Lakehouse Home Store wants to offer cooking classes in downtown Kelowna

A downtown home furnishing store has applied for a liquor licence and is looking to expand their services to offer cooking classes.

Lakehouse Home Store, at the corner of Bernard Avenue and Ellis Street, submitted their application to the city in July.

The owners are looking to offer classes to up to 16 students at a time in their downtown location.

Local chefs, growers, vendors, wineries and breweries would be featured in the classes.

With a liquor licence, the classes would teach students how to pair drinks with food while allowing them to enjoy a glass of wine while trying their meals or watching chefs create dishes.

“Since its inception in 2011 Lakehouse customers have demonstrated that there is significant demand for cooking classes in the Okanagan,” says the letter.

“However, the small demonstration kitchen within the existing Bernard Avenue store is not suitable for demand in terms of wear-and-tear scalability.”

As a result, the store owners are looking to offer both demonstration and participation classes.

Initial design plans envision three different zones in the store. This would include a station for cooking classes, a dining area and a demonstration kitchen for a total of 124 occupants.

The owners point out that Kelowna doesn’t currently have a location purposefully built for classes and the kitchens will offer a service not yet available.

“The Lakehouse cooking facility will be the first of its kind in downtown Kelowna, created purposefully to bring both locals and tourists to the downtown core to teach them culinary skills and encourage connectivity and community through food and drink,” explains the letter.

They say the proposed space would “showcase what Kelowna and the Okanagan has to offer in the way of food and drink.”

City staff have circulated this application around city hall and they may require additional information before forwarding it to city council for consideration.