Yasser Youssef, Owner of Fig Mediterranean Deli, is gearing up to get his business through a
\npotential second wave. Despite being an essential service, he reflects on his business\u2019 own set of
\nchallenges when the pandemic first hit.<\/p>\n
One of those challenges being competition with larger chain retail stores to receive product.
\n\u201cThere was some difficulty getting products in because of high demand.\u201d Youssef said. \u201cSo, the
\nbig importers, they would rather sell to a large company than a small outfit like ours. So, we
\nwere last on the list.\u201d<\/p>\n
Youssef also says another obstacle was the delays in shipping caused by situations such as the
\nPort of Montreal strike that lasted from Aug. 10 to Aug. 21 and occurred due to a labour dispute
\ncausing shipments to be backlogged for weeks even after an agreement was reached. At the Port
\nof Vancouver, a lack of staffing created delays in shipments arriving.<\/p>\n
\u201cA friend of mine had a shipment come in and it sat on the port for probably a month before it
\ngot released,\u201d Youssef said. \u201cThen they still charged him $25,000 for sitting in the port of
\nVancouver for a month, which is absolutely disgusting because they claimed there wasn\u2019t
\nenough staff to inspect them and release the containers. So I would call that logistics.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some changes the deli implemented including changing the physical layout of the store to
\naccommodate social distancing requirements, adding plexiglass barriers to protect staff and
\nadding signage to direct flow\u00a0of traffic. Getting access to hand sanitizer was one of the first
\nhurdles they had to overcome in the first weeks of shutdown.<\/p>\n
\u201cI'm pretty sure that you know the story is I couldn't find hand sanitizer anywhere in BC
\nprobably in the first few weeks,\u201d Youssef said. \u201cSo just looking back at that period,
\nI\u2019m stocking up on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to becoming well suited to the changes needed to take place within his business,
\nYoussef also credits his customers for educating themselves on protocols and going as far as to
\ncalling an inspector when adjustments needed to be made.<\/p>\n
Youssef is also stocking up on product that went up in popularity during the lockdown. \u201cI did
\nrecognize a trend during the first period of the shutdown,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople were stocking up on
\nfoods like beans, rice, canned tomatoes, tomato sauces, pasta, anything that doesn't spoil quickly.
\nAnd these are like great things to have around the house. So given their long shelf life, and their
\nnutritional value, I am stocking up on beans and olives and tomatoes and olive oil and of course,
\nrice. Yes, we are preparing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite not applying for benefits from the government due to his business overcoming these
\nchallenges, Youssef still holds the Canadian government in high esteem.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe the government did a superb job on making all funds available for businesses, for
\nindividuals,\u201d he said, \u201cI think the Canadian government is one of a kind in this world. I don't
\nthink anybody else enjoys what we've enjoyed here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Yasser Youssef, Owner of Fig Mediterranean Deli, is gearing up to get his business through a potential second wave. Despite being an essential service, he reflects on his business\u2019 own set of challenges when the pandemic first hit. One of those challenges being competition with larger chain retail stores to receive product. \u201cThere was some…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":14049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[217,218],"tags":[714,284,2009,2008],"radio":[],"origine":[280,261,231],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14039"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14039"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=14039"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=14039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}