What would it be like to open your first business and have to close your doors only days later?
That is exactly what happened to Shereen Rashwan, who purchased her business while traveling the world. You heard that right. Rashwan was in Lisbon, Portugal during a six-month trip when she made the decision to purchase Bistro 290 in Niverville.
“I wanted to own my own company,” says Rashwan, “I wanted to work with something small and see it grow.”
After attending school in Ontario, then moving on to the tech field in San Francisco, and remaining there for four years, Rashwan decided it was time to do something else. She returned to Manitoba and rekindled a romance with her high school sweetheart leading to thoughts of staying in the area she grew up in.
So, midway through her 13 country trek around the world, Rashwan learned from a friend that a restaurant in Niverville was up for sale. Having worked at Chicken Chef in the town and other restaurants in the city, the prospect of owning one herself was instantly appealing.
“I love food and I love interacting with people,” says the energetic owner, but little did she know that those interactions would soon be limited.
“Our first day was March 16th, a Monday, but it was the Friday before where things started to escalate in Canada, and I believe it was Saturday when we called it and decided we weren’t going to let anyone sit indoors.”
Rashwan’s intuition was on point, as less than two weeks later, the government mandated the closing of indoor dining. Acting fast she came up with a plan, one she attributes to saving her business.
Her saviors came in the forms of relationships, social media, and soup as she began marketing online and delivering her kitchen creations. Rashwan’s brother had flown in for the bistro's opening, and with the lockdown beginning, decided to stay. His generosity ensured that Rashwan had a delivery driver as he worked on a computer toward his Ph.D. between orders.
In addition to the change in menu came a change in operations as her staff had to be let go with the exception of one.
“Tina is a 65-year-old rock star,” says Rashwan describing the sole employee to assist her through the shutdown. “She didn’t know me from a hole in the wall before COVID and now we’re like family.”
The two of them trudged along until May 4th, when the government gave the go-ahead to patio service by week’s end. “We had to take the full menu that we had worked so hard on for opening and pretty well slash that into a quarter because we just couldn’t keep that much stock or it would go bad.”
So, offering the same salad over the course of three days and every day a different sandwich, she provided her service the best that she could. Still, with government mandates in place, there were more hurdles that had to be overcome.
“That was a big adjustment, figuring out how we were going to do it, and simple things like sanitizers at the door, and signage, tables needing to be distanced, and all just all the regular things that everyone is so sick of at this point.”
A month later, and with very short notice, in-house dining would be allowed again. Rashwan had been communicating with her staff and slowly began bringing them back along with menu items. With the added opportunity, Rashwan added events, holding a wine and paint night, beer tasting, and even had a friend volunteer to do a preset menu 'Taste of Bangladesh' night.
Regarding social media, Rashwan says she spends one to two hours a day posting on their platforms and the local community buy and sell pages. “People would just forget about you. There’s enough going on in the world right now that buying soup isn’t number one, but if you keep reminding them every single day, we were finding that people were really receptive to that.”
Rashwan is adamant her greatest help was her environment, constantly giving credence to being in a small town of caring people and the power of word-of-mouth.
“I really do feel for any business in big communities, even in the city,” offers Rashwan, “I don’t know how that would even work and I feel so lucky that I am in a small community where a lot of people rallied.”
Her advice to others like her is outreach into the community. Something she admits is difficult given the orders to limit interacting. Still, if Rashwan has a method it’s “hitting that heartstring with people, and lots of caffeine and sleep.”
In relating her harrowing journey she offers an example; bringing a plate of quiche to her upstairs neighbours at Mast Creative, a media presentation company, to sample and critique. Her offer was reciprocated with a photo of her in-the-works food item.
“He sends me the most beautiful photo of a quiche," she says of the owner, "and I was like ‘can this be a thing? Can I run you up food and you take photos for me?’” The result for Rashwan was some very inexpensive professional work.
Rashwan’s journey is far from over as she continues to work 14 hour days Monday through Saturday, while still coming in on Sundays for preparation. If all goes well, she predicts that in a month she may be able to take an evening off.
Asked how long she will be able to keep this up, Rashwan is as upbeat and honest as they come. “Who knows? I think my time in tech prepared me for this so… probably four years.”
After the laughter, she admits it may have been a test run. If that is what is was, she certainly appears ready for the real thing.
Fri, Apr 19, 8:30 AM
Transport, Full-time, Part-time, Permanent
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