La Place Rendez-Vous: Three generations, one extraordinary meeting place
On the shores of Rainy Lake in Fort Frances, Ontario, sits a family legacy more than fifty years in the making. La Place Rendez-Vous – now a hotel, restaurant, and banquet destination – began as little more than a small eatery called the Gourmet House. Today, under the leadership of third-generation owner Sarah Noonan, it stands as a full-service community hub, a lakeside gathering place, and one of the most recognizable independent businesses in the region.
The story begins in the early 1970s, when Sarah’s grandfather, Leo Noonan, bought into the Gourmet House along with a handful of partners. It was a modest venture, but Leo and his wife, Marie-Thérèse (nee Blanc) – whose French heritage would help shape the identity of the business saw potential. In a region shaped by the history of the voyageurs and long regarded as a meeting place for Indigenous communities, the Noonan’s renamed the restaurant La Place Rendez-Vous. Its French name, meaning “the place to meet,” was a nod both to the area’s heritage and to the welcoming spirit the Noonan’s hoped to build.
Sarah’s father Paul Noonan soon joined the operation, followed by his uncle, Georges Blanc, Marie-Thérèse’s brother. Together, Leo, his son, and his brother-in-law began expanding the business lot by lot, purchasing cabins along the drive and imagining a hospitality operation that could grow alongside the community. Each decade would leave its own mark. The 1980s brought the first hotel addition: the lobby and an initial block of rooms, financed with grit during a time when interest rates soared to 21 percent. The early 1990s added another section of rooms, and by 1993 the banquet hall rose above the restaurant, giving the building its signature footprint. In 2000, the final hotel addition completed the structure that stands today.
But the true measure of La Place Rendez-Vous has always been its people and the family that built it. Sarah remembers growing up in the business alongside her siblings and cousins, all of them learning the work firsthand. Her grandfather was involved in the early years, her uncle contributed from 1985 to 2008, and her father dedicated more than 40 years to the business. Sarah’s mom, Diane, was a constant support behind the scenes, playing a quiet but essential role in the business’s success. Hundreds, eventually thousands, of local young people would have their first jobs within its walls while others found successful careers as part of the tight knit staff.
For Sarah, taking over wasn’t part of the original plan. She built a career she loved at the local high school, teaching physed, coaching, and developing a deep connection to students and families. But the moment her parents mentioned they might sell the business, “it was like a switch flipped,” she recalls. She felt pulled home, energized by the idea of carrying the family legacy forward. What followed was a period of persuasion, mostly directed at her mom, who worried about the demands of a 24/7 business while Sarah was raising a young family. But eventually, Sarah took a leave of absence from teaching in 2017 to give it a try.
The transition surprised even her. Skills she had honed in education; communication, organization, leadership, motivating people translated seamlessly into hospitality. Her love of technology became an asset as she modernized nearly every operational system in the building, from restaurant point of sale to hotel management software. She brought the mindset of an athlete and coach: train hard, aim high, improve constantly.
As an independent hotel competing among franchises, that flexibility became an advantage. Every system, every decision, every investment could be tailored to what worked best for the team and the guests. But independence also meant building everything from scratch, an extra challenge for a business that includes a restaurant, banquet facility, and hotel all under one roof. Still, Sarah thrived in the freedom to create the best possible experience.
The restaurant remains the heartbeat of it all. Bringing back breakfast was one of her recent decisions (just started back in January 2026), an offering beloved not just by hotel guests, but by locals who wanted a place to gather again. The panoramic lake view remains one of the business’s greatest assets, something Sarah has embraced with deck renovations and a renewed focus on showcasing the waterfront. “If you’re going to stay in town, why not stay by the lake?” she says simply.
Community is central to the business’s identity. While tourism is a driver, locals sustain the operation year-round. Whether it’s a birthday breakfast, a family dinner, or a wedding celebration, La Place Rendez-Vous has become the backdrop for life’s important moments. The banquet hall, with its sweeping lake view and outdoor deck is a favourite for weddings, conferences, and community events, offering that unique photo setting you can’t find anywhere else.
Behind it all is a team Sarah describes without hesitation as “the best around.” The challenges of COVID nearly brought the business to its knees; at one point, she considered converting the restaurant into apartments just to survive. But a new wave of foreign workers brought stability, diversity, and renewed energy. Alongside longtime local staff, they’ve helped build a strong, caring, cohesive culture that Sarah credits with the business’s current momentum.
The physical reinvestment has been just as significant. For nine years straight, La Place Rendez-Vous has undergone continuous renovations, every guest room, every hallway, the restaurant, and now the lobby. Every dollar goes back into sustaining the business for the long run. And while Sarah is still too immersed in day-to-day operations to fully map out the next phase, she knows it will come.
Asked what her grandfather would think today, emotion overtakes her. “Oh, he’d be ecstatic,” she says. Proud of the business, proud of the family still stewarding it, proud of the cultural diversity and community spirit thriving within its walls. Proud that his humble idea has grown into something generations can share.
La Place Rendez-Vous may have begun as a simple restaurant, but over five decades and three generations, it has become something more: a meeting place in every sense of the word, a living, evolving testament to family, community, resilience, and the power of home.
