Loka Snacks’ Dave Mottershall is Kickstarting a restaurant (and he’s looking for a west-end location)

Chef Dave Mottershall, who operates Loka Snacks out of Riverside’s Hi-Lo Bar, has a goal: to open his own restaurant. But what sets him apart from his peers is that he’s hoping to do it with the public’s help. After leaving PEI’s award-winning Terre Rouge last year Mottershall moved to Toronto, working at The Chase before setting up his own business (and tempting Instagram followers with his feed). In this video, Mottershall shares his concept for Loka. With endorsements from some of the city’s culinary heavyweights including Carl Heinrich (Richmond Station), Rob Gentile (Buca), Nick Liu (DaiLo) and celebrity chef Michael Smith, the all-or-nothing campaign is seeking crowd funding to help raise $25,000. In true Kickstarter fashion, project-backers will be rewarded with swag, exclusive dinners, culinary experiences and more.

As for where Mottershall would like to see Loka land: “We’re looking into the west end—Queen West,” he says. “We want a high-traffic area, where people can come in for a sandwich at lunch and try out what we’re doing, and then have that same flow of traffic at night when people can come hang out with us at the bar, have some food and a great time. We started in the east end and we did think about opening there, but that section of Riverside is pretty saturated with restaurants. So to open another one there, we’re just too afraid with the budget that we have. Without the walk-in traffic of lunchtime to help facilitate dinner service, we could lose our shirts within the first year or so.”