Arts and Entertainment

Open 364 days a year: The daily dedication behind Mono’s beloved Black Birch Restaurant

March 12, 2026   ·   0 Comments

By Constance Scrafield

A couple of decades ago, Mark Mogensen worked in a Toronto restaurant, and he did not like how the staff were treated, himself included. The daughter of the family-owned restaurant habitually closed earlier than the time posted if there were no customers, potentially losing evening income for the place. 

One day, Mogensen decided to quit, and the question was – what next? The answer came as a restaurant property on the Hockley Road, just three kilometres from the centre of Orangeville, which he purchased in 2007.

In an interview this week with the Citizen, Mogensen related, “We had been working on it, with renovations and all the government requirements and I thought we have to have an opening date. So, we were ready. I decided to open officially on November 15, which is also my birthday. That was 18 years ago.” 

He called his new business The Black Birch Restaurant.

Years of working in the restaurant business provided lessons on how to do better, and one such lesson taught him the good sense of being open seven days a week; actually, 364 days of the year. Mogensen reasoned that it was better to be open every day so as not to disappoint anyone making the trip.

“Seven days a week is straight forward. If we were closed on a Monday and someone came, all they would remember is that we were closed and it might be a while until they tried again,” was the wisdom.

Likewise, opening on Christmas Day invites people to have their Christmas lunch at the restaurant. As it happens, lunch is all that is required, for a second seating is rare.

“I don’t mind going home early on that day,” he commented. 

The 365th day, New Year’s Day, is Mogensen’s day off. Has he been asked to open on New Year’s? Yes, and the answer was, “No.”

Following his own unpleasant experience as staff in other restaurants, Mogensen was determined to do better in that as well.

He said, “What stuck with me, if you have a regular staff, you all work well – you know how it all comes together.”

Indeed, part of the pleasure of dining at the Black Birch is the staff, most of whom have been with him since the opening and usually know what their regular customers like. A tribute to the chef’s attitude toward his own staff.

What he has learned over the 18 years with this as his chosen profession is that there are good cooks, and then there are good chefs, and they can cook for 100, 200 people, and Mogensen qualifies there.

“There are restauranteurs who handle more of the business side,” he added. “That was an eye opener for me, dealing with the Fire people and the Board of Health.”

There is the matter of purchasing his supplies, the very essence of the job, to find reliable sources of food for the menus. Times change as traditional farmers retire and new government rules affect agricultural businesses, which influences from which source a chef will make his purchases. 

Likewise, catering to different schedules for when patrons like to eat, from the dinner-at – 8 p.m. crowd in the city to the earlier choice of dining closer to 5 p.m. in the country, has been a learning curve.

With a passion for some “changing up” his menu, including standard dishes, even as minimally as a different sauce, there is needed consistency and space for creativity.

“Some people go to a restaurant for their specific dishes,” he noted, 

They come to the Black Birch for the duck, the lamb shank, the fish; others come to check the regular menu changes and the specials, fresh from the Chef’s new ideas.

Most importantly, Mogensen likes where he is and has no plans to change that. Aware as he is of the passing of time, he has taken to consider his health, abandoning the soft drinks he used to consume and watching his consumption generally.

Saturday evenings see musicians come to entertain, and there is a list of half a dozen showing up in turn to play for diners, enough to please without overwhelming. During lunch on any day, you can see us sitting by the windows where bird feeders bring another kind of entertainment, birds flying to dine as well.

Asked if he thinks about changes, Mogensen replied, “I feel if there were changes, would I be getting in more people?”

For ambience, a delicious and interesting menu for good prices and “expert staff that take care of people,” as the chef praises them, the Black Birch Restaurant is a joy. 

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