Tahini’s Restaurants, renowned for Mediterranean Fusion Cuisine, has successfully transitioned from a single standalone eatery in London, Ontario, to becoming an industry leader in the culinary scene across Canada, accomplished strategically through its franchising initiatives.
“Our journey has always been about more than just food; It’s about creating an experience that people remember and want to come back to,” said Omar Hamam, Founder and CEO at Tahini’s Restaurants.
“We are thrilled to expand our footprint and assemble a network of dedicated entrepreneurs who are committed to maintaining the experience and quality of Tahini’s.”
The first location opened in 2018 and today it has 45 locations, three of them corporately owned. The latest opening was in Kelowna, B.C.
The total number of corporate and franchise locations is projected to exceed 60 storefronts by year end.
“We’re going for about 40 to 50 stores a year. That’s the numbers we’ll be doing in the next year or two in Canada,” said Hamam. “And within the next 12 months I think we’re opening six locations in the States.
“In Canada we’ve identified 230 locations. But we might not open all of them. So I’d say around 200 locations. The States is a monster. There’s no limit. The States could take like 3,000 locations easy. It’s a completely different animal.”
Hamam said the brand is looking for AAA locations, trying to be in busy plazas, busy intersections, neighbourhoods that are thriving, more high income than low income areas.
In 2018, he was operating another restaurant under a different name for about seven years. He started reading about franchising. It was interesting for him. So we wondered what he could do with that. But he didn’t think the restaurant he had was franchisable. The idea for Tahini’s was born and he opened his first location in the north end of London. It was tough at the beginning because it was a new brand name. The first six months were slow but then business started picking up. That led to a decision to expand and he hasn’t looked back. After he opened his second location, a franchisee wanted to open in Whitby.
He built a commissary under a different name, Alex Food Services, for the products for the restaurants and as a wholesaler. By then, he had opened five Tahini’s locations.
Hamam was approached by Sobeys who wanted him to take some of their commercial kitchens at FreshCo. The first FreshCo location opened in Edmonton and then two more in Calgary.
He said the brand opened 25 locations last year and this year they have opened 26 locations already. In 2025, it will expand by 40 to 50 locations.
“We’re very different from the average. What we do is Mediterranean fusion. It’s not your typical shawarma store. We have a fusion between the Middle East and all other cultures, just like Canada is. Canada is a huge mix of different people. And the way we’ve designed our menu is to be something like that.”
In August 2020, Tahini’s became one of the first restaurant chains to invest 100 per cent of its cash reserves into cryptocurrency.
“This bold move into Bitcoin has been instrumental in aiding our expansion, especially in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and soaring inflation prices,” said Hamam.
“All companies have some cash reserves. We decided to invest it in Bitcoin. Inflation was at all-time high and especially during COVID, it’s a problem when inflation is this high, your money is actually losing value so we decided to put all our cash reserves in Bitcoin. It’s been great. Bitcoin has skyrocketed.”
