There are few greater success stories in the world of Canadian hospitality than that of Daniel Frankel. From his earliest days in 2001, as a basic ‘Mom and Pop’ shop, selling sandwiches, muffi ns and coff ee in Coal Harbour alongside his wife, Frankel today sits atop an ever-growing empire as Founder and Owner of Tap & Barrel Group, employing more than 1,300 people in the process – and rising.It’s a story of ideals and determination, coupled with a keen sense of knowing and doing what you do well, and maintaining laser focus.“In 2003 I opened my fi rst licensed restaurant, the Mill Marine Bistro,”
he says of his early foray into the culinary world.“The next nine years were basically my hospitality education where I ran the Stanley Park Pavilion and opened a few other places throughout Vancouver.”Realizing these properties were disparate endeavors, it became evident to Frankel that he needed a specifi c template from which to develop a concept and expand his business model.“When I won the tender for what became the fi rst location of Tap & Barrel in 2012, I realized that I needed a brand,” he says.Despite the naysayers – who didn’t share his optimism that the Olympic Village would be a viable marketplace – Frankel remained headstrong.“I built Tap & Barrel truly by design,” he adds, emphatically.
“ I love supporting local and I wanted places with casual comforts, real materials, offering a warm and welcoming environment with a dramatic look, yet inviting, and with big patio spaces.”
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“I love supporting local and I wanted places with casual comforts, real materials, off ering a warm and welcoming environment with a dramatic look, yet inviting, and withbig patio spaces.”Today, the Tap & Barrel model is one to be envied.With six Tap & Barrel locations, including the recently opened, spectacular, three-storey space at ‘The Amazing Brentwood’ complex at Lougheed and Willingdon, and a soon-to-be-opened, seventh location in Langley’s bustling Willowbrook Mall area, along with the company’s brewery and beer hall concept, BREWHALL, the Tap & Barrel brand continues to fl ourish.
“When we opened Tap & Barrel at the Shipyards in North Vancouver in 2015, it took things to a whole new level,”he says.“Overnight, it became the largest licensed restaurant in Western Canada with 750 seats, and patios facing south, west and east.”With this latest Brentwood location, and Langley soon to follow, one gets the impression that just maintaining isn’t in the plans, but elevating those plans certainly is.“This Brentwood location fi rst came to us about ten years ago and we came to take a look at it. At that point though, it was just scale models and there was nothing really defi nitive in terms of a structural build.”Despite Frankel’s designs on the specifi c location he currently holds at Brentwood, there was a previous tenant who had laid claim to that space at the time he was fi rst introduced to the project.
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“I knew what I wanted,” he says, with respect to his vision. “I want marquis, fl agship locations, and this was not available when I fi rst looked at Brentwood.”As luck would have it, the original tenant backed out and suddenly Frankel’s ideal location for a Burnaby Tap & Barrel became available in 2020.Further negotiations ensued and, by that point, the overall structure of the new Brentwood complex had become infi nitely clearer.
Tap & Barrel Brentwood opened in April of this year.That will be quickly followed by the all-new Tap & Barrel Willowbrook in Langley set for launch August 6th.The plans also include an expansion of the brand across Canada with negotiations on additional venues, not only around the Lower Mainland, but with Alberta and Ontario in the purview.
“There are more Tap & Barrel locations in the future,” says Frankel, who in addition to being a successful restaurateur and business visionary, is also an accomplished musician and artist.In fact, Frankel’s painted work and murals adorn the walls and stairwells of the chic Brentwood venue.And when asked to expound on his personal business mantra, Frankel reverts to sage wisdom passed along during his time working toward his graduate program at Harvard Business School.
“Frances Frei, my former professor at Harvard, taught me that the main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing.”The Tap & Barrel story is testament to that.
