More than two months after they opened their own pub, The Bonfire, in the north end of Halifax, Vincent Morley and Krystin Green say they’ve been on a rollercoaster, solving problems, including two broken fridges, buying a slushie machine that never worked, and firing some toxic employees.

But they like rollercoasters.

“We’re lucky. We’re having a good time. We’re really grateful for all the work our employees have put in, says Morley.

The husband and wife duo gained a lot of media attention when the business initially opened in mid-April because they don’t let customers pay any tips.

Instead, they have a profit-sharing model. Workers make about $20 an hour, and their goal is to make enough money on food and drinks to share their profits with the workers.

They had unexpected costs after they opened, like any restaurant would, Morley said. They also had a lot of staff working while people learned the job and the flow of the restaurant.

But when they get the total work hours of all the employees down to 250 a week, which he thinks they will do this week, and if they can also boost their sales by about $3500 a week, then they’ll hit their goal of paying their workers that extra $10 an hour.

“We are well on our way to being a more fair, equitable, transparent place,” he said, adding that the top-up will offer their employees a competitive wage compared to other pubs in the north end.

Jill Lane-Smith started working at the pub shortly after it opened in April. She’s got three years under her belt as a server.

She said she likes that Morley and Green make the workers part of all their decisions. The way they do things intrigued her, so she applied.

“I think it is a great way to start a foundation of a restaurant.”

Liquor license makes big difference

When our newsroom talked to Morley in April, he said they were still waiting to get their liquor license, which would help them rake in some more cash.

And now it is really paying off.

“There are a lot of people who, even if they’re only coming for a beer or two, I don’t think we’d see them if there wasn’t a beer or two available.”

But other small things can do a lot, too. The restaurant just put some tables out front because it felt like they were losing customers to people with patios. There’s a stack of board games available for anyone who wants to play, along with some decks of Pokémon cards, and Green said she could teach anyone who doesn’t know how to play.

And they say they’re getting their first repeat customers, so their sales are starting to be more consistent. In the beginning, Morley said, it felt like they could be really busy one day and very slow the next.

Now they want to get the message out that they are a pub and not just dinner-focused, to bring more people in during drinking hours, or the evening.

A dream come true

Green, who is a co-owner on top of her regular job, says this restaurant is a dream for them.

“We just talked about having this, having a place, ever since we got together, “ said Green.

“And I think that we pinch ourselves every single day that it’s actually happening this year. I’ll cry if I talk about it.”