A Prince Edward County drive-in just sold for $1.25 million. Here's the new owners’ plan

Now, two taco chefs and former rivals have come together under the brand Rebel Taco to keep the film rolling, and they have big plans for the site that, yes, include tacos.

“We kept thinking we were going to get told ‘no’ by somebody at some point,” said Ian Chislett, one of the new co-owners. “And now at the end, it’s just like, I really didn’t think they’d let us get away with this.”

Chislett started Rebel Taco in 2022 in Prince Edward County after years of work in fine dining across Canada and internationally.

The Sudbury-born, GTA-raised chef hosted pop-ups at farmers markets and musical festivals, catered private events, and served tacos at a brewery. He also was a pop-up vendor at the Mustang Drive-In’s flea market-style “trunk shows.”

When the drive-in first went up for sale in 2023, the prospect of buying it seemed out of reach. But Chislett said it became “a little dream” in his back pocket.

That same year, Chislett’s business had a new opportunity. Rebel Taco became the primary food vendor for a local brewery, and over time, Chislett began adding employees, operating more hours, and incorporating. Business took off, and Chislett realized his drive-in dream might have a chance at becoming a reality.

He consulted friend and rival Aravind Selvaraj, to sell him on the dream, too, so they could do it together.

Selvaraj, an Indian-born engineering graduate from McMaster University who pursued cooking during the pandemic, had worked for Rebel Taco and spent a couple years learning from Chislett before starting his own taco business, Arvy’s Street Eats. It prompted a “friendly competition that only deepened” his and Chislett’s respect for one another, Selvaraj said.

The two of them had worked out of production kitchens together, where they cooked and prepped food before transferring it to their pop-ups. Chislett recalled a point in time when he worked out of a bar that closed at 2 a.m., prepping food until 6 a.m. and then catering events all day. Selvaraj, meanwhile, said he was once driven out of a production kitchen because the owners said his food smelled “too ethnic.”

What ultimately convinced Selvaraj to get on board was the prospect of giving back to the community “in more ways than one” — providing jobs for teens and hosting events — while also giving him and Chislett the opportunity use the on-site kitchen to grow their business.

“Giving us one more production kitchen that we are as close to as humanly possible is just the dream,” Chislett said.

Former co-owner Dawn Laing said it became clear that Chislett and Selvaraj had a vision for the “legacy business” that included its longevity and taking it to the next level with their cooking.

“Something that most people don’t know is that when you’re selling a business, I can say I want them to keep it as a drive-in … the person on the other end of that could say, ‘Yeah, we’ll totally do that,’ and the second they get the keys, they can do whatever they want,” she said. 

The new owners say an important part of their vision is affordability.

“There’s a lot of reasons to come to Prince Edward County. There’s a lot of beautiful things to see and do, but unfortunately, a lot of it is kind of priced out of people’s range,” Chislett said, adding that activities in the area often centre on alcohol and expensive food. 

In addition to operating the drive-in at night, they want to provide families with “a giant field with sandboxes and games” and space to hang out.

“I want to build the biggest sandbox in the county, for no reason other than just to play,” Chislett said.

They plan to offer Chislett’s signature state fair-style tacos and Selvaraj’s Mexico City-style birria tacos at the snack bar, under the Rebel Taco brand, and other options like loaded fries and chips and queso.

Additionally, they hope to introduce ordering from the car, rather than having to go to the concession, during movies.

During the day, they hope to have a beer garden. They’re tapping the local high school to help build picnic tables, while they supply the wood.

The drive-in will operate roughly from May until September (maybe some weekends in October, too), with alternative programming later in the year, like musical acts, they said.

All in all, they hope to provide an experience that visitors never forget.

Chislett recalls watching his first drive-in movie — “Never Been Kissed” — in Port Hope when he was about eight years old.

“Twenty-four years later, at this point, it’d be pretty cool to be part of building those memories for new people,” he said.