Q&A Abdul Majed Salem,"My Donair"

By Aldin Avdic

Running a family business has all sorts of troubles, but for Abdul Majed Salem keeping the family legacy alive, means the world to him.

Salem's uncle opened “My Donair” over 30 years ago, serving fresh and handmade donairs in Westbrook Mall ever since.

Salem spoke with The Press about how his store has contributed to the community, his passion for serving Calgarian’s donairs and what it takes to run a restaurant.

What impact has your store made on the community?

Customers come here and they tell me, I've been coming here since you opened. They come here, and they tell us they don't go to any other donair place. We make everything from scratch, everything, chicken, and beef, we don't buy anything pre-made. We make it here. And that’s how my uncle started it, and that's how we keep going. We try to give the customers real food.

What are the benefits of serving quality food?

Our customers keep coming back, so when you try my food and go somewhere else, you're going to see the difference. When you see the taste is completely different. That's why, lots of customers say, oh, I’ve been coming here since we were kids. Or I used to come with my dad. Now I am coming with my kids. At the end we are doing this for a living but, when you see the customers coming back and they're so happy, then you say, oh, I'm doing it right.

What are some challenges you face with your business?

Every corner has another Middle Eastern restaurant, donair, or shawarma. When my uncle started, it used to be a couple. Now it's way harder. The cost of your food. It’s so high. You could make some money before, you used to be able to make a good living. Now it's so hard. When big companies come here they are competitors.

What challenges are there working with family?

With this business, it's so hard to give your family a good time. It's so hard, I work here every day, and then you go home, so tired. I just want to be by myself, relax, and listen to the sounds around me it's kind of tough business to take care of your business and your family at the same time.

Would you say your job is stressful?

you're always worried. Is, the customer happy? Even if something goes wrong, it's hard to fix, especially with food, you must be on top of 100 per cent. That's why I try to do everything from scratch to know what I'm doing.

What would you tell your younger self?

You can't keep everybody happy. That's 100 per cent sure, you know, but at least I'm trying to make all of them happy. I do my best. I know it's so hard for me to keep going like this, because of either this or your family, but I'm trying to do both together, especially moving here, we don't want to sell it somewhere out of the family. We want to keep everything in the family.

What is your dream for the restaurant?

My dream is to have a big restaurant. Having real Middle Eastern food to be served the whole day, here it's so hard, the space is so small. If you want to add a couple of items, it's too tight to add. You know, my dream is a real Middle Eastern restaurant serving everything from scratch. “Oh, I want to eat breakfast, lunch,” whatever you like. Dinner as well. It makes me feel that I’ve given the customer so many choices, whatever they want.

Edited for clarity and length