London Inc. Summer 2021 - 16

Upfront Food & Beverage
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Opening in the grips of the pandemic, ChickPz quickly figured out how to give
customers what they want. Those lessons will outlast the socially distant times
IT IS OFTEN the choices that seem routine at the time that
can influence most, the significance becoming apparent over
time - or all at once, when conditions get turned on their
head.
So it was for Rami Sefian, who was in the process of
opening a new restaurant in early March of 2020 when he
called his lawyer to inquire about moving into his new space
a little early.
Sefian was scheduled to take possession of the 125 King
Street storefront, where he would launch the fast-casual
Mediterranean fusion ChickPz concept (www.chickpz.com),
on April 1, 2020.
" Something clicked in my head, and I thought, 'You know
what, I've got some time, so why don't we get the lease pushed
up so that we can get started sooner,' " he recalls. " And so, we
took possession on March 15, 2020. "
The world came to a halt the very next day.
The obvious question: If he hadn't moved up the lease,
would he have changed his mind?
" I have no idea, " he says. " I always ask myself that question,
but I do not know. I don't know if it's a blessing in disguise, or
16 | londonincmagazine.ca | SUMMER 2021
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what it was. ChickPz being where it's at today, I'm so happy
that we didn't [halt our plans], but I always ask myself this
question. Would I have continued with the project, knowing
what I know? Maybe going in when I did gave me the vision
to go in full force rather than say, 'Oh, there's a pandemic.' "
As it turned out, ChickPz had little time for the what-ifs,
staring down the prototypical sink-or-swim moment. As a
new business, government income replacement programs
were largely off the table (a fact that still grates on Sefian:
" New businesses are still businesses. You can't pick and
choose who you're going to help, " he says), so the restaurant
turned to delivery. Sefian shifted " all of our focus " there and
banked on positive word of mouth to spread on social media.
It was all they could do, says Sefian, since his plannedfor
audience - downtown foot traffic - had completely
disappeared.
" Twenty-four hours prior to the pandemic, you'd have
50,000 to 60,000 people through that one little area between
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London Inc. Summer 2021

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