Fire that destroyed popular N.B. restaurant has local business owners feeling uneasy – New Brunswick

The cause of the fire that burned down the Aboiteau Seafood Paradise restaurant and Aboiteau Fisheries fish market at the Aboiteau Wharf in Cap-Pelé, N.B., on Sunday is still under investigation.

The restaurant was a popular tourist destination and community gathering place, according to Anthony Azard, the CEO of Cap Acadie’s Chamber of Commerce.

“It’s a total loss for the business but also the whole community,” he said in an interview on Wednesday.

Cap-Acadie fire Chief Ronald Cormier told Global News that firefighters fought the blaze from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.

He said no one was injured as the restaurant was closed for the season.

Between 2019 and 2022, the Cap-Acadie region, which includes Cap-Pelé, saw several businesses burned down due to arson.

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These included Chez Camille, another seafood restaurant in Cap-Pelé that burned down in the spring of 2022, as well as M&M Cormier Fisheries’ smokehouse in 2021.


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Mario Cormier, the president of M&M Cormier Fisheries, said he had to lay off half of his employees as a result of the fire.

The smokehouse had been built just five years prior, and was built primarily to modernize his business.

He said the fire on the Aboiteau wharf stirred up painful memories, but he’s hopeful the cause of the fire wasn’t criminal.

“When a fire happens, people say, ‘Well, is it going to start again?’” he said.

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“It’s on the back of everyone’s minds that it might happen again,” he said of the rash of fires.

Azard said one of the chamber’s main messages to the community was that “there is no need to panic.”

“I don’t want to connect (the Aboiteau wharf fire) to the past fires,” he said.

He said that when the original rash of fires occured, the chamber advised businesses to reinforce their security measures, saying many businesses installed security measures.

He said it was also important to check the structural integrity of the building to prepare for possible accidental fires.

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“Whether it was criminal or not, whether it was accidental or not, we will have an adequate response to that. For now, I am sending

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How Luxury Department Store Harrods Built A Booming Restaurant Business

Dining is not the first thing that comes to mind when consumers think of Harrods—despite its retail Food Halls being internationally famous. As one of the world’s top destinations for luxury, showcasing over 3,000 brands, the department store in Knightsbridge, London maintains a high-fashion image based on exclusivity and tailored service.

Even the retailer’s website is shy about the 26-strong restaurant and bar offer—you have to hunt around at the bottom to find the details. Yet eating and drinking in-store has blossomed to the extent that towards the end of last year it was trading 44% higher than it was pre-Covid, and transaction values were also 47% up on 2019. More widely, Harrods turned a profit again in the last financial year for which figures are available.

The latest addition to the roster of dining venues—which features fêted names like Jason Atherton, Vineet Bhatia, Tom Kerridge, Angelo Musa, Gordon Ramsay, and Em Sherif—arrived at the end of 2022. Studio Frantzén, brought another Michelin-starred chef to the store, this time from Sweden.

Björn Frantzén’s à la carte restaurant, with a signature Asian-influenced take on Nordic cuisine, is literally the pinnacle of Harrod’s dining experiences because it is found at the very top of the department store’s building on two floors, plus an outdoor terrace. The latter is claimed to be the only rooftop terrace in Knightsbridge and Mayfair, two of London’s most desirable districts. As well as being a choice for foodies, the 150-seat Studio Frantzén is open late and has a buzzy vibe with two bars, one of which offers sweeping views.

Data-led gains

So what is the attraction of having so many eating and drinking spots in the store? I had the chance to catch up with Harrods’ director of restaurants and kitchens, Ashley Saxton, to find out how food and beverage (F&B) is fast becoming a revenue driver and a cornerstone of the business.

“Our research has found that when customers engage with our restaurants they also engage more often with the store. They spend twice as long in the building and spend twice as much money,” he said.

That insight alone has given Saxton quite a bit of freedom

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