Wheelie's Motorcycles & Cafe was one of the first foodie spots to pop up in Victoria's mostly industrial Rock Bay neighbourhood. Seven years later, they've become a word-of-mouth hub for foodies, bikers, and musicians alike. The first episode in a Capital Daily podcast series profiling unique local businesses in the Capital Regional District.
Wheelie's Motorcycles & Cafe was one of the first foodie spots to pop up in Victoria's mostly industrial Rock Bay neighbourhood. Seven years later, they've become a word-of-mouth hub for foodies, bikers, and musicians alike. The first episode in a Capital Daily podcast series profiling unique local businesses in the Capital Regional District.
Get more stories like this in your inbox every morning by subscribing to our daily newsletter at CapitalDaily.ca
And subscribe to us on our socials!
Disclaimer: This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Jackie: Hi, my name is Jackie Lamport. Today is Tuesday, July 23. Welcome to the Capital Daily Podcast. Today on the show, Wheelies Motorcycles and Cafe popped up in Rock Bay when the neighbourhood was still mostly industrial. Seven years later, it's become a hub for foodies, bikers and musicians alike. Today, we tell their story. Today we're introducing a new series for the Capital Daily Podcast that we'll have ongoing for the next four weeks for four consecutive Tuesdays. Starting today, we'll be featuring a different local business around Greater Victoria and zooming in on what makes them unique. Today we bring you the story behind Wheelies Motorcycles and Cafe. Driving through the Rock Bay neighbourhood, you might not see Wheelies at first. The combination eatery and motorcycle shop that doubles as a live music venue are set back from the road behind a parking lot. But once you've been there, you likely won't forget it. The 60s inspired custom motorcycle shop has long been a draw for the city's riders, and the sandwich shop and brunch spot have built up a loyal following over the years. That's not to mention the countless bands that have played the tiny 35 person venue through the past seven years. The rest of the neighbourhood has grown alongside it, with hyperlocal businesses springing up in an area that was once completely industrial. Co-Producer Emily Vance went down to the cafe to learn more about it from chef and owner Nathan Fox.
Emily: Nathan, thank you for sitting down with me.
Nathan: You're so welcome.
Emily: What was your vision behind wheelies?
Nathan: Well, I came into it later in the game. We opened in 2014. And it was just a bunch of people coming together just wanting something out of the ordinary, something that Victoria didn't have at that point in time. And it started as a motorcycle shop with a tiny coffee shop attached to it. And now it's kind of flipped from that. And now it's a full-blown brunch spot with the tiny motorcycle shop attached to it. People were more interested in the cafe side than the actual bike shops.
Emily: Fair. Do you still get some dedicated riders, though?
Nathan: Absolutely. I'd say a good 20% of the people that come here ride motorbikes.
Emily: Tell me about your menu.
Nathan: Our menu is super simple comfort food, just done well. Sandwiches, mac and cheese, soups, salads, that kind of thing. But just like, a different twist than what a lot of people are used to. We would try to source as much of the meat and stuff from the island or, if not from BC. It's also pretty Southeast Asian influenced, and I would say there's a lot of pickled carrots and daikon and that kind of stuff and like kind of throws a lot of the average person for a loop because they're coming here to for fries and burger; it's a motorcycle cafe. It's like, "What is pickled daikon?" We usually say give it a try, and if you don't like it, we could make you something plainer, but maybe step out of your comfort zone, you know? But yeah, we've come really well known for ice cream sandwiches. We make those in-house, and we have one with Maltesers, Kitkats, chocolate brownie, and maple walnut ice cream. Those have become like the folklore of wheelies and mac and cheese as well. That's what people love. It's like, "Who doesn't love mac and cheese?"
Emily: I'm a big mac and cheese person. That's awesome. What's your favourite thing on the menu?
Nathan: Right now, probably the jerk chicken sandwich. We braise the chicken and ginger beer, and it's got curry slaw pickled apples with a wriggle on top. Yeah, that one is probably the newest sandwich there and is definitely my favourite right now.
Emily: Why should people come to wheelies?
Nathan: Just for something different if you're bored of the norm pop food. People always come in here, and then it's like, "Wow, it's so cool in here and I kind of stare at it all day." So I take it for granted, but it's just a different vibe. If you're looking to step out of the normal Cactus Club or whatever pub you go to.
Emily: Yeah, I'm looking at I love those vintage light fixtures. They're gorgeous. Other than being a cafe, what does the motorcycle shop entail?
Nathan: Well, it's his private studio. It's more than just an open to the public to come in and bring your motorcycle in. It's a lot like classic vintage motorcycle stuff, so old Harleys and old Triumphs. He's pretty particular about what he works on. But yeah, it's a lot of metal fab parts for motorbikes, that kind of thing. His name is Roy, and he works in the shop. It used to be my partner, Joel, and he's now working from home, and we have a new person in the shop. Roy Graham is his name.
Emily: You also used to throw shows here once upon a time. Tell me a little bit about that.
Nathan: Yeah, we use up shows Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. It's a tiny little intimate space, a lot of like, country, metal, and punk just like alternative scene kind of shows. Yeah, it was great. We want to get back to doing it. We also had parking lot shows in 2017. We had like five in one summer.
Emily: You were telling me before, it's a really intimate space. It's a capacity of 35 people?
Nathan: Yeah, including staff. Many people watched from the outside, which was cool because you can be around the stage and still be a part of it and not have to pay.
Emily: I actually did that once. Although I later came in. What kind of feeling does that intimacy lend to a show?
