For John Cain, owning a business in the Columbia Valley is about more than just turning a profit — it’s about promoting the community you live in.
“It’s just in our nature, it wasn’t a conscious thing,” Cain said. “We all love where we live, and so we don’t hesitate to allow that to rub off on the people that come through our door.”
Cain shares ownership of the Fairmont Pizza and Ice Cream Parlour, located at 4992 Fairmont Frontage Road in Fairmont Hot Springs, with his wife Margot and friend Vernon Victoor. Featuring a wide range of hot foods like pizza and ribs, the Fairmont business also dishes out some delicious delicacies, such as their selection of over 20 different ice cream flavours, cookies, pies, warm brownie sundaes, chocolate truffle cheesecake and custom flavour milkshakes of every description.
“We know we have a great product, so if we can get people in the door trying it, then we know it will bring them back,” he said, adding that they have had an outstanding summer after opening in June of 2011.
Having previously operated Rockies Pizzeria in Radium for the last couple of years before closing in January, Cain said that as soon as word got out about them opening a different location, they began to see an immediate reaction from the community at large. Beginning with just ice cream last June, they introduced hot foods in October and Cain said that the future looks bright for the charmingly-decorated pizza and ice cream parlour.
“Because there wasn’t a restaurant here before, the minute we opened our doors… the curiousity in the community — we were amazed that once we brought our hot food in how many people came in going, ‘Oh, we heard there’s a new place and we just came in to get a menu,’” Cain said. “The minute we brought [our business] here, it just got embraced by the community, it’s been awesome.”
With the addition of a brand new pizza oven that more than doubles their capabilities, Cain also said that this coming winter they’ll also be able to serve more large groups, such as hockey teams that play in the arena in Canal Flats.
“We want local contractors to to know that they can come here and get a decent lunch, and it can be something different every day,” Cain said. Living and working in a small community, Cain said he enjoys getting to know the people who walk through their door, and the fellow businesses that surround them. They do most of their shopping in the local grocery store so practically always have fresh ingredients, and Cain said their homemade pizza crust is always a favourite with tourists and locals alike, which he sees in equal shares.
With Fairmont Hot Springs being a timeshare community, Cain said he wants to create memories for the tourists who do pass through his shop, and that he is always interested in getting involved with charitable events and activities in the local community.
“The steps we took in the beginning at Rockies of experimenting with sauces and cheeses… we didn’t just want to put out pizza, we wanted it to be pizza that people went, ‘Wow.’”