It was just after
The Kramdens were halfway through their first set and the place was hopping. Behind the bar, owner Mark Rodford was slinging beers and singing along.
He knows all the words to The Kramdens songs because he is not only a fan of the band, they are his friends.
That can be said of most of the people that came out to the shows and the acts that offered to perform during 15 Rounds of Sound, a 15th anniversary celebration of The Cornerstone.
“There is a nice little closed loop here and these events,” said Rodford. “It has just been very motivating and heartwarming to realize that people do appreciate this place and I am grateful for all of that and feel blessed.”
For many of the regulars The Cornerstone has a physical and a philosophical presence in the city. It is literally at the corner of Carden and Wyndham streets and it was established by Rodford to serve as a social hub for building community.
“I think the citizens of this city have embraced this place as their own so we don’t call it a coffee shop or a café or anything,” he said. “It’s just 'The Cornerstone' and the customers can define it for themselves what they want it to be.”
Building community has been a focus for Rodford most of his life.
“Ever since I was eight I have done community work,” he said. “I always wanted to make contributions that would add to the fabric of the community that I live in.”
Rodford was born in
“After school was over I moved away for a number of years and then I had another company,” he said. “I could move wherever I wanted to and I always liked
He moved back to
“At the time there was no kind of community place to gather so, I just took it upon myself to build one,” said Rodford. “I didn’t really know much about the food service industry before I got into it.”
The menu was vegetarian and vegan with gluten-free options as well and it became a popular place to see local musicians and comedians in an intimate setting.
“I think we filled a bit of a need or a void in the city at the time, which certainly contributed to our success early on,” he said.
In 2006 he opened a deli two doors down from Cornerstone called Ouderkirk & Taylor and in 2012 he opened the restaurant OX next to the Bookshelf.
“I like being busy but I was too busy,” said Rodford. “I had three places, each of them open seven days a week and one point I think we had 85 or 90 employees and it was a bit ridiculous.”
He closed OX in June of 2015 and quietly closed Ouderkirk & Taylor in 2016.
“I just have the Cornerstone now, which is great,” he said. “It’s more of the operational part of my brain that gets satisfied here.”
He satisfies the creative part of his brain as a board member at 10 Carden as well as the Downtown Guelph Business Association and has been doing some business development consulting work.
“I would like to explore that a bit more,” he said. “It is helping people with their startup or there community focus or their business strategy or whatever the case may be.”
For Rodford it is all about sharing what you’ve learned and building relationships that make life better for everyone in the community.
“I knock on wood four or five times a day too,” he said. “That seems to help.”
The Cornerstone
Established:
Owner: Mark Rodford
519 827-0145
