TAKE A PIT STOP IN A YURT AND GO GLAMPING IN KEARNEY

"WE ACTUALLY NEVER INTENDED TO OPEN A RESTAURANT"

Pit Stop 518 is switching gears from operating their restaurant to focusing on providing their guests the best experience with cosy glamping in yurts.

This means the restaurant portion of Pit Stop 518 is closing on March 18, but Joanne Moyes and Jake Beck aren't going anywhere — it was just time to focus on their original goal. The independent café that is housed in the same building as the restaurant, Pit Stop Cafe, remains open.

"That was the business we were going to lead with," said Moyes of the glamping business, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the delivery of the yurts.

"We actually never intended to open a restaurant," she said. "But we had restaurant experience, the restaurant was here and we needed a source of income because our original business plan was delayed by three months."

The first three yurts arrived in February 2021 and were ready for the public mid-March of that year.

"Our original plan was to start with three and (then add) one a year until we had five," explained Moyes, mentioning the plan beyond the yurts is to get geodesic domes and put them in the woods.

WHAT IS GLAMPING?

According to Moyes, the term originated from people who wanted to experience the outdoors but not necessarily invest the money, time and energy it takes to bring everything with you on a camping trip.

"From a glamping perspective, all of your basics are completely taken care of," she said.

The choice to invest in yurts over another type of structure came from Beck's research where he said he discovered the company Groovy Yurts, which supplies authentic Mongolian Yurts. The company says it focuses on sustainability and being envirofriendly.

"I started following people who stayed in different yurts, and people said they were blown away by Groovy Yurts," said Beck. "People said they were getting such an earthy feeling from staying in them, and that's what we wanted to provide to people, is that experience of getting away,

but it's like it has a calming effect."

Inside the yurts at Pit Stop 518, which are located just off a local snowmobile trail, is a wood-burning stove that adds warmth to the room and cosy decor, complete with comfylooking pillows.

The closure of the restaurant will see new life brought into the building as Moyes said Ontario Parks will be setting up their new office where folks can pick up park passes.

The business focus was always to be about the yurts, not the restaurant, which was originally intended to just provide food to guests staying in the yurts.

"It's not failing," Moyes said of the restaurant side of Pit Stop 518. "It's just not where we wanted to go in the first place."

"We made the business decision to focus our time and attention on the thing we came here to do and the side of our business that actually makes money," she added.