About Us
A Flavourful History
Founded in 1989, Milestone’s Grill and Bar is an upscale casual dining restaurant that originated in Vancouver on English Bay. Today, Milestone’s boasts over 35 restaurants located in the provinces of British Columbia, Ontario and Alberta. On an annual basis, Milestone’s serves more than 5.5 million guests, a true testament to its commitment to providing Canadians with innovative and quality menu items served in a vibrant and social atmosphere.
A Foundation Built on Innovation and Research
- Founded by Wayne Holm and Peter Bonner, Milestone’s is a product of innovative thought and careful market research.
- In the late 1980s, research showed that consumers were looking for a more sophisticated dining experience, and that the upscale casual dining segment was underdeveloped.
- Milestone’s embraced the opportunity to develop this new segment of dining, creating a largely unrecognized concept: a group of casual upscale dining restaurants that adhered to philosophy and quality standards, but that were given the freedom to personalize by region.
- Vancouver was the natural incubator for developing this new segment of dining as the restaurant’s West Coast location had little outside competition being geographically distanced from the east and the city’s customer base too small to attract U.S. brands.
From Spectra to Cara
- Milestone’s was originally part of the Spectra Group of Great Restaurants, a multi-concept restaurant group headquartered in Vancouver and owned by partners Wayne Holm and Peter Bonner.
- Included in the group of restaurants was The Boathouse, The Bread Garden, PJ Burgers and under license from Brinker International, Romano’s Macaroni Grill.
- In 1991, the original PJ’s on 4th Avenue was converted to a Milestone’s which quickly became a local favourite.
- Over the course of the next three years, all PJ Burger locations were closed and were converted to Milestone’s.
- In the 1990s, Milestone’s expanded throughout the Lower Mainland and entered smaller, outlying markets within British Columbia. Despite the competitive market during this time, the brand continued to thrive, thus grabbing the attention of Cara Restaurants Limited.
- A corporate partner of Milestone’s since 1995, Cara and Wayne Holm purchased Milestone’s from Spectra Restaurants in 2002.