BC Business
Browns Social House | BCBusinessA direct order from Browns Social House.
Last week’s opening of a Browns SocialHouse Brewery District in New Westminster marks the fourth Browns SocialHouse location to open since March, and the chain’s 18th overall, bringing the tally to 15 in B.C., three in Saskatchewan and six more planned in Western Canada by year’s end.
The rapid growth is all in keeping up with market demand, according to COO and vice-president of development for Browns Social House Ltd., Bruce Fox. Fox says that for entrepreneurial franchisees, Browns SocialHouses “fill a unique niche that bridges the gap between neighbourhood pub and an accessible, casual find dining experience.” In other words: a Browns SocialHouse can fly in a lot of locations.
Browns SocialHouse joined B.C.’s casual fine dining contingent (which includes Earls, Joey’s and Cactus Club)—and the contingent’s ongoing war for top choice among consumers—when it was founded in 2004 by Scott Morison, co-founder, with Richard Jaffray, of Cactus Club Cabaret Ltd. (Many restaurateurs will recall that arrangement ended up in the B.C. court system, from which Morison emerged triumphant.)
The first Browns SocialHouse is still in operation, in North Vancouver on Lonsdale Avenue. The company projects to have 37 Browns SocialHouses open by the end of 2014, and to open its first location in Ontario within two years. It also franchises two locations in Bellingham, Washington.