It all started with one man... and a flaming grill.

Executive Chef and World Class Restaurateur... Jack Niemann

Born in Germany in 1938, he immigrated to Canada in 1955. Apprenticed as a chef de cuisine with Canadian Pacific Hotels (Banff Springs Hotel and Palliser Hotel Calgary). Attended college – Accounting and Business Administration. In 1960, opened his first self-owned restaurant (purchased an existing restaurant), tripled the business within 18 months and sold the same for 3 times the purchase price.

He has established 35 subsequent restaurants, including the Black Forest chain, a unique dinner house concept. The first Black Forest was built on the King George Highway in White Rock in 1968, and was called "an oasis in a culinary desert," where driving a 60 mile round trip just for dinner was quite common place. "We would have to turn away up to 300 patrons per night."

Jack sold this particular Black Forest after 12 glorious years of operation.

"Every restaurant I have built has its own story. In 1991, as a challenge, I built a Black Forest in a small town in Washington, called Everson. Not too many people even know of this town, with a population of 1,200 people, reachable by a secondary road, the most unlikely venue for a first class dinner house. The Everson Black Forest, against all odds, became an overnight success, turning away hundreds of aspiring patrons per night, year after year."

Another restaurant story:
"Expo ’86, Jack was chosen by the Soviet Union to build and own the Moscow Restaurant Expo '86 in the Soviet Pavilion. The Pavilion housed 600 plus seats, all full service and the single biggest day of sales was $110,000, with average monthly sales of $1,500,000. Jack successfully amortized an $850,000 investment over a six month period."