Darbar, a popular Indian restaurant nestled on Boulevard St-Laurent in Montreal, is home to Simar Anand. Literally.
He was born and raised on the second floor of the restaurant, which was once his parents’ apartment.
“The upstairs dining room is actually the original living room,” said the Darbar owner. “And where we have the upstairs bathrooms for our guests is actually our original kitchen.”
“So the upstairs has a lot of value to me because that’s where I grew up,” he said.
That’s why when Anand’s father died of COVID-19 in 2020, closing the restaurant his father had run for 26 years never even crossed his mind.
“This restaurant is my connection with my father and that’s why for the last two years I’ve been doing my best, even during the pandemic, to continue this as long as I can,” Anand said.
Anand is pictured with his father, who has run the restaurant for 26 years. (Rowan Kennedy/CBC News)
But this has been made even more difficult by construction work on Boulevard Saint Laurent right outside his restaurant’s doors. Anand says this is killing business and has forced him to close temporarily.
“We’ve been through a whole global pandemic that hasn’t been able to shut us down, and at this point the work the city is doing on the street is on the verge of bankrupting us,” he said.
“Complete chaos”
Anand says he made the difficult decision to close his restaurant indefinitely nearly three weeks ago after he said customers started canceling reservations left and right after construction began on July 11.
“People cancel because they don’t want to deal with it. They don’t want to jump over barriers or barricades or platforms with massive trenches in the ground,” Anand said.
Barricades, orange cones and yellow tape occupied the street in front of the Darbar restaurant. The owner says his staff was unable to enter the restaurant one day because the entrance was barricaded. (Rowan Kennedy/CBC News)
He says the construction hasn’t just been a barrier for customers – staff have also had a tough time. On July 23, Anand said the entrance to his restaurant was barricaded with yellow tape, preventing staff from entering the establishment.
“It’s total chaos on the street right now,” Anand said. “There’s no point in even opening at this point.
The closing put nearly a dozen of his workers out of work — many of whom had worked for his father for years, including part-time dishwasher Belgin Oduyakmaz.
“I’m a single mother so I lost two weeks of income. Obviously, it affects me and my children,” she lamented.
Not eligible for the utility program
Anand says two weeks before construction began, the city of Montreal contacted him to let him know about the plans and also to ask him to tear down his patio — something he refused to do during the busiest time of the year. for his restaurant.
Since then, Anand says the city has been silent as it struggles to get financial help for its losses.
Belgin Oduyakmaz, a part-time dishwasher at Darbar, says losing her income for two weeks has been a challenge for her as a single mother. (CBC News)
He says his request for the city’s assistance program to help businesses affected by construction zones was denied because he was told he closed too early to qualify. He also said he had been told that the project, planned to last 10 weeks, was too short-term to qualify for financial aid.
“I can tell you that the loss I will take in those 10 weeks in the middle of summer far outweighs the loss I would have taken if you had worked on this project for six months at any other time of the year ,” Anand said.
In a statement, the city hall’s opposition Ensemble Montreal called the aid program dysfunctional, saying about $20 million was sitting in the fund.
Meanwhile, Anand says he has almost $30,000 in bills to pay by next week — an amount he says he doesn’t have. He is now contacting his insurance company to see if he can recover the lost money.
“At this point, I’m trying to grab onto anything I can to help me.”
The City says it is working to support the owner
In a statement to CBC News, City Hall said the city is working with Anand to find different ways to support him during the road work. Construction, which includes replacing lead water mains, is expected to last through September
“We are aware that construction works can cause inconvenience[s] and we strive to limit them as much as possible,” the statement said.
The city says it has put Anand in touch with a liaison officer who is available to resolve “any issues that may arise in connection with the work.” It also said a city employee visits the site three times a week to ensure business access is maintained.
The City of Montreal says it is working with Anand to find different ways to support him during the road work. (Rowan Kennedy/CBC News)
Anand is now calling for reform of the city’s welfare program. But for his family’s business, recovering the cash losses is only part of the uphill battle he faces.
“What it doesn’t take into account is the loss of reputation, the loss of employees, the loss of inventory,” he said.
He says he will have to work hard to rebuild his clientele in hopes of keeping his father’s legacy alive.
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