The Fork Chip Stand is not your average chip stand, according to owner Susan Chapman who calls her stone oven pizza “amazing.”
“We use a really nice dough. We even have specialty pizzas that we make here. Instead of having a tomato base, it has actually got a garlic aioli base because we make a lot of the things here in-house. So, our sauces are done in-house, we make schnitzel in-house for our schnitzel on a bun, and we make our own burgers here. We’re not your average fork’n chip stand.”
Reflecting on the restaurant’s humble beginnings, Chapman says the business started out very small.
“The first year that we started, we only really got half a year in because we started July 1st, and looking back, we weren’t expecting the crowds that we received. Soon we were being compared to Sturgeon (chip stands), everything from our poutine, our chips, and our burgers, which was very nice for us,” grinned Chapman.
“People come from all over the place just to get our fish and chips as well. We make our battered fish in-house. We’ve got a diverse crowd now. We’ve got a lot of followers which we didn’t have before. Facebook has done wonders for us.”
Due to the high demand for their product, the decision was made to expand the business into a year-round operation.
“COVID was really kind of a blessing for us because I think a lot of people didn’t have a lot of choices on where to go, and our location was key that we could have people from Callander, Powassan, from Restoule, even from North Bay come out here and have our food.”
Its take-out menu remains popular.
“In the summertime, we have a lot of tourists. In mid-October we go down to five days a week, so we’re open Wednesday to Sunday, from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. closed Monday and Tuesday. You can phone your order in ahead of time,” said Chapman.
“We’re just trying to figure out how we’re going to do it, but this winter we’re probably going to offer grab-and-go meals as well, so we’ll probably have something like schnitzel and rice or in a vegetable dish.”
The selection of poutine goes beyond just curds and gravy.
“We do schnitzel poutine, and we do the Fork and burger poutine which has got the bacon, the cheese, the onions, the sautéed mushrooms on it, and of course beef,” said Chapman.
“And we do a sweet chili chicken, we do a taco, we do a pulled pork which we make in-house as well. It is all made here, we try not to do things out of bags or anything like that.”
Menu ideas are often a combination of customer requests and staff input.
“I have a really good staff and the staff loves it when they can come up with a special or something that they really want to have on the menu. In the winter time, I let them grow and experiment all they want because some of these kids have great ideas and it is going to get them into the culinary world.”
A customer favourite is the double bacon cheeseburger.
“It is two patties with double the amount of bacon, double the amount of cheese, and anything else you could possibly want on there,” Chapman stated.
“Our pogos are hand dipped here. We have a special batter that we do up and it is absolutely amazing. It is a secret recipe and people come from far and wide for our pogos and our poutine.”
Chapman has expansion dreams.
“I would love to expand this to double its size. I would like to get a really nice ice cream side to it, maybe do shakes and things like that in the summer, but then again you need staff and it’s very difficult right now. I’m blessed to have the staff that I have because they’re willing to come back again next year.”
People could take their food to go or enjoy their meal eating at one of the many picnic tables. Dining in became an option at the beginning of COVID.
“I just had it built in December of 2019 and we opened it in February of 2020 and ended up having to shut it down right away. We were open for two weeks. But it has helped us to allow people to come inside, and stay warm while they’re waiting for their orders.”
To place an order for pickup call 249-358-3675.
The Fork Chip stand is located beside the Petro Canada at Wasi Corners, 2504 Hwy 94 Callander.
