The Little Guy

There are many shops and restaurants downtown Edmonton, but not all of them are run by the independent businessman or mom & pop.

Recently, as part of their emergency operations procedures, the major telecommunications company in western canada that I work at decided that they would provide lunch and dinner to their employees/managers that backfilled striking/locked-out union workers.

For the first couple weeks, they had a caterer bring in enough food to feed all the people in the building. Eventually, somebody finally noticed that they were about to bankrupt the independent food kiosks down in the plaza. Given the high rents in this busy area, it was probably safe to say that a month or two of catered lunches for 1000+ employees would wipe out several vendors due to lack of customers.

So the telecom company decided to offer vouchers, worth $7.00 towards lunch and dinner at any of the restaurants downstairs.

Just a coffee please, hold the double-double half latte ...

There's a Second Cup in the plaza, just off the subway/light-rail-transit that is very reminiscent of Starbucks. It's always a busy place, but the coffee is pretty much the same as any of the other places.

Several mornings, when the line has grown to more than a dozen people, I moved on to the little convenience shop down the mall. Cost less and he is actually a little more friendly than the young college drop-outs at Second Cup. Although they are cuter than the old italian guy that makes you pour your own coffee.

Chicken For Lunch
But I have noticed that the service I get for lunch at Amy's restaurant is worth going out of my way (past the Tim WHortons and scores of sheep in line). And you know what - if you introduce yourself and actually come back once a week - they will remember you....

Amy often has my order ready for me before I reach the front of a very long lunch line-up. Sometimes we actually get to talk about how's it going, retiring someday and that I think she works too hard. She has upwards of a thousand customers a day from 11-1pm at this kiosk - the busiest in the food mart or any other plaza around. Her spicy chicken is just that good!

I used to work downtown Calgary about 10 years ago. I was visiting there a little while ago and I wandered into a shop that I used to buy my daily coca-cola (coke) fix from.

"Hello Steve, how are you - where have you been?" came the inquiry from the clerk, Nigel I think is his name.

He works/owns on of the busiest corner convenience shops I have ever seen in any city.