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Winnipeg Free Press
23-07-2025
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
‘It's a legacy': West Broadway institution Bistro Dansk seeks new ownership
A change of pace is on the menu for the proprietors of a Winnipeg eatery that has been serving Danish and Eastern European cuisine for almost 50 years. Paul and Pamela Vocadlo are selling Bistro Dansk, the West Broadway mainstay famous for its schnitzel. The restaurant opened at 63 Sherbrook St. in 1976, and the couple have owned and operated it since 1989. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Paul and Pamela Vocadlo have owned and operated Bistro Dansk since 1989. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Paul and Pamela Vocadlo have owned and operated Bistro Dansk since 1989. After 36 years of working 15-plus hours a day, five days a week, 50 or more weeks a year, the Vocadlos want to slow down. Once they sell the business, Pamela, 58, plans to retire fully so she can spend time with the couple's three grandchildren. Paul, 61, will take some time off, after which he may look for work elsewhere. 'We'd probably do it forever but … I want to be there for our grandkids and our kids,' Pamela said. The Vocadlos listed the restaurant three weeks ago. For $284,900, someone can buy the business and assets (the restaurant space is leased). Paul is willing to help the buyer during the transition. 'We'd like to find somebody who will do the same thing that we do,' he said. 'We want Bistro Dansk to keep going because it's a legacy.' Paul's parents, Joseph and Jaroslava, bought the restaurant in 1977. Originally from the Czech Republic, they ran Bistro Dansk for five years before selling it. Paul started his culinary career there at age 14, washing dishes and peeling potatoes. He was working at a different restaurant and Pamela was a bankteller when the high school sweethearts got married. A few months later, they saw Bistro Dansk was up for sale and bought it. Pamela recalls the couple's first day owning the restaurant. It was May 8, 1989, and no customers showed up. The next day was only slightly better, with two people walking through the doors. But the Vocadlos worked around the clock to keep the business going — Paul in the kitchen and Pamela taking orders and serving guests in the dining area. A favourable review by then-Free Press food critic Marion Warhaft, published later that year, helped bolster business. 'People were lined up all the way outside,' Paul recalled. 'When she gave us that write-up, everything turned around. That was it.' Warhaft wrote about Bistro Dansk numerous times over the years. In her penultimate column, published in December 2015, she included it in a list of memorable restaurants she'd visited over the years and described it as 'a model of consistent excellence.' From Marion Warhaft's column 'A few of my favourite things' which ran in the Free Press on Thursday, Dec. 24, 2015. Just as important as Warhaft's words are the customers who have frequented Bistro Dansk for decades. Because the Vocadlos spend so much time there, the guests have become a part of their family, Pamela said. Customers have celebrated marriages and grieved deaths in the restaurant. Today, the restaurant employs seven people. The Vocadlos do all of the cooking and baking, which includes making 100 loaves of bread and 120 buns daily. As times have changed, the restaurant, in many ways, has not. Just as they did in 1989, the Vocadlos enjoy using fresh ingredients to make big portions of food that are sold at reasonable prices. The restaurant's food is not available through delivery services, bills are handwritten, the wood panelling on the wall is original and a black-and-white image of a snoozing monk the original owners put up still hangs behind the bar. Bistro Dansk has long been a special place for Tony Dorman, who started going to the restaurant with his family when he was a teenager and Paul's parents owned it. Now 61, Dorman's work as a technician for touring music acts takes him on the road roughly eight months each year. It's a lifestyle that allows him to eat at fine restaurants around the world, but few compare to Bistro Dansk, he said. 'There's nothing like Paul's cooking,' Dorman said. 'I can't say I've had a bad bite of food at his restaurant.' MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Paul and Pamela Vocadlo listed the restaurant for sale three weeks ago. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Paul and Pamela Vocadlo listed the restaurant for sale three weeks ago. While he's disappointed the Vocadlos are selling the business, he understands their desire to move on. Eric Napier Strong, executive director of the West Broadway Business Improvement Zone, echoed that sentiment. 'While Sherbrook Street today hosts numerous great restaurants, Paul and his family have stuck with the community through many changes and even endured through some difficult times,' Napier Strong wrote in an email. 'We're sad to see them go, but everyone deserves their retirement eventually,' he added. 'I'm optimistic that somebody will keep the flame burning — or bring us some exciting new cuisine that will let them write their own story in that space.' The Vocadlos said they've received a few enquiries but no serious offers yet. 'We don't want anyone to panic,' Pamela said. 'We're still here, doing what we do.' Aaron EppReporter Aaron Epp reports on business for the Free Press. After freelancing for the paper for a decade, he joined the staff full-time in 2024. He was previously the associate editor at Canadian Mennonite. Read more about Aaron. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Winnipeg Free Press
16-06-2025
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
