Jonathan Gushue partners with Catalyst137 to open Graffiti

KITCHENER, Ont. — Chef Jonathan Gushue and Ryan Lloyd-Craig are planning to adapt the definition of restaurant to accommodate an evolving workforce. 

Under the Ignite Restaurant Group Canada banner, Gushue and Lloyd-Craig partnered to open The Berlin in Kitchener in 2015.

Their second project is Graffiti, a 13,000-square-foot space in Catalyst137, which will be the world’s largest hardware technology hub when it opens this summer. The building is expected to house 2,200 tech employees in 475,00 square feet. Graffiti, which is expected to open in October, is tasked with providing a wide range of food options for those employees. 

“Essentially, by definition, it’s a restaurant, but it’s sort of restaurant meets technology,” Gushue said. “There’s always talk of a modern restaurant. We wanted to take that even further.” 

RELATED: Jonathan Gushue opens The Berlin in Kitchener

Alongside a modern Italian restaurant equipped with pizza ovens and wood-burning grills, Graffiti will house a bakery, craft brewery, in-house coffee roaster, café with grab-and-go items and a market selling a variety of local products.

“It’s something for everyone. We realize now, in this day and age, you need a hell of a lot more than just a restaurant to attract people,” Gushue said. 

“There has to be a reason for people to come.”

Up to 100 seats will be scattered throughout the establishment, eliminating a defined restaurant space. A patio will add another 80 seats. 

“We thought of the food halls of old and how do we bring that forward,” Gushue said. “How do we make a modern cafeteria? How do we make it cool? Cafeteria is awful; no one likes that word.”

Gushue and Lloyd-Craig also plan to work with tech firms within the building to create a platform for online ordering. They are also eyeing logistics of delivery to offices throughout the building. 

“It’s an integrated restaurant where you can order from your desk. We’re trying to set up an app to eliminate the server altogether for employees at Catalyst,” Gushue said. 

The retail market will feature a variety of rotating, local producers, from art to charcuterie. 

“All of this stuff is interchangeable. One week we have a producer from Kitchener or Listowel, or Woodbridge,” Gushue said. “Next week that could be someone selling fish.”

For the bakery, operations will be a reversal from traditional early morning production. 

“The bakery will do opposite hours. All the bread will be coming out of the oven when these guys are going home,” Gushue said. “No one’s shopping for the family anymore really.”

Although the restaurant features modern Italian influence, Gushue said the menu would constantly change. 

“We want change. If nothing changes, nothing changes,” Gushue said. “The only thing that’s going to change is less people will come to your restaurant.”

The goal is to eliminate the need for employees in the tech hub to leave the building for food and drink. 

“By not having to leave the building, we’re optimizing their time,” Gushue said. “Tech employees are incredibly busy, these guys all work 10 to 14 hours a day. They like to pop out and go for a beer, then back to work. It’s different from most professions I know.”

He added the space wouldn’t be exclusively for employees working out of the building. With a 1,000-spot parking lot, Gushue believes Graffiti will attract diners from throughout the Kitchener-Waterloo area. 

“We want to be able to attract people in Kitchener on the weekends,” he said. “We want to make this a destination in Kitchener as a place to pick up products and maybe pick up a sandwich.”