General News

Grand Valley embraces OG 1870 as grand opening draws overwhelming response

July 30, 2026   ·   0 Comments

By Joshua Drakes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The owners of Grand Valley’s newest restaurant say the community has exceeded every expectation following the July 25 grand opening of OG 1870, with strong public support keeping the restaurant busy from morning through evening.

Joshua and Justine Tuck, who are married, said the opening was a huge success, with full dining rooms and consistently busy breakfast, lunch and dinner services.

“It’s been insane, to say the least,” Joshua Tuck said. “It’s been nonstop. Every seat in there is taken at high time for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Every single service so far, we keep thinking, okay, it’s Monday. We should maybe go less staff. It’s not going to be that busy, and it’s just as busy.”

The bakery and ice cream parlour have also drawn strong interest from residents and visitors alike, with regular customers already returning daily. Joshua Tuck said the response has been overwhelmingly positive, although the couple continues to welcome feedback as they refine the business.

“People have been really kind,” he said. “We’ve gotten rave reviews, and people said they love the food, and love the experience and love the service. We have gotten constructive criticism as well, but I think most people out there understand it’s a new business. There’s going to be some things that you have to iron out.”

Joshua Tuck credited the ice cream shop, which opened earlier this year, with helping build momentum before the restaurant opened.

“The ice cream was a godsend,” he said. “It supported not only the restaurant but our whole family. The ice cream shop again had a huge outpouring of support from the community. We’ve had people coming by every day for ice cream.”

Justine Tuck said another early success has been the grab-and-go service, created to meet the needs of commuters travelling into the city.

“When I went to work every day, there was nowhere for me to grab a coffee or a sandwich that early in the morning, most businesses are closed, or are only open certain days of the week,” Justine Tuck said.

“So we got the idea for an early morning service for people commuting to the city. We’ve been selling 60 plus breakfast sandwiches out of the grab and go in the morning on weekdays so far. That’s how receptive the community’s been to it.”

Despite the strong start, the owners said the first week has also been a learning experience. The kitchen was reorganized after opening to improve workflow, while the restaurant’s point-of-sale system was reworked to streamline communication between servers and the kitchen.

“You have a vision for things when you set up a business, and you set it up a certain way to follow that vision,” Joshua Tuck said. “Essentially, our kitchen was set up in a way that we thought would be efficient. We ended up switching everything around days later because we realized that wasn’t what we needed or wanted, so we made more changes as we went.”

“The POS system at first was honestly a nightmare,” Justine Tuck said. “I spent days on it because what a server receives and what’s executed to the kitchen wasn’t always ending up the same. Sometimes things didn’t come up, or orders were missing. We had to spend time figuring out how to ease the flow of our operations, and getting everyone on the same page.”

The Tucks also praised their staff, many of whom are students with little or no restaurant experience. With only a few days of training before opening, Joshua Tuck said the team has improved with every service.

“We have a lot of confidence in them,” he said. “These young people are really stepping up, and they’re learning, and they’re getting better every day.”

The one common denominator between the Tucks, the staff and the restaurants’ success, according to the owners, has been the community it’s built around. They credit Grand Valley and its welcoming, friendly atmosphere for the restaurant’s rapid success.

“We built it with the help of the town, and it’s been successful with the help of the town,” Justine Tuck said. “It was all local people that helped us make it and bring it together, and they supported us wholeheartedly, and they were cheering for us when we weren’t open yet.”

“I think this town… there’s this culture of friendliness in Grand Valley,” Joshua Tuck said. “I think it’s remained here all these years because people here, they talk to you, they want to know about you, they’re interested… It’s a very open town… everybody’s happy to chat. It’s just unbelievable.”

The Tucks said the opening week marked only the beginning for OG 1870.

As they continue refining operations and introducing new ideas, they hope the restaurant, bakery and ice cream parlour will become more than just a place to eat, serving as a gathering place where residents and visitors alike can connect while enjoying what Grand Valley has to offer.

Readers Comments (0)