Business View Magazine | Volume 9, Issue 2

123 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 2 OSMOW’ S thought he had found his ticket to success. By 1999, he’d scraped up enough money to open up a submarine sandwich shop in Streetsville, Ontario, close to where his family were residing. But within two years it was obvious that subs were not the golden ticket. Ben recounts, “One day, one of his regular customers came in when my dad was making himself a shawarma. The customer asked what he was making and my dad gave him a bit to try… the customer said, ‘Oh, this is incredible! You need to add this to the menu.” From there Osmow’s was born. Sam saw the opportunity, realizing that people from Canada wanted to try traditional Middle Eastern food. So he closed up the sub shop and spent a week renovating and readying the store for its new main feature – shawarma. The family banded together, doing all the construction work themselves. Today, the popular Mediterranean restaurant is still 100% family owned, with Sam operating as principal and founder, Ben as CEO and Head of Franchisee Operations, and Sam’s daughter Bernadette operating as President. Success didn’t come immediately for Osmow’s. In fact, it was a bit of a slow start. Ben recalls, “On the second year we realized it was