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[Rentahamster]

http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/montreal-restaurant-offers-free-food-to-anyone-who-needs-it-1.3226522

Everyone deserves to eat, no questions asked – that’s the motto at Marché Restaurant Ferdous.
The restaurant on Ste. Catherine St. W offers free food to those who can't afford to pay for a meal.
“People sometimes come here, you have no idea by their look that they need the food and they're shy or they don't believe in such things. So we told the cook, ‘Don't ask any questions; do not judge them.’ If they ask, just give them the food, that's it, that's all,” said co-owner Yahya Hashemi.

“It doesn't matter, because at night if you still have leftover food you end up throwing it out, so why not give to those in need? It's not a big deal,” said chef Abdelkader Bejaoui.
“It's just a sandwich, right, it's not life changing to most people, but to some people, it means they won't go to bed hungry and that to me spoke mountains about it,” said customer Sean Jalbert.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38505394

The only sign of the eatery's generosity is a simple A4 sheet on the door.
"People with no money welcome to eat free," it reads in English and French.
Every day, four or five meals are given away, according to reports.
Mr Hashemi, who is originally from Iran, said he looked on it as a business expense.
He said helping the needy was part of his Muslim faith, and that he wanted to give something back to Canada, which he felt had given him so much.

This is a good story to hear, considering our society's issue with food waste.

This is their Yelp page:

https://www.yelp.ca/biz/marché-ferdous-montréal

Any Montreal gaffers been there before?

 

[Vinc]

That's really heartwarming and awesome. I should go eat there.

 

[Crazymoogle]

Any Montreal gaffers been there before?

Yep. It's across the street from where Funcom used to be. I hope it works out for this place long term as it could pick up a lot of popularity with the homeless over time. The guy does own the currency shop (and maybe part of the rest of the building?) which helps though. And they're directly beside a Church.

 

[Tom Nook Sawyer]

Wonder how long that'll last now that word's out

 

[Calvero]

where's that plane picture

 

[NinjaCoachZ]

Wow, that is awesome. I've never been, but that's super cool of them!

 

[Brinbe]

An example for others to follow. Hope nothing but good comes his way. The type of place I would go out of my way to eat at and support.

 

[Rentahamster]

Yep. It's across the street from where Funcom used to be. I hope it works out for this place long term as it could pick up a lot of popularity with the homeless over time. The guy does own the currency shop (and maybe part of the rest of the building?) which helps though. And they're directly beside a Church.

Thanks for the first hand report!

Wonder how long that'll last now that word's out

They've been at it for 5 months now. Seems to be fine.

 

[Tom Nook Sawyer]

They've been at it for 5 months now. Seems to be fine.

Was there an article published about it 5 months ago? If not, then it's not the same situation

 

[ZOONAMI]

Yeah there should not have been an article about this. There will be an influx of people coming for the free food, and it will kill any margins they had (if any).

Could just be a case of a wealthy owner not giving a fuck about his $ though and just helping people out, which would be dope.

 

[Rentahamster]

Was there an article published about it 5 months ago? If not, then it's not the same situation

No, but local word of mouth spreads pretty fast in this day an age, news article or not.

 

[always crazy bacon]

What a kind act, decent guy.

 

[the_batman]

only 4 or 5 people a night so far? good luck now that people know about it.

and he considers it a business expense? so he gets tax breaks or something?

 

[Rentahamster]

Yeah there should not have been an article about this. There will be an influx of people coming for the free food, and it will kill any margins they had (if any).

I don't see that happening. I don't think the percentage of shameless assholes who can actually afford it is high enough.

I don't know how the tax laws work in Montreal, but writing those free meals off as a loss, especially if it was going to be thrown away at the end of the day anyway, is not a money losing activity. Plus they generate free positive PR from it.

 

[TimeKillr]

I walk in front of it all the time, and it seemed like a random lebanese food joint (there's a LOT of these in Montreal) but I'm super happy that the guy is doing this.

IIRC he's also selling hookah pipes and a lot of weird stuff. It just seemed so eclectic that I never ventured in, but I might next time to grab a quick bite or something just to encourage the guy.

 

[soco]

there's a few around here that do similar things. It's pretty awesome that they do this.

There used to be a Panera in Portland that did this. It was operated as a non-profit, but I think the company got bought or something and shut it down. It was done as 'pay what you can'.

 

[scotcheggz]

This is awesome, made even more awesome by the way they talk about it. Theyre just like hey why the fuck not. Good people.