Caribou Restaurant + Wine Bar opened in November of 1999. The owners, Bob Stewart and Tom Pazianos had spent many years in the restaurant business as franchisees and they were ready to open an original concept.

They had slowly developed a plan over many years of visiting restaurants all over North America and the world.

Ideas they had collected and designs they had studied were worked out and refined until they had a solid concept.

The restaurant was restyled on the site of the former training centre and corporate offices of Robins Donuts. Previous to that it had been the Mockingbird Restaurant.

The name "Caribou Restaurant + Wine Bar" was suggested by Gerry McEachern of McEachern Marketing of Thunder Bay.

He felt the name had connection to Canadian consumers and more importantly would give the flexibility to develop diverse menu selections.

The name would not leave people with preconceived notions of the style and types of food or the atmosphere they'd find inside. 

From that point, we could present Italian, Asian, Cuban or any other style of cuisine that looked new and exciting.