With waiters pocketing between $300 to $400 in tips on a good night in this sizzling tourist town, you’d think, considering the makeup of the area’s population blends 2,516 Tofino residents and 1,200 Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations (TFN), there’d be more than two local First Nations on deck taking food orders to take home a slice of that cake.
But the odd thing is… there isn’t.
“There are only two Indigenous servers in the Tofino area,” says TFN career server Joe Bob, a father of four who works three a shifts a week at ROAR Restaurant within Mandy Farmer’s ‘70s themed Hotel Zed.
“You just know from going out and eating,” adds Bob. “I’ve worked for the old Shelter Restaurant for a couple of years and I was their only native server, there was another Indigenous girl, but she was a busser. I worked at Brown’s Socialhouse when they opened too and I was the only native server there, you would think there would be more.”
Brown’s Socialhouse opened in October 2023 at Tin Wis Resort, a TFN owned and operated business.
Tla-o-qui-aht member Brian Quick is the other local First Nations server in Tofino. He also works at ROAR and owns The Windy Clipper barbershop on Campbell Street, Tofino’s main drag.
Both Bob and Quick have over four decades of combined experience in Tofino’s restaurant industry.
“I know that there are more status natives on the floor that don’t present as natives. But when it comes to local TFN, I know there are only two of us,” Quick told the Ha-Shilth-Sa.
“Where are all the Indigenous servers in a town that’s half Indigenous?” he asks.
Tourism Tofino lists 50 eateries in the town, which includes places that offer food-to-go, treats and coffee. Fifteen of those 50 eateries are classified as restaurants, offering indoor seating and dinner: Adriana’s Sandwich Shop, Basic Goodness Pizzeria, Browns Socialhouse, Jeju Restaurant, Ombre, ROAR, Schooner, Shed, Shelter, Spicy Hut, The BEAR Bierhaus, The Great Room at Long Beach Lodge, The Pointe, Tough City Sushi and Wolf in the Fog.
Quick points out that while there are a couple other TFN members working at coffee shops, spending two-plus hours with customers over a meal is an entirely different experience than getting something to-go.
“I’m being given all that time to brag about where I’m from, to be a proud TFN and to direct a conversation into a place of education and learning is so important to me,” says Quick. “I really try to encourage visits to Meares Island; go and learn about the place. Or spelling ‘Tla-o-qui-aht’ on a piece of paper… To have all that time is so key.”
Bob says a lot of international visitors he serves have never even met an Indigenous person before.
A 2025 report released by Destination British Columbia about Indigenous tourism showed an increased desire from travellers to learn about culture, with 31 per cent of international visitors seeking Indigenous experiences and 88 per cent of Canadians expressing an interest in Indigenous cultural activities.
“It’s good to have that kind of representation of the region (in the front) because guests will ask what Tofino was like years ago,” said Bob. “I’ve had people ask, and I’ll inform them, that my family has lived here for generations, so hundreds of years, and I’ll tell them that the name Wickaninnish actually comes from my family.”
Myles Beeby is the manager of Hotel Zed and the president of the Tofino-Long Beach Chamber of Commerce (TLBCC).
“Raising the profile for Indigenous People is hugely important to the chamber and should be to all businesses,” said Beeby. “We are so privileged to have them as a workforce.”
He was unsure as to why there are only two local First Nations working Front of House in Tofino’s lucrative restaurant industry.
“In many cases they are not interested; they are more soft-spoken. But there is absolutely no reason why we shouldn’t see more Indigenous in the front,” said Beeby, adding that Hotel Zed is training their first Indigenous employee as a front desk attendant this month.
“There is a workforce that is untapped and there is a community of people that are looking to make their lives better. People are not talking about this, that’s why it’s not happening,” Beeby re-iterated.
The game changer
At the beginning of March 2025, BC Transit launched a new West Coast bus system connecting residents and visitors of Tofino, Ucluelet, Long Beach, the Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ community of hitaću, and the Tla-o-qui-aht communities of Esowista and Ty-histanis.
The transit service runs seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekdays and until 9 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
Quick and Bob, alongside about 375 TFN members, live in the villages of Esowista and Ty-Histanis, located about a 10-minute drive from Tofino.
“Having that transit system is a game changer,” said Beeby. “It’s going to help people without vehicles get to work on time and get back from work at the end of their shift.”
Quick also lived in the village of Opitsaht for 20 years, a TFN community on Meares Island about 10-minutes by boat across the Tofino Inlet.
“I’ve had a business owner tell me they don’t hire Indigenous people because they live in Opitsaht and they’re always late because of boats,” Quick said.
In the same breath, Quick lowers his voice and says that same business owner also asked him, ‘Why does everybody in the nation have to go to a funeral when somebody dies?’
“Our culture is our religion. Grieving and connection to families is important to us,” says Quick.
He thinks if employers invested the same amount of money on hiring and training local First Nations as they did on bringing in “transient people that stay for a few months”, they could find “longtime, loyal 22-year employees” out of the process.
“It’s about putting in the work, you know?” Quick says.
Bob encouraged Nuu-chah-nulth job seekers in Tofino to apply for the job they want.
“Even if a job asks for certain qualifications, it never hurts to apply,” says Bob. “For the restaurant industry, it doesn’t hurt to start out as a busser and gain some experience. That’s where I started out, as a busser at Sea Shanty, 21 years ago.”
Quick echoes that advice about landing an entry level position first and adds that the key to succeeding is expressing a desire to learn and go further and to “fight the fear of being the only native in the room.”
Bob is currently taking a training program, funded by Hotel Zed, to help him move into a management role. Quick is holding his restaurant gig, even while running a busy barbershop, because he loves the daily gratification of it all.
“It feels good to be able to impact people’s trips and day. That’s what I do it all for. And the money. The money is great,” Quick says.
