‘It felt really good. It’s always been a fascination of mine to call myself a philanthropist,’ Michael and Marion’s owner says of donation to Georgian College
Kent Smith was 23 years old and barely out of school when he decided to buy a restaurant with a friend.
They cobbled together enough funds to buy Michael and Marion’s. It was an already established, higher-end dining facility in a shared business space on lower Bayfield Street.
Five months later, the friend moved on and the restaurant was all his.
“For the next four years, I basically put my head down and went to work every Monday at 9 o’clock and I’d work until midnight Saturday. On Sunday, I’d recover and on Monday I’d do it all again. I literally worked 10 years’ worth of years in four years,” he tells BarrieToday.
Now, three-and-a-half decades later, Smith reflects on his success, which included expanding the restaurant into space that had been occupied by a hair salon, expanding the business by adding on The Side Door, as well as gathering space upstairs and then finally purchasing the building and doing extensive renovations.
But with his wife, Krista, Smith has extended his reach into the community.
They recently donated $26,000 to their alma mater, Georgian College, to establish a new permanent student endowment, providing a financial boost to a full-time student enrolled in Georgian’s hospitality and culinary management programs every year.
“It felt really good. It’s always been a fascination of mine to call myself a philanthropist,” he says.
Krista has had her own career trajectory, launching Groovy Tuesday’s, which she sold two years later, and then running The Red Tulip clothing store on Dunlop Street East for several years. She can also be seen regularly working at Michael and Marion’s, particularly during weekends.
At the restaurant, they’ve been doing a regular soup kitchen and have raised money for local and national programs.
And while Smith says his latest contribution is part of giving back, for him it’s also to challenge for others to do the same. Perhaps, he muses, the local hospitality scene can benefit more from the talent coming from Georgian College.
And through his involvement with the college, perhaps he can also connect more with the students.
Smith came to Barrie to attend Georgian College’s hospitality program via Ottawa, where he completed his culinary training.
Hailing from Nova Scotia, it wasn’t his intent to stay in Barrie.
And maybe he questioned his decision, during those early months as the Gulf War raged, the goods and services tax (GST) was being introduced and borrowing rates were well into the double digits.
“Times were tough back in the early ’90s,” he recalls.
They’re now on the cusp of celebrating 35 years in business on Bayfield Street.
The Smiths no longer work day and night, and are now able to travel, thanks to a solid staff numbering about 26 people.
Smith acts as the front man, driving the business by finding new clients, doing group sales and doing the communications for his restaurant. Although he’s still quite hands-on, he found time to conduct a phone interview while driving to Toronto ahead of a recent snow storm for supplies.
He leaves the kitchen in the hands of Marjory Bowes, who has been serving as executive chef for four years.
“She comes up with some really good stuff and, subsequently, she’s not afraid to work with the old ogre in the basement,” he quips.
Jade Baines has been the restaurant’s general manager for more than two years, replacing her predecessor who had been there for nearly 30 years. Smith describes her as one of the happiest and most positive people he’s ever met.
The job overall, says Smith, comes down to appreciating the clientele.
“For a little restaurant we have a big crew … The hard part of the restaurant is really the management of all the personalities,” he says. “It is building that team and trying to maintain that team.”
As the Smiths take more time to themselves, their plan is to continue the legacy of Michael and Marion’s through their daughter, who is now studying business.
“I want her to take over my company, I want her to take over my beliefs,” says her dad.
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