Two years after opening its doors in the city-owned heritage site Landreth Cottage, Siebra has decided to close its doors due to ongoing battles with their outdated building and their inability to perform necessary upgrades.
In a social media post this week, the owners of the popular Galt restaurant expressed their dismay that they would be shutting down their operation for good.
"For the past few months we have been working with engineers and the cities building compliance, fire prevention and municipal heritage advisory committee to make some upgrades required for future use," wrote Siebra.
"Being the caretakers for this beautiful building for the past 3 years has been amazing but it did come with many challenges as the heritage designation did not allow us the freedom to make some fundamental changes to the layout as well as the electrical power restrictions and other utilities."
Known for their burgers and ice cream the Galt eatery also participated in the successful launch of YouTube royalty Mr. Beast's burger chain Beast Burger.
Operating as a ghost kitchen, Siebra owner Michael Faria was happy to bring Mr. Beast Burger to Cambridge and offer something new and exciting.
This would cause some confusion and disruption for his staff as they would have to turn off the online orders, pausing the cooking of the content creators food and focus on their own orders.
The buildin the restaurant is in at 84 Water St. was constructed over 160 years ago and has its fair share of history.
The land was once owned by Galt's founding father Absalom Shade in 1854 and is also believed to be the site of Liberty Cottage, which was occupied by Alexander Burnett, a prominent reformer in the 1837 rebellion led by William Lyon Mackenzie.
Faria did everything he could to get into the building situated on the water of the Grand River right next to the pedestrian bridge.
It had the location, the foot traffic and the history, "Other than that, the building sucks," joked Faria. "The building's been tough."
Due to the heritage status, many of the upgrades Faria wanted to do to the building to help his business were denied by the city.
One of the main complaints and reasons for shutting down was the insufficient electrical system. The 160-year-old cottage is equipped with standard household electrical outlets and not 600 volt outlets like most commercial kitchens.
When first opening in 2021, Faria also had to upgrade the plumbing at a cost of $12,000.
With their lease up, Siebra made the difficult decision to permanently close their location.
"We are very grateful to our staff and customers and every one who supported and championed our little shop. We're looking forward to the next chapter, we will definitely continue to participate in events and festivals as we truly love what we do," added Faria.
Over the next few weeks, Siebra says it will be opening for one last time for a customer appreciation day offering 50 per cent off ice cream and butter tarts.