Nathan: Well, yeah, I mean, it's pretty indescribable. You really can't get that like many other places in Victoria. There are not many venues of a similar size. You're like, two feet away from the artists here. Yeah, it's pretty special.
Emily: You said at the time, this was filling a niche that didn't exist before. Have you seen similar venues pop up, or do you still feel like you're the only one out there?
Nathan: I think it was filling a niche more for alternative cultures like restaurants and cafes and that kind of thing. No, sadly, I do not see that in Victoria, that we need more of it. We need more tiny venues that can have punk shows and metal shows. It's like we're really lacking, especially with Logan's being gone now. So we're hoping when we can to be able to step up and be there for the community for that reason alone. It's because they're just disappearing so quickly.
Emily: Yeah, those are important to any music scene. You also host all-ages shows?
Nathan: We do. Well, we're essentially a restaurant so that anybody can come. So yeah, all ages. But usually, it's the xfover 19 crowds, but we'd get kids here dancing around sometimes and having a good time. It's always nice when there's a full spectrum of ages to show, and you get like the people's parents or grandparents coming and being like, "Little Billy's playing their first show wheelies."
Emily: That's precious. How has the pandemic been for you?
Nathan: We've had like seven variations of this place since it began and like it was full shutdown. Joel and I worked three hours a day just doing to go, and like being so heavily supported because we have such a loyal group of followers that come here. So as soon as that hit, they're buying gift cards, just like doing whatever it took to like, to ensure that we were going to be hereafter. But yeah, we did, and that was until I want to say September, we're just doing three hours a day, have to go food, and then reopen back up inside with plexiglass everywhere. And then it's been like indoor, outdoor, outdoor indoor, like, this changes so many times. But we're still here. We're still tracking along, but it's been, for the most part, pretty fine. We had those days where you're like, "Is this going to be it? Are people not going to come?" Everybody was so scared. Nobody was really going out. And yeah, it's going to be okay.
Emily: Definitely. I mean, I know we're still in it. But it feels like another world from this past winter.
Nathan: Yeah, even just like we now have the Plexi down on the bar. And it makes such a difference because really, it was the kind of place where you just come and sit down and like you're able to talk to the person cooking your food. They're like a foot away, and they can tell you where all the food came from what they're doing to it. Like, not many places like that have that vibe. So it's like when the plexiglass was put up, it's kind of like you're in a goldfish bowl being watched. I actually put a sign up that said, "We love you, but we can't hear you."
Emily: I always felt for the people who tried to listen through a mask and plexiglass.
Nathan: Yeah, the business actually had a microphone for the till. And that helped a lot of people were commenting on how it's similar to when you go to an amusement park or something. And it's that little like planet glass with the mic on it. Like it just helped because you can't see the person's mouth, and you can't understand reading their eyes.
Emily: Yeah, definitely. It sounds like that nice community, though, that you built helped you through the winter.
Nathan: We were so lucky to have them. Without them, I don't know what would happen.
Emily: But what about now as things are starting to open back up, like what are your hopes and plans for the cafe?
Nathan: Like said before, more shows, we're definitely going to like to start putting on some live music again. We're getting into private parties before COVID happened. And that's like a real fun time. You get 30 of your friends or if it's like dad's 50th like birthday, or come on down. You can have wheelies to yourself. And people love it just because it's a cool little space to throw a party, and we like to get back into swap meets. We used to do swap meets on Rock Bay for like the motorcycle builders and stuff that'll like be swapping parts buying parts and like, I know everybody's hungry to do that again in like the vintage motorcycle world. Yeah, just like having fun. It was so bleak through the pandemic for a while there. It's like we're just happy to have people back in here and a smile on their face and just having a good time.
Emily: Oh, definitely. It's been kind of strange to realize that we can do those things again,
right?
Nathan: Yeah, it was, and it seems like it snapped back recently where it's like, "Oh, we can do all this again.'
Emily: How integrated is the cafe with the motorcycle community in Victoria?
Nathan: I mean, we used to have on a Friday night bike night in Victoria that would come through here, which is sometimes up to 50 riders that would come through and just like come for a mac and cheese and a salad and a drink and they had somewhere else to ride around. So we have a lot of like groups like that. There are tons of them.
Emily: And Rock Bay, like what's it like to be in this community?
Nathan: It's awesome. I mean, when we opened, there wasn't a lot around here and watching it all grow pretty cool. We have the brewery so close by. We have Parachute Ice Cream, Moon Underwater and on the corner is now the Rock Bay Market up the street. It's starting to pop off and we’re noticing more foot traffic in the area than when we started there because Victoria is slowly spreading out. And yeah, it's cool to see.
Emily: It's really cool. It gives me an East Van brewery vibe.
Nathan: Absolutely. It's funny because, like people always said, "I didn't even know this was here." Because we don't have huge signs or anything, it's the way we like it. We don't advertise, and we don't have brochures or tourist info or anything. It's mostly word of mouth.
Emily: What about plans for the future in terms of live events? What are you thinking?
Nathan: It's all up in the air. We're like, one day at a time. But yeah, we like to get back into the last two years or so. It'd be like a collaboration with the Rock Bay Market where we shut down Rock Bay and had all kinds of vendors and that kind of thing. So we'd like to get back into doing that more like community events. But we'll see it's all one day at a time right now and to see what's going on in the world. You can think about that, and it's still even got people like, wanting to do weddings and stuff this summer. And it's like, I think it's going to be okay, but we'll see. Yeah, it's really hard to know; you don't know what's around the corner. But we would love to do more of that stuff for sure.
Emily: Nathan, it's been awesome coming down here.
Nathan: Yeah, thanks for stopping by.