When Amir Rahim opened Grounded Kitchen at 100 Gloucester St. in Centretown 14 years ago, many people questioned his decision.
Already a Subscriber? Log in
Get Instant Access to This Article
Become an Ottawa Business Journal Insider and get immediate access to all of our Insider-only content and much more.
When Amir Rahim opened Grounded Kitchen at 100 Gloucester St. downtown 14 years ago, many people questioned his decision.
“When we opened, it was a dead street, where everyone was kind of saying, ‘Why here? We can't find you,’” Rahim recently told OBJ. “There was no 150 Elgin, no Shopify, no Tribeca, no Beckta, no Coconut Lagoon, no condos … There wasn’t really much here. “I really find it interesting how such a small seed that was planted here ended up being something that so many people recognized over the past 14 years,” he continued. “Eventually, the areas of traffic have changed, so we were one of the first people that actually took a chance on the neighbourhood.” He chose the location based on a good deal for a sublease. He lived around the corner and opened the restaurant on a “shoestring budget.” When Grounded opened, the restaurant had no patio, no liquor licence, but it did boast a green-and-red ceramic floor from when the space used to be a hair salon. Over the years, Rahim has watched both his business and Centretown grow. “It was this crazy project I took a chance on. I’ll never forget the day we finally opened and I got a customer. They came to the cash, they bought a coffee with a five-dollar bill and I had no change,” laughed Rahim. “I didn’t even have money in the cash, I was so broke. I just opened the restaurant with nothing but a dream. “My friends and family were there and I was like, ‘Check your pockets, we need 89 cents!’” he said. “We lived around the corner, my wife ran home to check and we ended up with a $16.46 float. Now, if we were still in business at the end of 2024, we would have done over a million dollars in sales.” Grounded saw Rahim through major life milestones, including marrying his wife, Andrea, and the birth of their daughter, Nova. Rahim met Andrea when she was a graduate student at Carleton University and he was working for a student association. They had just begun building a family when Rahim shared his “crazy scheme” for the restaurant. “I told (Andrea) about opening a restaurant, which I've done many times before, but she didn't know me, so she didn't believe it. But she stood by me,” he explained. “We built the restaurant and we got married at the restaurant. We’ve hosted other people’s weddings there. “We’ve seen families grow. I have this thing when people come in and I find out that they're having a baby and they're in their third trimester, I'm like, ‘Go into labour over here!’ I would love to have a Grounded baby, they’ll eat for free until they’re 12 years old.” When the building was bought by a new owner, Grounded expanded its footprint. Then, as companies like Shopify moved into the area, the restaurant just “grew and grew and grew,” Rahim recalls. Lawyers often popped in for lunch, some even helping Rahim write his will. But in 2022, rumours began to swirl that the building would be converted into condos. This prompted Rahim to entertain the idea of expanding and he ultimately chose to build a second Grounded location, this time on Carling Avenue. The new location at 1545 Carling Ave. near Churchill Avenue opened in January 2023 with a focus on efficiency and automation. And while the new restaurant has its own unique vibe, Rahim said it’s still consistent with the Grounded brand. “The long-term endgame was that we would eventually have an exit strategy, somewhere to go when the building gets torn down,” he said. “But the idea was to continue to run the Centretown restaurant until the absolute end.” That end came earlier than expected. With operating and labour costs rising, Rahim said he knew he needed to make a “pragmatic decision” for Grounded’s future. “I decided to pull the plug while we were on top.” Grounded Kitchen on Gloucester closed its doors July 5 and while there were many factors leading to Rahim’s decision, he said it all comes down to the relationships he’s built. “All I can share about my experience is that, in anything, whether it's business or building or a project or whatever, think about the relationships you need.” Rahim has brought any staff members willing to relocate to the Carling location, but he says some who live in Centretown chose to work closer to home. He himself still lives in Centretown, though he said he sees his family moving closer to the Carling location in the future. “Where I plant the seed is where I believe I should build my community. I’ll always love Centretown … But if I'm going to have a business the way that I like to run it, I want to be part of the community, I want to hire people within the community,” he explained. Overall, Rahim said he’s left with a profound gratitude for the customers and community that have supported Grounded since it opened all those years ago. “The people I've served, the people I've employed, the people I've worked with … I think people forget how much impact they have on another human being's life. Opening up Grounded and having a chance to serve all those people has changed my life,” he said. “It's given me energy and motivation and inspiration and I've learned something, and so I think that's important,” Rahim continued. “Now I get to go on to the next thing, knowing that I'm ready to learn something new, but I'll take what I have learned and just thank everyone from the bottom of my heart.”