Landmark greasy spoon may be back in business by year’s end

If there's demand for anything in Iqaluit, it appears to be the home-delivery of gravy-laden poutine, a bottle of Coke and a pack of smokes at 3 a.m.

So, despite skyrocketing con­struction costs, the city's much-­missed greasy-spoon diner and 24-hour delivery service, The Snack, is being rebuilt, with to re-open by 2008.

Piles were sunk into the ground at the site in late summer, but construction halted when the cost of restarting the business, originally estimated at $800,000, ballooned to nearly $1.5 million.

Some unexpected costs include $25,000 to clean up the building site, $42,000 in dump fees and a $62,000 power hook-up bill, said co-owner Gilles Lacroix.

"Everything is expensive," he said. "Even the burger."

But the company found new investors who gave them the needed capital, and construction of the new restaurant resumed in mid-September. Floodlights were erected outside the structure as contractors raced to complete the frame before the year's first snowstorm hit.

Now the wooden frame is built, windows are installed, and on Monday, contractors crawled atop the structure to lay the roof, shortly before the weather grew blustery.

The new building will be smaller than before. This is because of zoning rules that require parking be available at the restaurant's side, rather than behind the building, as before.

But sit-down service will still be offered, Lacroix said, contrary to rumours that the restaurant may be reduced to only offering take-out food.

The Snack burned to the ground in late January due to, appropriately, a grease fire.

Before then, the business made an incredible 83,000 deliveries in 2006. That's an average of 227 deliveries per day, in a city with a population of only about 6,000.

The diner also enjoyed a popular following of regulars who would sit in its vinyl booths during the day to consume comfort food. City trucks would park in a long line outside the business during coffee-break time.