Cityphile: Sean Heather

A little while ago, I asked Sean Heather if he would do a CityPhile profile for us, because as the proprietor of Gastown gastropub The Irish Heather and secret Scotch house, The Shebeen, he has indirectly been the source of much inspiration, fun, education and comfort for me and my friends and I wanted to get a feeling for the force behind it all. Not to mention his thoughts on my new favorite neighbourhood - Gastown.

I hope you will enjoy the interview that follows. Just this morning, however, I learned from Urban Diner that the whole operation is picking up and moving across the street. So now of course, I have many more questions for him, but he is a master of his environment and mostly I just can't wait to see what he comes up with.

What inspired you to open your first restaurant - a gastropub - The Irish Heather?

I am a work-a-holic, and there came a time in my life when I asked myself the question..." is it better to work like a dog for myself or for somebody else?" That is why I opened my first restaurant, as to why it was an Irish gastropub? I felt that at the time there wasn't a true Irish establishment in the city and having traveled the world and experienced fantastic, authentic Irish Pubs in places like Prague & Budapest, I felt that this was a niche that I could fill.

And now you've got The Irish Heather, The Shebeen, Salt Tasting Room and the Salty Tongue Urban Deli all in pretty close proximity to each other. Does having all of your projects in one neighbourhood make it easy to manage or is there competition between them?

It is definitely easier to manage businesses that are located within one block. We briefly flirted with ownership of a restaurant in Yaletown and amongst other things it was painful having to hop from Gastown to Yaletown and back. Competition-wise, each business is different looking enough and supplies a different enough product/experience so as to not be in competition with each other.

Tell me a little bit about what's going on with Pepper? How is that coming along?

Pepper is now shelved indefinitely. Salt is on fire and Scott (my business partner) and myself want to strike while the iron is hot. Look for "Salt Cellar", a Salt expansion into the current location's basement, in late September.

What got your attention to that area of town (where Pepper will be)? Do you see it as the next upcoming area?

1000 people work in Railtown everyday and they don't have many dining options, also it was the only neighbourhood in which I could afford to buy a property.

You've been in Gastown for through many incarnations of the neighbourhood. Any thoughts on how it's evolved over the last few years?

We have certainly seen an improvement over the last few years. Before there were just a couple of reasons to come to Gastown which wasn't nearly enough to make a day out.
Now you can shop the clothing boutiques in the morning, have brunch at Social, then visit the art galleries for the afternoon, followed by an afternoon snack at Salt, then back to the clothing boutiques and finish with dinner and drinks at Boneta......there are plenty of options.

What do you see happening next (in the neighbourhood)?

Woodwards, Carrall Street Green Way, rent increases, lots of residential, a school and day-care.

It seems that there is a new restaurant opening every week in Vancouver and competition is fierce to "make a splash" from the start. Strategies range from blogging everything from the drywall on to keeping all information top secret. Any thoughts on that? What are your strategies?

We blogged and it was a huge success, and this was due mostly to the fact that at the time, only one other Vancouver restaurant had used that tactic. It is being used extensively now and as the novelty wears off so too will its effectiveness.

The next phase is guerrilla and viral marketing.

Do you think enlisting a publicist for marketing a restaurant is worthwhile? Is that something you've done in the past?

With the exception of a couple of events, I don't use PR people. I find that I get a better result by speaking to food critics/writers and concierges directly. Often the message will loose something in the delivery, but this doesn't happen if I deliver it myself.

I've already asked you about Pepper, but any new projects on the horizon for you?

After Salt Cellar we would hope to open small Salt locations in Kits, Main Street, West Vancouver, etc

What's your favorite thing about Vancouver? Or favorite thing to do?

For a long time, I always felt that I would return to Ireland to live, raise my children, etc. I always called Ireland home, but upon returning from a recent trip to Europe I realized that Vancouver is now my home. It took me 16 years to accept this, but fact that Vancouver feels like home, despite my best efforts, is my "favorite about Vancouver"

Anything you'd like to add?

Put your prejudices away and give Gastown another shot, all the cool kids are doing it.