A new café and gift store that opened in Port Alberni at the beginning of the year offers a unique menu of traditional Nuu-chah-nulth food—and raises funds for a local non-profit.
Kuu-us Café and Gifts, located on Gertrude Street, officially opened to the public on Jan. 15. Todd Flaro, manager of the store, says the response from the community has been positive so far.
“And the food’s amazing,” he said. “We’ve sold out every day we’ve been open.”
The café is located in the former home of Pot Luck Ceramics, in a cottage at 4473 Gertrude Street. Pot Luck Ceramics, owned by Helma Swinkels, was a “profit for non-profit” enterprise that raised funds for Ty Watson House Hospice. The volunteer-run Pot Luck Ceramics was forced to close in 2020, a victim of the COVID-19 pandemic. Swinkels reinvented the store into a smaller social enterprise called Bibi J’s, but by 2022 she was looking to retire.
That’s where Kuu-us Crisis Line Society stepped in. Executive director Colin Minions and operations manager Sean McAnerin came up with the idea of an Indigenous-themed gift shop, gallery and café. Work began in October 2022 to add a commercial kitchen to the location.
Like Pot Luck Ceramics before it, Kuu-us Café is a “profit for non-profit” venture that raises funds for Kuu-us Crisis Line Society. The society runs a crisis line for suicide prevention, but also offers outreach support, housing, food hampers and a number of other services and programs.
“It’s not just a crisis line,” explained Flaro. “They also do a lot of outreach within the community.”
Head chef Brandee Robinson created the menu at Kuu-us Café with the intent of bringing West Coast Indigenous food to the forefront. Robinson, who is Ahousaht First Nation, grew up in the back of the kitchen watching her grandmother cook. It inspired Robinson to go into the cooking business herself, starting out on boats and later moving into restaurant work.
“This is the chowder I grew up eating,” Robinson explained of the Kuu-us Café menu. “I didn’t grow up eating a lot of store-bought foods. That’s what I wanted to bring here—simple things put out in a good way, in a healthy way.”
The menu includes rotating game meat options of venison, elk and bison, as well as seafood and plenty of bannock (or fry bread). Chili and seafood chowder are on the menu every day, said Flaro, and bannock sandwiches—shaped like a Sasquatch foot—come in “Auntie” or “Uncle” size. There are grab-and-go options, as well as sit-down meals and desserts.
Along with the food, the cottage is also full of Indigenous and west coast artwork and gifts available to purchase. Flaro says all products are ethically-sourced.
For now, the café is only open from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Monday to Friday, but Flaro says he plans to open Saturdays in the future. The café will also be offering online orders in the future through its website at www.kuu-uscafeandgifts.com.
“We just wanted to test the waters to start,” Flaro said. “The response has been amazing so far. I keep hearing people say, ‘I can’t believe we finally have this.’”