Hello My Name Is Tina Bekele Owner of Mes Amies, here is a little bit of my background. I began working for my family restaurant at the age of 15, located in my home town of London, Ontario. I started off as a server and instantly fell in love with
the restaurant business. My passion drove me to push my parents into giving me more
responsibilities and involving me in other aspects of the business.
At a young age I had managed to work as a server, understand the procurement process for purchasing goods and
influence the décor of the restaurant. I redesigned the look of the menu and even created a few
new dishes that were popular with some of the regular customers. Unfortunately, the local economy had been struggling for some time and it had an effect on the restaurant. By the
time I was 18 the restaurant was struggling to earn enough money to stay afloat. I will never forget the day that my parents made the difficult decision to close down the
restaurant. “We will get through this,” my father said, “this is a temporary setback, we
will move forward, and one day we might open up the restaurant again…one that will be
around for a long time”. I knew my father was just trying to console me and I doubted that the restaurant would be opened again. Following the closing of the family restaurant, I remained in the restaurant industry working as a server for a couple of local restaurants. I was able to earn enough in my jobs to pay my way through school and obtain a diploma in marketing. Following
graduation I wanted to remain in the industry I loved, so I spent the next five years working my way up to eventually become the Manager of a local Italian restaurant. The next three years I spent obtaining additional managerial experience. I managed a steak house for one year and then went on to manage Grasseau a fine dining restaurant in the city. It was five weeks after my 28th birthday when I won the lottery prize. I immediately knew what she wanted to do with the money. It's always been my dream to open up my own restaurant. The money I won will help me make my vision a reality. The scars left from the closing of the old family restaurant will be hard to overcome. Financially, my parents never fully recovered and the pain from that experience is still tangible. As much as I
wanted it, I know I won't be able to handle going through another failed restaurant. For the past year, while managing Grasseau, I spent some time away from work to conduct research into the feasibility of my own restaurant. Now after a year of due diligence, I feel that I have enough background and information to help me avoid the mistakes of my he past and launch a restaurant that WILL succeed. Building on what I learned from my
days as a marketing student, I know I have come up with the best solution and with the words of my father, “one
day we might open up a restaurant again…one that will be around for a long time” I now know it will be possible. I hope you enjoy my new restaurant Mes Amies.
