This Restaurant Owner Gives Away Free Meals to Anyone in Need

In downtown Montreal, just a few hundred feet from the Ritz-Carlton and the Apple store, you'll find a nondescript Middle Eastern restaurant that has become better known for a sheet of white paper taped to its front window than it has for its halal menu of falafel and chicken pitas. Four months ago, Ala Amiry, one of the co-owners of Marché Ferdous, asked his daughter to print a sign for him, one that would let hungry members of the community know that they could come in for a hot meal—even if they couldn't pay for it.

"People with no money welcome to eat for free," it says in a simple san-serif font, both in English and French. Those nine words have caught the attention of not only those the restaurant hoped to help, but people (and news outlets) around the world.

"It doesn't matter, because at night if you still have leftover food you end up throwing it out, so why not give to those in need?" chef Abdelkader Bejaoui told CTV News. "It's not a big deal."

But it is a big deal—or at least it's become a big deal. MUNCHIES spoke with Amiry's business partner Yahya Hashemi about what prompted them to open their kitchen to the community and whether they were surprised by the reaction this gesture has received.

MUNCHIES: What prompted you to put up your sign offering free food? Yahya Hashemi: We are right beside the [former St. James the Apostle Anglican Church], a very well-known church where many [homeless] people walk by. Most of the time, when they pass by, they would ask me for spare change. One, two, three times, and I would ask what they are asking for, and they would tell me that they were hungry. So I started giving them a dollar, telling them to go and give that dollar to the chef and tell him that you want some food. They'd say, "They're not going to give me food with this dollar, because it costs a lot more than that." I'd say, "Tell him that I sent you." They'd have no idea that I was the owner. They'd do that, give him the dollar and get the food.

Then that led to the sign? Yes, there are people who are in need who would really like to come and eat, but you have no idea that they're hungry. So we thought if we made a small sign, people with no money would come to eat. We put that note behind the window a few months ago, and that's how it started. But to be honest, we have been doing this for years. [In Iran and Iraq] where we came from, this is a basic need and a basic contribution that we can do. We do not ask who you are, what is your colour, what language you speak, which religion you are: if you are hungry and you need the food, the food is available.

Can those who take you up on the offer order anything they want? That's it. We do not have a special dish, let's say, that's available for that program. Actually, we don't call it a program, we call it contribution, we call it participation. We told the chef, "Do not ask any questions, do not ask why, and do not judge people by their appearance." We said just give them the food and, if they want to sit and eat, they're more than welcome. If they want to take it, we'll give it to them and let them go. Simple as that.

About how many people are taking this contribution every day? We get four, five, maybe six people. At night, we get more and on the weekends, we get a few more. We used to get that many long before the sign, but the sign is just a public.

So, you put the sign up a few months ago, and then it went viral thanks to a Facebook post? Yes, that's what happened. We had guests who had heard about the sign from somewhere and they said they'd come and we'd explain what we were doing. We got some attention from people here, from activists in the community who have really welcomed our ideas. Then we were on the news, the CBC, Global, even the BBC. They all called us and many have thanked us, but as [Amiry] said, we are just making the smallest little contribution. It's not a big thing.

Has it improved business from paying customers? Yes, we have a lot of customers who are so kind and so generous. And we have seen people walk in or just passing by who want to donate $15, $20. We put all of the donations in a small box in the store, and we use it for just that purpose.

Were you surprised by all the attention you've received? Yes, this kind of reaction was new to me. People are calling us from all over the world. I was telling [Amiry], people are looking for some way to help needy people and, with this, they know that their money will be used a hundred percent for this purpose. We are not a church, we are not a mosque, we are just a restaurant who offers free food to the needy.

How long will you keep this going? We're not going to quit and we're not going to put a limit on it. As long as we're in business, we'll do it.

I've noticed that a lot of news outlets in the United States have called Marché Ferdous a Muslim restaurant, like that's a kind of food. I don't really want to categorise us in a certain way but, logically, people know that I'm from Iran, so I've got to be a Muslim anyway. Most likely, that's going to pop up in their mind. But [religion] is not the purpose. The purpose is to serve the people and serve the community. It's nothing more, nothing less than that.

It's a great story. And I think, especially in the U.S., we're honestly just looking for any good news right now. Exactly, we've heard a lot of bad news, so let's have some good news and celebrate that.