D&D Homestyle Cuisine and Cafe announce ownership change

D&D Homestyle Cuisine and Café has been purchased by the Churchward family. The eatery will eventually be turned into Churchy’s Pub with Chef Will Churchward (centre) leading the kitchen. Also pictured are Mike and Janet Churchward (left) and Doug and Dianne Sparling (right). Contributed photo

By Lee Griffi

It may be the end of a culinary era in downtown Tavistock, but it is also the beginning of a new one.

Doug and Dianne Sparling have officially sold D&D Homestyle Cuisine and Café to the Churchward family effective Sept. 1, with Chef Will Churchward leading kitchen operations.

"We are excited to pass the spatula to Chef Will," said Doug Sparling. "Will and the Churchwards share our commitment to the community we've worked to build over the years, and we look forward to seeing that carry on through them."

D&D has been providing Tavistock and the surrounding community with great food for 11 years, offering breakfast and lunch from the cafe, as well as catering events. In the near term, D&D will continue to operate as usual. In time, it will become a full-service licensed restaurant, Churchy's Pub, adding dinner service to the menu.

"I plan to mix the Sparlings' cuisine with my own dishes," said Churchward. “I want to provide a unique mix of comfort food and pub food while keeping it interesting and exciting. And I get to do this in the town I grew up in.”

Churchward's experience includes time as sous chef at Jasper Brewing Company in Alberta, and more recently, as head chef of Mad Mash in Tavistock. While there, his very first entry into the 2025 Oxford United Way Ultimate Burger Battle won both the People's Choice and Ultimate Burger awards against a field of 16 competing restaurants.

“Our goal is to offer a comfortable restaurant for the community we've called home for over 20 years, somewhere families can come and enjoy together,” added Janet Churchward, co-founder and Will Churchward’s mom.

Mike Churchward said Doug Sparling would often pitch the restaurant to the family, saying Will Churchward could easily run the place.

“Will wasn’t really interested, but after working at Mad Mash for a while, he realized he could do it. Will came to me one day and asked if we could make it happen, and we said yes,” Mike Churchward said.

Will Churchward said he’s looking forward to the challenge but is fully aware of the amount of work involved.

“We are brainstorming every day and working on what we’re interested in selling. We don’t really have a theme; it’s just going to be pub cuisine but different than what you would get anywhere else,” he said.

Mike Churchward said he sees his son’s cuisine as comfort food, but a more interesting take on it.

“I would call it pub food, but better,” added Janet Churchward.

Mike Churchward added they see Churchy’s not as a pub primarily for those of drinking age, but a place where the entire family can spend time together.

“We all remember the days of Smully’s where everybody in town felt comfortable going. You could bring your kids, hockey teams could go in after games. It was a great place for a local hangout and we always had that in the back of our minds.”

As far as the inside goes, planning continues on what needs to be done. Mike Churchward said they plan to utilize all of the space to increase seating capacity.

“We’ve been working with a local consultant on how we can make some changes. We think we can easily get it up to 60 seats.”

Will Churchward said they are looking at having bingo and trivia nights in the future.

“Some things to get the community more involved and have fun while doing it.”

Janet Churchward added they are open to the possibility of catering to fill some of the holes left behind by D&D.

“The community I am aware of in Tavistock has really been looking forward to having something like this again. We will be able to employ some young people as we get bigger. I believe it’s a good thing for the town,” said Mike Churchward.

The eatery’s hours are expected to be similar to D&D’s for the time being, until Churchy’s gets ramped up.

“Our goal is not to have to close for very long at any one time. I have started the liquor license process but that will likely take one to two months once we take possession,” said Mike Churchward.

"We feel we are leaving the business we lovingly built in good hands and hope the community will continue to support the new business," said Dianne Sparling. “We both look forward to retirement."

She added it's great to see another local family take the restaurant’s helm, and she and her husband have a few ways to keep themselves active.

“We see the Churchwards continuing the same atmosphere. We plan to get part-time jobs to keep busy and help out where we can with our new grandchild. Doug is going to start up doing stained glass.”

The couple had three reasonable offers over the year and a half the business was for sale, and Dianne Sparling explained she is going to miss seeing the familiar faces and people who have become like family.

“We wish the Churchwards continued success as they start this new venture, and we know the community will support them just as they did us.”