Iconoclast owner adds Lovesong and Tiny's Cheese Shop
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Ryan Arcand is betting customers will support his new Lovesong restaurant and Tiny's Cheese Shop near his established Iconoclast café in Wîhkwêntôwin.
"It's insane to open a restaurant in this economy," Arcand told Taproot. "But we have probably the best customer base in the city and I'm hoping that our long-standing customers will appreciate something in this space that is similar to our aesthetic and philosophy."
Iconoclast, Arcand's coffee roastery and café, has been in the Oliver Exchange Building at 120 Street and 102 Avenue since 2019. In August, he opened Lovesong in an adjacent building, a reclaimed EPCOR substation, at 12015 102 Avenue NW. In September, Arcand then launched Tiny's Cheese Shop in the OEX2 building just across the courtyard from Lovesong, partnering with Blair Lebsack, the owner of RGE RD and The Butchery, on the project.
Linking Arcand's restaurant and cheese shop is a new, 600-square-foot grow room located in the basement of the substation. There, Arcand grows ingredients to be used at both Lovesong and Tiny's Cheese shop.
Despite Iconoclast being open for more than five years, Arcand said that a year-round farming operation was part of his original business plan before he opened the café. That vision had to be shelved, however, as he focused on gaining business experience. But when his landlord, Beljan Development, recently shared that they were purchasing the substation building next to Iconoclast, Arcand jumped at the opportunity.
"The property came along at the right time," he said. "But real estate is expensive, and I could not afford to only use the property to grow and sell produce. So it became an extension of the business to have a restaurant where we could feature what we've grown."
At present, Arcand's grow room is primarily producing microgreens. "The idea of doing microgreens is pragmatic," he said. "They have a really short grow period. Germination to harvest is 10 to 14 days. The turnaround is really easy, margins are good, and the nutritional value is high."
Arcand said customers can buy the microgreens in the cheese shop, while Lovesong serves the microgreens as a garnish, dehydrates them for salads, and blends them into a slurry for steak marinade.
His vision for farming ingredients extends beyond the new grow room. The building also has a rooftop garden with raised beds that he intends to ramp up next year, with covered planting to start as early as April.
Ingredients for Lovesong's menu, which Arcand described as vegetable-forward, are being sourced from the farming operation. Ingredients that the farming is not able to grow are being sourced, whenever possible, from local producers. Four Whistle Farms supplies much of the restaurant's meat, and staff shop at the nearby 124 Grand Market on Sundays for other items.
