5 Great Industry Nights in Calgary

Where the service industry pros go for good deals and camaraderie on their nights off.

Sunday and Monday nights are when the hardworking guys and gals in the restaurant and bar industry finally get to kick up their heels after working their butts off all weekend when everyone else is out partying. Since people who work in restaurants and bars are usually the best customers when they go out themselves, a lot of places host “Industry Nights,” offering specials and deals to attract their cohorts. Even if you’re one of the nine-to-fivers, check out these local industry nights for good deals and good vibes.

Cleaver

This 17th Avenue S.W. restaurant is a hot spot on Monday nights on account of a unique promotion that’s got a touch of Vegas going on. Plank Mondays refers to a sharing platter for two or more people, served on a wooden plank. The planks typically come with a roast half-chicken, a salad and a serving of duck-fat french fries as well as various other sides that change up weekly. The buy-in is $15 per person, for a minimum of two people (so $30). Now, here’s the cool part: at the end of the meal, you get to roll a set of dice and if you roll any two even numbers you get your food on the house! As you can expect, it creates a bit of a celebratory atmosphere. Viva las Cleaver!

524 17 Ave. S.W., cleavercalgary.com, @cleavercalgary

Home and Away

This convivial restaurant and bar styled with a nod to the sporting life opens officially on November 12, 2015, but once it does, it promises to become a hangout of choice for service-industry folks, especially on Sundays, with drink specials all day and free turns at the in-house skeeball and pop-a-shot games.

1331 17 Ave. S.W., 403-455-9789, homeandawayyyc.com, @homeandawayyyc

Parc Cafe and Brasserie

This Parisien-inspired spot in Mount Royal Village hosts a hospitality industry night every Monday from 6 to 10 p.m., offering 40 per cent off food to staff of restaurants, bars, hotels, airlines, liquor stores and golf courses. If you don’t count yourself among that crowd, you won’t get the discount (don’t try to fake it, either, because they’ll ask for a business card or paystub as proof). But even if you have to pay in full, the camaraderie in the place that night more than makes up for it.

818 16 Ave. S.W., 403-454-2700, parccalgary.com, @parccalgary

Sunday Skool at HiFi Club

DJ Rice‘s Sunday Skool house music night has been thumping since 1996, waaaay before the HiFi Club (the night’s current home base) even existed. If you love electronic music but you’ve stopped going out dancing because you hate the Friday- and Saturday-night suburban crowds, screw Monday morning and go see why this night has lasted for two decades, which is the equivalent of 100 years in nightclub years.

219 10 Ave. S.W., 403-263-5222, hificlub.ca, @hificlub

Una Pizza and Wine

Una owners Kelly Black and Jayme MacFayden are service-industry veterans themselves who set out to create the kind of place they would like to hang out at after a shift. When they opened Una, they decided to accept clientele until 1 a.m. for full-service meals. Their fellow service-industry folks definitely appreciated the gesture and these loyal regulars are a big part of the reason why the upscale casual pizzaria is one of the city’s hottest tickets, any night of the week.

618 17 Ave. S.W., 403-453-1183, unapizzeria.com, @unacalgary