spurred by an April 15 fire.
“We completely gutted and rebuilt the restaurant from the ground up, with the exception of the shell,” Toseki’s director of operations, Geoffrey Howes, told Business in Vancouver just before the restaurant was set to reopen.
Renovations cost more than $1 million and were paid for in part by $300,000 from the City of Burnaby. Features include a new ramp for wheelchairs.
“Two sides of the restaurant have windows that are about two feet higher than they were. So, the view is now unparalleled,” Howes said.
About 60 people had reservations for the first night, he said.
November weather made it impossible for them to sit on the patio. Were they to choose such an option, however, they would not be able to smoke.
The fire that badly damaged about 35% of the restaurant, including the kitchen, ceiling and walls, was caused when a customer tossed a cigarette butt in a planter on the patio instead of in the garbage.
“It could not have been worse timing. It was April and we had plenty of weddings planned for the summer. We were going into our busy season,” Howes said.
Toseki also operates downtown Vancouver’s Aqua Riva and the Salmon House in West Vancouver.