MacGregor Hotel and Viking Room - MacGregor Homegrown Business

Of all the businesses that have been hit hard in Manitoba as a result of COVID-19, few have been impacted quite so much as our province’s bars, hotels and restaurants. It is for this reason that I am happy to have the opportunity to share with you about one of the MacGregor homegrown businesses that is amongst the best the province has to offer on all three of those fronts.

The MacGregor Hotel & Viking Room has long been a staple of life in MacGregor. Below, I interview Nelson Strand, the new owner of the hotel about what is new, how people can place orders during this time, as well as what is in the cards for the hotel’s patrons going into the future.

Tell me what all does the Hotel do specifically? Who is involved?

We have hotel rooms, a vendor, restaurant, a beverage room with a brand new patio area coming soon! Myself and my wife, Jill Strand, own the hotel and we have four to five staff.

Tell me the story of the Hotel. When did it begin? Has it shifted hands over the years?

I ran the hotel for about a year and a half before we fully bought it on March 1st of this year. Denis ran the hotel for around 20 years before we bought it.

How has running the hotel gone over the years? How have things changed?

So we are fairly new to this but we work hard and try our best to serve great food, drinks and make a good time for the people who come. We like having special events, like our ‘Sud, Spud and Steak’ night and our valentine's supper. We also have bands who come in a couple of times a year. We have also done a lot of work to the building. For example, there are new doors and windows, we have done extensive re-painting, and we fixed up the seven rooms upstairs, so they are ready to be rented out.

What does the hotel give back to MacGregor beyond your services?

We support many fundraisers around Macgregor, one of our favourite being to the MacGregor Wild hockey team.

How has COVID-19 impacted the hotel?

Since the bar and restaurant have been closed due to COVID-19, we just have the vendor and take out available [you can find the menu in the picture slideshow below].

Any additional details that would encourage people to come to your business now?

I have made a Facebook page and we already have 550 people following us. We also just got a new website up and running, so keep an eye out for that. When we get to open back up we will be offering our menu items longer every day. Hopefully we will have our patio up and running by the end of June.