Yellowknife’s Smokehouse Cafe to close Friday

The Smokehouse Cafe in N'Dilo is closing for good on Friday.

Det'on Cho Corporation says the restaurant is losing too much money.

General manager Vince Halushka says the decision to close is heartbreaking.

“We have a very loyal client base that comes down four to five times a week, but it's unfortunate for the Smokehouse that we don't generate enough foot traffic,” Halushka says.

“At the end of the year when you add everything up, it has come to the point in time where we have had to make the decision to close the cafe."

Three full-time and two part-time employees will be laid off.

The cafe opened two and a half years ago as a place to train kitchen staff for the diamond mines.

Its buffet menu included a lot of local fare from the restaurant's location in the aboriginal community N'Dilo.

Halushka says government funding for the cooking school never materialized.