Swiss Chalet quickly and pretty thoroughly has closed two of their locations in Winnipeg On Kenaston and at Corydon and Stafford.
The restaurant was built in 2011 and initially cost $1.6 million and employed 80 people. Yes Winnipeg helped attract the chain back after many years absence.
The pandemic has been unkind to restaurants and the group that owns Swiss Chalet has been closing places across the country.
I came here a number of weeks past when restrictions were reduced and I could not get in at another place without a wait. Swiss Chalet was open and quiet. There was a time when it was so busy they turned people away.
A few years after Kenaston opened, we saw Swiss Chalet and Harvey's take over the old Chicken Delight location at Corydon and Stafford. It had a drive thru that was grandfathered in and was almost ended when in 2014 Swiss Chalet picked up the location.
Like Kenaston it seemed to be fairly busy but the pandemic seems to have hurt it. Or perhaps the arrival of Popeye's has hurt other chicken places.
I do know the last time I was there I was not impressed. And probably wouldn't have gone there if other places were not packed to the rafters.
Ultimately, this might have been the most ultimate reason they closed these two locations.
One location remains at Portage Avenue near the university. We will keep a lookout on this one.
