If there’s a secret behind the Rimrock Café’s success—one of Whistler’s longest-running and most revered local restaurants—it can be traced back to one word: consistency.
From the quality of the food to the familiar faces on the serving staff, customers know what they’re getting when they walk through the doors of the Creekside institution.
It’s a quality new owners Chris McKinney and Steve Maile—who purchased the Rimrock from founders Bob Dawson and Rolf Gunther earlier this year—aim to carry forward as the restaurant enters a new era.
Both McKinney and Maile have worked at the Rimrock for more than 20 years—and they’re not outliers.
“There’s plenty who have worked here even longer than us, so I think people recognize that,” McKinney said. “Not to be a cheeseball, but it’s like fine-dining Cheers, you know? Everybody knows your name.”
The familiarity of the staff is more than just comfort for diners—it’s part of what makes the Rimrock so successful, added Maile.
“We rely on the experience that we have throughout the kitchen and the front of the house—we don’t have to micromanage,” he said. “We can trust for the most part that everyone already knows how to do their job, and it’s just making sure they’re provided with all the right tools to make that happen.”
Founded in 1986, the Rimrock is replete with local history and memories—a fact not lost on its new owners.
How do they intend to honour that history?
“Changing as little as possible,” McKinney said with a laugh. “Obviously there’s going to be changes, but not so much that people that have been coming here since it opened are going to think, ‘Oh, this is not the same place I remember it being.’ Our goal is to honour Bob and Rolf. They honoured us by giving us the opportunity, and we’re going to honour them by maintaining their consistency and loyalty to their customers.”
McKinney, who will take the role of head chef, and Maile, who will act as general manager, are a bonafide Whistler culinary success story.
Both arrived in the resort in the late ’90s, cutting their teeth in local kitchens, rising through the ranks, eventually landing at the Rimrock.
“We definitely owe it to Bob and Rolf that they wanted to sell it to someone in-house, and we were lucky enough that we were in a position to make that happen,” Maile said, adding that owning their own restaurant was always the goal.
“Chris and I actually talked about it when we worked in the kitchen together, a long, long time ago. We both knew that we wanted it to happen, and been thinking about it for honestly more than 10 years.”
What can guests expect when they visit the Rimrock once it reopens Nov. 9?
“The goal is no discernible change other than slight quality improvements … and not only honouring the former owners, but also all the memories that have been created here, by the thousands of guests we’ve had over the years,” Maile said.
There have already been some “minor tweaks” with a couple dishes, but guests shouldn’t expect a drastic departure from their favourites, McKinney added—though the new owners plan to be more active in the community going forward.
Both McKinney and Maile are fathers, and along with another Rimrock employee are “very active” in local youth hockey, McKinney said.
“We’re happy to support that, and looking next year at some other stuff, hopefully, to support the community,” he said.
Read more at rimrockcafe.com.
