This downtown sandwich shop is ready to serve again

For months, hungry lunch goers have passed by Little Hobo Soup & Sandwich Shop, peering inside, eager for the much-loved downtown staple to reopen.

And Monday, wishes came true, as regulars trickled into the restaurant with wide smiles and deep appetites.

“It started as a little bit of a renovation and then it … boom,” co-owner Crystal Dougan told Kelowna10, as she laughed and motioned an explosion of sorts with her hands. “You know how it is.”

From a new grease trap, to a grab-and-go counter, and additional space for soup and frozen meal production, the restaurant is refreshed but not overhauled. The facelift came courtesy of sweat equity and family assistance as ballooning construction costs were a bit too rich for their blood.

A difficult and often stressful process, she admits.

But flipping on the open sign and welcoming people through the door each day is what drives her to get out of bed.

“It’s not the money, because I don’t make any of that,” she said. “It’s the people. It’s the connection and it’s part of being in this community that means so much to us.”

The shop, nestled on the corner of Leon and Bertram, has operated for nearly 50 years. Dougan and her husband have operated it for 12 and maintains caring about people is what gives the space an essence that draws people back again and again.

Dougan takes names for each order and is renowned for her ability to remember nearly everyone who walks through the door more than once.

“Food is food, but it is about people. It is about community and caring for your people and knowing when they are not okay and helping them get through that day,” she said.

Dougan is adamant Little Hobo will mark a half-century, despite layering headwinds in rising interest rates, a pandemic, and potential looming recession.

Why? Because people need a space where someone knows who they are and cares.

“It’s the people, the community. It’s being here.”

In the years ahead, Dougan plans to expand the production of Little Hobo’s frozen meals and soups sold in grocery stores. She said it was a lifeline during the pandemic and the logical next step for the shop.

But with five years left on the lease at the current location, that’s where Dougan’s passion lies.

“That wouldn’t happen if this didn’t happen and that’s what makes us who we are.”