Sharbot Lake Country Inn Sold

Jeff Green | Jun 14, 2023

Ever since Frank and Sandra White purchased the Sharbot Lake County Inn over 13 years ago, they have been renovating the building and altering the restaurant, entertainment and accommodations side of the business.

The ‘hotel’ as it has been known locally for decades, is one of the few, if not the only, business that has been operated continuously in Sharbot Lake for over 100 years. It was built in 1906 by Dr. Coulee, who intended to set up a medical clinic, but when he died unexpectedly it was taken over by his housekeeper and turned into an inn, first called the Hillcrest Inn.

Frank and Sandra purchased it from the Saban family, and within a few months they began extensive renovations. One of the major changes was to fully renovate the old pub in the basement, and move the kitchen and restaurant to the lower level.

The rooms at the inn have also been fully renovated, over the time the White’s have been in charge of the hotel. All of this has kept Frank busy, as he has been the general contractor for all of the projects.

The former restaurant space was used as a gallery space for a time, before being repurposed as office space, and has been the home for the North Frontenac Food Bank for a number of years.

They named the restaurant the Crossing Pub after the town they came from in Newfoundland, Stephenville Crossing, which happens to be a town of a similar size to Sharbot Lake, which was at one time a railway crossing town, just as Sharbot Lake was, until the railroad left.

The East Coast reference in the restaurant’s name has become very fitting, over the last 11 years, ever since the White’s began hosting many of the most cherished performers from their home province, as well as the rest of the region, and from other parts of the country.

“We decided that we wanted to do things that we enjoyed,” Sandra says. “If it was something we weren’t going to enjoy, then it wasn’t worthwhile doing.”

That first show featured a Canadian musical icon: beloved Newfoundland bard, Ron Hynes, who would return several times before his death.

The show sparked a dogged determination in Sandra to track down every touring Canadian musician who would be willing to make a backwater stopover, en route to larger venues.

“A lot of times, bands were playing the National Arts Centre or Grand Theatre, or some of the larger places in Toronto,” Sandra says. “This was the perfect place for them along the way: we could provide food, spirits and accommodations, and an enthusiastic audience.”

This launched nearly a decade of dinner shows featuring some of Canada’s best touring musical acts, running the gamut of genres: from solo acts like Valdy, Alan Doyle, Rick Fines, JP Cormier, Jimmy Rankin, Carlos del Junco, Sean McCann and Amelia Curran, to rising-star or established folk, bluegrass and Celtic groups such as The Dardanelles, The Once, Madison Violet, Slocan Ramblers, Leahy, Ennis, East Pointers and Rum Ragged — among dozens more.

COVID had an impact on the business, as it did to musical venues, hotels and restaurants around the world. For the Crossing Pub, it had one positive impact, as the pub took the opportunity to enhance its takeout business by streamlining the menu and ordering options.

Since the pandemic has abated, the pub has re-opened three days a week, and there have been a few shows sprinkled in over the last few months.

The business was put on the market last August, and a buyer came forward a few months later, leading to a sale that was finalised on June 2nd.

Since then, Sandra and Frank have been helping out with the transition, but they will be leaving soon, and are planning a trip to the East Coast this summer, to celebrate their new-found freedom.

“We really want to thank the community for their support over the years,” says Sandra. “You have all provided so much support, especially through COVID, which was a challenging time period. We hope that you will continue to support the new owners as they take over the business. They’re making a big investment in our community and hoping to continue to draw tourism from outside our region.”

Of her time running the inn and pub, Sandra says it was a “wonderful chance to work alongside our family.”

“We came to Ontario, and we weren’t newcomers to Canada, but it was definitely a challenging time for a young family. We got established and were fortunate to have friends and family in Ontario to support us. We feel very privileged to have become part of the Sharbot Lake community, and we are excited to watch the Sharbot Lake Country Inn continue to thrive in the coming years.”

Gobi Nada, along with a partner, is the new owner of the Sharbot Lake Country Inn and Crossing Pub. The first thing that he said when interviewed at the pub was that he plans to continue operating the business as it has been run until now.

He said his crew are going to keep the menu as it is, only making changes over time as the business evolves, and we are also going to be making some design and décor changes to the rooms at the Inn, “to fit with our own branding”.

In early July, the menu for the Kothu Labs restaurants menu will be added to the Crossing Pub menu, and that is the major change that is coming for the Country Inn this summer, in addition to extending both the hours and days when it is open.

It will be open for breakfast, and perhaps a bit later into the evening, 6 days a week, (closing on Tuesdays only) instead of the current 3 days.

Although Gobi is based in Toronto, the first Kothu Labs restaurant that he opened was in Perth, three years ago. A second location was opened in Niagara Falls last year, and Gobi is headed to Amsterdam this month to get the first European location open.

He also is working on a resort development in Sri Lanka, which is opening later this year.

His interest in the Country Inn location was piqued by the fact that it has the potential to be both a restaurant location for Kothu Labs as well as a resort.

Gobi is from Toronto, the Bayview and Don Mills neighbourhood in North York, of Sri Lankan heritage.

He said that Kothu (also spelled Kottu) is the name of a dish that was originally made of leftovers in Sri Lanka. It is made from strips of Roti, the ends that bakers could not sell, with vegetables and spices mixed in, piled on a banana skin, and eaten.

It became a popular street food and has grown to become an iconic dish throughout Sri Lanka and in the Sri Lankan diaspora around the world, and with 300,000 people of Sri Lankan descent in Toronto, it has made its way into Canadian culture.

Kothu Labs expands the range of Kothu by providing options for customers to create Kothu with roti, or a variety of carb bases, as well as a range of vegetables, meat and sauces.

“Mostly Kothu is still eaten as a street food,” said Gobi, “but we are doing something a bit different, in a sit-down setting, that people have been responding to.”

As part of its Kothu options, and in addition to them as well, Kothu Labs will bring many seafood dishes from Sri Lanka to the local area, adding to the burgeoning culinary scene in Sharbot Lake.

The other changes that Gobi is bringing will be to increase the number of rooms at the hotel to 10, by making suites in the main building available, along with the waterfront rooms on Sharbot Lake. Room service will also be added.

He sees the Sharbot Lake Country Inn as an opportunity to help promote the region as a tourism destination, with new energy and marketing.

He also plans to continue promoting musical events at the Country Inn, and said that the North Frontenac Food Bank will be staying on under the same terms as before.