The restaurant was owned and operated by John Letnik, who came to Canada as a refugee from FPR Yugoslavia in 1957. Letnik found work at an Etobicoke country club and ultimately becoming its chef before opening his own restaurant in 1961, the Pop Inn at Dundas and McCaul which he ran for seven years. He came up with the idea of opening an onboard restaurant while travelling to Europe via ship in the late 1960s to visit relatives. He opened Toronto's first floating restaurant aboard the in 1970. The "Normac" had served several years as a fire boat with the Detroit Fire Department and then as a ferry that traveled between Tobermory and Manitoulin Island.