The Hub is a new pop-up restaurant on Whyte Avenue in the historic Hub Cigar building, aiming to be an incubator for up-and-coming food makers. Read More
The Hub is a new pop-up restaurant on Whyte Avenue in the historic Hub Cigar building, aiming to be an incubator for up-and-coming food makers. “This is something that not only (is a) great benefit to the food makers in our community, but as a result of that, (is a) great benefit to consumers,” said
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The Hub is a new pop-up restaurant on Whyte Avenue in the historic Hub Cigar building, aiming to be an incubator for up-and-coming food makers.
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“This is something that not only (is a) great benefit to the food makers in our community, but as a result of that, (is a) great benefit to consumers,” said co-founder Peter Keith.
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The Hub, which opened Friday at 10345 82 Ave., features two rising food businesses, Beb’s Bagels and Balay Coffee. The pop-up is scheduled to run throughout the summer with the goal of giving the two companies a chance to have their own space, but without the significant time, money, and risk of opening a place completely on their own.
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For Keith and co-founder Glendon Tan, the idea for the space has long been percolating as a missing link in the city’s food scene.
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“I’ve seen it attempted. I’ve seen different versions of it, and my own experience has only reinforced my belief that this is necessary and serves an important purpose and will really help entrepreneurs in the community,” said Keith.
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Having worked in the food industry for about 20 years, Keith said the idea for The Hub started about 10 years prior when he returned to Edmonton and met Tan after working in Vancouver for a few years. Tan had recently taken over a few commercial spaces and pitched the idea to Keith for a restaurant incubator.
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“I think there’s imposter syndrome, and then there’s truly just being an imposter. And I think I recognized at that time that I was not ready for something like that,” said Keith.
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The two put the idea on the back burner, but out of those conversations stemmed the idea for Meuwly’s — an artisan food market on 124 Street that opened in 2018, serving cured meats to local restaurants and a subscription-based charcuterie board.
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Through Meuwly’s, Tan and Keith kept a supportive environment for other food entrepreneurs, even offering up the market’s space for new producers to launch and grow their food business in its Local Lab. Between the lab and other commercial spaces managed by Tan, he saw how tedious the process could be for new restaurants to open and succeed.
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“I think that just made him feel even more strongly that something like this was necessary for the community, having a space (for) restauranteurs, aspiring entrepreneurs, chefs, creators, where they could take a smaller bet,” said Keith.
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Bagel and coffee synergy
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As a co-owner of Beb’s Bagels, Keith and business partner Lindon Carter had been using the Meuwly’s space and seeing strong uptake from the community. When Balay later aboard at the 124 Street location, he noticed ” a real synergy” for customers coming to the shop to grab a bagel and getting a specialty coffee to boot. With that, the inaugural Hub pairing was decided.