Of all 86 Smitty's restaurants in Canada, the one with the highest volume of sales last year was the location in Steinbach.

Manager Chris Dyck says they learned the news last week while at their annual convention in San Diego.

"Two years we've been second place," says Dyck. "So it was nice to move up and to showcase that for the rest of the country."

According to Dyck, the Smitty's restaurant in Steinbach opened 32 years ago. In 2012, it underwent a significant expansion which included the addition of a lounge.

"We have noticed more customers for sure when we opened the lounge," says Dyck. "It was fun to get that going and to build our team to get to that level that truly like looking after customers."

The Steinbach Smitty's has 70 employees. Restaurant Manager Miranda Wyndels says their staff and customers have a special connection.

"We have a lot of people that come every day, sometimes twice a day," she says. "I think they like it when they come here that we know them and who they are."

Kitchen Manager Clay Hadaller says the success of the restaurant is that their customers hold them accountable.

"They know what they want and they hold us accountable that we achieve that goal for them," explains Hadaller. "Really that's the blessing that we have that customers tell us when we're doing something right and customers tell us when we're doing something wrong."

According to Dyck, just because they reached number one in sales does not mean they have peaked. He says there is always room for improvement. Dyck says this award is theirs to lose and he hopes they can keep doing the best job possible every day.

"To connect with our guests and have people leave happy and looked after," says Dyck.