Kasim, a boy from Medan who successfully opened a restaurant in Canada

Kasim (left) recently receives an award from Vancouver, Canada Consul General Hendra Halim at Padmanadi Restaurant in Edmonton, Alberta. photo: special

CANADA – Initially, Kasim had just opened a restaurant serving Indonesian cuisine in the city of Edmonton for fun. Canada , 20 years ago. Initially, the clients were just four Indonesian families and several students living in the provincial capital of Alberta.

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It proves, restaurant The vegetable called Padmanadi is growing rapidly and now has thousands of customers from various ethnic groups. In fact, because people in this northern Canadian city love typical Indonesian menus, Kasim opened a branch of his restaurant in south Edmonton. The food center is located in the city center, that is, in the city center, which has a population of approximately 1.5 million.

“I run this business like a Padang restaurant in Indonesia, that is, I don't use promotions, but just word of mouth. Just through friends. “It turns out that people here like our menu, like rendang, chicken curry, chicken satay, gado-gado, Javanese noodles, ginger tea and several others,” he said in a discussion recently with KORAN SINDO in Edmonton.

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Because many customers came, the 62-year-old man born in Medan, North Sumatra, gave up his plans to retire last year. Previously, Kasim moved to Canada in 2002 to raise his two daughters while enjoying his old age. “At that time, a friend invited me to come here and there were no plans to open a restaurant. “Two months later, just for fun, I opened a restaurant for Indonesians,” he adds.

Kasim rented a mid-sized store near Edmonton's downtown business district. He also put his experience of opening a restaurant in Jakarta into practice in Canada. In fact, opening a culinary business in this city comes with many risks. In 2002, Edmonton was a small city with a population of around 600,000. Indeed, according to him, around 6 o'clock in the afternoon, this city known for its oil production was already deserted. But apparently the customers started arriving. And not just Indonesians, foreign students also love the restaurant's menu.

Zera Carpenter

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