Suzy Taylor, long-time owner of The Grant House restaurant, has sold the one-of-a-kind eatery to Scott and Sarah Flury, owners of Latte Da Coffee House and Wine Bar in uptown Vancouver, for an undisclosed amount.
Taylor, who has co-owned the iconic Officers Row restaurant with her husband Jon and sister Lynn Rullman since 2004, said that the decision to sell the business stems from a desire to move back to Nashville, Tennessee, where she is originally from.
“We always said that once our kids graduated high school we would move back to Nashville. All of a sudden, about a year ago, we suddenly realized our oldest was graduating this year,” Taylor laughed.
Wanting to place the restaurant in good hands, the Taylors started looking around the community for someone with industry experience who could take The Grant House “on to the next step.” About three months ago, with help from Mike True, president & CEO of the Fort Vancouver National Trust, they started a conversation with the Flurys.
“Scott and Sarah (Flury) saw the value that we’ve already built into the restaurant and they want to keep all of the employees that are already here,” said Taylor. “They don’t want to make any major changes – at least for a while – at that made us feel good. It made us feel like we’re turning this over to someone who is going to do a good job with it.”
But that doesn’t make selling the restaurant any less bittersweet, Taylor admitted.
“I’ve been here every day for all these years and my employees are like my children, so I think it’s going to be really hard,” she said. “But I’ve always said I work with these people, they don’t work for me. We’re all friends. I think I’ll always have their friendship. I’ll miss the guests too. We have a lot of regulars that have been coming in for a long time.”
Scott Flury, who founded Latte Da in 2010, said he and his wife have been interested in owning a restaurant in the downtown area for about two years. When The Grant House presented itself to them, he said it was “like all the stars aligned.”
“We’ve got huge shoes to fill,” said Flury, who will continue operating Latte Da while working at The Grant House. “I know that they (Suzy, Jon and Lynn) are very well loved and have done such a wonderful job of getting this restaurant to where it is today. It’s a special place and it has a lot of special memories for so many people in the city of Vancouver. We’re just honored to be able to carry that on.”
While Flury doesn’t see many initial changes at the restaurant, he hopes to eventually serve breakfast and to be seven days a week (currently, The Grant House is closed on Sundays).
“There will probably be some marketing changes as well, to get the word out that we’re here and we’re open for business,” Flury added. “It’s the same quality staff, the same quality product, and we look forward to seeing people here.”
The Grant House is located at 1101 Officers Row in Vancouver.
