It’s yet another gloomy morning. I’ve had a hearty breakfast. I’m now listening to The Current on CBC Radio, sipping on the remaining coffee. Another day, another COVID story. I look out the window; the mist is blurring out the trees in Queens Park. An older man narrates his battle with COVID. He’s South Asian. […]
Around this time last year, we were operating The Charcoal Grill as a once-a-week delivery-only #restaurant. Orders grew WoW till early June. Then, all summer, it seemed like there was no more #COVID in Toronto. Restaurants and bars were allowed to reopen, and people thronged the beaches, pools, museums, and parks. Turns out, #fooddelivery in Toronto is an anti-cyclical business; […]
Soon after I decided to run a restaurant (instead of another PM gig in tech), I got a call from a friend in San Francisco. I’m out of my mind, he said, and that this is the worst “financial decision” I could ever make! I agree, I said. It’s not a financial decision, it’s emotional. […]
When we spoke in April last year, I told you I had left tech to join a restaurant, pivoted it online, and was now “finding our place in that (new) normal”. I was both new to the service industry, and to Toronto (and still am!). Three months later, you probably saw me on Business Insider […]
Inus’s bike wheel got stuck in the TTC tracks, he fell, and got hit by a car. We rode together last month. It could’ve been me. Please look out for bicyclists when driving, and don’t park in bike lanes. #zerovision
Partners in a Toronto restaurant were forced to abandon their plans when the pandemic hit and now they’re struggling to stay afloat long enough to keep their dream alive. Before April, co-owners Asim Fayaz and Zubair Dar, were in the midst of purchasing and designing a restaurant in Kensington Market. As immigrants from Pakistan and Kashmir, Fayaz and Dar planned […]
27th March, 11: 15pm. I called Zubair and Sabina: “We lost money in March again, and April is going to kill us. I’ve looked at our expenses — we need to dramatically cut costs and save cash.” The lockdown had already started in Toronto. Like every other business, we had shut down and were now isolated in […]
Waqt ki qaid mein zindagi hai magarChand ghadiyan yehi hain jo aazad hain Life is a prisoner in the grip of time,These are the only short moments that are free End of 2010, I had finished college, lost control of my startup chOpaal.pk, failed at starting another, ended a long relationship, and was ready to start […]