WOMEN IN BUSINESS
A restaurant based on fresh values and vision. THE CORK & CAST (L-R) Rachel Sauvé, Doug McKinney By Brianne Hogan Photos Millee McKay Models: Tracey Warren, Cara Steele
G rowing up, chef Rachel Sauvé always knew she wanted to be an entrepreneur and have her own business. Having worked in the restaurant industry for over 20 years, thanks to growing up in her family restaurant in Victoria by the Sea, Sauvé started working as a server in the industry first, before her curiosity and interest in working with food and creating new dishes was sparked. “I worked alongside my dad in the kitchen,” she shares. “He was my culinary educator. I learned everything from him and have taken this knowledge into my own culinary journey.”
For the longest time, Sauvé thought she would be running the family restaurant one day, but as she puts it: “The cosmos had something else in mind.” In 2018, Rachel and her partner Doug McKinney decided to step away from the business just before her dad sold it to start exploring other options. A year later, they were offered a unique space to start their own small business - a floating restaurant in the Charlottetown Marina. With support from their families, she says: “We transformed our family recipes to showcase our passion for sharing our version of authentic local cuisine. Hence The Cork and Cast was founded - a name symbolic of us
floating, a celebration of wine, casting a fishing line, and operating as a well- orchestrated cast.” However, after experiencing life on the water for five years – including surviving and thriving during two hurricanes and the pandemic era – Sauvé and McKinney, who runs front of house, realized they had outgrown the space they were in and wanted something more permanent. When an opportunity to move to Victoria Row came in 2023, Sauvé says they didn’t hesitate to move forward. “This new location offers everything we ever wanted. Going from operating a small business four to five months out of a
14
www.pei-living.ca SPRING24
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker