Welcome to his Living Room

By Paul Knowles

Bishara Arraf’s Montfort Grill Houses were at the forefront of the move to international cuisine

The history, if a bit convoluted, is fascinating. In 1226 AD, Crusaders from France built a castle on a hilltop in Upper Galilee, in Israel. As all students of history know, the Crusader’s reign didn’t last long, but the castle did, if only as a ruin.

Bishara Arraf grew up in a village in the shadow of that castle. As a young man, he moved to the Netherlands, to work in a chain of restaurants owned by his brother, Lawrence Arraf. He worked with his brother for 10 years.

In 1993, he made a bold move, coming to Canada, and opening his first restaurant here, based on the model he had learned in Holland, and rooted in the cuisine he grew up with in the village beside the castle. He chose a familiar name for his restaurant – the Montfort Grill House. That first Montfort was “a very small restaurant in Oakville.”

And Arraf introduced a bold menu – tastes as familiar as home for him, but in 1993, largely unknown to Canadian diners. Hummos, Baba Ganoush, Taboule, Falafels, Chicken Shawarma, Lamb Shasklik, Pork Souvlaki.

Arraf recalls that it took half a year for the cuisine to catch on. The very words on the menu were unfamiliar, let alone the tastes or the style of eating. Arraf recalls one man who had lived in the Middle East, who became very excited when he found Arraf’s restaurant. He brought a group of 30 people “to have this experience” – even though the restaurant only sat 28.

It wasn’t an unmitigated success – “he wanted them to eat hummos without utensils, just take a pita, dip and eat. This was most difficult for them.” Where Canadian diners ready for eastern Mediterranean dining?

As it turns out, yes. Arraf was clearly in the forefront of a culinary movement, the international cuisine tidal wave that changed everything about how Canadians eat. Most of those 30 diners had never encountered hummos – “now,” says Arraf, “show me a restaurant in Oakville that doesn’t serve hummos.”

He brought all the experience he had from Europe, and applied it to growing a new-style restaurant in Canada. “I knew how to treat the customer appropriately,” he says. “Whoever came for the first time, came back again.” That pattern continues to this day.

Rapid growth

The word got out in a hurry, and the 28 seats in his restaurant were constantly full. “After six months, we were busy,” so Arraf launched into what he describes as the first phase of the Montfort Grill House – expansion. He opened nine restaurants between 1993 and 1999, running the chain that stretched from Hamilton to Toronto “by myself.”

And, he admits candidly, “it was too much work, too much to manage.”

The model he knew from Holland didn’t adapt well to a multi-city chain in Canada. In the Netherlands, his brother’s chain had included 12 restaurants within one small city – “you could walk it.” Not something one could do from Hamilton to Toronto. “It was too difficult to handle” all of them under a corporate banner.

“I changed my strategy,” says Arraf. “I started to franchise.” He sold some of the restaurants in 1999, and with his new philosophy, started again with a new business model. It took a few years to get all of that planning in place, but “in 2002, I started all over again as a franchiser.” Bishara Arraf kept only one restaurant as a corporate entity the Montfort Grill House at 796 Brant Street in Burlington. (Perhaps ironically, Lawrence Arraf has recently sold all but one of his restaurants in the Netherlands, keeping only his original location.)

Finding franchisees was not a problem – although finding the right ones is key to the success of a franchise operation. Arraf’s initial success brought a raft of inquires. “We were so busy, I got many offers from people who wanted to open a second business as a partnership.”

The second Montfort Grill House was opened in Mississauga, and ”that went very well.” Today, there are 15 restaurants in the chain, all but one owned by franchisees. Arraf notes that the franchisees are invariably operators who first worked in one of the restaurants. He insists that his colleagues to know the business, back to front. “I’m very selective,” he told Selections. “They worked with me... they know the business inside and out.”

That emphasis on hands-on involvement is one reason he continues to own the Montfort Grill House on Brant Street – that’s what keeps him current, keenly aware of every aspect of the business. In fact, Arraf still cooks at that location, twice a week. But even though he is in the kitchen, customers can interact with him, because Montfort kitchens are open, located behind the bar – a statement of welcome and accessibility he learned in Holland.

Planning five more

Arraf has ambitious objectives for the Montfort chain. “We have plans to open five more, this year,” he says. The new restaurants will expand the geographical impact, which already runs from Hamilton to Toronto. One new Montfort Grill House will open in Kitchener-Waterloo.

“We have the customers for it, who would like to open franchises,” he says.

That kind of explosive growth isn’t the only thing that is new for Arraf’s enterprise. Last year, the company centralized food preparation. The meals are still cooked at the individual restaurants, but prep is now done in a central kitchen. 

Arraf has a corporate staff of eight – four in the office, and four in kitchen – but he insists this total ignores his involvement. “I consider that I do the job of five,” he says, with a laugh. 

This positive is, in fact, defensible – his roles include owner, franchisor, chief operating officer, cook, host and probably many more than just those five.

He refers to his corporately-owned restaurant as “my living room. I try to be there a lot, as much as I can be.” But he admits that “I don’t do the 4 o’clock in the morning, any more.”

Four a.m.? Yes. Montfort Grill Houses boast of “fresh, healthy food made fast all day and into the wee hours of the morning.”

But he is “on the floor” a lot. “It’s very, very important. I believe each owner should be on the floor with your customers. That’s where you get your feedback, where you learn if they are happy or not happy.” A restaurateur “can’t hide in an office, behind a computer.”

Reasons for success

Arraf has built a great formula for success, founded on the lessons he learned from his brother’s operation. He believes there are two vital factors – “price point” and “quality.”

He’s supremely confident in both areas “our prices are very good, our quality is very good.”

For proof, he says, we need look no further than the restaurants’ performance during the economic crunch of the past 18 months. “My customers didn’t think we were expensive, so they kept coming back.” He is open about performance across the chain – of the 15 Montfort Grill Houses, 13 “are doing very well, two are doing okay.”

Another reason for the restaurants to thrive in tough times is that the interesting cuisine attracted clients who might previously had gone to higher end establishments.

Arraf is devoted to excellent cuisine, but admits he is not a huge fan of “fine dining”. High-end, expensive restaurants are not part of his strategy, he says. He admits, grudgingly, that his brother’s chain included one fine dining establishment. Bishara Arraf worked there for two months.

He didn’t fit. He loves to kibitz with customers, to tell jokes, to act the amiable host... the role of reserved, haughty maitre d’ didn’t suit him at all. And it was obvious – “My brother kicked me out,” and found a locale where Bishara’s philosophy fit in.

So when he opened his first Canadian restaurant, he was faced with a decision “fine dining... or what I like the most.” Easy call.“I like to talk to my customers. I need to be able to tell a joke, and know that the people accept it.”

But he’s quick to add that, while he doesn’t aim for high end expense or experience, “I’m not afraid of high expectations.” His customers – and his franchisees – know that. They expect the best food, the best service, and the best Mediterranean-style meal. They arrive hungry; they leave as fans and friends.