Kenneth Brown
of The Clarion

Another new dining option is coming soon to Kindersley. The restaurant’s owner says the Montana’s BBQ & Bar is on track to open before the end of October.

The Montana’s is being built next to the Best Western Plus Hotel on 13th Avenue East. West Fraser Developments Ltd., the hotel’s owner and operator, is also the firm responsible for the Montana’s BBQ & Grill. Construction is moving along nicely, a company official says.

“Our expected opening is the end of October,” said Ravi Sandhu, the vice-president of development at West Fraser Developments. “We’re actually ahead of schedule. When we first started working, we were aiming for a mid-November opening.”

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It took roughly seven to eight months of planning and getting various approvals before construction could start, he said. According to Sandhu, the restaurant could be open as early as mid-October if everything goes as smoothly and quickly as possible. The company is on track to open in October.

He noted that the company opened the hotel in 2015 and part of the plan was always to build a restaurant on land beside the hotel. He said it took a year for the company to do its due diligence before deciding to build a Montana’s franchise.

Sandhu said he believes the Montana’s will be a good fit for the community. Although it took a long time for the company to make its decision, he said Montana’s is a popular choice for food lovers and the level of appeal played a factor in the final decision.

There are several food options in the community, but several of the options are family restaurants and Sandhu said the company recognizes its main competition will be Boston Pizza. The vice-president recognized that the two brands are still different enough to attract specific diners to their establishments.

He said if people want a good steak, they will eat at Montana’s. Cara is the parent company that franchises out the Montana’s brand, and he said the company has been good to work with throughout the planning and development process.

At the time of the interview, the work had slowed down, Sandhu said. He explained that the company was waiting for appliances to arrive and other work to proceed. He said the exterior work was planned to be done late in September and it is when the building would “truly start looking like a Montana’s.”

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