Vancouver’s mayor and city councillors have all voted to keep a decades-old restaurant at VanDusen Botanical Garden, despite a staff report that chose another provider for a new lease, based on a request for proposal (RFP) process.
“I’m sorry you had to go through this,” said Mayor Ken Sim to the Chatten family, which operates Shaughnessy Restaurant. “I apologize about the process, it’s not an indication of our people at the City of Vancouver who work incredibly hard — they’re just working in a flawed process.”
Chris Chatten began the restaurant as Sprinkler’s in 1984, before returning for its transformation into Shaughnessy Restaurant, which his family has operated for more than 25 years.
It provides meals and also hosts events such as weddings.
Chatten and his daughter Carlle took their story to the media earlier this month, expressing shock they would have to compete in a procurement competition to remain at the garden in 2026.
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They hired consultants and lawyers to help with their bid, but were ultimately not successful, losing out to the only other applicant, Truffles Fine Foods Ltd., which is a caterer and operates L’Abbatoir in the Gastown neighbourhood.
Park board commissioners approved the awarding of the lease to Truffles during an in-camera meeting.
On Tuesday, city council was tasked with giving it final approval, but the Chattens’ appeal, based on their history and success, convinced councillors the staff report made the wrong choice.
“Our success is not accidental, it’s the product of legacy built through deep local knowledge, staff dedication and longstanding community relationships,” said Carlle Chatten, who serves as wedding director at the restaurant.
“We’re not a generic operator — we’re tailor made for this space”
‘We have a proven successful operator’
She was one of about a dozen speakers to council, which included her father, as well as Ian Tostenson, CEO of the B.C. Restaurant and Foodservices Association.
All registered speakers spoke against the motion, arguing that if council supported the staff recommendation to provide the lease to the successful RFP applicant, Truffles, it would set a bad precedent for the city and create risk that the new operator might not be as successful.
“We have a proven successful operator,” said Coun. Lisa Dominato about the Chattens.
Sim said awarding the lease to Truffles would send a terrible message to anyone who wants to do business with the City of Vancouver.
“If we say after 40 years, something comes along which we may think is a little bit better — and so we’re going to burn 40 years worth of relationship, because of that. That’s not how I do business, the great businesses of the planet don’t do business that way,” he said.
Assessed under ‘Think Big’ revenue strategy
The councillors were conciliatory with staff, saying they followed the park board and city’s rules through the process.
The RFP process fell under the Vancouver Park Board’s Think Big Revenue Strategy, which was adopted in 2023 and aims to boost revenue by optimizing the use of park board facilities.
The two applications for the VanDusen restaurant space were assessed on their expertise in the restaurant management industry, sustainable and ethical procurement and a demonstrated ability to provide a self-sustained operation with no financial contribution from the city.
“The evaluation team concluded that the proposal submitted by Truffles Fine Foods Ltd. met the city’s requirements as outlined in the RFP and provided the best overall value to the city,” said the staff recommendation.
Councillors, though, completely disagreed.
“A tough challenge here with this one,” said Coun. Mike Klassen to staff about their work in choosing Truffles over remaining with Shaughnessy. “We owe a debt of gratitude for the Shaughnessy Restaurant.”
CBC News has contacted Truffles Fine Foods Ltd. for comment on council’s decision, but had not heard back by time of publication.
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