Callister’s preparing for 10th anniversary
When everything seems to be going wrong, the only thing that will make it better is a hot meal with a good friend at Callister's Country Kitchen in Coldbrook.
Co-owner Leighanna Melvin grew up in the restaurant world - her parents have owned a restaurant since she was 12 years old.
“I worked hard for a lot of people all my life and I wanted to own my own business,” said Melvin.
Leighanna and her husband Lewis opened Callister's Country Kitchen on May 30, 2011.
“I love people, I love feeding them,” said Leighanna “It's sort of a Cheers restaurant, so to speak, only without the alcohol.”
Although she was nervous when they first opened, Leighanna looks back now and knows it was the right choice.
“You’re nervous when you first open because you don’t know if it will succeed or not,” she said. “So, you pay attention to what other businesses are doing. But, now, we are almost ten years in. As long as you continue to please your customers, you’ll be OK.”
Callister'shas slowly turned into a place where everyone is family.
“We are a big family.
There’s a staff totalling 31 in the summertime and, in the winter, I lose six of them to school. Most of my staff has been with me since the first day. It’s a great family spot," said Leighanna
“We know pretty much everybody by name and if we don’t know you, we act like we’ve known you all our lives.”
Now, more than ever, it is important to Leighanna to put a smile on her customer’s faces.
“I always compared being a waitress to being in theatre - this is my stage ... you always get to put a light in people’s day. Especially right now with COVID.”
UNIQUE OFFERINGS
Three years ago, Callister's opened a summertime ice cream shop attached to the restaurant after neighbouring Scotian Gold closed its longtime ice cream stand.
“I felt it in my spirit that this was the year I was going to do ice cream," she says, but they decided to hold off because they didn't want to take business from another company.
"Then (Scotian Gold) wasn't doing ice cream anymore so they approached me and sold me their coolers … and then everything just fell into place.”
To add a little extra entertainment for customers, they started doing live music on Saturday nights a year-and-ahalf ago.
“Coldbrook doesn’t really have anything where families can just go out and be families and listen to live music, so it worked out well,” said Leighanna.
Since local talent is limited to where they can perform because of COVID-19, it is a win-win for everyone.
“Right now, it's proving to be profitable, because a lot of the local musicians can't play anywhere because of COVID so they love to come out,” said Leighanna. “It supports our local talent and it's good for our restaurant.”
SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE
Sometimes it can be hard to ensure your menu has something for everyone. For this reason, Calister’s has 82 items on the menu.
That's a hard part of the job that may surprise people, she says.
“(It’s hard) trying to make everyone happy and coming up with a menu that everyone enjoys,” said Leighanna
However, it’s all part of the job.
“We do go that extra mile to make sure we have something for everyone,” said Leighanna.
This all goes back to something her father said to her before he died.
“(He) said to me, 'If you don’t make your customers happy, someone else will, so you become friends with your customers you see what they want,'” she said.
That advice seems to be the secret sauce to success: they have gotten so busy over the years that on Saturday nights, they need reservations, and Leighanna has had to hire a kitchen manager.
Although it can be hard work sometimes, Leighanna wouldn’t miss a minute of it.
“I love people … seeing them smile being happy... I don’t know if there's one particular thing I love. I like the whole experience,” she said.
Leighanna is also extremely grateful for the community's continued support.
“We want to thank everyone for their continued support - we love our area and we love our customers,” she said.
Go online: http://www.callisterscountrykitchen.com
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