Canadian chef says closing restaurant is 'like losing a loved one' as he battles long COVID

An Ontario Indigenous chef says shutting down his restaurant feels "like losing a loved one."

But as he battles long COVID, he feels he doesn't have a choice.

Gerry Brandon is the owner of L'Autochtone Tavern Americain, located in Haileybury, Ont. The restaurant boasts itself as "an innovative hybrid eatery and cultural hub" with a blend of food from English, French and First Nations cultures.

Brandon has been a chef since about 1986 and has always dreamed of having his own bistro. L'Autochtone opened in 2019, and was an instant hit.

“It became very well known now as an Indigenous owned restaurant, Indigenous owned and operated,” Brandon said.

Now, it’s facing closure.

In a Facebook post last week, Brandon announced the sale of the restaurant and the 100-year-old building it lives in, citing his inability to continue working due to long COVID symptoms.

"We are devastated to leave but there may be an opportunity for someone younger (and healthier)," he penned.

Losing joy in decades-long passion

Brandon was diagnosed with COVID-19 back in early spring of 2022.

“When I got sick, it came on as a really really vicious cold,” he recalled.

“One day some people were saying, ‘I smell gas,' and I don't smell anything. And then I realized, 'wait a minute — I don't smell anything.’”

That was the beginning of an illness he’d still be battling one year later.

"I started seeing doctors about that, and I'm realizing that my energy level had lapsed, I was getting bizarre dizzy spells and having headaches… extreme fatigue,” Brandon listed.

Brandon said he grew up poor and struggled with addiction in his teenage years. He was a child of the Sixties Scoop, being born to Anishinaabe parents and adopted by a white family north of Ottawa, according to his bio.

In the past year, Brandon underwent many tests in the last year to determine his condition, and those brought up a number of other concerns, some of which also relate to trauma from his youth, he said. Though, many of these symptoms he's never had before contracting COVID.

Doctors had also declared he had high blood pressure and a high risk of stroke or heart attack, he added.

"We don't know if all of that's COVID-related. But I know that being a chef without the sense of smell and the effect it has on your taste buds, has been extremely limiting," Brandon said.

"All the things that restaurants bring — long, long hours, super high stress... You eat at impossible hours as a chef... It's all having a detrimental health on my health overall," he added.

"It is difficult to enjoy the trade that I’ve had a passion for for 35 years."

Coming to terms with this wasn't easy.

'Like losing a loved one'

L’Autochtone - Taverne Américaine was a long-time dream for Brandon and his wife Nancy.

The chef initially went to business school before he travelled the world and fell in love with food and eventually enrolled into a culinary school.

Two decades into being a successful chef and having several business ventures, Brandon and his wife visited Haileybury where the couple bought a 100-year-old building to renovate.

L’Autochtone - Taverne Américaine officially opened doors in April of 2019.

“It's all faced with with real modern Indigenous pop art, because I didn't want to be representing anythings that's kind of a cliché or it doesn't show Indigenous culture as a living evolving thing,” Brandon described.

“It's that kind of elevated experience and decorum and comfort, that takes people elsewhere."

He remembered lines of people waiting outside their door as the seating and bar inside were “packed.”

L’Autochtone received top reviews and was featured in many publications, including CBC and Elle Quebec.

Brandon said he had big plans considering the success of the restaurant. He wanted to expand and create a gourmet distillery in the town too. When he was ready to retire, he had hoped to give restaurant shares to its staff who could run it as a co-operative.

But less than a year after opening, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and everything changed.

Constant closures and gathering limits due to pandemic restrictions left a permanent mark on restaurant owners like Brandon.

"It was debilitating for us, to the point where we probably lost a million and a half of income over two years," he estimated.

After making it through 2020 and 2021 nonetheless, Brandon became ill. To him, that was "the final straw" that lead to the decision to close.

His restaurant was not only his family's biggest investment, but it was a place where he felt his culture was seen, and where people from various communities came to gather.

“To lose that is much like losing a loved one,” he said.

As he prepares to leave the restaurant industry, Brandon and his wife had to come to terms with more than just losing the restaurant.

“We’re both barely boomers… and we're not sort of achieving the kind of success that people typically associate with people our age. We both came from poor families; we worked very hard our whole lives.”

'A little bit of relief'

The chef — who said he's still going through the stages of grief — is finding some peace with his decision.

"It's a little bit of relief point. We won't we won't have that stress anymore... how are you going to pay your bills, how you're going to pay your suppliers, how you can pay your staff," he reflected.

He hopes to see a young person with "energy to grow" take over L'Autochtone.

"It's already here. It's a beautiful space; it doesn't need anything," he said.

"There's so much room for growth here. I just lack the energy to do it... I think somebody else could really have a great thing here."

The restaurant and its 2,400-square-foot property is currently listed for just under $600,000.

As for his future, Brandon said the part he'll miss the most is inspiring and helping others.

He hopes to find a way to continue doing that, even if it doesn't involve cooking.

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