Lennard Taylor Design Studio makes move to West Broadway
Lennard Taylor clothes have reached Barcelona, New York and Toronto. Now, the designer is relocating his Winnipeg home base — and drastically changing operations to grow the business. 'The energy of this space is just tremendous,' Lennard Taylor said, walking through his new eponymously named boutique, Lennard Taylor Design Studio. A mannequin stands guard outside 67 Sherbrook St. Its uniform: a black T-shirt dress decorated with hand-painted images of people. Ruth Bonneville / Free Press Lennard Taylor in front of his new home Lennard Taylor Design Studio, at 67 Sherbrook St. After moving to many different business sites in Winnipeg Taylor says he can finally call this place home. Similar artwork dons shirts inside the boutique and overlays dressing room curtains. Through the past 18 years, Taylor has taken to beautifying stained clothing by painting overtop — it's become the designer's staple. Other luxury fashion items, such as coats and pants, populate racks. In a side room, long-time employee Shirley Chan hems clothing and works on custom outfits. The boutique isn't yet open. Final permits should arrive in the coming weeks, Taylor estimated. Until then, he's planning to pull items off the rack and sell pop-up style on the West Broadway front lawn. Most of the brand's life has unfurled downtown and in the Exchange District. Most recently, Lennard Taylor occupied a fifth-floor Exchange District spot. It was too big and not accessible enough, Taylor said. So he moved. 'I just thought about, 'When was I … happiest in my career?'' he said. 'I replicated that with getting a new location.' He flashed through his journey: injuring his knee roughly 18 years ago while playing soccer in Glasgow, ending his athletic career; trying on clothes in Europe and feeling his spirit lift; learning to sew; launching a store in Osborne Village, then moving to the Exchange District, then Garry Street. 'It's gonna be another Corydon (Avenue), the way it's moving.'–Paul Vocadlo, co-owner of Bistro Dansk on the West Broadway business community There was a job at another clothing manufacturer, then back to full-time focusing on Lennard Taylor Design Studio. The company relocated to a few spaces downtown and in the Exchange District over the past years. There were ebbs and flows: staffing up to 12 people, then down to two. Plenty of travel and trade shows; attracting clientele from Vancouver and New York to Winnipeg. Often, Taylor picks items for his patrons. He and staff might spend the day custom-making a grad dress, mending torn clothing or teaching buyers sewing skills. 'I couldn't produce fast enough,' Taylor said. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Taylor became a father; the impending birth of his son led him to re-evaluate his work life. 'What do I want out of this?' Taylor, 39, recalled asking himself. For one, it meant going back to 'the grassroots' of his career — a smaller space and greater connections with customers. The West Broadway locale is roughly half the size of Taylor's former fifth floor digs, which was 6,500 square feet. This spot — previously a house — has a ground-floor entrance, five parking spaces in the back and room upstairs to hold another designer. Taylor also recently inked deals with factories in Canada and abroad to make his wares. Until last year, all production was done in house. 'I didn't have enough hands,' Taylor said. 'Now I can look at the increased demand and take it on.' Ruth Bonneville / Free Press The inside of Lennard Taylor Design Studio's new address, at 67 Sherbrook St. Shipping Lennard Taylor goods wholesale, including to mom-and-pop shops nationally, is now possible, Taylor said. 'I think it's a healthy growth opportunity.' He's hired a chief operating officer to oversee day-to-day happenings. Meantime, he's ready to focus on clothes and art: 'It's going back to what I love in the business, and that's having my hands dirty — painting, sewing, creating.' Clothing restoration workshops may be offered in the new space, Taylor hinted. He's planning to turn his front lawn into a sculpture gallery, one that shows a transformation of clothing waste. Waltz on in Barber Shop and Thom Bargen, a coffee shop, are across the street. There's a chocolatier, a vintage store, many restaurants. The business community is part of the reason Taylor settled in West Broadway. 'It's gonna be another Corydon (Avenue), the way it's moving,' said Paul Vocadlo, co-owner of Bistro Dansk. The eatery has resided near Lennard Taylor's new digs for decades. By Vocadlo's view, West Broadway has changed: far more small businesses. Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. His wife and business partner watched Taylor paint a shirt outside the boutique earlier this month. 'To have him in the neighbourhood is amazing,' Pamela Vocadlo said. 'Couldn't ask for a better addition.' Lennard Taylor Design Studio will likely draw new traffic, they predicted. The sentiment was echoed by Eric Napier Strong, West Broadway BIZ executive director. 'It's something we don't presently have in the neighbourhood,' Napier Strong said. 'I think it's going to be a great fit.' The luxury brand has grown by word of mouth, noted Mike Colatruglio, a Lennard Taylor customer. He stopped by earlier this month, wearing a custom pair of the designer's jeans. 'People who know know,' he said. 'I think it's great for people in the area.' Gabrielle PichéReporter Gabrielle Piché reports on business for the Free Press. She interned at the Free Press and worked for its sister outlet, Canstar Community News, before entering the business beat in 2021. Read more about Gabrielle. Every piece of reporting Gabrielle produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
