About a dozen residents have formed a committee that will work to explore options for saving Fort-Coulonge’s Café Downtown after it was listed for sale late last year.
The committee was formed at a community meeting hosted by a group of residents on Mar. 23, to gauge interest in the initiative.
Café Downtown was opened by Fort-Coulonge businessman Rémi Bertrand in 2021, but the business changed hands the following year when Bertrand passed the ownership to chef Alexandre Romain. In Dec. 2025, Café Downtown announced via a social media post that the business was up for sale, and it has remained closed since.
For community member Madeleine Vallières, the closure was an opportunity to try and revive the business. She was one of the hosts of last Monday’s meeting.
“From what we know based on the financial statement, the company is doing very well. It’s a profitable company, and that’s why we thought there was a real need in the community and that people want this café,” said Vallières.
She said the roughly 20 attendees agreed that the café is an important community gathering place. Over the years it has played host to music shows, poetry events, themed evenings and other events.
“We found it was also a place where the food was a bit different from what can be found elsewhere. At the level of tourism, we are aware it’s an important spot for tourism development as well,” Vallières said in a French interview.
Silvia Smith is one member of the committee. Originally from Muskoka, she said she has experience with food cooperatives as well as experience running a café. She said the idea of a cooperative could help support various local producers.
“I have learned that there are excellent cooks and bakers in this community . . . perhaps there is an opportunity to showcase this, as well as other local food producers,” she said in a message. “Food pairs well with other opportunities to connect community and bring in tourism as well.”
Vallières said the group intends to explore forming a cooperative. Representatives from the Coopérative de développement régional Outaouais-Laurentides (CDROL) were present at the meeting to offer the group guidance on how to do this.
She said there was an information session followed by a brainstorming session to see what the café could look like if the group restarted it.
“Those people are accompanying us as counselors to help us choose and determine what kind of business it’s going to be – is it going to be a non-profit? Is it going to be a cooperative?”
She said at the end of the meeting, interested attendees formed a committee that will continue to meet. She said that going forward the group will explore what forms of financing it could use.
“We could have a partner who would decide to buy the building and then rent it to us later. At that moment, the business would buy the equipment for the café and we would settle in,” she added as examples. We could also see about different forms of subsidies or loans.”
Vallières said about 12 people have put forward their names to be on the committee. The committee will continue to meet in the coming weeks.
Bertrand, who still owns the building, said it was vacated Jan. 31, and is now for sale with an asking price of $150,000.
THE EQUITY reached out to Café Downtown owner Alexandre Romain for comment, but he did not respond in time for publication.
