Owners refuse to give up on community after suspected arson shutters historic Downtown Eastside cafe
Grace and Rachel Chen, co-owners of the Ovaltine Cafe, say they are working to reopen the diner
Days after a fire forced the closure of the historic Ovaltine Cafe in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside neighbourhood, co-owners Grace and Rachel Chen set up a stand in front of their closed storefront, giving out free soup to the community.
The co-owners, a mother and her daughter, were notified on the morning of May 28 after a fire that started in the back alley ripped through the restaurant, damaging the kitchen and cutting the power. Vancouver police say the fire is being investigated as a suspected arson.
With the Ovaltine's closure, the Downtown Eastside — the city's poorest neighbourhood with the highest number of unhoused people — loses another relatively affordable food option. Built-in 1942, the Hastings Street restaurant is one of the oldest diners in Vancouver and has served as a filming location for productions such as The X-Files and Supernatural.
The Chens say it could take months to reopen as they assess insurance and repair costs, but they say they're determined to stay and rebuild the business, despite what happened.
After the fire, they salvaged food before it could spoil to use as ingredients for the soup they began handing out to the community.
"Part of our culture and how we're raised is that we don't waste a grain of rice," said Rachel, referring to her upbringing as a Chinese-Canadian immigrant from Beijing. "It didn't make sense to my mom to let the food go bad, and it didn't make sense to her to know there are people out there who are hungry."
"We have a place to live. We have food, but lots of people don't," said Grace. "If we can help them, we should help them."
While running the cafe, the Chens say they make an effort to keep prices as low as possible for their patrons. They took over ownership of the diner in 2014 after working at Save-On-Meats, a family-owned and operated business with a similarly long history serving the Downtown Eastside.
Steven Johnston, the executive director of the Community Impact Real Estate Society, a non-profit that manages commercial property spaces dedicated to affordable goods and services, says the Ovaltine's closure is a blow to the neighbourhood's livability.
"So many low-income residents who live in the surrounding neighbourhood rely on places like the Ovaltine as part of their food security," said Johnston.
Kristin Larson, a former staff member who worked under the Chens for five and a half years, says she offered to help as soon as she heard about the fire.
"I went into fight mode," said Larson, who started raising funds to help the Chens out with costs. She says she saw firsthand the cafe's impact: regular customers who sought not just affordable food but also community.
"It hurts so much to see that that would happen to a business that means so much to the neighbourhood.
"People make the active choice to go there every single day. And it's not just because it's affordable, it's because it's an institution."
"It definitely hurts to have this happen to us, but we try to think of the more positive side. Maybe it was just the bad night [the suspected arsonist] is having, and it wasn't intentional," said Rachel.
The Chens are reluctant to ask for help from people who do not have much money to give, but they say they're thankful Larson stepped in to get the ball rolling on raising funds.
Rachel says the fire is a bump in the road to their commitment to the neighbourhood.
"Once we get over this, it would just get better and better because we can see the support."
Calls for investment in the Downtown Eastside
The Chens say they will continue to serve the Downtown Eastside, where they found community as Chinese immigrants.
"This neighbourhood has given us everything that we have, the clothes on my back, my education," said Rachel. "That's why we're determined to stay. Without them, there's no us."
"[The customers] come here, and they call me sister. We are like a family," said Grace.
Rachel says the neighbourhood is stigmatized and misunderstood. She says she came to know customers from different generations.
"It's hard to understand from the outside, but when you're inside, you just, it's like any other community is."
The Chens say the closure is temporary. They're in the middle of sorting out insurance and need to drum up thousands of dollars to pay for the cost of restoration and repair. To help offset costs, Rachel says they're considering opening longer when they do reopen.
Johnston notes the dwindling pool of affordable businesses in the neighbourhood, which includes the Sunrise Market on Gore and Powell streets.
He is calling on the City of Vancouver to invest in Downtown Eastside heritage or legacy businesses like the Ovaltine Cafe. He says he'd like to see the city invest in the neighbourhood with initiatives similar to those undertaken in Chinatown and Gastown.
"There are safety concerns, and there is a large number of unsheltered populations, but there is a true community there that cares about the businesses and places that serve them and work together to support them."
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