By Teresa Lake
If you made a list of ingredients for a restaurant it might include a kitchen staff, servers, a dining room and, of course, food. But these ingredients do not necessarily guarantee the restaurant’s success.
Surviving in the restaurant industry is difficult, but two Preston Street area restaurateurs think they’ve found the recipe for success.
“The restaurant business is a tough business,” says Ferhat Doruk, owner of Efes Turkish Restaurant.
“Hard work is needed and when you do business, you have to do everything at 100 per cent.”
Paul Di Rienzo, owner of Di Rienzo Grocery and Deli, agrees with Doruk.
“It is very hard work. It’s not a nine-to-five job and it’s almost everyday that you have to be there.”
That level of dedication is essential in a highly competitive industry.
According to a 2004 Statistics Canada census, there were 3,330 restaurants in the Ottawa-Hull area last year. Edmonton, a city with close to the same population, has only 3,159.
Lori Mellor, executive director of the Preston Street Business Improvement Association, says that about 40 of Ottawa’s restaurants are in the Preston Street area.
“It’s a pretty dynamic restaurant district,” says Mellor, “but I’d say there are probably only 10 or 11 really successful restaurants.”
Doruk and Di Rienzo consider their businesses to be among the success stories.
Efes Turkish Restaurant opened two and a half months ago, serving authentic Turkish dishes.
Doruk says that he is very happy with the way business is going. The restaurant’s daily sales continue to rise and satisfied customers are recommending the restaurant.
Doruk thinks that Efes is appealing because it brings a fresh taste to the Ottawa restaurant scene, he says.
Di Rienzo Grocery and Deli offers traditional deli sandwiches and fresh pasta.
It opened 10 years ago and business has been steadily increasing since then.
Di Rienzo says the deli first served two to three sandwiches a day. Now, the restaurant’s cooks make 300 to 400 fresh sandwiches daily for waiting customers.
And the customers do wait.
“If you come here around 11:30 a.m. or noon, the people are just lined up out the door and down the street,” says Ottawa Police Service Constable Rick Giroux.
“It’s unbelievable,” says Giroux, who has been a customer of Di Rienzo Grocery and Deli for five years.
Di Rienzo and Doruk agree one of the keys to success is to accommodate everyone’s tastes and needs.
Doruk adds that the location of a restaurant contributes to its success.
“Everybody knows that a city has a restaurant and entertainment district,” he says. “Preston Street is known as where the restaurants are in Ottawa.”
But Doruk and Di Rienzo both agree that, at the end of the day, the main ingredient in a successful restaurant is just really hard work.
“These restaurants, the ones that are really successful, it’s their home too,” says Mellor.
“They’re there all the time, they get involved in the community and they are constantly upgrading their skills.”
“You really have to push your limits,” says Doruk. “There’s no other way to succeed.”