‘CREATIVE’ PUB FARE ON MENU AT BLUE RHINO

Craven Sports Services expands with large, new training centre

It’s hard to miss the Blue Rhino Pub & Grill when driving past Sutherland on College Drive.

The vibrant blue building, just a block off of College Drive, acts as a family-friendly restaurant during the day — but once 8 p.m. hits, everyone under 19 has to clear out.

“We wanted to make sure minors were allowed in here because there is lots of nearby residential and because we have three kids we wanted them to be able to be here with us at times,” owner Meagan Nicklin said.

“But the idea and the whole acquiring this place began as a dream of my husband’s — we met about 12 years ago and it was already a dream of his to own his own bar.”

And as a foodie and amateur chef herself, it was a dream she was happy to work toward together.

Finding the perfect spot was a case of being in the right place at the right time, Nicklin said.

Thanks to extensive renovations, their location has the perfect balance of a welcoming yet modern, neighbourly feel and high-quality, fresh, homemade food.

“A big part of what we wanted to be was not just the cosy atmosphere and everything inside, but the main thing that we wanted was good food,” Nicklin said.

With two Red Seal chefs in the kitchen and food orders coming in every two days, Nicklin said you can be sure when you walk through their doors that your dinner won’t be making the journey from the freezer to the plate.

“It’s pub food made exceptionally well,” she said. “Our chefs know what they are doing and are very creative. Almost all of our food is homemade ... right down to the dips and dressings.”

Their focus on fresh, flavour-filled food seems to be working. Nicklin said they have already won over the regulars from the restaurant that previously occupied the space and they are excited to meet all of the new guests who choose to walk through their doors and hopefully win over a few more.

BLUE RHINO PUB & GRILL

Owners: Meagan and Dean Nicklin Address: 102 103rd St. East Hours: Monday to Thursday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Phone: 306-955-8888

Website: blue-rhino-pub-grill. business.site. Check Facebook and Instagram

Whether you’re an elite athlete looking to improve performance or someone heading into retirement who wants to be more active in the golden years, Craven Sport Services has a training system that will meet your needs.

A long-known name in the Saskatoon sporting community, Craven Sport Services has expanded its practice into a new training centre right across the parking lot from their main facility.

“The new location will be pretty much 100 per cent training,” said owner Bruce Craven.

“We’ve done training for multitudes of sports here in the city ... so this just provides a different and bigger facility for them to come and train in.”

Craven added that the addition of the new training location is giving the centre the opportunity to be a world-class facility thanks to a dedicated space large enough for a baseball player to throw a pitch or a sprinter to reach their top speed — all with video and timing analysis to uncover and fix whatever is holding you back.

Covering needs stemming from injury recovery to the simple desire to be more active, they are able to help with all aspects of your health and performance with physiotherapists, strength and conditioning coaches, massage therapists, a dietitian and a mental performance coach on site.

And getting started is as easy as checking out their website and booking into one of the small supervised group training sessions.

Craven said their whole program is centred around learning to move your body “the Craven way” — their long-tested method of perfecting the way you move and pairing it with exercise techniques personalized to your needs.

“Everybody is wanting to get better at what they do,” Craven said. “We’re about technical excellence and that technical excellence has to be sustained with proper movement patterns throughout all the movement patterns that we are going to do — whether that means doing a deadlift, doing a one-armed throwing activity on one leg or whether that’s simply working on balance standing on one leg.”

CRAVEN SPORT SERVICES

Owners: Karen and Bruce Craven Address: No. 3 — 701 Second Ave. North

Hours: Monday to Thursday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Phone: 306-934-2011.

Website: cravensportservices.ca. Check Facebook and Instagram Erin Petrow is a reporter at The StarPhoenix. If you have started, expanded or moved a small business in Saskatoon within the last few months, contact her at epetrow@postmedia.com. twitter.com/petr0w

PHOTOS: MORGAN MODJESKI Meagan Nicklin, co-owner of the Blue Rhino Pub & Grill on 103rd Street East with her husband Dean, says the establishment’s aim is to become a cosy neighbourhood staple with its “exceptionally well”-made food. Almost everything on the menu is homemade and minors are welcome before 8 p.m.

Jillian Gallays, director of training with Craven Sport Services, and owner Bruce Craven have a lot more room to work with at the business’ new centre on Second Avenue North, which focuses “100 per cent” on training.