THUNDER BAY – John Collins is looking forward to spending more time with family but admits he will miss his family at Daytona’s Kitchen and Creative Catering.
“I have my daughters working here as well as my son-in-law. My granddaughters also have dreams of the day that they come and work here,” Collins reflected. “A lot of my staff have been with me for many years -- we don't have a high turnover rate, which is good. You create relationships and we've always said we're a family, this is what we are. We're a family run business.”
Collins is retiring from the hospitality industry as of April 1 after five decades.
The former candidate for the Westfort ward council spot in 2022 took over what used to be known as the Pit Stop in 2007 and changed it to Daytona’s.
“My wife and I sat down and talked about taking over the Pit Stop,” said Collins. “We started the restaurant as a pure bar, which had a NASCAR theme. It was a blue-collar establishment that we evolved into more of a family restaurant.
“We're very fortunate for the people who have worked for us, the owners of the building and the return customers that we continue to welcome back.”
Collins recalled having to change operations during the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.
“We had a 4,000-square-foot take out stand, and we had a lot of good people working for us. We wanted to make sure that once we came out of the pandemic, that they were still with us,” Collins added. “We bit the bullet to make sure that we kept our staff on full time throughout the whole time.
“My wife and I stopped keeping paycheques a long time ago to make sure that we had the money to look after the staff. They were very important to what we did as a restaurant.”
Collins also remembers working alongside the Wequedong Lodge when they had an outbreak in their kitchen, to ensure that people all over Thunder Bay were getting fed.
He also lent financial assistance to other smaller restaurants to help them get through the pandemic.
Collins did hint that the restaurant will remain in local hands.
“It will be a new local restaurant. There's a new group with some individuals that have worked here,” Collins mentioned.
“They are going to create a new version of what this space could be.
“I still believe that local is better. Chain restaurants are great, but I think local is better. You can do different things with a local restaurant that you can't do in a chain.”
The restaurant will be closed from April 1 to 8 for plumbing renovations.
