The Key Collection Might Just Be What Vancouver’s Nightlife Needs

There’s no question that Vancouver has a vibrant and diverse restaurant scene brimming with talent. The après, however, could use some new life.

Enter: The Key Collection, a new hospitality venture promising to redefine entertainment and dining in Western Canada.

Officially launched in October 2025, The Key Collection blends elevated dining, intentional design and human-centred experiences. The venture has two main divisions: venues and hospitality, and entertainment (tours, artist bookings and festivals).

Founders Matt Coolen (COO) and Justin Smith (CEO) are set to open nine concepts across dining and entertainment in Vancouver within the year—along with two more in Calgary and Edmonton. Think: new restaurants, nightclubs, event centres, speakeasies and lounges.

Sounds ambitious? Coolen and Smith have decades of experience in restaurants and entertainment, respectively, and they knew they would need to assemble “the Avengers of hospitality,” as Coolen puts it, to achieve this goal. With that mighty all-star team now in place, Coolen says, it’s been smooth sailing as they work on three to four openings at a time.

Door Openings

Within only a month of its launch, The Key Collection opened the first of its planned nine spots: Osetra Coastal Cuisine in downtown Vancouver. The 65-seater opened with a splash in November 2025 at the corner of Homer and West Georgia Streets. The restaurant boasts an elegant lineup of modern seafood-inspired dishes and cocktails, curated by culinary director Ira Matthew, chef de cuisine Tim Nguyen, cocktail director Sarah Hayashida (AMA Raw Bar) and beverage director Shawn Jones (Coast, Hawksworth, Chambar).

But it’s The Key Collection’s February openings that promise to really set the city’s evening scene in motion.

Their up-and-coming nightclub, Heist, is “bringing back the old Yaletown,” Coolen says. For millennials and older Gen Z, Heist is a spot to stay out late (or arrive earlier) for an elevated evening cocktail.

But the flagship venue that started it all is The Key. By the Plaza of Nations at Vancouver’s False Creek waterfront, The Key will raise the bar on what artists and entertainers can bring to concert halls in Vancouver, says Coolen, adding that the scale and production level of the venue will be unlike anything the city has ever seen. With a capacity of 1,000, weekends will see the likes of large DJ sets, while weekdays will feature a lineup of special events from country to comedy to rap.

Evening Ecosystem

It all started when Smith first approached Coolen with the idea to open The Key. Coolen’s reply: “If we’re putting resources into the city, we should do it properly.”

So, they set out with the intention to build out their very own hospitality ecosystem in Vancouver—eat at Osetra, go for drinks at Heist, then end the night with a DJ show at The Key. And there are still six more spots to open in Vancouver alone.

With The Key Collection unlocking a new era in entertainment and hospitality in Vancouver, Coolen says they want to give new life to the city—and give people a reason to want to go out.

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