Secret hotel restaurant set to take over long-standing Toronto cocktail bar

When restauranteurs, already familiar with thin margins and looming expiration dates, are asked about the state of the foodservice industry, most will candidly agree that it’s tough (to say the least) out there, and Sanjay Singhal is no different–but he’s bullish on going big or going home. 

Singhal, the founder of the Toronto-based Forthspace Hospitality Group, recently told YourCityWithIN.com that he’s taking a leap of faith and reinventing the long-standing Coffee Oysters Champagne restaurant that occupies a small but notable storefront in Toronto’s bustling King West neighbourhood.

While COC will be no more, he plans on building on the restaurant’s hidden treasure: à toi. 

“It is and it isn’t a rebrand. COC is going away; nothing of it is going to remain,” he says, adding that while the restaurant people know will be completely revamped, its hidden speakeasy–always a big draw for crowds who had yet to experience it–is part and parcel of the ambitious overhaul. 

“With the decline in restaurant success over the last couple of years, we kept looking at the situation and thinking ‘what’s going on here? How much is the industry? How much is the economy? How much is us? Is the concept old?’” he says. 

“One of the possibilities is people used to love coming in and seeing the secret door and entrance, but that had died off. The idea was to change to a different concept.”

The new concept is a bigger and perhaps more elaborate version of the existing à toi, combining secrecy and exclusivity with a heaping dose of theatre–and much different than the simpler ice cream shop or bakery rebrand Singhal had initially considered. 

Singhal said that since people would often pop into COC for an espresso martini while waiting for à toi, his team decided to lean into the concept and “really dive into the theme.” 

For Singhal, the combination of hospitality and drama is far from new. His last project, the now-closed Runway 06, was an immersive restaurant that featured five airport-themed experiences under one roof. Prior to that, Runway operated as Marked, a trendy South American-themed restaurant known for its bottomless mimosa brunches.

Now, COC is slated to transform into hotel à toi, a faux boutique hotel (meaning you can’t actually reserve a room) that’s not open to just anyone. 

“We’ve lost the depth of the experience. There are a lot of secret doors; that’s not novel. But when you feel like you’ve gone somewhere, we did that better than anyone.”

This month, some lucky visitors can ask the right question to enter hotel à toi, a fictitious French establishment that, legend has it, was built by the Parisian husband of a Canadian woman in 1920. 

“We’re creating a modern boutique hotel, French concept, where you ask to enter the hotel gift shop and you go back in time,” he says. 

“Last year, we ran a play called Sweet Sorrow which acted out the lore and history of the hotel, so we learned a lot about theatrics. You’ll be in a hotel, think the Shangri-La lounge, and if you know, you go for the tour of the gift shop to go into the back.”

Singhal says that those who know to ask to see the gift shop will be taken deeper into the restaurant by actors and, once inside, will meet the mysterious owner of the hotel: a haughty widow named Isabel. 

“She’ll make you feel like you’ve gone back in time. Ninety per cent of what you try can fail, but you double down on the stuff that works, and what’s always worked is the historical experience.” 

Singhal says diners will be able to experience the drama of Isabel’s hotel in the gift shop, and will learn that the proprietess married a Frenchman named Antoine Mercier while studying in Paris and moved back to Toronto. Once on the other side of the Atlantic, he decided to build hotel à toi in her honour, but died before he could complete the project due to a mysterious “misunderstanding.” 

“The ghost of Isabel haunts the place,” Singhal says. 

“We don’t act out of the details of the lore, but little hints are there in the menus and if you open certain books on shelves. It’s a little bit of depth.” 

While the story is simply a story, it’s not hard to create lore around old buildings in a city that’s full of them. When Forthspace was building COC, they discovered the remains of an old bar while excavating the basement. 

The old-timey mood has effectively already been set.

“We aim to be 8/10 on drinks and food and 11/10 on experience. Ninety per cent of our customers come from word of mouth; we’re deepening that,” he says. 

The experience, he says, will offer people something they can’t get anywhere else in the city. 

“On our busy nights, even now, the experience people are looking for is the transition. They want to be in a rowdy place with drinks. If you come in on a Wednesday night for dinner, we’re going to blow your mind. People say it feels like London or New York City or Lisbon, like they’ve left the city of Toronto.” 

As for what visitors can expect, Singhal says hotel à toi looks like a regular restaurant up front, albeit with some unique touches such as a giant custom-made Eiffel Tower on the patio that was made in Europe.

There will also be a reception desk to make the space feel exactly like a French boutique hotel. 

“We want the front to be a destination all on its own. Pre-COVID, COC never had enough seating in front to have its own vibe, so it never developed a great late-night crowd. We have more seats now, can create more of a vibe, more of a loungy atmosphere.”

Singhal says the new concept is an experiment that’s coming at a time when COC and à toi–places that served Austin Matthews, Mitch Marner and Drake– aren’t generating as much traffic as they did in previous years. 

To keep up, Singhal says, you have to be bold. 

“Everyone always has an excuse. Last fall things were better than the summer but not better than the year before, and they said it was a warm fall and people still wanted to be on patios; then they blamed the cold winter. Every restaurant owner says revenue is down 30 per cent from two years ago.”

The challenges, however, are real–and with consumers having less discretionary income, restaurants are one of the first industries to feel the heat.  

“We have the same foot traffic, but people are spending less. We chopped prices down; FIFA was a disaster for us, but great for places with patios and big screens. The day after the World Cup ended, all our traffic came back and we’re doing well again.” 

Singhal says that the rapid-fire increase in wages and food costs that hit restaurateurs hard post-pandemic has normalized somewhat, but customers’ reduced spending power remains a struggle, as does the ongoing ban on alcohol from the U.S. 

But all that aside, he’s optimistic and willing to take risks to get people through the door, while also being realistic about the typical lifecycle of a downtown restaurant.  

“I was told à toi would last seven years; that’s the arc of life of every popular spot in downtown Toronto, and the key to that not being true is constant evolution,” he says, adding that restaurants need to adapt to stay afloat.

“Our regulars change dramatically over time, but you have to do something different.”

He says that while everyone is quick to visit a new restaurant, even the shiniest and most-buzzed about establishments–including those run by heavy hitters–struggle to be profitable.

“The Cactus Clubs and Joey’s of the world make money. Innovative concepts, one-offs, that’s a lot harder. We’re underwater now, but we’ve always been profitable until the last couple of years.”

But with the Toronto International Film Festival kicking off weeks after the new concept is officially unveiled, Singhal says he and his team are excited. 

“Our own staff are excited we’re doing something new but in my experience, if 100 per cent of people say an idea is awesome, it’s a bad idea. You need to strike into an area where some people think it’s too far or not far enough; if you’re not upsetting some people, you’re not doing anything interesting.” 

hotel à toi will open on Aug. 18 at 214 King St W. 

All photos from Forthspace Hospitality