Blue Chair Cafe

In 1972, Harold Wollin was travelling the world when a tapas bar in the Canary Islands changed his life. In particular, an open faced green pepper sandwich. It was so delicious it made him come back to Edmonton and enroll in cooking school. Eventually, Harold became a Red Seal chef. That led to more travelling, cooking on charter boats, cruise ships and in hotels around the world. After brief career changes into journalism and graphic design, the kitchen called him back and he opened the Blue Chair Cafe in 2004. “Since I started in the food business, I wanted my own place,” says Harold. “Having a restaurant is, in most cases, a dream and very difficult to bring to fruition and difficult to succeed in. You have to do it all yourself.”

That was true at the Blue Chair Cafe.  It was a one-man show at first. “The first five years were really difficult. I did everything,” says Harold. “I would come and take your order, go in the back and cook it and then bring it to you.” But he got some help and hired more staff and, slowly, it’s become a successful restaurant featuring cuisine from around the globe, inspired by the different tastes Harold tried during his travels.