A Toronto restaurateur is thanking a small group of employees for their hard work and dedication during the pandemic by giving them a stake in his business.

About a month ago, Adam Colquhoun, who owns and operates Oyster Boy, at 872 Queen St. W., offered six dedicated members of his team each five per cent ownership of his restaurant. They are under no obligation to work there for any length of time and are free to pursue their own goals or opportunities that may arise at any time, he noted.

“This is a reward for the hard work they did. … They really worked together. They deserve it,” Colquhoun told toronto.com Wednesday afternoon.

“These people, they pivoted. They did stuff I would not be able to do.”

Just before the first lockdown in March 2020, Colquhoun closed down his establishment for six weeks and renovated the kitchen.

When it was time to reopen, he hired a new chef and brought back a core group of committed workers to run his business as a take-out operation.

“I had some pretty intense chats with the staff I invited back,” he shared.

“I offered them an opportunity to re-boot the brand. I wanted to ensure they were committed to the industry.”

Colquhoun said for the last 11 months they “fought a war together” and won as food sales on weekends at Oyster Boy are now pretty much at par with what they were before the start of the pandemic.

“My most important resource is people,” he said.

“This place wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for them.”

Front of house manager Claudia Hennessey is one of Oyster Boy’s newest owners.

She said Colquhoun had previously mentioned this idea, but it wasn’t until recently that he decided to move forward with it.

“Adam’s vision was always to give the restaurant to the right people. … For him to give it to us is incredibly generous,” said Hennessey, who has worked at Oyster Boy for about two and a half years.

“We’re all feeling so overwhelmed and grateful. … We’ve all worked super hard and he’s recognized that.”

Hennessey said the team has developed such a great sense of camaraderie and trust over the last year and they’re all excited for what lies ahead.

The seven owners officially got together yesterday to celebrate their new beginning with Indigenous Bolivian ‘challa’ ceremony at Trinity-Bellwoods Park.