Downtown eatery dishes out good vibes (5 photos)

At one time, Kristy Rachkowski was a Toronto commuter, working in the corporate world.

Now she owns and operates Vibe Eatery & Juice Co., a cozy March Street eatery in Sault Ste. Marie, and loving it.

Born and raised in Echo Bay, Kristy began working part-time for TD Canada Trust while studying criminology and psychology at the University of Ottawa (originally intending to go to law school).

While at TD, her career soared, working for that financial institution for 17 years.

She worked across the country for TD, eventually living and working with her husband in Toronto.

While in Toronto, Kristy became TD’s human resources retail distribution vice president, overseeing human resources issues for 22,000 TD employees across Canada, her own immediate team consisting of 110 people.

“I loved that job…(but) my husband and I wanted to have kids and wanted to be closer to family (her husband a Sudbury native). We sat down one Friday night, sat in the backyard, had a beer and a barbecue and we thought ‘what are we doing here?’” she smiled, speaking to SooToday.

“We were both doing well, but burning out commuting back and forth in Toronto. We just decided we wanted to do something different,” the couple making the move back to the Echo Bay area (her husband still working for TD locally).

“I started my business plan for Vibe. I’ve always been into health and nutrition. There are a lot of great restaurants here, but there wasn’t anything really focused on plant based eating in Sault Ste. Marie. More and more people are choosing the vegetarian lifestyle. There are lots of restaurants that have vegetarian options but we’re the only one in town that’s solely plant based. We don’t serve meat here,” Kristy said, being a devoted vegetarian for the past several years.

“I wanted to provide healthy fast food for the people of Sault Ste. Marie,” Kristy said, opening Vibe’s doors in March 2017.

Including herself, Kristy employs nine people at Vibe.

The dining space is bright, featuring the work of local artists on the walls.

“Having a smaller place was important to me. I wanted to make sure it was cozy and cool. All of my favourite restaurants were little, smaller places that had different features every day. People follow what we have on special on Instagram and Facebook before they swing by and grab some lunch.”

“I want to show people to eat vegetarian doesn’t have to be boring. It’s been good,” Kristy said.

Vibe offers a vegetarian breakfast, lunch and dinner menu, catering for business meetings, also renting out the dining room at the restaurant in the evenings for business parties, baby showers and other special occasions.

“We get as much locally-sourced food as we can, a lot of it from Sault Ste. Marie farms and other farms in Ontario. We try to support local businesses as much as possible,” Kristy said.

Vibe also accommodates people with food sensitivities and allergies, the menu 100 per cent gluten-free.

Among the goodies Vibe offers are juices freshly made in house, smoothies and smoothy bowls, soups of the day, salads and a variety of Buddha bowls, wraps, sandwiches, raspberry chocolate French toast, Mexican food, egg dishes and, well, the list goes on.

“We change the menu up every four or five months to keep it fresh and add new things,” Kristy said.

“I really wanted Vibe to be in a downtown location,” she added.

“I think the downtown is a great place to do business. It’s a good spot for people who live and work downtown. We’re really fortunate. We’ve been welcomed by all our neighbours and we have great people around here supporting us.”

“I’m really happy with the decision I made.”

By the way, why the name ‘Vibe?’

“Everyone has a vibe. We want people to walk in the door and feel really welcomed and warm. We’re upbeat and want to bring positivity to their day,” Kristy said.

“This business is important to me because we all need to take care of ourselves, our bodies, and I think if you’re treating yourself well with the activities you do, the people you’re around and the food you eat, the better life you’re going to have. If you’re treating yourself well by what you eat, you’re going to be an all-round happier, healthier, well-balanced individual, and to me it’s important to offer that to people, to be a part of that movement and to do it in the area where I was born and raised.”

Vibe’s menu is available for perusal on the restaurant’s website as well as Facebook and Instagram