For the first time in its 40 year history, Hollyhock will publicly serve liquor with their dinner service. Peter Wrinch, CEO of Hollyhock, explained the intention behind the new limited liquor license,

“I think that what we're trying to do is create …a level playing field for folks so that we don't have to say, Oh those folks actually know someone and that's how they got [the wine].”

“Our food service far outweighs our liquor,” Wrinch added, to clarify 

Hollyhock Farms is the name of the for-profit business entity that encompasses the retreat center’s restaurant, shop, bodywork, and vacation rentals. The restaurant, Wrinch explains, is the biggest entity that hollyhock runs.

“The kitchen is our largest department in the whole organization. It has about 30…sometimes  closer to 40 …it is the center of our business. And lots of times it can be the limiting factor on how many people we can have on site.”

The CEO also notes what truly limits the capacity of the restaurant,

“The ratio between program guests and what we call ‘walk-in guests’ and we basically talk about an 80/20 rule “

“Our core reason for being, our charitable purpose, is an educational retreat center," he continued," And so we're never going to shift too much out of that 80/20 ratio. And that's really important to us.”

Winch is excited to share the selections with guests, as the cider, wine, and beer are all regionally sourced.

“We partnered with Townsite in Powell River because [they] just partnered with the Klahoose…and made Toba Inlet Lager,” the CEO said.

Currently, Hollyhock has no metrics to measure the success of this endeavor. They plan to review results from this season’s "beta test" next spring when the restaurant reopens.

To hear more about how the Hollyhock restaurant intends to stay committed to it’s mission, listen to the CKTZ News Update below: